Lineage Logistics: Out of Boyle Heights!

Lineage Logistics (or Lineage)—the global cold-storage warehouse—must leave Boyle Heights!

On June 17, 2026, a fire started on its leased, 491,000-square-foot building. For more than a week, it caused havoc on the surrounding communities, comprised of a majority Latina/o population. The extraordinary levels of smoke and soot emitted by the fire have only compounded this disproportionately polluted district in the City of Los Angeles—which also includes unincorporated East Los Angeles—surrounded by too many freeways and toxic facilities. As a cold-storage warehouse, for example, Lineage relies heavily on large diesel trucks to transport and store millions of pounds of food and beverages. 

To add insult to injury, after the fire was extinguished, the aftermath resulted in an estimated 85 million pounds of rotten food, causing an infestation of rats and flies in the nearby neighborhoods. Compounded by the heat, it has also created an unbearable stench for the impacted residents. 

In response, impacted residents and grassroots organizations, like Eastside padres contra la privatización, have organized in defense of these mostly working-class communities. Apart from seeking immediate and legitimate support from Lineage and government entities, they are demanding that Lineage must leave Boyle Heights. Thinking about Lineage’s relationship with the impacted residents, I’m reminded of an abuser boyfriend who doesn’t want to leave the victimized girlfriend’s house when told to do so. On second thought, the abuser or perpetrator is more like a stalker who requires a restraining order to leave. 

As a product of Boyle Heights, veteran community organizer and professor with advanced urban planning degrees from UC Berkeley and UCLA, I pose an important question: While millions of Americans benefit from the food and beverages stored by cold-storage warehouses, like Lineage’s enormous warehouse in Boyle Heights, why must marginalized and racialized communities carry the disproportionate burden of pollution due to the increased traffic congestion, diesel emissions and potential disasters from these harmful facilities? 

While Lineage has been too slow in the clean-up, it has been quick to apply for a permit application with the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Building and Safety to rebuild. 

To quote the attorney Joseph Welch’s famous words in a Senate hearing in D.C. on June 9, 1954, against the disgraced Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, I say to Lineage’s corporate leadership: “…You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency!” 

¡Ya basta! 

To prevail against a multi-billion-dollar corporation like Lineage, the impacted residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles need a wide coalition of support from community organizers, students, teachers, parents, researchers, influential leaders, elected officials, political candidates and others. This includes air quality agencies, colleges/universities, unions, legal agencies, school districts, non-profits, grassroots organizations, private entities, philanthropic groups and others. 

Regarding elected officials and political candidates, now is the time for everyone to unite and collectively demand that Lineage must leave Boyle Heights. In vibrant communities like Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, we don’t need elected officials and political candidates to eat street tacos de carne asada (with mild salsa) and play mariachi music in the background only when they need the Latina/o vote. Our vote shouldn’t be taken for granted. 

We need action now from those in power. Since multi-billion-dollar corporations like Lineage have the financial resources to hire expensive lawyers, lobbyists and crisis communications consultants while exerting witnesses to defend their financial interests or profits in City Hall and beyond, the hardworking people of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles desperately need more supporters/allies in their fight for environmental and economic justice. 

In short, let’s all unite and demand that Lineage leaves Boyle Heights!