Informal Bass Advisor now works for Lineage, whose cold storage facility burned down

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ top informal adviser works as a crisis communications consultant at Lineage Logistics, the company whose Boyle Heights cold storage facility went up in flames last month, filling the area with toxic fumes and the smell of rotting food.

Yusef Robb, who runs the company tk/Communications, was a regular presence at City Hall in the first half of the year, accompanying Bass to news conferences and presenting opinions on his behalf on issues such as the city’s response to the Palisades fire.

Two days after the fire broke out in the cold storage area of ​​Lineage Logistics on June 17, Robb started working for the company, helping with communications, he confirmed in The Times newspaper.

Robb said he served as an unpaid consultant and spokesman for Bass through 2 mayoral primaries.

Robb declined to comment beyond confirming his scope and the dates he will serve as mayor with Lineage.

Bass spokesman Kolby Lee said Robb provided “additional assistance” to management in the first half of the year, but “was never a city employee to Bass management.”

Lee said Robb continues to advise Bass on an informal basis, but has not contacted Bass or his office “on behalf of Lineage.”

Lineage Logistics’ 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility in Boyle Heights burned for more than a week after a fire broke out in the roof on June 17, while the mayor was in Chicago for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

The fire sent black smoke into Boyle Heights and other parts of Los Angeles, leaving the air heavy with smoke.

The Boyle Heights community has turned on Lineage Logistics after the fire, with some calling for the company to move from the location that has housed a warehouse for more than 20 years.

Residents also criticized elected officials, including Bass, for their response to the fire, and the mayor was booed during a public meeting Thursday night.

At that meeting, Bass committed to “holding Lineage and any other organization, holding their feet to the fire to ensure that any potential harm is prevented in warehouses around the area and especially in what happened here with Lineage.”

Although the mayor demanded accountability from Lineage, Robb called The Times reporter on behalf of the company.

“The public wants to be accountable, but how can the mayor make this company accountable to what extent if he is represented by his advisor and friend?” asked Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College.

Robb’s time helping the mayor’s office came during a stint working on the mayor’s communications team. His deputy mayor for communications, Zach Seidl, left in October 2025 and his replacement, Amanda Crumley, left after two months on the job.

Robb played a long time at City Hall. He was a press aide in the administration of Mayor Jim Hahn, then worked for Eric Garcetti both when Garcetti was a council member and when he was mayor. He left Garcetti’s office in 2015.

Robb also worked on Bass’ 2022 mayoral campaign.

When Bass took over, Robb was paid to help manage the fledgling, according to city contracts. The city paid a total of $75,000 in 2022 and 2023 to Robb’s firm to provide “various communication services related to executive initiation,” according to the contract.

But Robb’s work for Bass this year was unpaid, the mayor’s office said.

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.