(Please don’t miss additional info below red dots at bottom).
✴️ Dear Members of York City Council and Mayor Helfrich:
Addressing the lead paint crisis in York City is a major challenge, but there is a common sense way forward. By following best practices in other communities, we can work together and provide a bright future for generations of children in York City.
One thing is for sure: We can no longer allow our children to be poisoned by lead. We are now fully aware of the crisis and we have the tools to prevent this from happening. If we act now, we can help our kids and our community thrive.
BELOW ARE 3 KEY THINGS WE CAN DO TO COMBAT THE LEAD PAINT CRISIS IN YORK CITY. Before we get to those, please keep in mind the following:
- In some census tracts in York City, HALF of the children have lead paint poisoning (per the York City Health Department).
- Lead is a neurotoxin that causes behavioral problems, permanent brain damage (especially babies and kids six and under), learning problems, mental retardation, nerve damage, schizophrenia, attention deficit and deficit in cognitive abilities, Parkinson’s disease, and hearing and speech problems (sometimes requiring special education services).
- Lead paint poisoning is a risk factor for criminal behavior.
- Many York City census tracks are listed 10 out of 10 (on a scale of 10) for risk of lead exposure by national news source LEAD EXPOSURE RISK MAP. https://www.vox.com/a/lead-exposure-risk-map
- Not that we need this reason to act, but it is worth noting that for every dollar spent on removing lead paint-based hazards in children’s homes and apartments, $17-$221 would be returned in health benefits, increased IQ, higher lifetime earnings, tax revenue, reduced spending on special education and reduced criminal activity.
✴️✴️✴️ Keeping in mind all of the above, please check out these 3 KEY ITEMS (based on info from the “Lead Free Promise Project”):
- 🔵 While you’re updating your policies, strategies and legislation to address York City’s lead paint crisis, please consider creating a new ordinance requiring proactive ANNUAL lead hazard testing in all rental units in the city. (This legislation would include corresponding enforcement and significant fines for non-performance).
This is the only truly effective way to significant reduce lead exposure in children living in York City. This groundbreaking piece of legislation could be called “THE YORK CITY SAFE KIDS ACT” and the benefits of your efforts to pass it would be felt for generations.
On a separate but related note, the following six Pennsylvania municipalities have passed ordinances requiring all landlords with units built before 1978 to provide a lead-safe certification from a certified dust wipe technician prior to the issuance of a rental license or occupancy permit: Norristown, Philadelphia, Lancaster City, Pittsburgh, Columbia Borough and Borough of Millvale. (Note: Norristown also requires certification when a home is being sold).
LEAD-FREE PROMISE PROJECT LEADFREEPA.ORG
@PALEADFREE
- 🔵 “The US Department of the Treasury permits ARPA funds to be used for lead hazard remediation, and several municipalities have done so. The City of Pittsburgh has allocated ARPA funds to support implementation of the new Pittsburgh Lead Safety Law, which addresses lead hazards in paint, dust, bare soil, water, renovation, repairs, and demolitions.
If your municipality has not allocated all of its ARPA funds, consider using the funds to remediate lead paint hazards.”
➡️ Please also keep in mind that the City of York can also use a portion of the significant funds it brought in from the sale of the sewer system to fund important public health and safety projects like this. It’s also true that our community has $37 billion of investable net assets. So, there is no reason that we can’t get this done and done right.
➡️ To put it bluntly, we as a community — city officials, business leaders, economic leaders, non-profit leaders, health leaders, county officials — are out of excuses. It’s time to step up to the plate and do right by the children of York. None of us can claim anymore that we don’t know that a significant number of our children are being poisoned. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear: https://www.vox.com/a/lead-exposure-risk-map
- 🔵 6 STEPS FOR MUNICIPALITIES TO TAKE TO ADDRESS LEAD PAINT CRISIS (from the “LEAD-FREE PROMISE PROJECT”): https://paleadfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LeadFreePromise-6Steps-for-Municipalities.pdf
Thank you for considering making the above solutions a part of your new comprehensive approach to solving York City’s lead paint crisis.
I have so much hope for the future because it’s possible that your unique and high quality team of City Council members may be the first to truly address this crisis head on by working with Mayor Helfrich to champion and pass the new legislation described above.
By following best practices in other communities, we can provide a bright future for generations of children in York City. (Please don’t miss additional info and solutions below after 🔴🔴🔴).
These kids are our future. If we do right by them, they’ll look back decades from now and see 2024 as a real turning point in the health of York City.
This is it York leaders. This is our moment to shine.
Sincerely,
Bill Swartz
billswartz@mac.com
🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴
MORE HELPFUL INFO HERE from the “Lead Free Promise Project”:
- