Newly appointed District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong just flunked his first big test, failing to meet a deadline on a ballot measure to bring cars back to the Great Highway, after he made a big to-do over announcing the effort.

District 4’s new supervisor Alan Wong was appointed to the job on November 30, and he purposefully made his first, big right-out-of-the-gate public fight his scheme to bring cars back to the Great Highway. SF voters, of course, banned cars from the Great Highway by a 55%-45% margin with 2024’s Prop K vote. But angry Sunset residents promptly recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio over his spearheading of that drive to transform the highway into a pedestrian park we now call Sunset Dunes.

So just this past Thursday (January 8), Wong declared he was initiating a June 2 ballot measure to bring cars back to the Great Highway. But getting that ballot measure would require Wong to have the signatures of at least four members of the SF Board of Supervisors. And he needed those signatures by 5 pm today (January 13) to make the June 2 ballot.

Well, 5 pm on Tuesday, January 13 just passed. Did Wong meet the challenge he set with this short, six-day mission?

SFist has learned that Wong failed to get the four required signatures by the 5 pm deadline. Therefore, he will not get the June 2 do-over vote he wanted to bring cars back to the Great Highway.

Wong did get signatures from Supervisor Connie Chan (who herself has publicly favored a do-over vote on this one) and from District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen. But Wong appeared to be banking on the support of Supervisor Shamann Walton as well, though he did not get that fourth signature.

Supporters of the Sunset Dunes park hope that the lack of a June 2 re-vote puts this issue permanently to rest.

“We’re heartened that we can put our efforts into building a coastal park together and improving it as a community, rather than continuing to fight over this yet again,” Friends of Sunset Dunes president Lucas Lux told SFist just minutes after Wong missed his 5 pm Tuesday deadline. “Our message to our neighbors who voted against the park is that we’ve decided this the way we make decisions in democracies — at the ballot — and it's time to come together now to build a coastal park that belongs to all of us.”

There are whispers that some supervisors held out support on Wong to deny him a political win. But that’s irrelevant. Wong ought to know how the Board of Supervisors works, he should have lined up the four signatures before running his mouth publicly about his ballot measure.

By not doing so, he set himself up to fail. This was an exceedingly basic error by Alan Wong to announce the measure just six short days before the deadline, apparently having done no lobbying or behind-the-scenes advocacy. He may have advocated for his constituents’ wishes, but he did so quite ineptly, and got a result that makes him look like an inexperienced amateur.

Wong could still theoretically collect 10,582 signatures by February 2 to get the measure on the ballot, but that is logistically a damn-near impossibility. He could get Mayor Lurie to order the measure onto the ballot, but Lurie has no incentive to pick a fight that would be unpopular citywide. Or Wong could just wait until the deadlines for the November 3 election, and try this all again with a little more planning.

Except Alan Wong might not be in office anymore by then. He faces a reelection fight on the June 2 ballot, and missteps like this one explain why Wong might have a very tough time winning reelection in the Sunset this coming June.

Related: D4 Supervisor Wong Says He’s Full Speed Ahead With Do-Over Ballot Measure to Bring Cars Back to Great Highway [SFist]

Image: Alan Wong via Facebook