Business owners told Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass they felt abandoned by the city as a fire tore through a cold storage facility in Boyle Heights last month, forcing storefronts to close, driving potential customers away and leaving many unsure of what was in the air they were breathing.
“We closed for two days, our workers were asking what to do, and we didn’t know,” said Francisco Valderrama, co-owner of Picaresca Barra de Cafe. “The lack of communication was the most insulting.”
During a roundtable discussion with about two dozen Boyle Heights business owners and street vendors inside Picaresca Tío Pepe on July 2, Bass and District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado acknowledged communication failures in the city’s response to the weeklong warehouse fire and pledged to improve communication while exploring ways to help businesses recover. Boyle Heights Beat was the only media outlet invited to attend the meeting.
“I think it took us too long to get out there, and that’s something that we want to rectify now,” Bass told attendees. “We should have gone out door-to-door on day one.”
Jurado also acknowledged the challenges of responding to an emergency of the fire’s scale.
“I’m still freshman over there [at City Hall] and figuring out how to deal with an emergency of this caliber,” she said.
Businesses say communication fell short
Business owners criticized the city’s response, saying it was too slow and relied too heavily on social media to reach the people most affected.
“Maybe a post on Instagram worked for a younger crowd, but for this community it doesn’t,” Valderrama said.
Bass agreed the city should have done more.
“You’re right, we could have done better communication on the grassroots level, that took a while before we did that,” Bass said.
Business owners offer solutions
Several businesses suggested the city should work directly with neighborhood businesses during emergencies.
“Why not come to us?” asked Judy Diaz, owner of El 7 Mares, a Mexican seafood restaurant with locations in Boyle Heights and East LA. Diaz said businesses could help disseminate information to their customers and the surrounding community during a crisis.
Jeanette Flores, owner of Super Pollos Rostizados, agreed, adding, “There’s only so many people that work for you, but you know, we would willingly do it.”
Flores suggested that the city create a hub for business owners to get live updates on issues that may affect their regular operations.
Bass appreciated their offer and said she would consider relying on local businesses to reach more people. “It’s not that I didn’t come; I wouldn’t have known to come, honestly,” Bass said.
Ana Perez, a local business owner who helps operate Café Café Mobile Coffee and Macheen out of Milpa Grille, said businesses are still struggling with slow foot traffic, higher utility bills from running multiple air purifiers and limited parking due to construction along the Cesar Chavez Avenue corridor.
She urged the city to provide a credit to cover the cost of businesses’ energy bills and suspend parking enforcement to help them recover.
In response, Bass pledged to speak to the general manager of the Department of Water and Power (DWP) to discuss what can be done about utility bills and call the Department of Transportation to “suspend parking enforcement.” She said the boundaries would be determined at a later date.
“We cannot leave this community with the damn DWP bills, which are high,” Bass said. “We have to figure out what we’re going to do around that. I don’t have an answer for you today, but I guarantee you I will get an answer.”
Jurado told Boyle Heights Beat that she will be working with the city’s Community Investment Department to explore waivers or subsidies to give affected businesses some financial relief.
The Beat has reached out to Bass’ office for more details on her commitments and will update this story when they become available.
Another setback for local businesses
For many business owners, the fire is the latest in a series of economic setbacks.
“For you in particular, small businesses, we know that it’s kind of like y’all can’t catch a break,” said Jurado. “You barely recovered from COVID. I mean, since the time I was in office last summer, it was the [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids and this summer, in this neighborhood, it was the fire.”
Jurado and Bass said the city will continue meeting with businesses as recovery efforts move forward and pledged to hold Lineage and the companies responsible for the impacts of the fire.
