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Warehouse company, local officials face residents at tense meeting in Boyle Heights
VOL. 17, 15,
Horvath calls on LA County to back lawsuit challenging ParamountWarner Bros. deal; Writers Guild sues to block takeover
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@civicnewsgroup.com
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os Angeles County and city officials along with representatives from Lineage Logistics faced a tense audience last week in Boyle Heights, as community members sought answers on recovery efforts and support for residents following a massive fire at a warehouse facility that has caused concerns about local air quality and public health. During the evening meeting on the July 9, LA Mayor Karen Bass said she plans to spend more time in Boyle Heights, including at night, after residents reported odors from Lineage's warehouse get worse after dark. Bass and Hilda Solis, LA County Board of Supervisors chair whose District 1 includes Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles communities, were booed by visibly angry residents. The mayor apologized to the audience at Stevenson Middle School for the confusion surrounding the city's response, acknowledging that the smoke generated by the fire was harmful. Bass promised multiple environmental investigations into the blaze that burned for eight days the Lineage cold storage warehouse at 1400 S. Los Palos St. She also pledged to survey warehouses throughout LA's Eastside, South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley for possible environmental hazards and risks, while holding Lineage and other businesses accountable for
Supervisor Hilda Solis, at podium, speaks during a town hall meeting in Boyle Heights following a massive warehouse fire that is still emitting foul-smelling, possibly toxic fumes. | Photo courtesy of Supervisor Hilda Solis' office
harm caused to adjacent communities. Jeff Rivera, chief operations officer for Lineage Global, also apologized. "I'm sorry for the disruption this has caused," Rivera told community members. He said the company was expanding the fire response by doing door-todoor outreach with people who live closest to the warehouse and providing housing assistance via 211 LA, grocery vouchers, cash financial aid, air conditioners, air purifiers and assistance paying utility bills. Rivera also announced plans to launch a community support hotline this week. He estimated 200 workers were doing cleanup work around the clock and approximately 1.4 million pounds of fire-damaged material has been removed thus far, another 3.2 million
pounds is staged for removal and demolition has begun. According to Rivera, the city's 45-day goal for completing cleanup efforts was aggressive, noting similar fires can require as long as six months for remediation. During the public comment portion of the meeting, residents questioned the city's response, medical care, relocation assistance and the potential long-term health effects of the fire. Boyle Heights resident Maria Lopez urged officials to experience the conditions firsthand, saying, "I would like for you to come sleep where we sleep, so you can experience what we have to go through." Other meeting attendees wondered why the facility
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should be allowed to reopen, complained about communication failures and demanded stronger protections for surrounding communities. Residents also asked why lessons apparently had not been learned after a 2024 fire at the same warehouse. Officials from the South Coast Air Quality Management District told meeting attendees that monitoring during the fire found no elevated levels of metals or hydrogen fluoride. According to Solis's office, county staff, volunteers and community organizations have distributed more than 10,000 air purifiers, plus N95 masks, food, water and other essential supplies. "Emergency relief is only the beginning," Solis said in a statement following the community meeting.
See Warehouse fire Page 31
os Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath introduced a motion Tuesday calling for the county to support a lawsuit filed by California and 11 other states looking to block the proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance. Also Tuesday, the Writers Guild of America filed a lawsuit seeking to cancel the deal. "For too long, working people have borne the cost of corporate consolidation, while jobs disappear and production leaves our region," Horvath said in a statement. "Our economic analysis shows this merger could put thousands of local jobs at risk. As the global capital of the creative economy, Los Angeles County has a responsibility to help make the case against this merger by providing the facts, supporting Attorney General (Rob) Bonta's litigation, and standing up for the workers, small businesses, and communities that depend on this industry." The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on Horvath's motion next week. The motion calls for the county to support the lawsuit filed Monday in Northern California, possibly through the provision of legal support or the filing of an amicus brief in court. Earlier this year, at the direction of the Board
of Supervisors, the county Department of Economic Opportunity prepared a report on possible impacts of the proposed merger. That report estimated that the move could lead to nearly 2,500 job losses in the county, and about 6,000 globally. The jobs at risk would mainly be in corporate, tech, real estate and other shared functions due to duplicative roles across the two companies, according to the report. The department noted in the report that its job-loss estimates should not be read as a layoff forecast, saying the document only defines the scale of possible employment impacts that may be subject to consolidation. In announcing the lawsuit Monday, Bonta argued that the merger, which has already been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, would lead to higher prices for consumers and a reduction in entertainment content. Bonta said the $110 billion merger — considered one of the biggest media deals in history — would put one company in charge of nearly one-third of all theatrical motion picture and basic cable programming. Other states joining the lawsuit were Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. Paramount Skydance
See Paramount-Warner Bros. Page 31