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WESTSIDER - LA Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11), long recognized as a leader in addressing the current encampment and RV crisis will receive a challenge from the left in public interest attorney Faizah Malik.
In an INSTAGRAM post on May 15th, Malik said she is running because she "loves LA," and that she wants to raise her kids in a "diverse and inclusive" community with access to abundant affordable housing.
In May of 2021, Malik was a fundraiser for former councilmember Mike Bonin, the controversial predecessor to Park who left the race for reelection after he was nearly recalled in a second attempt to remove him from office. Bonin's tenure on the city council soured due to his unbridled support for encampments on the streets of CD-11 and specifically Venice, where tents and encampments were embedded and dangerous, especially on Flower, Third, Hampton and OFW.
A challenge to Park from the far left was expected, as some describe the Malik candidacy as a clone of Bonin's past tenure on the LA City Council.
With Park's election in 2022, her initiatives and efforts have led to an overall reduction in encampments in CD-11 and specifically Venice.
An attorney by profession and Venice resident, Park has built a formidable network of support with the public safety community and has earned praise for her efforts in leading the city's efforts in the remediation of the neighborhood of the Pacific Palisades where thousands of structures were lost in the January 7th wildfires. Her blunt and straight talking, no-nonsense approach to solving an array of complex issues like the encampments have earned her strong support throughout the district, and in particular Venice.
According to her online resume, Malik is a Managing Attorney of Public Counsel’s housing justice initiatives, leading collaborative efforts across Public Counsel to advance "housing justice." Malik also served as a supervising senior staff attorney with Public Counsel’s Community Development Project, joining the organization in 2018.
Malik is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Michigan Law School, where she received the Jane L. Mixer Award for her commitment to social justice.
You can visit her website at www.faizahforla.com
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-two-year resident of Venice who covers issues pertinent to CD-11 and the Westside. Have a take or a tip? Contact him via e-mail at [email protected])
