Officials say Lineage will miss warehouse cleanup deadline. Lineage claims city has date wrong

The city-imposed deadline for Lineage to clean up millions of pounds of rotting food from a burned warehouse in Boyle Heights is Friday, and it does not appear that the company will finish the work on time, a city official said.

“I am deeply disappointed and angry,” said Councilmember Ysabel Jurado in a news release. “For nearly two months, families in Boyle Heights have lived with unbearable odors, flies and pests, truck traffic, uncertainty, and disruption to their homes, businesses, and daily lives. They were told there was a deadline, and they had every right to expect that deadline to mean something.”

On Thursday, Jurado called on the mayor’s office to enforce the deadline, which officials say is 5 p.m. Friday, and apply consequences to the company. Lineage has made significant strides and the work is nearly done, but that’s not enough, Jurado said.

“Finishing late does not erase ... everything residents endured getting here,” Jurado said in the statement.

On June 17, a fire began on the roof of the 500,000-square-foot Lineage cold storage facility that gutted the building and destroyed half the structure over several days. On June 29, Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order calling for the company to clear out the food waste within 45 days.

According to a company-run tracker of the work, 93% of the food waste was removed as of Wednesday.

“I recognize that Lineage has made significant progress and may be within days of removing the remaining food,” Jurado said in the statement. “I want them to finish the job immediately. But 93 percent is not 100 percent, and almost on time is not the same as on time.”

Even if the work is completed near the Friday deadline, Jurado said Lineage should face consequences. What exactly that would mean, however, remained unclear.

“I am not going to tell residents who have spent weeks unable to comfortably open their windows, let their children play outside, or operate their businesses normally that ‘almost done’ should be good enough,” Jurado said. “I fully support the Mayor leveraging all the enforcement, cost-recovery, and accountability tools available to make clear that when the City establishes a public-health deadline, corporations are expected to meet it — and there are consequences when they do not.”

Amid growing complaints from neighbors, the L.A. County Department of Public Health conducted a door-to-door outreach survey in the neighborhood surrounding the warehouse.

Last week, Lineage said it expects to spend $80 million to $100 million to clean up the Boyle Heights site. The company has also been accruing fines as air regulators demand the company take additional steps to mitigate the smell and vermin that has been drawn to the site and surrounding neighborhoods.

Since the fire, residents have reported experiencing scratchy throats, headaches and nausea because of the ongoing smell.

At least one Boyle Heights resident, a cancer patient, has filed suit against the company alleging they spent money on air purifiers and utility costs because of the fire.