Voters guide: Los Angeles City Council District 11 race - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement
California

Cheat sheet for the 2022 Westside L.A. City Council District 11 primary race

A man tries to maintain his balance on the slack line in Venice Beach as the sun sets.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )
By Times staff
Share via

The District 11 Los Angeles City Council race has been called both the most competitive of the cycle and a battle for the soul of the Westside.

The field in the district includes as many as half a dozen candidates thought to have a decent chance of finishing in the top two, thereby earning a spot in a November runoff.

The district

Covering some of the most affluent areas in L.A., the district stretches from Pacific Palisades to Los Angeles International Airport and inland to Mar Vista, Brentwood and West L.A. But one key battleground is Venice, where debates over the homeless crisis have divided residents and sparked a failed recall effort against current Councilman Mike Bonin. Beside homelessness, inequity and housing, crime and development have been big issues.

Advertisement

Background

Bonin, one of L.A.’s most liberal council members, became a lightning rod as homeless camps multiplied in parts of the district, especially the famed oceanside boardwalk in Venice. Bonin has been praised by some advocates for his empathic view of the unhoused. Critics depict him as out of touch and more sympathetic to the unhoused than he is to encampment neighbors.

SANTA MONICA, CA - SEPTEMBER 14: "I VOTED" stickers for voters casting their ballots in a vote center at Santa Monica College as polls open Tuesday morning for Californians to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be removed from office and, if so, who should replace him in a recall election. Santa Monica College on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021 in Santa Monica, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

Politics

What’s on the ballot in California’s 2022 primary election?

California’s 2022 primary election ballot includes races for governor, attorney general, the Legislature and Congress, as well as local contests.

Whoever wins the election faces a vexing challenge.

As Times columnist Steve Lopez observed: “Whoever succeeds Bonin is going to find that the fractured, multi-agency homeless services bureaucracy is an incorrigible beast. Then there’s the housing crisis, abject poverty, mental health service failures and other forces beyond direct control of a council member. In many instances, helping someone can be complicated.â€

Advertisement

The candidates

  • Erin Darling, civil rights lawyer
  • Greg Good, a former member of the city’s Board of Public Works
  • Allison Holdorff Polhill, a former aide to school board member Nick Melvoin
  • Midsanon “Soni†Lloyd, school teacher
  • Jim Murez, president of the Venice Neighborhood Council
  • Mike Newhouse, real estate attorney
  • Traci Park, an attorney who specializes in municipal law
  • Mat Smith, a medical delivery driver.

Fundraising

Here are the latest totals compiled by the L.A. Ethics Commission | Candidate statements of economic interest

Reading list

David Minasian stands at his tent at homeless encampment outside Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library in May 2022.

Homelessness and ‘the soul of the Westside’: Stakes high in race to replace Mike Bonin

VENICE, CA-OCTOBER 17, 2018: Anthony Wells, right, a Venice resident for the past 30 years, voices his opposition to Mayor Eric Garretti, Councilman Mike Bonin and LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore during a town hall at Westminster Elementary School in Venice, to discuss plans to put a homeless shelter in a vacant MTA lot in Venice. Wells asked them why all the money is being spent on short term beds when they could be spending it instead on putting people into pre-existing homes, which he believes is far less expensive. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Column: The anger that erupted in Venice in 2018 is shaping the race for Mike Bonin’s seat in 2022

Councilman Mike Bonin attends the grand opening ceremony at Palisades Village on September 22, 2018 in Pacific Palisades.

Westside Councilman Mike Bonin says he won’t seek reelection

VENICE, CA - APRIL 16, 2021 - - Bicyclists ride past several homeless tents along the bike path in Venice on April 16, 2021. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Q&A: How Councilman Mike Bonin plans to fix Venice’s homelessness crisis

PLAYA DEL REY, CA - JUNE 17, 2021: Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin speaks during the opening ceremony for Argo Drain Sub-Basin Facility Project on June 17, 2021 in Playa Del Rey, California. Bonin is the subject of a recall because of the Venice homeless situation. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Mike Bonin recall drive failed to turn in enough valid signatures, city clerk says

VENICE BEACH, CALIF. - JAN. 18, 2022. A homeless encampment has been established in the median of Venive Boulevard in Venice Beach. A majority of people who were living along the oceanfront boardwalk have moved to temporary housing or further inland after authorities conducted a massive cleanup last summer. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds of tents that lined Venice Beach are gone, but residents say job is far from done

VENICE, CA - JULY 30, 2021 - - A homeless man sleeps on a couch while sprectators watch as sanitation crews clear a homeless encampment along Ocean Front Walk in Venice on July 30, 2021. The sanitation crew eventually woke the man and removed the couch. Over a dozen sanitation workers with the City of Los Angeles and contract workers with Beaches and Harbors clear homeless encampments and debris a few yards at a time on the beach near Thornton Avenue and Ocean Front Walk. The sweep began around 8 a.m. as members of St. Joseph Center and LAHSA tried to arrange housing for homeless who have been living on the beach. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

How L.A. cleared most Venice Beach homeless camps and sheltered many unhoused people

Dixie Moore, 47, who is homeless, assess her situation before trying to move her encampment in Venice

Homeless camps, trash and crime have transformed Venice boardwalk, eluding easy solutions

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 31: Arthur Kraus strolls along the boardwalk in front of his home, where he has seen the gradual transformation to a sprawling homeless encampment in Venice on Monday, May 31, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. He and his wife have lived in the area for years and lately have avoided walking outside their home at certain hours. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Column: Their Venice home feels unsafe. They blame public officials, not homeless Angelenos

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 11: Scott Culbertson, executive director of Friends of the Ballona Wetlands walks past signs placed on campers as he gives a tour of some of the destruction caused by homeless encampments that are encroaching on the Freshwater Marsh in Ballona Wetlands. Play Del Rey on Friday, June 11, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

Trash, needles and fire. He’s watching homelessness destroy the Ballona Wetlands

Advertisement

Readings from other publications

Candidates united in anger of state of the Westside
(Santa Monica Daily Press)

A look at the District 11 race
(LAist)

Big money in a council race
(LA Magazine)

Venice and the war over homelessness
(N.Y. Times)

Policing and Venice
(The Atlantic)

NIMBYs. a homeless crisis and a iconic L.A. landmark
(Curbed)

black background with white text that reads "LA Times"
SANTA MONICA, CA - SEPTEMBER 14: Vote center lead Rachel Hadlock-Piltz, prepares "I VOTED" stickers for voters casting their ballots in a vote center at Santa Monica College as polls open Tuesday morning for Californians to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be removed from office and, if so, who should replace him in a recall election. "I really enjoy this part of the job," Rachel said. Santa Monica College on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021 in Santa Monica, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

How to vote in the 2022 primary election in California

Illustration of the California map with a ballot icon

Election 2020: Where to vote in Southern California

black background with white text that reads "LA Times"
Illustration of a voting box surrounded by coins that depict some of the biggest issues voters will be considering.

L.A. Times Editorial Page Endorsements

More to Read

California

More From the Los Angeles Times

Most Read in California

Advertisement