LA Podcast - Town Hall Your Fault

Alissa, Mike, and guest co-host Adam Conover take a look at the ongoing repercussions from the Lineage Logistics fire, an explosive town hall in Boyle Heights, and how the thawing cold storage warehouse has snowballed into a political nightmare. Then, what’s changed in Karen Bass’s mayoral campaign. And some bad (and also some good?) LAPD updates. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Think Forward, or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

At a town hall in Boyle Heights for the community impacted by the Lineage fire, Mayor Karen Bass and other officials were booed by the crowd. Watch the entire thing here 

Both Bass and Lineage official Jeff Rivera issued multiple apologies, including admitting major communication issues around air quality

Meanwhile, ER visits spiked during the fire, and Boyle Heights residents were exposed to air pollution that was worse than the Eaton Fire

The Boyle Heights disaster once again raises jurisdictional issues about how residents of the adjacent unincorporated areas of LA County access services

Bass recommended Airbnb to displaced residents looking for temporary housing, despite the ongoing lawsuits against Airbnb from the city of LA for price gouging after the 2025 fires. Plus Airbnb is heavily funding her campaign

As reported by Julia Wick at L.A. Material, Bass’ unpaid advisor Yusef Robb is also helping with crisis communications for Lineage, although he later said he would no longer advise Bass

Boyle Heights residents staged a protest along with LAUSD board member Rocio Rivas to demand the removal of Lineage from the neighborhood

Bass’ campaign is shifting leadership: Doug Herman is out and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who worked on both Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaigns, is in

The LAPD officer who shot and killed a dog named Jameson during the Knicks victory last month will not be publicly named despite the fact that body cam footage and transcripts have been released, and the dog’s owner Marie Marseille has filed a lawsuit against the city

LAPD has agreed to end their deal with Flock surveillance cameras

Journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel has the LAPD-Flock MOU

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This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

Our digital producer is Victoria Alejandro

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Alissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched, tracking LA’s megaevent progress. Find her at @awalkerinla on Instagram and @awalkerinla.bsky.social on Bluesky

Mike Bonin is the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CalState LA, and can be found at Substack, or @mikebonin on IG, and @mikebonin.bsky.social on Bluesky

Adam Conover is a comedian, writer, and podcaster who hosts the weekly series Factually and created the television programs Adam Ruins Everything and The G Word with Adam Conover