Karen Bass out of town for yet another major LA fire

Karen Bass was out of town for a major fire that affected the entire LA region.No, we’re not talking about the Palisades Fire of January 2025, when she was, infamously, in Ghana to represent the Biden administration at a foreign presidential inauguration.We’re talking about the Boyle Heights fire, which continues to rage in East LA, and which has spewed black smoke into the summer sky.The emergency caused smoke to hover over the World Cup match between Iran and Belgium in Inglewood, and over the Dodgers-Orioles game in Chavez Ravine.It’s a major international embarrassment, evoking bad memories of LA’s smoggy past, as well as the wildfires last year.The fire is burning at a Lineage Logistics warehouse, which happens to be one of the largest cold storage facilities in the country.Some 85 million pounds of food will have to be removed and thrown away.The city was on notice that the massive facility was at risk, after a similar fire broke out at the warehouse two years ago.

Both fires seem to have involved a massive solar panel array on the roof of the warehouse.And despite the fact that solar panels are a source of “green” energy, solar panel fires are exceptionally difficult to put out because they keep conducting electricity while ablaze, and they may also contain hazardous materials.Mayor Bass has been visible in the firefighting effort, conducting a press briefing over the weekend.But she was out of town during part of the emergency, attending the opening of former President Barack Obama’s presidential center in Chicago.Bass didn’t need to be there.

Like the ceremony in Ghana last year, the grand opening for Obama’s giant obelisk was only important to those in the same political world.The Obama center is a giant, ugly Brutalist slab that cost $850 million and that takes up public park space.It is a monument to political vanity, and a reminder of the incredible wasted potential of a president who burst onto the political scene urging national u...