"Lies!" Ysabel Jurado out!”, “Boo! Boo! Boo!”, “They poisoned us,” “they abandoned us,” were part of the numerous complaints from an angry community in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles during the chaotic meeting at Stevenson High School where an activist was allegedly assaulted twice by Mayor Karen Bass's security personnel and where information about the Lineage fire was provided to the community, but the main question was not answered: “Are you committed to closing Lineage?”

The barbs of criticism were distributed equally to Mayor Karen Bass, District 14 Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado and Board of Supervisors President Hilda Solis, as well as Jeff Rivera, chief operating officer of Lineage, where 85 million pounds of rotting food has sickened children and adults.

People's outrage and frustration was further fueled when South Coast AQMD Executive Director Wayne Nastri said, "I would like to address the issue of liability. As an agency, we have the power to issue citations for public nuisances, but we need people to call us to let us know there is a complaint."

"They must call us every day; that's what public law, statute, and the health and safety code says. If we don't get those calls, we can't issue the notification. If you see a violation, call 1-800-CUT-SMOG. If you call us, we'll come. 1-800-CUT-SMOG."

Mayor Bass publicly reprimanded him.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to contradict you, but I'm sorry: the fact that residents have to call you every day is not right. We'll talk about it later, but I don't like to burden the community with that responsibility."

Bass's apologies were also ignored by people who feel discriminated against by the slow pace of the cleanup. In the environmental disaster zone.

“I would like to openly apologize for any confusion, lack of communication or information disseminated, especially at the beginning, when the fires were still active,” the mayor said, at the beginning of the tumultuous meeting.

Maintaining order during the meeting was difficult, because the testimonies of sick people were repeated and there were those who accused those in power of negligence for responding late.

“I am a survivor of stomach cancer due to Exide pollution,” said Bárbara Martínez, 70, a resident of East Los Angeles for more than half a century. “My niece Vanessa Chaidez died of cancer when she was 26.”

No one even dared to offer him a word of comfort.

Exide Technologies' battery recycling plant, located in the city of Vernon, about 5 miles from downtown Los Angeles, was permanently shuttered in March 2015. The company agreed to close and decommission the facility to avoid criminal charges for contaminating southeast Los Angeles for decades with lead and arsenic.

They ask to close the company

The petition of the families affected by the smoke pollution and stench that emanates day and night from Lineage is its definitive closure.

"I can't breathe. It's hard for me and I can't stop coughing; I've already been to two hospitals, but what I need is a chest x-ray so they can evaluate if I don't have fluids in my chest," Mrs. Martínez complained.

“We have to demand from our politicians that this plant has to close,” said Silvia Corona, 78 years old. "We don't want those factories around our community; I'm already tired of Hilda Solis; four years ago there was a fire on Ditman and First Streets, and she never did anything to clean the place of all the chemicals that burned there."

Jeff Rivera reported that 200 workers remove 1.54 million pounds of decomposing solid material daily and that, in a new phase, the transfer of another 3.2 million pounds of waste is contemplated.

The company announced relief measures — including hotel and rental vouchers, prepaid cards, food vouchers and payment of electric bills — adding to the $2.5 million already committed through the California Community Foundation.

Rivera highlighted that the design of the selective removal of structures process has already been established and completed, and active demolition work is underway. This process began on Tuesday and they have completed approximately 6.5% of that phase.

Although no delays are expected at the moment, he said that the work will continue to move forward with determination, safe and controlled execution, and ensuring the protection of workers, the community and surrounding properties.

Rivera promised that Clean Harbors and Lineage will properly sort, characterize, transport and dispose of affected materials and control dust, liquids, pests and impacts associated with the June 17 fire.

The deadline to complete the cleaning task of the huge building that has been covered to control foul odors was set at 45 days.

Alleged double assault on an activist

Elizabeth “Liz” Hernández, an activist with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), ended up in the hospital after suffering two alleged physical attacks by Los Angeles City Hall staff, including an employee identified as part of the community engagement team and a probable bodyguard.

Prior to the start of the public meeting at the Stevenson High School auditorium in East Los Angeles, a caravan of approximately 100 people - most of them mothers affected by the ravages of the Lineage fire - marched from the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Puerta Street and broke through an alternate door and forced their way into the auditorium.

There a representative of the Los Angeles mayor's office unsuccessfully intervened to stop the crowd, grotesquely pushed Mrs. Hernández and they exchanged words. Hernandez was not knocked down.

However, at the conclusion of the Lineage fire briefing, Hernandez stood with a drum next to the car where the mayor was leaving and a bodyguard allegedly physically assaulted her and subsequently made a subsequent move to pull a gun from her waistband.

“We were trying to get the mayor's attention so that they would pay attention to us and a bunch of sluts came,” Hernández told La Opinión. "So, I just approached with the drum to shout to listen to the affected people; I saw that [Bass] got into his car and I continued singing, but not in front of the car, because I wasn't going to risk being run over... That's when that guarura came and threw me and I lost my balance."

Elizabeth Hernández reported that she entered a state of anxiety and panic because the same bodyguard supposedly attacked another woman - named Yesenia P., from Guatemala.

"I yelled at him: 'Oh, is this what you're going to do? Are you going to hit her too? Are you going to push her too?'" he said.

Guadalupe González, member of ACCE, said that directors and lawyers of the organization are analyzing Hernández's report to decide the steps they should follow.

“As an organization we have to support our members,” he said. "We take what happened very seriously. Nobody has the right to attack them. And it is never acceptable for someone to attack people."

The mayor's office referred La Opinión's question to Robert Port of the LAPD, but at press time did not respond to whether Mayor Karen Bass's security detail had instructions to maintain order as necessary.