Traci Park | |
---|---|
Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 11th district | |
Assumed office December 12, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Mike Bonin |
Personal details | |
Born | 1976 (age 47–48) |
Political party | Republican (formerly) Democratic |
Education | Johns Hopkins University (BA) Loyola Marymount University (JD) |
Traci Park (born 1976) is an American attorney and politician, who is the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 11th district since 2022.[1] Having entered the race to challenge incumbent Mike Bonin,[2] Park became a frontrunner for the open seat upon Bonin's announcement of retirement, and defeated civil rights attorney Erin Darling in the general election.[3][4]
Park was raised in Downey, California and Apple Valley, California.[5] Her mom was a school secretary.[5]
Park graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1997 with a Bachelor's degree in History, later graduating from Loyola Law School in 2001 with a Juris Doctor. In 2009, she started working for Burke, Williams and Sorensen, a law firm specializing in public entities.[6]
Park entered politics in 2020 when she organized to block the city of Los Angeles from converting a Ramada Inn on her street into housing for homeless people.[5]
In July 2021, Park announced her candidacy for Los Angeles City Council, hoping to unseat incumbent Mike Bonin of the 11th district.[7] After Bonin announced his retirement, the seat became open with Erin Darling becoming the progressive candidate in the race.[8] Both Darling and Park advanced to the general election, with Park narrowly behind Darling in the results.[9] Park was a registered Republican before switching to the Democratic Party years prior to her campaign.[10][11][12]
During the campaigns, Darling criticized Park for representing the city of Anaheim against a city employee who accused a supervisor for their use of the N-word, with Park criticizing Darling for representing "unsavory criminal defendants."[13][14] Park also criticized Darling for his association with Bonin, as well as Bonin's record with homelessness in the district.[15] In the election, Park defeated Darling by a four-point margin.[16]
During her swearing-in ceremony, protesters were removed after trying to interrupt Park's speech.[17] She voted in favor of the 41.18 ordinance, a measure which aimed to curtail homeless encampments by banning sitting, sleeping and storing property within 500 feet of schools, day-care centers, parks, recreation centers, in a contrast to her predecessor's refusal to support the ordinance.[18]
In 2024, Park expressed opposition to Measure HLA, which would create hundreds of miles of bus lanes and bike lanes.[19]
During her election campaign, Park opposed converting two city-owned parking lots on Venice Boulevard into 140 housing units for the homeless.[5] She opposes California state legislation that restricts the ability of localities to ban new housing.[20]
In 2023, she assured NIMBYs who were protesting plans to build apartment buildings in Westside, an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles, that "there's going to be a lot of meetings" about the plans.[21]
In 2024, Park took no position on whether a four-story apartment for low-income and moderate-income renters in her Westside district, which the landlord of a neighboring property filed a CEQA lawsuit against, should be allowed to be built without delay.[22]
Primary election | |||
---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | % | |
Erin Darling | 22,939 | 34.67 | |
Traci Park | 19,168 | 28.97 | |
Greg Good | 6,565 | 9.92 | |
Allison Holdorff Polhill | 5,805 | 8.77 | |
Michael Newhouse | 4,702 | 7.11 | |
Jim Murez | 3,286 | 4.97 | |
Matthew Smith | 2,590 | 3.91 | |
Midsanon "Soni" Lloyd | 1,116 | 1.69 | |
Total votes | 66,171 | 100.00 | |
General election | |||
Traci Park | 50,758 | 52.06 | |
Erin Darling | 46,732 | 47.94 | |
Total votes | 97,490 | 100.00 |