Traci Park Doubles Down on Cruelty with New Motion to Permanently Expand 41.18 Zones

Traci Park is once again leading the charge to criminalize poverty in Los Angeles. Her latest motion, introduced May 16th, proposes yet another massive expansion of LA Municipal Code 41.18, the controversial ordinance that bans sitting, lying, or sleeping in public spaces. This time, Park is calling for the creation of an ordinance that would automatically and permanently ban unhoused residents from being near not only schools (as is current law), but also all parks, libraries, homeless shelters, freeways, post offices, and fire and police stations citywide.

This would be one of the broadest applications of 41.18 yet, functionally turning most public space into off-limits zones for people experiencing homelessness.

The timing is no accident. Park’s motion arrives just days after Governor Gavin Newsom called on cities to begin enforcing the Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that could gut legal protections for unhoused people and pave the way for camping bans nationwide. In her latest newsletter, Park openly celebrated Newsom’s directive, boasting that she has been clearing encampments on the Westside “from day one.”

This isn’t policymaking — it’s political theater, designed to appease wealthy property owners and hardline NIMBYs at the expense of the most vulnerable Angelenos.

What Park is proposing goes far beyond current law. Under the existing 41.18 framework, exclusion zones must be designated individually by council vote, typically after public hearings and community input. Park now wants to short-circuit that process entirely, creating a default ban on unhoused existence across huge swaths of the city.

If passed, this would set a dangerous precedent: homelessness itself would essentially become illegal near almost any public or civic space. With permanent enforcement zones near nearly every neighborhood institution, people with nowhere else to go would face constant displacement, ticketing, and arrest, all for the act of surviving in public.

The harm of this approach is well-documented. As Human Rights Watch has shown, LA’s sanitation sweeps and enforcement of 41.18 have led to the routine destruction of personal belongings, including life-saving medication, ID documents, and family heirlooms. People are cited and arrested for minor infractions, pushed into jails or forced into shelters that function more like carceral facilities than pathways to housing.

These sweeps are expensive, traumatic, and counterproductive. They do not result in permanent housing placements and often disconnect people from the outreach workers and services that are their best hope of getting off the street.

Legal experts, civil liberties organizations, and even some city officials have repeatedly warned that criminalization not only fails to solve homelessness--it also increases the city’s legal exposure. While the Supreme Court ruled in Grants Pass that these sweeps do not violate Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment, they may still violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful search and seizure. Confiscating property during encampment sweeps remains constitutionally questionable and a frequent trigger for lawsuits. Cities like Los Angeles are already facing legal challenges and settlements that cost taxpayers millions, all to defend a strategy that doesn’t work.

Fortunately, this particular motion is unlikely to move forward--not because Park sees the light, but because it must first clear the Housing and Homelessness Committee, chaired by Bob Blumenfield and including progressive Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Ysabel Jurado, both of whom have been outspoken critics of 41.18 and advocates for housing-first solutions. Neither Raman nor Jurado is likely to let this motion pass out of committee.

But that doesn’t mean the danger has passed. As Newsom veers to the right and right-wing members of City Council continue pushing ever-expanding enforcement, the progressive bloc must take decisive action now. The first step is simple: repeal 41.18 enforcement zones in their own districts and begin working toward a full repeal of the ordinance citywide.

Los Angeles is at a turning point. The approach backed by Traci Park of constant displacement, criminalization, and failed enforcement has brought us no closer to solving homelessness. It’s a policy of optics, not outcomes. If we want real change, we need elected officials who reject bluster and scapegoating in favor of solutions that center housing, dignity, and community safety for everyone. That begins with standing up to motions like this, and standing in solidarity with those most impacted.