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WESTSIDE - Traci Park was a political unknown when she ran for her seat on City Council in 2022. It was a difficult time in CD 11. The then-council member, Mike Bonin, filed a motion proposing that homeless shelters be built on Will Rogers and Dockweiler State Beaches, and in Westchester and Mar Vista Parks. A recall campaign was underway to unseat Mike Bonin, giving Traci Park her moment and she was elected. Now we are learning who she is.
I have written in previous City Watch columns about what appears to be a containment zone for people of low income and people who are unhoused being created in the noise contour of LAX, near and directly under the incoming flight path for huge jets, in the transitional surface area of the north runway, and in the “airport hazard zone” of LAX. This is an area that has very high levels of health-damaging ultrafine particulate matter because of its proximity to the runway and the jets passing overhead. As discussed in my previous columns, the adverse health effects from living there are well researched and well documented. Those include high rates of pre-term labor, childhood asthma, learning problems, pulmonary problems in people of all ages, increased emergency room visits, and even premature death.
One can’t “see” the harmful air pollution, but the noise from jets is deafening as the jets pass very low over the Reading and Ramsgate concentration of Executive Directive 1 as these jets approach for the nearby north runway for landing at LAX. A jet passes over every one or two minutes, like clockwork. Some people wear noise-canceling headphones while out walking their dogs in this area in order to protect their hearing. There are no children playing in yards or riding their bikes. Many residences are fenced off and boarded up as developers buy the land and file ED 1 applications to build eight-story buildings with no onsite parking. There’s not a parking space to be found, and residents try to rent parking spaces anywhere they can. It’s a noisy, polluted, dismal and depressing area with a lot of poverty and racial segregation. The photo for this column shows a jet passing over this Reading/Ramsgate ED 1 project area in Westchester.
This Reading/Ramsgate area and the Downtown Westchester area where most of the council district’s ED 1 projects are concentrated are in the transitional surface area and airport hazard zone of LAX because, unfortunately, sometimes jets do fall out of the sky, as happened with the Air India jet last week. Sometimes they have to make emergency landings. Eight-story high-rises for people of low income with jets flying directly overhead, so low in the sky it almost feels like you can touch them, is not safe, which is why the FAA says housing is an “incompatible use” this close to an airport.
The Westchester and Playa del Rey communities and the Neighborhood Council of Westchester and Playa have asked for an ED 1 exemption for this area so close LAX, for a “distance rule” so ED 1 projects are not concentrated in certain areas, and for a cap of ED 1 projects by ZIP Code to avoid geographic concentration of ED 1 projects. The community has made reasonable requests, and they have all been ignored by Councilwoman Park.
As Ms. Park has been ignoring the situation, there are now nearly 2,000 Executive Directive 1 units in the pipeline for this area of Westchester—so far, which is far more than the number of ED 1 units in the rest of CD 11’s communities combined. Land in toxic areas is less expensive, and the inexpensive land combined with the streamlined process of ED 1 is a developer’s money-making dream. The purpose of ED 1 is to house the homeless and people of low income, and they should not be housed in areas that will harm their health, and we certainly can’t count on developers to protect the public. That is a function of the city that cannot and should not, under any circumstances, be abdicated to developers.
Mayor Bass says she’s granting no more exemptions because ED 1 will soon become a permanent ordinance, and that Traci Park will need to file a motion in City Council in order to get this toxic area exempted from the ED 1 ordinance. The motion to make ED 1 a permanent ordinance is now working its way through City Council. What does Traci Park say? Nothing, until June 5, when she held a virtual town hall for Westchester.
This town hall started with the typical announcement by Traci Park that she loves Westchester, but this time she added that Westchester is her favorite community. She stated her usual “there’s a lot of misinformation going around in Westchester.” Then, to our complete surprise, she stated several times that people who are unhoused will not live in ED 1 projects in Westchester and that these projects will be “workforce housing” for people in the workforce who earn $80k a year. What? A purpose of ED 1 is to house the homeless and since when can a developer legally bar people who are of very low income or homeless from living in an ED 1 project when a purpose of ED 1 is to house people of very low income and the homeless?
Councilmember Park claimed that it is developers and “the market,” and not she, who are deciding where these projects are built, and she blamed the state despite the fact that ED 1 is a city program. The state actually has laws to protect people from public health hazards, and ED 1 allows developers to bypass those laws, and that is, of course, the reason the area should be exempted from ED 1. Blame does not rest with the state, Ms. Park.
Regarding the community’s requests for an ED 1 exemption for this area, Traci Park said she has “passed on your concerns.” What does that mean? That must be one of her most carefully crafted and worded double entendres to date. Does it mean she “passed on” our concerns, as in “doesn’t care” and “isn’t interested” so she’s taking a “pass”? Or does it mean she “passed on” the community’s concerns to someone else. If so, to whom? When? What about the community’s request for a motion for exemption to ensure that the people ED 1 is intended to help are not harmed by being housed in areas with toxic levels of noise and air pollution? What about the health of people who will live there? Has she “passed on” those also?
It appears the purpose of this town hall was for Ms. Park to use her position to calm the people of Westchester about the sheer number of ED 1 units and the concentration of these units in Westchester by saying the units will be “workforce housing,” with the hope of removing their concerns and opposition.
