Los Angeles officials say the cleanup at a Lineage Logistics cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights missed the city’s deadline, setting up a broader legal push by the city to hold the company accountable. Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday night that the work was not finished and criticized Lineage for failing to meet the public health timeline set by the city.
The trouble began after a June 17 fire at the 500,000-square-foot warehouse on Los Palos Street, which shut off power to two large freezers and left roughly 88 million pounds of food to spoil in the summer heat. The resulting stench and pest problems triggered more than 4,000 air-quality complaints from nearby communities, including Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.
Bass had ordered the remaining food removed within 45 days, by Friday, Aug. 14. One heavily damaged freezer has been cleared, but about 7% of the rotting food remains in the other large freezer, and company cleanup has been moving at about 1% to 1.5% a day, according to the article.
With the deadline now passed, Los Angeles City Hall is preparing to pursue legal responsibility and seek to recover costs. The article says the city is moving ahead with a lawsuit and asset-seizure efforts against Lineage Logistics as the cleanup continues.
