Days after Lineage missed its 45-day cleanup deadline, dozens of community members from Boyle Heights gathered on Monday to demand action in the aftermath of the warehouse’s fire.
The smell of rotting food plagued the community for weeks as a result of the fire that burned at the cold food storage facility. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gave the company 45 days to remove and clean up 85 million pounds of the rotting food, and the company missed the Aug. 14 deadline.
With frustration mounting in the community, residents addressed the company directly.
“Our communities and our neighborhoods have been battling with environmental racism for decades and we need reparations,” said Marina Gomez, a Boyle Heights community member. “We need these corporations to get out of here forever because this was a catastrophe and we need we need new policies that protect us.”
Teachers now back at school at nearby campuses said they’re concerned about the health of their students.
“Parents, the students — they all got allergies,” said Marisol Grajales, another community member. “They continue to have headaches. They have skin rashes and nosebleeds.”
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman hosted the rally, where she questioned leadership from city hall and the handling of the aftermath.
“Why did the city take weeks to conduct door-to-door outreach?” she asked. “Why did it take more than two weeks to ask for relocation assistance from Lineage?”
Lineage has been tracking the status of its cleanup online and said as of Saturday, it’s 95% complete. The company requested permits to repair and rebuild, but the mayor paused that order pending investigation and impact reviews.