How’s She Doing?

Two months into Councilmember Traci Park’s term, voters can begin to examine the results.

It has been just over a month since District 11’s Councilwoman Traci Park was sworn into office, and while voters had turbulent feelings around the attorney’s transition into politics, Park has so far exceeded the expectations of many. In a recent Jaguardian interview, the newly elected councilwoman discussed campaign promises and professional background, as well as her recent success addressing the Los Angeles homelessness crisis.

Alongside newly elected Mayor Karen Bass, Park has assisted in the housing of 92 unhoused persons across Venice, which is the start to the process of ending the encampments that Park made a centerpiece of her campaign. Throughout her campaign, voters were worried that Park would hold the same ineffectiveness as her predecessor, especially due to her previous work as a partner with Burke, Williams & Sorensen where she had professionally argued against a proposition to address homelessness.

However, when asked whether she believes her background in law has hindered or helped voter’s opinions of her, Park explains, “I really think it has helped me more than hindered me. I bring a very pragmatic approach to problem solving that is not ideological driven, it is just about what is a solution that is actually going to get us the results that we’re looking for. And I think that that pragmatic approach is going to make a really big difference.”

That pragmatic approach has become more and more apparent as Park has worked to find solutions for unhoused individuals while taking time to address the many obstacles throughout this process. “We all want to be mindful of individual autonomy and people’s civil rights, but there are some folks who unfortunately are not well enough to make good decisions sometimes on their own behalf and I don’t think that there is anything humane or compassionate about leaving those folks to suffer and fend for themselves on the streets,” Park said.

(Photo courtesy of Jamie Paige)

Councilwoman Park (right) has been working alongside Mayor Karen Bass (center) to address issues around District 11’s unhoused community.

A widely noted sore point throughout Park’s campaign was her brief support of former sheriff, Alex Villanueva. The disgraced sheriff, coined as “the sheriff who went rogue,” was wrapped up in a plethora of scandals that included the cover-up of officer abuse of inmates, the home raid of the county supervisor Sheila Kuehl, frequent killings by his deputies alongside excessive use of force claims, and consistent mistreatment of press and politicians. Officially, there was no endorsement of Villanueva by Park or any close affiliation between the two. However, Park had agreed with his approach to the homelessness crisis in the past, saying, “I welcomed his help in addressing some of the very serious encampment issues through the sheriff’s department’s host team when our own local leader, my predecessor, refused to do anything about it,” adding, “I have been pretty outspoken in my support of law enforcement and public safety. And that is something that I am not going to waver from.”

Recently, Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness in Los Angeles, and with that, policy makers are being forced to work with a heightened sense of urgency to end encampments. To address the crisis, the Inside Safe Initiative has been unveiled. The Mayor’s official website explains that this program will assess street homelessness across Los Angeles and proactively engage with people living in tents and encampments, based on which locations are most in need and where people are most in crisis. Throughout the start of this process, Mayor Bass and Councilwoman Park have developed a seemingly strong partnership. The two have been consistently working together to move Angelenos living on the streets into mass housing locations, such as the L.A. Grand Hotel. “We are showing the community what it looks like to keep promises and we are showing the community what it looks like to act with the compassion and urgency that this crisis requires,” Park said.

Governor Newsom’s CARE court plan, which is an initiative hopeful to include behavioral health treatment, stabilization medication, and a housing plan, has so far received the initial funding ( the official overall cost statement being a $14 billion multi-year housing investment as well as a more than $10 billion annual investment in community behavioral health services) to fast track the program to December 1st, 2023, which is one year ahead of schedule. “That doesn’t exactly give us a resource today that we can use but it is something that is gonna be a major investment and something that is not going to be the end all be all to address the problem, but it’s absolutely a step in the right direction,” Park said.

While little time has passed since District 11’s latest councilwoman took office, Park has already begun to uphold her campaign promises in addressing the homelessness crisis. And as her political career continues, her ability to maintain those promises is key to her success.