The City’s notorious bad actor doubles down as the lawsuit, fines, a lien, and a preliminary injunction stack up

The Suprema Meats warehousing and distribution company operates at three properties on 57th St. at Lowell St. (955, 952, and 949 57th St.). Since 2013, Suprema has evaded compliance with 30+ municipal building, zoning, and public nuisance codes. It has delayed paying fines by appealing every code violation notice and public nuisance declaration, then suing the City when it lost.

That time ran out when the courts recently dismissed all of Suprema’s lawsuits against the City, presenting the business with its biggest challenges: the City can now collect over $1 million in accrued fines and has sued Suprema to stop the escalating noise and street blockages that have made life at home a living hell for many neighbors.

So what does Suprema do? Violate more municipal codes and pound nearby neighbors with even more noise by illegally converting its block-long parking lot into a drive-through for unloading big-rigs starting at 4 a.m. 

Check out the  summary of events below to find out how the parking lot conversion connects to the complex 13-year battle to end Suprema’s illegal operations. Please check back here for updates, and contact us for more information or what you can do to support your neighbors at contact.ggca@gmail.com.

949 57th St. Parking Lot (on Lowell from 57th to Aileen Streets)

• April 2026: Suprema illegally converted its parking lot into a drive-through for unloading a steady stream of big rigs, bombarding a dozen homes just a few feet away with banging, slamming, shouting, beeping, idling, and vibration. Suprema’s conversion and current use of the lot for product staging, storage, and loading violates Zoning laws that prohibit operations in open-air industrial facilities.
  
  Suprema could try, once again, to evade code enforcement for years, but the public nuisances may end up strengthening the City’s current preliminary injunction and public nuisance case. Additional nuisances generated by the conversion include:
  • Big rigs at the door: Neighbors living near the lot’s gates on Aileen and 57th Streets now open their front doors to face massive 18-wheelers just a few feet away, maneuvering into or out of the lot from Lowell and driving over curbs.
  • Trucks trump forklifts: Suprema now uses its large, noisy diesel trucks instead of its smaller, but still noisy, forklifts to move more product across the street to their other open-air loading facility  at 955 57th St. These trucks block the road and sidewalk all day as they back into 955 to unload, generating continual bursts of banging, beeping, and shouting just a few feet from neighboring homes.
  • Another block taken: With the parking lot occupied by big rigs during the day, Suprema has taken over the two off-street parking spots in front of the vacant East Bay Fixture building on Aileen, as well as portions of Lowell from Aileen to 56th Street, to store its fleet of trucks. The business now monopolizes Lowell all the way from Grace to 56th Streets whenever they want, forcing local drivers and bicyclists to maneuver around parked and double-parked trucks and into oncoming traffic.

Public Nuisance Lawsuit and Preliminary Injunction

• February 2025: The City Attorney filed a public nuisance lawsuit against Suprema seeking a court order to end the extreme noise starting at 3:30 a.m. and road and walkway obstruction generated by operations at all three of its properties.
• June 2025: The Court granted a Preliminary Injunction to provide residents with interim relief before the case is settled or goes to trial in November 2026.
• December 2025: The City Attorney filed a motion to find Suprema in contempt of the court order for their ongoing violations of the Preliminary Injunction and to award fines totaling $104,000 ($1,000 per violation), representing a small fraction of the most egregious violations documented by residents and City inspectors. Defiance of court orders or being found in contempt of the preliminary injunction carries serious legal consequences, unlike the past administrative violation notices and orders to abate nuisances, which had no teeth. The motion also seeks regular hearings to allow the City to efficiently escalate penalties. 
• March 2026: A civil judge handed Suprema a big win by delaying a contempt ruling on the Preliminary Injunction to limit noise generation and right-of-way obstruction. The delay also includes suspending fines while an independent, court-appointed monitor observes and gathers evidence for the judge to determine what constitutes violations of the preliminary injunction. This decision also delays any respite for neighbors from 13 years of abuse by Suprema.

955 57th Street Headquarters and Main Warehouse

• February 2025: The City placed a lien on Suprema’s property to secure payment of fines that have been accruing since Building Services declared Suprema a Public Nuisance in 2022 for extensive unpermitted construction in 2013.
• July 2025: Suprema withdrew its appeal of that public nuisance declaration, enabling the City to finally initiate collection of the fines and penalties.
• February 2026: The City gave Suprema until March 2, 2026, to pay $786,000 in accrued fines.
• March 2026: Suprema dodged $786,000 due in fines for Building Services code violations by initially offering just $100,000 upfront and the rest later, then not following up to negotiate a payment plan, leaving the City no choice but to sue for the full amount, which could prolong Suprema’s nonpayment.
• April 2026: A California appeals court judge upheld the City Administrator’s public nuisance declaration in 2020 for noise and right-of-way obstruction and $205,000 in fines and ordered Suprema to pay the City’s costs. To collect, the City will likely need to file another lawsuit or amend its current public nuisance lawsuit that covers all three properties.

952 57^th St. Warehouse (purchased in 2023)

• May 2024: Neighbors reported Suprema for warehousing and distribution operations that are prohibited without a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), which requires a public input process. The City allowed Suprema to keep operating illegally there while they appealed the CUP requirement.
• April 2025: The City’s Planning Commission denied Suprema’s appeal and sharply reprimanded Suprema for operating without a business license or zoning clearance/permit at that location. Suprema ignored the ruling and failed to appeal it.
• October 2025: Building Services issued a Declaration of Public Nuisance for Suprema’s illegal warehousing and distribution at 952. The $1,000 daily fines began accruing soon after, with no change in Suprema’s illegal operations there.
• March 2026: Building Services has still not escalated enforcement to stop the illegal operations, despite the absence of litigation.