Today I participated in a protest to keep the Great Highway – the long road parallel to Ocean Beach on San Francisco’s western edge – open, at least on weekdays. Originally closed for no good reason by the city government during Covid, it remains closed on Saturdays and Sundays, and now there’s reportedly going to be a measure on the November ballot to close it permanently and turn the area into a park. As folks at the protest pointed out however, there is currently no actual plan or funding for a park, so the immediate impact if the measure passes would probably just be to close the road for the foreseeable future, and allow it to become covered by sand (less work for the Department of Public Works!)
While this is not a clear and explicit libertarian issue, this makes no sense for a variety of reasons. There is already a bike path alongside the Great Highway, and pedestrians can (and would no doubt mostly prefer to) simply walk on the beach instead of on an asphalt road. With both the beach and Golden Gate Park immediately adjoining the road on both sides, there is no pressing need for another park in the area. Many people, especially the disabled and those who can’t readily walk, ride bicycles, etc., rely on the road for access to the beach, as well as for providing a quicker north-south route than driving through residential neighborhoods. If it is closed, local businesses will be adversely affected. The road is also potentially important for emergency ocean rescues, as a break to keep beach sand from blowing further inland (easier to remove sand from a road than from the grass of a park), as an important part of the 49 Mile Scenic Drive that has long been an attraction for San Francisco visitors (see attached map graphic), etc.
Most if not all of these points, and others, were made by participants at today’s rally, which drew dozens of people out on a foggy, overcast weekday morning to gather in a parking lot by the beach for speeches, and then to drive down the highway and through the Sunset district in a caravan of vehicles adorned with signage advocating that the road be kept open. There were a number of media outlets present, including local TV station KTVU and others, along with Matt Boschetto, a candidate for District 7 supervisor, who spoke. (I also met another candidate for Supervisor who’s new to me, Wendy Chau Ha, running in District 3, who gave me her card and specifically expressed her interest in speaking to us.) I was also able to speak for a couple minutes as well (there were perhaps 15 or so speakers, none too long-winded), and mentioned my status as Libertarian Party of San Francisco chair although I otherwise focused my remarks on the issue at hand as requested by an organizer rather than talking about the party more generally. Apparently some people had been told not to bring party or Trump signs, although I was not given this message (I only found out about the event yesterday), and visually speaking the Libertarian Party sign I brought amounted to a minor publicity coup (see attached photo posted by Richie Greenberg to X in a post which specifically mentions me and the LPSF! – x.com. I was actually holding both a yellow Open the Great Highway sign like other participants and the LP sign, but the photo below captured me in the process of changing hands and holding the latter over the former).
In any case, hopefully I made the local TV news and got the Libertarian Party a bit of visibility. I also handed out a number of the LP / Nolan Chart door hangers at the event. If anyone comes across any coverage, please share here on the LPSF list, or call or email me if you’re not a list subscriber.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Chair, Libertarian Party of San Francisco
(415) 573-7997
P.S. – Thanks to Gina for the heads-up on it, and Mari Eliza for letting me ride with her!
https://www.sftodo.com/maps/49-mile-scenic-drive-san-francisco.pdf
https://x.com/greenbergnation/status/1814014016844628201/photo/1
