LA Squawk Box for Wednesday, July 29, 2026
A labor proposal to impose involuntary overtime on LA city firefighters, public officials decry Lineage's rebuild plans, LAPD requests patrol vehicles for the Olympics, and more.
What’s happening today?
There is a labor proposal being made that would impose involuntary overtime on firefighters. A public hearing was held today during a special Board of Fire Commissioners meeting. A couple meetings ago, Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore had reported that the department was experiencing a staffing shortage that recently led to closing down fire engines and truck companies.
What just happened?
Public officials react with concern to news that Lineage wants to rebuild the cold storage facility in Boyle Heights
In the middle of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath flagged the news broken by LA Material that a building permit has been filed with the city of Los Angeles to rebuild the Lineage cold storage warehouse that burned last month. Mayor Karen Bass called this a “slap in the face” and said she was revising an executive directive to reflect the concerns about the cleanup process. Lineage has been cited multiple times by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and they began receiving citations from the Department of Public Health last Thursday, July 23, for “unsanitary and nuisance conditions” related to the rodents and pests at the site, following that department’s visit on July 15 that resulted in this inspection report. In an update on Wednesday, the health department said that they have issued six citations, with each citation leading to $500 per day fines until the violations are corrected. Council member Ysabel Jurado called the application for permits “outrageous” and said that “at this time, I have no intention of supporting Lineage rebuilding at this site.” And County Supervisor Hilda Solis has issued a statement saying she opposes the rebuilding effort “while residents are still waiting for transparency, accountability and meaningful action.” During their meeting earlier in the day, Solis had said that the local permitting agencies needed to take a “strong look” at the rebuild application. Lineage, meanwhile, assured that their permit application ”will not impact or distract us from the important work of cleanup.”
A few more things…
The LA Times’s Melissa Gomez has an overview of the runoff election taking place to fill Council member Curren Price’s 9th District, pointing to the historic shift in demographics in that district from one that was once predominantly Black to now Latino.
LAist’s Jordan Rynning reports on the latest in a disciplinary case against the well-known evictions attorney Dennis Block, who was charged in January for improper fees charged to clients, representing both the landlord and the tenant and signing off on an Ai generated court document. Rynning reports that Block has agreed to serve one-year of probation.
Steve Scauzillo with the LA Daily News reports on the Board of Supervisors approving a resolution to place a measure to correct a repeal of the Measure J on November’s ballot. That measure also includes language to give the county’s new Ethics Commission more independence.
The Los Angeles Police Department is requesting sign-off on buying more vehicle for the upcoming Olympics. The Los Angeles Police Department is requesting 300 more patrol vehicles and authorization of $13 million financing for non-patrol vehicles for the upcoming Olympics.
And the video just posted of a panel I moderated at the neighborhood councils’ Budget Day event back in June 27, and there were some fireworks. The panel consisted of Council member Bob Blumenfield, former Deputy Controller Rick Cole and Assistant City Administrative Officer Ben Ceja, and the lively exchanges happened after I raised the topics of the role of the chief financial officer in the city, and later, the growing trend of departments wanting their budgets protected from LA’s leaders who are technically the ones directing where funding goes. The chief example of this protected budget trend has been a charter amendment measure on the ballot in November that seeks to double the protected budget for the city’s recreation and parks department. The poor condition of the parks are frequently talked about: LA’s parks have dropped in ranking to the lowest its ever been, even LA City Council’s budget chair admits the department is “wildly” underfunded, the city has had to close its park hours on Sundays, and the general manager of the department says that even though they’re getting inundated with requests from council offices, “the simple fact of the matter is it’s breaking the backs of out staff.”