We live east of the Los Angeles River, in Boyle Heights. So when the Lineage warehouse caught fire June 17, we weren't watching the story unfold from somewhere else.
We were breathing the smoke, checking on relatives and neighbors, and asking a question that still hasn't been answered: Why do neighborhoods like ours continue to bear the greatest environmental burdens, struggle to be heard, and fight so hard for accountability after disaster strikes?
The Lineage warehouse fire wasn't simply an environmental catastrophe that has left the community with health impacts and the horrible smell of 88 million pounds of rotting food, swarms of flies, and rat infestations. It was the predictable result of decisions made over decades about land use, industry, housing, and public investment.
For years, weak and inconsistent political representation in Council District 14 allowed these inequities to persist, with too little accountability to the needs and priorities of the community. Those decisions concentrated environmental burdens in communities like Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles while leaving residents with too little influence over the choices that shaped their neighborhoods.
The geography tells the story. The Lineage warehouse sits just west of Indiana Street, which separates Boyle Heights from unincorporated East Los Angeles. Residents living only blocks apart often navigate different governments, different elected officials, and different systems of accountability. When something goes wrong, responsibility becomes fragmented just when communities need clear answers.
Across Los Angeles, opportunities to strengthen accountability to communities have stalled. The city recently delayed a long-awaited proposal to expand the City Council, leaving nearly four million residents with the same 15 council districts they have had for decades. At the same time, leaders withdrew a proposal that would have allowed noncitizen residents to vote in local elections. Together, decisions like these leave many communities with fewer opportunities to have a voice in the decisions that affect their health and their future.
On the Eastside, we've never lacked community leadership or the willingness to act. After the Lineage fire, neighbors stepped up to translate information, distribute masks and other resources, answer questions, and make sure families were not left to navigate a crisis alone. Nonprofit leaders and community-based organizations mobilized quickly, stretching already-limited resources to provide mutual aid, community education, outreach, organizing, and advocacy, often filling gaps left by an uncoordinated response. (And Cal Wellness will be providing $500,000 to community nonprofits to support this essential work.) Neighbors packed public meetings, demanding answers and insisting that the government be accountable. But residents are still living with uncertainty. Families continue to report lingering odors and need clear, trusted guidance about how to protect their health.
Communities shouldn't have to spend their energy responding to preventable crises. They should have a meaningful voice before decisions are made—when warehouses are approved, land is zoned, environmental safeguards are considered, and public officials decide whose concerns to prioritize. And a meaningful recovery must include support such as accessible public health information, community workshops, and clear guidance on potential after-effects and symptoms that may warrant medical attention.
Too often, communities like the Eastside are left out. Race, money, and power continue to shape who is heard, whose interests prevail, and, ultimately, who gets to make the decisions that affect our health and our future.
At Cal Wellness, we believe communities should have the power to shape the decisions that affect their health and their lives. That's the idea behind Building the Power to Be Well—our new strategy to invest in community leadership, organizing, and civic participation across California. Philanthropy has an important role to play by providing the sustained resources that community organizations need not only to respond when crises occur, but also to change the conditions that make them more likely in the first place. Because the best way to protect health is to ensure communities have a real voice before decisions are made—not just after the damage is done.
