A top informal advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is working as a crisis communications consultant for Lineage Logistics, the company whose cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights erupted in flames last month, inundating the surrounding neighborhood with toxic smoke and the odor of rotting food. <\/p>\n
Yusef Robb, who runs the firm tk\/ Communications<\/a>, was a familiar presence at City Hall for the first half of the year, accompanying Bass at news conferences and delivering comments on her behalf<\/a> on issues such as the city\u2019s response to the Palisades fire. <\/p>\n Two days after the blaze at Lineage Logistics\u2019 cold storage facility ignited on June 17, Robb began working for the company, aiding with communications consulting, he confirmed to The Times. <\/p>\n Robb said he served as an unpaid advisor and spokesperson for Bass through the June 2 mayoral primary. <\/p>\n Robb declined to comment beyond confirming his scope and dates of work for the mayor and Lineage. <\/p>\n Bass spokesman Kolby Lee said that Robb provided \u201cextra help\u201d to the administration during the first half of the year, but \u201chas never been a city employee for the Bass administration.\u201d <\/p>\n Lee said that Robb continues to advise Bass on an informal basis, but he hasn\u2019t communicated with Bass or her office \u201con behalf of Lineage.\u201d <\/p>\n Lineage Logistics\u2019 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility in Boyle Heights burned for more than a week<\/a> after a rooftop fire ignited June 17, while the mayor was in Chicago for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.<\/p>\n The fire sent plumes of black smoke over Boyle Heights and other parts of Los Angeles, leaving the air heavy with soot.<\/p>\n