Joel Engardio

District 4 Supervisor

District 4 includes the Central Sunset, Outer Sunset, Parkside, Outer Parkside, Pine Lake Park, Lakeshore, Merced Manor, and the Farallon Islands.

Elected

November 2022

Won by 469 votes.

Up for Re-Election

November 2026

engardiostaff@sfgov.org

(415) 554-7460

Joel Engardio is the Supervisor for San Francisco's District 4. Before he was elected, he was a journalist and worked with the ACLU to legalize gay marriage nationwide. He later became executive director of Stop Crime SF, an organization dedicated to preventing crime and advocating for crime victims.

Engardio's win made history twice over:

Engardio defeated incumbent Supervisor Gordon Mar, which was the first time an elected incumbent was defeated since district elections were enacted in 2000
Engardio is the first openly gay Supervisor to ever be elected on the West Side of San Francisco

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Policy positions & priorities

Supervisor Engardio's top priorities include:

Public Safety: Engardio campaigned on a platform of public safety in 2022. He has consistently voted to fully fund the police and expand police capabilities when it comes to enforcement (putting him at odds with the majority of the current SF Police Commission).
Public Schools: Engardio has been the most vocal supervisor on the subject of public schools. Prior to his election to the board, he helped lead the school board recall effort. As a supervisor, he publicly advocated for Lowell High School to return to a merit-based admission process and introduced a successful ballot measure in the March 2024 elections to pressure the SFUSD to reverse a decade-long policy and offer Algebra 1 to eighth graders. Note that neither the board of supervisors and the mayor have little direct control over the SFUSD (decision making authority rests in the hands of the School Board).
Housing: Engardio has consistently supported additional density in the City, sponsoring legislation to ease housing permit approvals, supporting affordable housing projects in the Sunset and lobbying for relaxed height restrictions along commercial corridors.
Supporting Small Business: Engardio aims to lower the barriers to entrepreneurship by cutting bureaucratic red tape. In office, he has consistently voted for or sponsored legislation to ease the burden of fees and permits for small businesses, as well as launching a relief fund for businesses along Taraval Street.
Fun: Engardio launched the wildly successful Sunset Night Market, which will now return annually. He's also been a strong supporter of the Outside Lands concert in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway Park, to which he brought San Francisco's first Independence Day Parade since 1976.

Key votes and actions

Safety & Policing

Before joining the Board of Supervisors, Engardio was executive director of Stop Crime SF, an organization dedicated to preventing crime and advocating for crime victims.
Supported the recall of progressive former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and supported current DA Brooke Jenkins, the only actual prosecutor running for the position, in 2022.
In office, Engardio was one of the few supervisors to vote against the rushed re-appointment of a former public defender, Cindy Elias, to the Police Commission. Critics noted Elias's conflicts of interest, including a spouse who was actively litigating against the SFPD.
Supported supplemental budget funding for police overtime, to help keep officers on the streets during the city's police staffing shortage.
Supported an initiative to improve police effectiveness by reducing officers' paperwork requirements, giving police greater ability to use surveillance technology, and easing restrictions on car chases, among other reforms.

Education

Helped lead the successful recall of three incompetent school board members in 2022.
Supported reinstating merit-based admissions at Lowell High, San Francisco's flagship public high school.
Introduced a successful ballot initiative to pressure the school board to allow 8th graders in SF public schools to take algebra, like many other cities in the Bay Area. Algebra was originally postponed to 9th grade in an attempt to remedy substantial racial gaps in the student population that opts to take AP math, but a decade's worth of data showed little to no impact on these gaps (no improvement in the percentage of Black students taking AP math and a 1% improvement in Latino students taking AP math). The ballot measure was incredibly popular and won approval in every single voting precinct in San Francisco.

Housing

Passed, with Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Mayor London Breed, the Constraints Reduction Ordinance to reduce permit approval times by 50% for most housing projects, removing barriers for office-to-residential conversions and reforming paperwork requirements and zoning codes.
Supported and voted for the 90-unit affordable housing project at 2550 Irving Street, which finally broke ground in June 2024 after years of neighborhood opposition.
Voted to loosen height restrictions in the Jackson Square Historic district and Northeast Waterfront Historic district, rejecting a specific carveout passed by Aaron Peskin.
Passed, with Supervisor Myrna Melgar, legislation to ease the conversion of single-family homes to smaller scale apartment buildings on the west side of San Francisco.

Small Business Support

With Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Mayor London Breed, established a $1M relief fund for businesses along Taraval Street that have been negatively impacted by construction from the multi-year L-Taraval Improvement Project.
Passed, with Supervisor Melgar, Supervisor Dorsey and Mayor Breed, an extension to the First Year Free program waiving the cost of fees and permits for new businesses and over 100 changes to Planning Code to ease requirements for bars, restaurants and other businesses.
Introduced an ordinance to waive permit fees for new awning installations during the month of May (permits fees for awning replacements are always waived in May).

Fun

Engardio voted to hold additional Outside Lands concerts at Golden Gate Park.
Spearheaded a first-of-its-kind San Francisco night market in April of 2023. The night market saw 10,000 people attend and will now return as an annual event.
Organized the inaugural San Francisco Fourth of July parade at Great Highway Park in 2024.
Introduced a ballot measure for November 2024 election to permanently close Upper Great Highway and convert the stretch of roadway into a permanent park.

Governance

Introduced a controversial ordinance directing the Board of Supervisors to prioritize municipal affairs and issues that directly impact and affect the City and County of San Francisco, after a heated debate and public comment over whether the board should call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The ordinance was ultimately passed by 10-1 vote by the board.
Engardio hosts a monthly SF Politics 101 presentation, open to all, to help San Franciscans understand the history that shapes current day San Francisco politics.