As Los Angeles braces for another powerful storm, Councilmember Traci Park issued a public safety warning, urging residents to prepare for heavy rainfall, potential flooding, and mudslides, particularly in burn-scarred areas like the Pacific Palisades. Her newsletter provides information on sandbags, road safety, and the importance of staying informed. But conspicuously absent from her message is any mention of the most vulnerable members of her district: the thousands of unhoused residents who will be left to weather the storm with no shelter, no protection, and no support from her office.
Traci Park’s omission is not an oversight; it is a deliberate pattern. Despite multiple opportunities to provide emergency shelter in Council District 11, she has consistently refused to open additional emergency beds, expand access to safe sleeping sites, or implement short-term solutions like warming shelters during extreme weather events. Instead, her office has prioritized policies that criminalize homelessness, such as encampment sweeps that displace people rather than offering them housing solutions.
The consequences of this inaction are dire. Torrential rain, dropping temperatures, and high winds create life-threatening conditions for people living in tents, under overpasses, or in makeshift shelters. Hypothermia, exposure, and the risk of being swept away by flash floods are real and preventable dangers. And yet, while Park urges housed constituents to take cover and prepare, she extends no such warning—or aid—to those with nowhere to go.
Park’s failure to address this crisis in her storm advisory speaks volumes about her approach to governance. A leader truly committed to public safety would ensure that all constituents, including those without permanent housing, have access to emergency shelter during extreme weather events. Other cities and council districts have implemented crisis response plans that open recreation centers, libraries, and public buildings to serve as temporary shelters. Why is CD11 not doing the same?
If Traci Park truly believes in keeping people safe, her office must act immediately to protect the unhoused residents of her district. That means opening emergency shelters, ensuring outreach teams provide adequate supplies, and prioritizing long-term housing solutions over punitive displacement tactics. Ignoring the plight of unhoused people during a severe storm is not just negligence—it’s a choice. And as the rains come down, that choice could mean the difference between life and death for some of the most vulnerable Angelenos.
