Stuart Kiehl’s recall effort against 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins has collapsed because he failed to fulfill the legal requirement to publish a public announcement of the recall effort in a local newspaper.
Nonetheless, Kiehl is spinning his effort as a success. In a Nextdoor post, he wrote “Without the recall, the trail would very likely still be there, so the negative publicity exposed the reality to the nation. And something was then done.”
Actually, Kiehl’s recall effort officially began after the supervisors voted to spend $11.6 million to address the Joe Rodota Trail encampment, but Mr. Kiehl’s efforts were nonetheless a part of a groundswell of discontent that had been growing in the neighborhoods near the trail throughout the fall.Â
He left open the possibility that he might start up the recall again at any time.
“We may choose to resume the recall, but this phase as of yesterday afternoon is over,” he wrote.
Hopkins is glad it’s over, but said the recall didn’t really impact her work — aside from having to learn all about the recall process.
“While the instigator attempted to take credit for the clearing of the Joe Rodota Trail, the recall effort actually began after the Board of Supervisors formally took action on the trail… and I have been working on a suite of solutions to the JRT encampment since early October,” she said.
