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MONDAY, JULY 13-JULY 19, 2026
VOL. 15,
NO. 284
County seeks commitments from warehouse company following Boyle Heights fire
Real estate tax-cut proposal pulled from ballot in last-minute deal
By Joe Taglieri
By Ben Christopher, CalMatters
T
he Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 5-0 to send a five-signature letter to Lineage Logistics requesting a written response within 48 hours outlining the company’s plans to support recovery efforts following a June 17 warehouse fire that spewed toxic chemicals into the air in Boyle Heights and nearby communities. The vote to approve a motion by Board Chair and District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis came one day after a group of Boyle Heights residents demanded financial, social and health-related support from Lineage Logistics, which operates the cold-storage warehouse that burned. The motion by Solis, who represents Boyle Heights and communities in northeast LA County, seeks commitments for continued financial and logistical support for residents, workers, businesses and county-led recovery efforts in Boyle Heights, unincorporated East Los Angeles and western areas of the city of Commerce. The board also requested detailed plans for debris removal, environmental monitoring, hazardous material disposal, odor control and other remediation work. The motion did not specify dollar amounts sought, and it was unclear Thursday if supervisors had sent the letter yet or if Lineage had responded. Solis on Tuesday requested county departments to update the board on cleanup operations, environmental monitoring, public health guidance and assistance for workers and businesses, according to a statement from her office. She questioned officials Tuesday about debris removal, public health protections, air and water quality monitoring, assistance for displaced workers and small businesses, reimbursement
joet@civicnewsgroup.com
This story was originally published by CalMatters.
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Community members led by LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, at podium, along with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, front row, call for Lineage Logistics to pay for recovery efforts following a large warehouse fire in Boyle Heights. | Photo courtesy of Hilda Solis/Facebook
for county response costs and long-term recovery planning. “The emergency did not end when the flames were extinguished,” Solis said in a statement. “Residents are still living with the impacts of this fire and deserve clear answers about the cleanup, the protections in place to safeguard public health, and the support available to help them recover. The county has mobilized significant resources to respond, but we cannot carry this effort alone. Lineage must provide the transparency, financial support and partnership needed to move this recovery forward and restore the community’s confidence that this cleanup is being carried out safely and responsibly.” Since the fire, LA County has teamed with community-based organizations, federally qualified health centers and county departments to support affected
residents through the county’s Community Resiliency Center and neighborhood resource sites, officials said. Over 9,000 air purifiers, food boxes, water crates and N95 masks have been distributed, along with health screenings and connections to County services, Solis’ office reported. The county has also deployed 64 disaster service workers to support recovery operations. The motion approved Tuesday requests that Lineage help sustain the Community Resiliency Center and other county-supported response sites by providing food, water, N95 masks, air purifiers and other key resources. It also seeks temporary and longterm housing assistance, funding for community health services and community-based organizations, a multilingual hotline and See Boyle Heights fire Page 31
claims center, and participation in community meetings with residents. The motion also requests a comprehensive cleanup plan from Lineage that includes debris removal benchmarks, hazardous material disposal, air and water quality monitoring, environmental oversight and truck hauling operations designed to minimize impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. On Monday evening, a group that included Boyle Heights residents and City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado met with Lineage representatives to voice concerns about the fire’s aftermath. The residents requested “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
controversial taxchopping ballot measure was pulled from California’s November ballot in a last-minute compromise that left many legislative Democrats feeling put out. The sudden change of electoral fortunes came after a week of frantic backroom haggling by the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, state legislative leaders, housing advocates, unions and business interests to convince the proposition’s sponsor to withdraw it before Thursday’s deadline. The now-abandoned proposition to cap real estate taxes and make it harder for local governments to raise other revenues was sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a longstanding anti-tax advocacy group. In exchange for pulling the measure, the governor’s office and legislative leaders agreed to put a different constitutional amendment on the ballot that would raise the share of votes needed to pass certain local taxes. Democrats also agreed to remove another constitutional amendment from the ballot that would have made certain tax-limiting measures much harder to pass. Jon Coupal, president of the taxpayers association, said he was as surprised as anyone by the 11th-hour outcome after putting out a statement hours earlier declaring the negotiations dead and vowing to take the original measure to the ballot even as members of his own coalition were turning against him. But after days at an See Tax-cut Page 05
impasse, Newsom’s office “put something on the table that is pretty pleasing to us,” he said. “Which surprises me.” A spokesperson from the governor’s office said the deal will free cities and other jurisdictions focus on priorities instead of cuts. “With the (Jarvis measure) off the ballot, cities and counties can keep delivering the services Californians count on — from keeping teachers in classrooms and ensuring strong fire and emergency response, to providing health care for children and families,” spokesperson Tara Gallegos said. California election law gave ballot measure sponsors until 5 p.m. on Thursday to voluntarily withdraw their measures. The outline of the new deal only emerged in the early afternoon. That gave the Legislature scant time to consider the grand bargain, discuss it in conference and then ram the changes through. “Politics is about choices, and we often must navigate challenging decisions,” said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who introduced one of the compromise bills. “Big picture: the vote today protects vital resources for our local communities and it removes the greatest threat to our cities and their fiscal health.” The deal gave Republicans a rare opportunity to celebrate in California’s Capitol. “This is a huge win for every Californian,” Bakersfield Sen. Shannon Grove said in a statement. Why Democrats made a deal The proposition was the