But at the latest District 4 supervisor debate, something interesting happened: candidates largely moved past the coastal car wars and started drawing real lines in the sand on issues that arguably matter more to everyday residents — housing, public safety, and the basic competence of local government.

The night's main event was the collective pile-on of incumbent Alan Wong, who's been in the seat just long enough to accumulate a target on his back. Multiple challengers took jabs at his record, questioning whether he's delivered tangible results or simply occupied a chair at City Hall. It's a fair question. In San Francisco politics, incumbency often means you've mastered the art of showing up to ribbon cuttings while the neighborhood's real problems — small business closures, sluggish permit processes, quality-of-life complaints — quietly compound.

Here's what we found encouraging: voters in D4 seem hungry for someone who'll focus on fiscal accountability and responsive governance rather than treating the supervisor seat as a platform for one pet culture-war issue. The Great Highway question matters, sure. But it shouldn't be the entirety of a district's political identity.

The real test for these challengers is whether they can articulate a vision beyond "I'm not Alan Wong." Opposing the incumbent is easy. Explaining how you'd cut through San Francisco's legendary bureaucratic sludge to actually get things done for Sunset families? That's the hard part.

D4 deserves a supervisor who treats taxpayer dollars like they mean something and who understands that government's first job is delivering basic services competently — not grandstanding. Whoever wins this race, we hope they remember that the Great Highway isn't the only road in the Sunset that needs attention.