For over two years, Councilmember Traci Park has represented Los Angeles’ Council District 11—a district made up of renters, working families, unhoused neighbors, and a growing coalition demanding real solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis. But if you tuned into her latest virtual “town hall” for Venice on April 3, you wouldn’t know any of that.
Instead, you’d think CD11 is home exclusively to wealthy homeowners, beachfront property, and a singular obsession with police-led cleanups of unhoused encampments. Once again, Park used her carefully controlled Zoom event—shielded from real-time criticism or dissent—to push her agenda of criminalization, surveillance, and displacement. She delivered a tightly scripted, LAPD-heavy webinar that doubled down on her now-familiar agenda: criminalizing the unhoused, ignoring renters, and refusing to address the needs of working-class and immigrant communities in Council District 11. Her refusal to hold in-person events continues to be a hallmark of her tenure—an obvious strategy to avoid being challenged by constituents who might disagree with her.
Throughout the meeting, Park repeatedly emphasized her office’s work to clear encampments, impound RVs, and expand enforcement zones under LA’s controversial anti-homeless ordinance, LAMC 41.18. She framed these actions as “progress” and described them with pride, citing dozens of vehicle impoundments and encampment “resolutions.” What she didn’t mention is that these sweeps displace people without offering meaningful alternatives—and that her own office’s closure of the Venice Bridge Home in December has left fewer shelter beds available in the district. That didn’t stop her from announcing plans for more cleanups, more surveillance, and more criminalization.
Missing entirely from her remarks was any mention of proven, evidence-based solutions to homelessness, like Housing First programs that prioritize stable housing without preconditions. Instead, Park leaned into the same failed status quo: more LAPD, more fences, and more fearmongering. The entire first half of the town hall sounded like a briefing from a police precinct, not a conversation about how to build a more inclusive and equitable city.
During the town hall, Park also made a deeply misleading attempt to rewrite history regarding the Venice Dell affordable housing project, obscuring her own role in derailing one of LA’s most urgently needed housing developments. She told constituents that the project had “run into challenges” and pivoted to promoting an alternative site on a smaller, less suitable lot. What she didn’t say is that she herself has worked to obstruct the project at every stage—and that the latest delays are the direct result of bad-faith maneuvers by her office and the City Attorney, not any failure by the developers or community process.
The Venice Dell project was approved twice by the City Council, in 2021 and 2022, after extensive public outreach, environmental review, and design revisions. It was carefully planned by Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corp. to turn a city-owned parking lot near the beach into 120 units of supportive and affordable housing. The project also included a redesigned public parking garage and protections for a popular boat launch—addressing every concern that had been raised.
And yet, in spring 2023, the newly elected City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto—a longtime critic of the project—issued a stunning and unprecedented order to city departments to stop working with the developers, citing ongoing litigation that had already been resolved. This slow-walking of a fully entitled project wasn’t about legal caution—it was about politics.
Instead of defending an approved plan that had already survived two lawsuits, Park seized the opportunity to undermine it. She publicly declared the project “dead,” backed the Transportation Commission’s last-minute claim that the site was “unsuitable,” and introduced a motion to explore housing on a smaller, oddly shaped alternative lot—knowing full well that restarting the process would delay housing for years, if not kill it entirely.
At the town hall, Park glossed over this entire timeline, failing to mention that a judge had already ruled the Transportation Commission had no jurisdiction to block the project. The very same city attorney who argued that in court is now claiming the opposite—all part of a manufactured bureaucratic detour designed to bury a project she’s politically opposed to. This isn’t about due process, site feasibility, or neighborhood compatibility. It’s about sabotage. And Park’s performance at the town hall was an attempt to disguise obstructionism as pragmatism.
The Venice Dell project represents everything Los Angeles says it wants: permanent supportive housing in a well-resourced neighborhood, built on surplus public land, with community partners and Council-approved backing. It’s exactly the kind of project that should be fast-tracked—not thrown into limbo by a councilmember doing the bidding of anti-housing activists and wealthy homeowners.
When it comes to renters, Park continues to be one of the most out-of-step members of the City Council. Her town hall barely acknowledged the nearly 60% of CD11 residents who rent. There was no discussion of rent stabilization, no update on eviction prevention resources, and no outreach to working-class tenants. The only comment even remotely related to housing policy came from a homeowner asking how to expedite an eviction—and Park’s office was more than happy to oblige. That alone says everything about where her priorities lie.
While other councilmembers are holding “Know Your Rights” clinics and actively supporting immigrant families threatened by deportation, Park didn’t mention immigration once. In a moment when many LA families are living in fear of ICE raids, her silence was deafening. Her consistent refusal to stand up for LA’s sanctuary policies, or even acknowledge the concerns of immigrant communities, reveals a deeper truth: Park has chosen to align herself with the right wing of Los Angeles politics. Her rhetoric may be polished, but her values are clear—and they’re not with the people who need the most support.
This town hall was yet another reminder that Park governs for the few, not the many. She listens to wealthy homeowners, not renters. She funds police overtime, not social services. She focuses on optics and enforcement, not justice or housing. She’s not just absent from the fight for a more humane Los Angeles—she’s standing in the way.
CD11 residents deserve a councilmember who shows up—for real. Someone who doesn’t hide behind a Zoom screen. Someone who centers the voices of renters, immigrants, and working-class families. Someone who believes that housing and dignity should come before handcuffs and displacement. It’s time for new leadership in CD11.
