New and Noteworthy from The Gothamist, original article by Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
The Bronx apartment at 540 Concord Ave. seemed like a wonderful fit for Ingrid Rivas and her expanding family. It was diagonally across from the neighborhood public school, conveniently adjacent to stores, and only a few steps from a park and the subway. Additionally, the landlord accepted residents with housing vouchers, unlike some in New York City.
However, when the family moved in, the Rivas' living situation quickly got worse in 2019. Medical records indicate that all four of her young children were exposed to elevated levels of lead during a four-year period. Documents from the housing department later show that old paint was crumbling off a window, doors, and kitchen fittings discovered by city inspectors. The six-year-old eldest child also has developmental impairments, which his parents think were made worse by lead exposure. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause irreversible brain damage in children.
It appears from city housing records that the children of Rivas might not have been the first in the apartment to be exposed to lead. Almost ten years before her family moved there, the unit had three separate lead paint violations. The New York City Council established Local Law 1 of 2004, a comprehensive set of rules that mandates landlords remedy hazardous lead paint issues, which is why the citations were sent.
The law mandates, among many other things, that landlords check young children's houses for hazardous lead paint conditions and remove lead paint from areas where the risk is greatest. The windows, doors, and cupboards of the Rivas are examples of these so-called "friction surfaces," which emit hazardous lead dust that is easily consumed by kids.
The law has been largely successful in its goal of preventing lead exposure. According to city data, since Local Law 1 went into force, the annual number of children poisoned by lead has decreased by more than 90%. However, there are still about 5,000 children under the age of six who test positive for high blood lead levels every year.
A 2007 deadline for removing lead paint on friction surfaces was one of the strictest aspects of the original bill that were removed by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, according to many supporters of the legislation. If these measures had remained in place, the law would have been much more effective. Legislators ultimately decided to mandate that when a renter vacates, landlords must remove any lead paint that may have been on friction surfaces. According to Stu Loeser, a spokesman for the former mayor, Bloomberg was worried at the time about the financial and legal strain that property owners would face as a result of the original set of regulations.
A Gothamist analysis of nearly 20 years of data collected under the law shows that more than one-fifth of all homes cited for lead paint have racked up repeated violations year after year — making Rivas’ apartment one of more than 12,000 in the city that may have poisoned multiple children since the rules for landlords were put in place.
Some were cited nearly every other year for lead paint hazards. More than three-quarters were cited twice during the 20-year span. Publicly available data does not show how many of these violations are linked to actual lead poisoning cases, but a child with an elevated blood lead level is one of the most common reasons that inspectors visit an apartment and issue citations. New requirements that go into effect later this year will help close loopholes created during the Bloomberg era, some public health experts said.
New city laws that go into effect in June and September will strengthen enforcement of the inspection rules and force landlords to remove lead paint on windows and doors by 2027, regardless of whether tenants are moving out.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to someone else's careless, reckless or negligent actions, do not hesitate to reach out to the dedicated legal professionals at Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman.
Gothamist Article:
https://gothamist.com/news/the-same-lead-painted-apartments-in-nyc-have-endangered-children-over-and-over-data-shows