Traci Park Thinks $80 Salads Are the Problem—Not Poverty Wages

At Monday’s Los Angeles Economic and Jobs Committee meeting, Councilmember Traci Park made a stunningly tone-deaf argument against paying tourism workers a living wage—citing her personal pain over $35 hamburgers and $80 salad-and-wine combos at LAX.

Yes, seriously.

While workers pleaded with the City Council to finally adopt a long-overdue “Olympic wage” of $30 per hour for hotel and airport workers—a modest proposal considering the billions in profits driven by LA’s tourism economy—Traci Park chose to make the conversation about... airport wine service.

“I mean,” she lamented, “it’s a crazy experience to pay 80 bucks for a salad and a glass of wine and not have a single server stop by the table and see if you need a refill.”

We’d ask what kind of wine she’s drinking, but the better question is: why does Park expect table service at a food court? And why is her luxury dining inconvenience more pressing than the fact that the workers serving her can’t afford rent, healthcare, or even groceries?

Let’s be clear: the problem at LAX isn’t overpriced arugula—it’s the poverty wages paid to the people who clean cabins, prep meals, and make the airport function day and night. Many of these workers make less than $20 an hour in one of the most expensive cities in the country. During the pandemic, they were deemed essential. Now they’re being told their basic survival is too expensive.

Park claims to support “fair” compensation but then parrots talking points straight from hotel lobbyists: tourism is down, the sky is falling, and now is not the time. Funny—because workers have been waiting for decades. And if not now, then when? Just after the World Cup? After the Olympics? After the next recession? For Park and her allies, there’s always a reason to delay dignity.

If Park actually listened, she would have heard the reality behind LA’s booming tourism economy: workers are the first people millions of visitors will see during the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl. And they’re being priced out of their homes while corporate executives and hotel owners rake in profits—and cry poor anytime someone mentions a wage increase. Let’s be clear: those executives have already received billions in bailouts. And the last time Los Angeles raised the hotel worker minimum wage in 2014, doomsayers predicted economic collapse. It never happened. In fact, LA’s tourism sector grew—more jobs, more hotel development, more revenue.

And let’s not forget: Park doesn’t seem all that concerned when it comes to taxpayer-funded giveaways to the real estate industry or blank checks for LAPD. But ask her to support higher wages for airport janitors or hotel housekeepers? Suddenly, she’s clutching her pearls about economic collapse.

What Monday's hearing made crystal clear is this: the only people who seem to think $30 an hour is outrageous are the ones who think $80 salads are normal. While Traci Park wrings her hands over the cost of Pinot Grigio, thousands of workers are fighting for the right to keep a roof over their heads.

The good news? Despite Park’s objections, the committee moved the Olympic wage proposal forward. Because in a city preparing to host the world, the real embarrassment isn’t the cost of a cheeseburger—it’s elected officials who think poverty is acceptable.