Traci Park represents Los Angeles City Council District 11 — the Westside coastal district covering Venice, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Playa Vista, Westchester, and surrounding communities. She took office December 12, 2022, narrowly defeating progressive attorney Erin Darling 52% to 48% in the November 8, 2022 general election — a margin made possible by an unprecedented flood of real estate and police union money. Her term runs through December 14, 2026. She is seeking reelection in the June 2026 primary.
Park was born in 1976 and raised in Downey and Apple Valley, California. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Johns Hopkins University (1997) and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School (2001), and went on to work as a municipal law attorney at Burke, Williams and Sorensen beginning in 2009 — a firm specializing in representing public entities, including in employment discrimination defense.
Critically, Park was a registered Republican before switching her party registration to Democrat ahead of her 2022 campaign. Her political entry point was organizing in 2020 to block a city proposal converting a Ramada Inn near her home into housing for unhoused people — a preview of the anti-housing posture she would bring to City Hall. She subsequently joined a recall campaign against then-Councilmember Mike Bonin before announcing her council candidacy in July 2021.
Sources: Ballotpedia; Wikipedia
CD11 is the largest Los Angeles City Council district by geographic area — bounded by Mulholland Drive to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, Imperial Highway to the south, and roughly the 405 Freeway to the east. It is one of the wealthiest and most politically contested districts in the city. The Los Angeles Times has described Park as the most conservative member of the Los Angeles City Council.
Sources: Wikipedia — CD11; Los Angeles Times
Sources: CityWatch LA; CD11 official site
Park’s opposition to affordable and supportive housing has been consistent and documented. She voted in favor of the 41.18 ordinance criminalizing unhoused people within 500 feet of schools, parks, libraries, and senior centers — using enforcement as a substitute for housing solutions. She co-introduced the City Council resolution opposing SB 79, California’s Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, publicly declaring that “Sacramento is hijacking local planning.” Governor Newsom signed SB 79 into law in October 2025 over the City Council’s objection. A CalMatters opinion piece named Park one of the city’s three chief opponents of the bill alongside Mayor Bass and City Attorney Feldstein Soto.
Park is also named as a defendant in a July 2024 fair housing lawsuit alleging she and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto illegally obstructed the Venice Dell Community project — a 120-unit supportive housing development on city-owned land approved by the City Council in 2022, co-developed by Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, and backed by $42.4 million in state funding. The suit alleges their obstruction targeted “chronically homeless, disabled, and Black and Brown Angelenos” and violated the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Sources: LAist (August 20, 2025); CalMatters (October 6, 2025); LAist (July 11, 2024); LA Public Press (July 11, 2024)
Park opposed Measure HLA, a 2024 ballot measure requiring Los Angeles to implement its own adopted street safety plans — including bus lanes and protected bike lanes — as roads are repaved. HLA passed overwhelmingly, including in CD11. She also opposed Venice Boulevard safety improvements and aligned with constituencies that had previously forced the removal of protected bike lanes under former Councilmember Bonin.
Source: Mar Vista Voice
Park opposes the sanctuary city ordinance that prohibits city resources from being used to enforce federal immigration enforcement. She has backed motions to penalize street vendors — many of whom are immigrant workers — and has not publicly supported immigrant-serving community institutions in CD11.
Source: Knock LA (April 2025)
Park’s 2022 campaign raised approximately $580,000 through the runoff period — more than double progressive challenger Erin Darling’s $228,000. The financial gap wasn’t grassroots enthusiasm. It was a coordinated investment by real estate interests, police unions, and Republican-aligned donor networks.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) operated an independent expenditure committee — “Residents for Safer and Cleaner Neighborhoods Supporting Traci Park for City Council 2022” — that spent over $500,000 on her behalf. Douglas Emmett Inc., a real estate investment trust controlling approximately 4,500 West Los Angeles apartments, contributed over $300,000 to that fund while simultaneously fighting a fire sprinkler retrofit ordinance championed by outgoing Councilmember Bonin. Two fires at Douglas Emmett’s Barrington Plaza complex in Sawtelle had left one resident dead over a nine-year span. LAPPL itself contributed $172,000 to the fund.
According to Ethics Commission filings, approximately 100 contributions to Park came from individuals or entities in the real estate or development sector. The Nagel family of Decron Properties — a multibillion-dollar real estate dynasty — coordinated contributions from fifteen family members on a single day in 2022, funneling over $12,700 to her campaign to circumvent individual contribution limits.
Park’s campaign was subsequently found to have committed eight campaign finance violations involving excess contributions. In a post-election audit settlement with the LA City Ethics Commission, the campaign admitted responsibility and paid an $8,000 fine, waiving all rights to challenge the findings or seek judicial review.
Sources: LA City Ethics Commission; Crosstown LA; Mar Vista Voice (January 2026); Knock LA (November 2022); Full donor breakdown at truthabouttraci.com/money
Park entered the 2026 election cycle with a $649,000 war chest as of mid-2025 — the largest of any Los Angeles City Council candidate, representing approximately 15.7% of all council fundraising for the period. Her challenger is Faizah Malik, a Public Counsel housing justice attorney who raised $127,000 in six weeks after launching — and who is also the lead attorney in the Venice Dell fair housing lawsuit against Park.
Sources: Westside Current (September 2025); LA City Ethics Commission
Park’s tenure has generated documented opposition from Black, Chicano, and working-class communities across CD11.
On April 5, 2023, the Black Lives Matter street mural in Venice’s historic Oakwood neighborhood — in front of the First Baptist Church of Venice, a city-designated Historic-Cultural Monument — was vandalized. Park waited approximately 11 days before issuing any public acknowledgment, and when she did it appeared in a newsletter rather than on her public social media channels where it could reach the community directly. The delayed, low-visibility response was widely noted as a contrast to how elected officials typically respond to hate-based vandalism targeting other communities.
Sources: Defend Venice (April 6, 2023); Defend Venice (April 12, 2023)
Park has provided no public support for the proposed Traquero Monument in Venice, which would honor the Mexican railroad workers whose labor built the historic Oakwood community. Former Councilmember Bonin provided direct financial support for community events honoring that history. Park has not engaged with organizers or the monument proposal.
Source: Knock LA (April 2025)
The 2024 fair housing lawsuit against Park states directly: “When we allow opposition to kill affordable housing in wealthy, predominantly white communities, we are allowing for a perpetuation of the segregation patterns in this city.” The Venice Dell Community project would have housed 68 people experiencing chronic homelessness and 49 low-income households — the majority of whom are Black and Brown Angelenos — in a high-resource coastal neighborhood. Park’s obstruction kept them out.
Source: LAist (July 11, 2024)
Park has attempted to associate herself with Venice’s Cinco de Mayo Parade despite providing no organizational or financial support to its community organizers. The parade’s lead organizer publicly documented that Bonin covered street closure costs and funded event infrastructure while Park has not engaged with organizers before or after the event — appearing only long enough for social media photos.
Source: Knock LA (April 2025)
For detailed documentation of Traci Park’s donor network, policy record, and accountability coverage:
