Post-Grants Pass, Traci Park hopes to revive cruel and unusual punishment against vehicle dwellers by reinstating LAMC 85.02

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which gives cities broad authority to criminalize homelessness, Traci Park is pushing legislation that would reestablish the core elements of LAMC 85.02—a law the Ninth Circuit rejected in 2014 for being vague, discriminatory, and unconstitutionally cruel.

Her new proposal would ban vehicle dwelling within 500 feet of so-called “sensitive areas” like schools, parks, and daycares. But in effect, it would do what 85.02 did for over 30 years: punish unhoused people simply for surviving in their cars. And this time, the legal landscape has shifted in her favor. The Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision eliminated Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment for those who have no choice but to sleep outside, unleashing a wave of new anti-homeless enforcement measures across the country. Park is seizing that moment—and aiming to make Los Angeles a test case.

To understand how dangerous this effort is, it’s worth revisiting how we got here.

In 1983, Los Angeles enacted LAMC 85.02, which prohibited the use of vehicles as “living quarters” on public streets or city-owned lots. The ordinance was vague by design—it never defined what constituted living quarters, how long someone could stay in a car before violating the law, or what behavior was prohibited. LAPD and City Councilmembers weaponized it aggressively, especially in neighborhoods like Venice, where complaints from affluent homeowners drove enforcement priorities.

By 2010, the City had created a dedicated “Venice Homelessness Task Force,” assigning 21 LAPD officers to monitor unhoused residents living in their vehicles. People were targeted for having a blanket, a portable stove, or other everyday items in their car. On first contact, LAPD would issue a warning. On the second, a citation. On the third, arrest. Community members helped compile lists of “problem vehicles,” and the city never followed through on its promises to provide safe parking alternatives.

That reign of criminalization ended in 2014 when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Desertrain v. City of Los Angeles that LAMC 85.02 was unconstitutional. The court found it to be unacceptably vague and prone to arbitrary enforcement, noting it had been used disproportionately against unhoused residents. The ruling marked a significant victory for civil rights and housing justice advocates.

But City Hall wasn’t done. Around the same time, officials began leaning on another law: LAMC 80.69.4, passed in 2006. This ordinance allowed for the creation of “oversized vehicle” (OVO) zones, where parking large vehicles like RVs would be prohibited between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Initially, these zones required a City Council vote and LADOT signage. In 2010, then-Councilmember Bill Rosendahl amended the law to allow councilmembers to bypass the full Council process by submitting a petition and having LADOT verify that certain criteria were met.

While it didn’t explicitly ban vehicle dwelling, 80.69.4 became a workaround for reestablishing 85.02’s effect. The City began designating block-by-block zones where RVs and other oversized vehicles were prohibited overnight. In practice, it enabled selective enforcement and displacement of unhoused vehicle dwellers without drawing the same legal scrutiny—at least temporarily.

While not explicitly targeting vehicle dwellers, 80.69.4 functioned similarly to 85.02, enabling selective enforcement without the same legal challenges.

The Los Angeles City Controller’s office has highlighted the extensive use and impact of 80.69.4. Their analysis reveals:

• 1,367 OVO zones have been established citywide, with distribution varying by council district.
• 6,191 citations were issued under 80.69.4 from 2018 to 2022, amounting to $678,420 in fines, of which approximately $326,500 were paid.
• 149 RVs were impounded during the same period.
• The city spent $3.65 million installing 8,065 OVO signs between 2018 and 2022.
• As of the 2024 LAHSA Homeless Count, 3,691 RVs are used as dwellings on Los Angeles streets.
• None of the city's 15 Safe Parking sites accommodate RVs, leaving many without legal overnight parking options.

These findings underscore the ordinance’s role in penalizing unhoused individuals without providing viable alternatives.

Throughout the 2010s, this ordinance was used inconsistently and often ineffectively. Many proposals to expand enforcement—especially in Venice—were blocked by the California Coastal Commission, which ruled that they would unfairly limit public access to coastal areas. Lawsuits followed. Safe parking programs were discussed but rarely implemented. Meanwhile, enforcement continued, especially in wealthier neighborhoods with strong homeowner associations.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a pause. Starting in March 2020, Los Angeles suspended most parking enforcement and towing operations, including those targeting vehicles used as dwellings. It was a tacit acknowledgment that these policies were cruel and counterproductive in the midst of a public health emergency. But the reprieve didn’t last. By late 2021 and early 2022, enforcement resumed—first through towing vehicles deemed “abandoned,” and later by targeting “oversized” vehicles under 80.69.4 once again.

When Traci Park took office in 2022, she made clear that she intended to bring back aggressive enforcement in CD11. Over the next two years, she introduced motion after motion to create new oversized vehicle restriction zones, often with no formal LADOT review and little public transparency. Her office encouraged constituents to collect petitions—ignoring the fact that petitions alone are insufficient unless paired with a LADOT investigation and compliance with other requirements. In August 2024, Park succeeded in passing a motion authorizing the towing of vehicle dwellings under 80.69.4, prompting a legal warning from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). And in September, she violated the Brown Act by trying to push discussion of that same towing measure during a Transportation Committee meeting without proper notice. The City Attorney had to intervene repeatedly.

Now, with the Grants Pass ruling in hand, Park is attempting to eliminate even the pretense of due process. Her latest proposal effectively revives LAMC 85.02 by establishing blanket bans on vehicle dwelling near broad swaths of public space. It would allow for enforcement without the piecemeal process of creating 80.69.4 zones—no need for LADOT review, no petitions, no council debate over individual blocks. Just a blanket policy criminalizing unhoused people wherever they are most visible.

In her April 11, 2025 newsletter, Park boasted: “I joined my colleagues in introducing a motion that would restore former LAMC 85.02, which the City Council allowed to expire in 2020.” There is no ambiguity here. Traci Park has made her choice: She is reviving the very ordinance the courts struck down, using the Grants Pass decision as political cover. And unless the public pushes back, the city may once again become a place where being too poor to afford rent is reason enough to be ticketed, towed, or jailed.