Further, Ms. Park ignores the most important point. The point is that regardless of who lives there, whether than are members or the workforce of low income, people with disabilities who are not employed, seniors who are not employed, or children, these units are being built in a toxic area and people living there are at high risk for adverse health consequences, and it is morally wrong and a violation of laws and the principles of affirmatively furthering fair housing to house people of low income there. Developers and the “market” should not have control, and developer income certainly should not be prioritized over people’s health.
At one point during the town hall, Traci Park literally threw up her hands when asked what can be done because, obviously, it is all the developers’ and the market’s doing and “the state” and she just can’t control developers or markets or the state. We know that nothing happens in a council member’s district without the council member’s approval, and it is disingenuous for Ms. Park to say she can’t do anything in this case. She could and should file a motion for an exemption from ED 1 to prevent harm to people, but it seems clear she is not going to do that.
On Saturday, Ms. Park informed us that she has scheduled another town hall for Westchester on June 25, this one featuring Public Works staff. Most city incentives exempt developers from paying for infrastructure improvements. Is that what is going on? This is looking like a well thought out plan for a Westchester containment zone, and it’s time to put the city to work on providing the infrastructure to support that containment zone.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Park is actively opposing every affordable housing project in Venice, and city is being sued for that opposition. A Bridge Home in Venice has been shut down, but it appears the 41.18 zone consisting of a 1,000-foot radius around the former Bridge Home remains and there is ongoing enforcement and ongoing homeless sweeps in that “41.18” zone. The Ramada Homekey in Venice has been shut down for a couple years, with no specific plans for reopening. The 41.18 zone around that Homekey is probably still in place also. The Venice-Dell project has been declared dead by Traci Park, and that project is tied up in litigation.
It appears that Ms. Park is creating a containment zone in Westchester because she wants a place to house any and all homeless who come to CD 11, and any people of low income who live or work in her district, and she has decided that place will be Westchester, regardless of the health effects. Meanwhile, her whitest and most affluent communities with the cleanest air have their exemptions from ED 1, and therefore they reserve the right to oppose in any homeless housing or affordable housing project in their communities, speak up in community meetings, attend the required public hearings for the projects, and file lawsuits in opposition, thereby tying up approval of affordable housing projects for years. About half of the land area of CD 11 is exempted from ED 1. Developers will naturally take the path of least resistance—which is to build ED 1 projects in low-cost land in toxic areas of Westchester because there is no exemption to protect people there, no public hearings, no community input, and limited legal recourse. This is why exemption is necessary.
Ms. Park is on record opposing “social experiments.” This social experiment involves exempting the whitest and most affluent communities in coastal zone and fire zones, and then claiming developers are the ones deciding where the low income and homeless housing will go. This is not a function that should be delegated to developers, and they are not to blame for doing what they do—making money within the city rules. It’s time to stop this social experiment.
U.S. Census data shows that a high percentage of people who are Latino in this area where ED 1 projects are being concentrated, which probably explains the recent ICE raids in Westchester a week ago. A couple roofers were taken into off a roof and into custody right in this ED 1 area of Reading and Ramsgate, and car wash employees and a fruit vender were taken into custody across the street from the ED 1 area in Downtown Westchester.
The City Planning Commission’s value statement includes the following: “Equitable planning demands that race does not determine whether or not one thrives in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Planning Commission prioritizes a planning process that centers the needs of those most harmed by systemic racism. Our goal is the creation of affordable, prosperous, resilient and healthy communities where all Angelenos experience the feeling that they belong.” This statement is consistent with local, state and federal law.
There will be no thriving in this toxic area. It will not be a resilient and healthy community. It will be a containment zone in a toxic area. Let’s call this what it is: A plan to put people of low income and unhoused individuals in a toxic area, blame it on the developers, and then begin even more aggressive homeless sweeps in Venice.
It is also noteworthy that during Ms. Park’s tenure, Westchester has become the community in CD 11 with the most unsheltered homeless, the most homeless shelter beds, and the most RVs used as dwellings, while the sweeps continue in Venice and areas other than Westchester. Is Ms. Park creating a ready customer base in Westchester for these ED 1 units she is watching developers build here? Once Ms. Park has the beds that she needs according to the Alliance settlement agreement, she will undoubtedly move homeless from their homes throughout the council district to Westchester. She will undoubtedly establish services in Westchester. And you won’t see many people of low income or many unhoused in most of the rest of the council district.
Mayor Bass, the people of Westchester invite you to come and talk to us. This is your Executive Directive, and it is being used for purposes that you did not intend. It is being used concentrate people who are unhoused and of low income in Westchester. It is being used to put people who are unhoused and of low income in a toxic area that will be harmful to their health, while the areas with the freshest air are exempted. It is being used to harm the people it was supposed to help.
It appears that Traci Park is not going to help, and it appears that she has had this plan in the works from “Day 1” and she is not going to change it. Mayor Bass, you are a seasoned politician with decades of experience and you are a problem solver. As a former physician’s assistant, you know how toxins affect people, and particularly the very young and the very old. Come see for yourself the injustice and the inequity. Westchester needs you because we cannot count on Traci Park.
(Rosa Padilla is a retired trial attorney and lifelong Los Angeles resident who has been a vocal advocate for her Westchester community, challenging city upzoning plans that threaten local neighborhoods with overdevelopment and environmental risks.)
