Linda Parks (born February 21, 1957) is an American politician who served as the Ventura County, California, Supervisor representing the second district from January 2003 to December 2022.
Parks earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1980.
Parks began her efforts to preserve the 2,800 acre Ahmanson Ranch from development in 1987 which culminated in the land's purchase by the State of California in 2003.
[2] She was appointed to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in 1993 and cast votes in favor of the Amgen Campus, and the Promenade Shopping Center.
[8] In 1998 she teamed up with Steve Bennett and Richard Francis to lead the successful initiative drives for SOAR, Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources.
Parks ran for re-election in 2000 with the late Edward Masry, the environmental attorney featured in the movie Erin Brockovich.
[16] Despite being substantially outspent, Parks defeated Strickland in a landslide victory, running ahead by more than 20 percentage points, 21,827 votes to 13,789.
In 2018, she started Growing Works, an innovative drought tolerant plant nursery providing job training, employment, and horticultural therapy to people with mental health challenges.
[24] Along with Thousand Oaks Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña, she co-chaired of the Santa Monica Mountains Bicycle Tourism Roundtable that led to a bike lane she championed installed on Potrero Road[25] in Hidden Valley that she was able to name in honor of Michael P. Nosco.
[26][27] She fought to protect the public from harmful pollutants and developed County guidelines that require testing water and soil near the contaminated Boeing Santa Susana Field Laboratory (aka Rocketdyne).
Parks launched her campaign for the newly redrawn California's 26th congressional district in January 2012, following the announcement that Republican Congressman Elton Gallegly would not seek re-election.