Mayor Bass to CEO of Lineage, Inc.: “You Must Act with Urgency to Protect the People Who Live Around the Industrial Facilities You Operate”

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New Letter Calls for Commitment from Company to Provide Immediate Housing for Impacted Residents, Funding for Health Centers and Community-Based Organizations, and Concrete Plans for the Urgent Removal of all Rotting Food Waste

LOS ANGELES - Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis today sent the following letter to Greg Lehmkuhl, President and CEO of Lineage, Inc., demanding that the company act with urgency to protect the people of Boyle Heights and the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County.

Read the full letter here.

July 4, 2026

Greg Lehmkuhl

President and CEO

Lineage, Inc.

46500 Humboldt Drive

Novi, MI 48377

RE: Support for Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles Residents

Mr. Lehmkuhl:

The fire at the warehouse you operate in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles has severely impacted and harmed the families and businesses who call the neighborhood home. Residents' quality of life remains significantly diminished and concerns remain about impacts on overall health, water quality, and air quality, not to mention the extraordinary odor and infestations that make the area around the warehouse unbearable. Families are living in close proximity to decomposing meat and other spoiling foods after enduring the conditions created by the warehouse fire itself. Every day, they are forced to live with what they can see, what they can smell, and the uncertainty of what new dangers tomorrow's cleanup may bring.

You have stated that you are "committed to this community during this recovery, and beyond." We are asking that you back up that commitment with concrete actions and partnership.

Notably, your representatives have not committed to the most basic steps of sharing comprehensive, real-time data about the volume of rotting food and debris being removed from the site.

Mayor Bass is fully prepared to deploy the full measure of her executive power to champion and protect the community of Boyle Heights, as well as unincorporated East Los Angeles, in partnership with Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who took action through an urgency motion on June 23. The more than 80 directives included in Mayor Bass' Emergency Executive Orders, along with Board Chair Solis' motion, will establish a centralized command structure to execute aggressive remediation timelines, surge resources to support impacted residents, workers, and businesses, deploy mobile health screening and mental health stations in the community, pursue legal options for cost recovery, strengthen environmental oversight of industrial facilities, and more. We also need your explicit and concrete commitment to fully participate in these efforts, including the following immediate actions:

• Provide immediate, temporary housing for Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles residents impacted by the recent fire. Acceptable options may include hotel rooms, short term rentals, and corporate housing provided to households located within the disaster perimeter, including all households affected by the current odor, vector, and other issues. This solution must enable residents to remain connected to their jobs, schools, healthcare providers, and daily routines while recovery efforts are underway. The company should immediately provide these temporary housing options at no cost to affected residents and maintain them until a safe, stable, and longer-term housing solution has been secured by your company for all affected residents.

• Provide long-term housing assistance for impacted Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles residents and their pets and service animals for the duration of the remediation efforts. The company should partner with an experienced relocation or housing provider to secure an adequate supply of longer-term housing for residents and their pets and service animals that must enable residents to remain connected to their jobs, schools, healthcare, and other essential aspects of daily life.

• Create a smoke and toxin remediation program at no cost to renters, homeowners, and business owners. The program should remove smoke residue, hazardous chemicals, soil contaminants, and other pollutants, and remediate other damage caused by the fire or its aftermath. This remediation should help quickly restore homes, businesses, and public rights of way to a safe and healthy living environment.

• Fund federally-qualified community health centers that are providing mobile medical clinics in the community, including but not limited to Oscar Romero Clinic, St. John's, Via Care, JWCH Institute Inc., AltaMed, and El Proyecto del Barrio, as well as the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

• Fund community-based organizations that are providing emergency financial support and other resources to residents and local businesses.

• Establish a community notification schedule with 48-hour advance notice of all major hauling activities, demolition phases, or operations likely to generate dust, odor, noise, or traffic so that residents can prepare their homes, families, and businesses for disruption.

• Establish a dedicated, multilingual hotline and claims center to provide residents and businesses with a single point of contact for information, claims, and case management throughout the recovery.

• Make a firm commitment for Lineage leaders and contractors to attend and participate in community meetings to directly inform and take feedback from residents and business owners in this neighborhood. The first two community meetings are scheduled for Monday, July 6 and Thursday, July 9.

To date, despite many requests, we have yet to receive detailed and complete plans. Therefore, without further delay:

• Provide a comprehensive and detailed material removal schedule with phase milestones, not to exceed 90 days for full interior clearance.

• Provide a complete daily manifest of all materials to be removed, including but not limited to estimated material weight, material category (e.g., burned food, rotted food, construction debris, hazardous materials, refrigerants, solar panel materials, etc.). This manifest should also include the proposed disposal destination and truck wash decontamination plans.

• Provide detailed, complete, andeffective odor and vector control plans to mitigate secondary public health impacts to surrounding neighborhoods. This should be done immediately and should continue until the site is free of odors and pests.

• Provide a detailed and complete fire water runoff management plan to prevent contaminated leachate from entering storm drains, the LA River, or other waterways. This plan must include testing and ensure that water is analyzed and results are interpreted and published daily.

• Provide a detailed and complete air quality monitoring plan during demolition and hauling operations with real-time data reported to SCAQMD and analyzed and interpreted and published daily.

• Provide detailed and complete plans for removal of hazardous materials, including but not limited to asbestos. This plan must include testing and ensure that results are analyzed and interpreted and that results are published daily.

• Identify all engaged certified waste haulers, biohazard disposal contractors, and environmental remediation firms.

• Retain a certified industrial hygienist or licensed environmental professional of record responsible for site oversight and submit their names and affiliations along with their agreed upon scope of work and any associated timelines.

• Publish designated operating hours for truck hauling to minimize impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, schools, and businesses, and provide advance notice of any significant changes.

We will not stand by while families in the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated Los Angeles County are forced to endure the serious impacts of an ongoing industrial disaster in their own backyard. As the leader of a significant global for-profit enterprise, you must act with urgency to protect the people who live around the industrial facilities you operate at all times - particularly during serious crises like the one impacting the community of Boyle Heights now. For these reasons, we call on you to act swiftly and with urgency to fulfill the above requests.

Sincerely,

KAREN BASS
Mayor

YSABEL JURADO

Councilmember, Fourteenth District

HILDA L. SOLIS

Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, First District

cc: Carol Parks, General Manager, Emergency Management Department