Boyle Heights residents on Monday are expected to request financial, social and health-related support from Lineage Logistics as recovery efforts continue in the aftermath of the June 17 fire at the cold-storage warehouse operated by the company.
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City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, announced Monday that a private meeting would be held between Lineage and a coalition of community leaders.
Boyle Heights residents are expected to present demands directly to Lineage, consisting of “emergency housing support, smoke and toxin remediation, relief for small businesses and street vendors, funding for community health providers, stronger community notification, and clear, science-based information throughout the recovery,” according to Jurado’s office.
At 5 p.m., following the meeting, Jurado and some residents will provide details on their discussion, the priorities presented to Lineage, the company’s response and the next steps in the recovery effort.
The meeting comes two days after city and county leaders sent a scathing letter to Lineage, demanding that the company take a series of steps to remediate public health damage caused by the eight-day blaze.
The letter from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, County Supervisor Hilda Solis and Jurado — addressed to Greg Lehmkuhl, president and CEO of Lineage Inc. — accused Lineage Logistics of failing to commit to “the most basic steps of sharing comprehensive, real-time data about the volume of rotting food and debris being removed from the site.”
The letter also came one day after planned demolition work was halted at the facility at 1400 S. Los Palos St., with Lineage officials citing concerns about preserving evidence amid the ongoing investigation into the cause of the massive fire.
The letter says Bass “is fully prepared to deploy the full measure of her executive power to champion and protect the community of Boyle Heights, as well as unincorporated East Los Angeles, in partnership with Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who took action through an urgency motion on June 23.”
Bass, Solis and Jurado listed several demands such as providing immediate, temporary housing for Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles residents impacted by the fire, the creation of a smoke and toxin remediation program at no cost to renters, homeowners and business owners, and to fund qualified community health centers to provide mobile medical clinics to the community.
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They called for an enhanced notification schedule with 48-hour advanced notice of all major hauling activities, demolition phases, or operations likely to generate dust, odor, noise or traffic.
Additionally, the three elected officials urged Lineage to establish a multilingual hotline and claims center for residents and businesses.
They also urged, among other things, that the company and contractors attend and participate in community meetings to directly inform and take feedback from residents and business owners in the neighborhood.
The fire broke out June 17 and raged for eight days, sending a massive amount of smoke into the atmosphere and prompting warnings for nearby residents to stay inside.
The city, county and state all issued local emergency declarations in the days following the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Lineage officials have said they believe the fire started while a subcontractor working for Altus Power, which owns the solar array on top of the building, was conducting tests on the panels.
Altus Power has stated its first concern is for the community affected by the fire.
“We continue to cooperate fully with local officials in their ongoing investigation,” the company said.
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