Mayor Bass pens another letter to Lineage after warehouse fire fallout: "Boyle Heights did not choose this disaster."

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass penned another letter to the Lineage shareholders on Tuesday, hoping to inform them of the ongoing fallout from June's warehouse fire that has left a litany of issues that impact the daily lives of Boyle Heights residents living near the facility. 

"When fire engulfed Lineage's cold-storage facility in Boyle Heights on June 17, the impact extended far beyond the loss of a warehouse," Bass' letter said. "For days, firefighters worked to battle the blaze. To this day, the putrid, offensive odor coming from the tens of millions of pounds of rotting food in the warehouse is unbearable for families. And now, flies and other pests have infested the community."

Her letter comes just days after she issued an Emergency Executive Order directing city officials to pause plans submitted by Lineage officials to rebuild the warehouse, and days before schools in the area are preparing to reopen for the new school year. 

"Small businesses have lost customers. Families have experienced nausea, migraines, and other illnesses," Bass said. 

The letter goes on to note that while no company chooses to experience a fire, it's up to company leaders to choose how they respond, which reflects their leadership, operational preparedness and corporate governance. 

"Unfortunately, Lineage's response has fallen short," the letter said. "Multiple government agencies have served Lineage notices of violation relating to public health and safety."

Since the cleanup process began on July 7, nearly three weeks after the fire first broke out, Lineage has been cited for rodent and pest control violations by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and had multiple notices of violations issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District due to the rotten, garbage-like odor after the fire, which took more than a week to contain. 

Related: Boyle Heights residents criticize city and Lineage leaders during town hall meeting

In a previous letter, Bass demanded urgency from Lineage officials in the cleanup process. She laid out a list of demands that would help residents in the surrounding area, including a detailed plan for material removal, odor and vector control, amongst other things.

"From the onset, the CIty established clear expectations. Lineage was expected to remove all rotting food promptly, complete remediation under public oversight, cooperate fully with regulatory agencies, communicate transparently with the community, support environmental monitoring, and provide meaningful assistance to impacted residents, workers, schools, and businesses," Bass' letter said. "These are not extraordinary expectations." 

On Monday, Lineage officials said that approximately 80% of the cleanup had been completed and that they expected the process to be finished by the end of the following week. A day later, they estimated that the cleanup would cost somewhere between $80 and $100 million as they continued to remove the nearly 85 million pounds of rotten food

"Residents and local business owners deserve confidence that recovery will be completed as soon as possible," Bass said. "Shareholders deserve confidence that management has adequately prepared for and can responsibly manage a crisis of this scale."

In her letter, Bass said that the incident is "no longer simply about a warehouse fire," and that it now raises questions about Lineage's executive leadership and crisis management. She urged shareholders to ask company leaders several questions revolving around the remediation and cleanup process. 

"Boyle Heights did not choose this disaster. Lineage's response is a matter of choice," Bass said. 

The mayor has demanded accountability from the company since the beginning of the incident, saying just days after the fire first broke out that those responsible for the blaze would be "held accountable."

Bass letter comes just hours after Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a series of motions that sought to impose stronger financial penalties against corporations that commit serious violations. The seven-motion package focused on immediate relief and cleanup, accountability and transparency and long-term oversight and community power.