LA City Council Candidates To Face Off In Pacific Palisades

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Candidates for Los Angeles City Council District 11 will participate in a virtual forum and meet and greet Thursday evening to better understand their west side constituents' needs.

Erin Darling and Traci Park took the top two spots in the June 7 primary with 34.67 and 28.97 percent of the vote, respectively. The two moved forward to the Nov. 8 primary to replace outgoing councilman Mike Bonin, who did not run for reelection for his Council District 11 seat.

The district includes much of the west side including Venice, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, West LA, Sawtelle and Westchester.

The candidate forum, hosted by the Pacific Palisades Community Council, will be on Zoom at 6 p.m. Thursday. Watch and participate in the forum using this link.

"We offer this forum so they can learn our priorities, meet some Palisadians who volunteer their time to preserve what we value about the Palisades, and take questions from the board (and audience, time permitting)," the community council said on the event's flyer.

Like many other Los Angeles elections, homelessness, crime and local government dominate the Council District 11 run. Both lawyers living in Venice, Darling grew up in Venice, and Park grew up in Downy and Apple Valley, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The tense election has some constituents calling Darling too liberal and Park too conservative, the Los Angeles Times reported. The two have been directly opposed on key topics like controversial camping ban known as 41.18, with Darling opposing and Park supporting.

The two also stand in opposition on law enforcement, with Park calling to for increased Los Angeles Police Department staffing and Darling criticizing overspending on LAPD, the Lost Angeles Times reported.

Check out Park's campaign website here and Darling's here.