Opinion: The community demands that Lineage leaves Boyle Heights

As concerned Angelenos, we stand in solidarity with the impacted residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles caused by the  Lineage Fire of June 17, 2026, and the ongoing devastation .

We also stand in solidarity with the courageous parents, students and grassroots activists, led by  Eastside padres contra la privatización , demanding that Lineage leaves Boyle Heights.

To protect public health, the only option is the permanent closure of Lineage in Boyle Heights, as it represents a dangerous risk to the residents of Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Apart from the eight-day fire, Lineage’s poor recovery efforts to clean up 88 million pounds of rotten food caused an unbearable stench, rodents and flies in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. This has jeopardized the well-being of the impacted residents and local businesses.

In addition, Lineage’s existence in Boyle Heights contributes to the accumulated impact of pollution in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. This is based on the increased traffic congestion and diesel emissions from the large trucks that Lineage heavily relies on to conduct business at its enormous,  cold-storage warehouse. This  491,000-square-foot, cold-storage warehouse can easily fit about nine football fields.      

While elected officials (local, county, state and federal levels) and the AQMD (Air Quality Management District) seek to mitigate the health and economic damages that Lineage has caused in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, leaving the doors open for the multi-billion-dollar corporation to eventually rebuild, the impacted residents—who represent the victims and true experts in this case of environmental racism—are demanding that it leave. This would never occur where the privileged reside, like Brentwood,  Bel-Air  and Beverly Hills!

Given that zoning, dating back to the early 1900s, was originally implemented to regulate land uses—such as separating polluting facilities from residents to protect their health—the fact that Lineage is literally located across the street from working-class Latinas/os violates its original intent. Elected officials and regulatory agencies must remedy this clear case of environmental racism. Let’s start with rezoning this district.

In closing, although there is an emergency executive order at the city level pausing Lineage’s application to rebuild, more needs to be done to ensure that Lineage leaves Boyle Heights. The application shouldn’t even be considered until the city, other levels of government (county, state, federal) and regulatory agencies conduct a 10-year longitudinal study on the health and economic impacts of the disaster on the impacted residents in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. The study should also incorporate the  increased traffic congestion and diesel emissions of this enormous,  cold-storage warehouse . This should also include an environmental impact report.