# Traci Park

Traci Park (born 1976) is an American attorney and politician, who is the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 11th district since 2022. Having entered the race to challenge incumbent Mike Bonin, Park became a frontrunner for the open seat upon Bonin's announcement of retirement, and defeated civil rights attorney Erin Darling in the general election.

## Early life and career

Park was raised in Downey, California and Apple Valley, California. Her mother was a school secretary.
Park graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1997 with a Bachelor's degree in History, later graduating from Loyola Law School in 2001 with a Juris Doctor. In 2009, she started working for Burke, Williams and Sorensen, a law firm specializing in public entities.

## Los Angeles City Council (2022—present)

Park entered politics in 2020 when she organized to block the city of Los Angeles from converting a Ramada Inn on her street into housing for homeless people.

### Election

In July 2021, Park announced her candidacy for Los Angeles City Council, hoping to unseat unpopular incumbent Mike Bonin of the 11th district. After Bonin announced his retirement, the seat became open with Erin Darling becoming the progressive candidate in the race. Both Darling and Park advanced to the general election, with Park narrowly behind Darling in the results. Park was a registered Republican before switching to the Democratic Party years prior to her campaign.
During the campaigns, Darling criticized Park for representing the city of Anaheim against a city employee who accused a supervisor of using the N-word; Park countered by accusing Darling of representing "unsavory criminal defendants." Park also criticized Darling for his association with Bonin, as well as Bonin's record with homelessness in the district. In the election, Park defeated Darling by a six-point margin.

### Tenure

During her swearing-in ceremony, protesters were removed after trying to interrupt Park's speech. She voted in favor of the 41.18 ordinance, a measure which aimed to curtail homeless encampments by banning sitting, sleeping and storing property within 500 feet of schools, day-care centers, parks, recreation centers, in a contrast to her predecessor's refusal to support the ordinance. In 2024, Park expressed opposition to Measure HLA, which would create hundreds of miles of bus lanes and bike lanes.
During her election campaign, Park opposed converting two city-owned parking lots on Venice Boulevard into 140 housing units for the homeless. She opposes California state legislation that restricts the ability of localities to ban new housing. In 2023, she assured residents who were protesting plans to build apartment buildings in Westside, an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles, that "there's going to be a lot of meetings" about the plans. That same year, she expressed opposition to tearing down the Marina Freeway and replacing it with housing. In 2024, Park took no position on whether a four-story apartment for low-income and moderate-income renters in her Westside district, which the landlord of a neighboring property filed a CEQA lawsuit against, should be allowed to be built without delay.
In 2024, Park expressed opposition to a proposed expansion of the Los Angeles City Council, a reform called for by ethics advocates to reduce corruption in the L.A. City Council.

## Electoral history

2022 Los Angeles City Council District 11 election :
| Primary election ||||
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Erin Darling | Erin Darling | 22,939 | 34.67 |
| Traci Park | Traci Park | 19,168 | 28.97 |
| Greg Good | Greg Good | 6,565 | 9.92 |
| Allison Holdorff Polhill | Allison Holdorff Polhill | 5,805 | 8.77 |
| Michael Newhouse | Michael Newhouse | 4,702 | 7.11 |
| Jim Murez | Jim Murez | 3,286 | 4.97 |
| Matthew Smith | Matthew Smith | 2,590 | 3.91 |
| Midsanon "Soni" Lloyd | Midsanon "Soni" Lloyd | 1,116 | 1.69 |
| Total votes | Total votes | 66,171 | 100.00 |
| General election ||||
| Traci Park | Traci Park | 50,758 | 52.06 |
| Erin Darling | Erin Darling | 46,732 | 47.94 |
| Total votes | Total votes | 97,490 | 100.00 |