When LMU students walk out of the back gate into Westchester, they are greeted with various lawn signs reading, “Thank you, Traci Park.”
But who is Traci Park, and why are we thanking her?
Park graduated from Loyola Law School and served as a municipal attorney prior to her election to the Los Angeles City Council in 2022. Park’s activism, however, did not begin upon her election. Instead, it can be traced back to late 2020 when she made her debut in the political scene by attempting to block a Ramada Inn from turning into a shelter for the homeless.
Park is nothing if not consistent. Since becoming a political figure, she has repeatedly reaffirmed her commitment to making sure the homeless do not get substantive assistance.
As promised on her campaign, Park has stalled the Venice Dell housing project for years. The twice-approved plan, if completed, would create 120 units of housing for low-income or homeless individuals.
The space that would provide shelter and affordable housing to many is currently just a parking lot.
Park continuously supports the 41.18 ordinance and voted in 2023 to expand it to her represented district in the Westside. In doing so, the city council banned sitting, sleeping and storing property within 500 feet of parks, schools and recreation centers.
When homeless encampments are swept, the people do not magically find housing. They move a block down the road or find another alley to sleep in. Sometimes they have their belongings, other times the police take them. Regardless, this does not provide a better situation for anyone involved. The solution, instead, is to build affordable housing.
In May, Park called homeless spending “a bottomless pit” and voted against the 2025-2026 fiscal year budget due to too much focus on housing for “homeless drug addicts.”
“All of our residents and taxpayers… they want the sidewalks fixed. They want the street lights to work,” said Park. They want their kids to be able to play at the local park without having to step over drug and trash camps.”
Well, Councilwoman Park, those are your constituents too. The homeless, impoverished, addicted, and mentally ill are all still residents of the communities you represent, no matter where they live.
This is exactly the nature of Park’s term as councilwoman. Those who already are well-off are given priority over L.A.’s most vulnerable.
Park emerged as a leader of recovery after the January wildfires that devastated the Pacific Palisades. Park attended charity events and advocated for spending to assist those who were displaced and to build back the neighborhood.
The average home in the Pacific Palisades cost $3.5 million before the fires.
There is an undeniable difference in how Park approaches assisting those who are homeless because of fires — a natural disaster — and those who are homeless because of other reasons, largely due to government failure.
A survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that the top causes of homelessness include lack of affordable housing, unemployment, low wages and lack of needed services for mental illness or substance abuse.
These problems require government solutions — solutions that are not solved by ordinances that ban encampments or having the LAPD sweep streets with RVs or tents.
The same survey found in 2025 that renters need to earn $49.58 per hour to afford the average asking Los Angeles rent. That is 2.9 times the minimum wage in the City of Los Angeles.
Park voted against raising the minimum wage to $30 for tourism workers in May. While the rest of the city council approved this measure, the average asking rent is still 1.7 times this new wage.
The councilwoman continues to demonstrate her disinterest in helping the working class get out of poverty, as she votes to block attempts to address the causes. Instead, she seems to only care about homeless people when they previously owned multi-million dollar houses.
She also opposed Measure HLA, a bill that passed in 2024 to expand bike lanes and sidewalks throughout L.A. In a city that reported motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death for children, Park argued that the spending would take money away from projects related to the 2028 Olympics.
So what does Traci Park think we should spend our money on?
She approved a $2.6 billion convention center that could take over $100 million annually from the city’s general fund that otherwise goes to firefighters and paramedics, among others.
That’s right. The councilwoman who represents the Palisades voted to approve a convention center that would pull from a fund that aids fire relief. Police officers are also paid through this fund, despite her disapproval of the city budget being based on decreased allocation for the LAPD.
That, ultimately, is the stance of Traci Park. She is the embodiment of the all-too-familiar Democrat who does not have any true beliefs. Instead, she picked an issue to criticize — for Park, homelessness — and lacks any real plan to address it.
In her reelection campaign next year, her face and name recognition will carry her along with her financial edge over her opponent. Aside from her commitment to helping fire recovery — which any representative of District 11 would have done — she has no legacy other than making homeless people’s lives even more difficult.
There is simply no reason to be thanking Traci Park.
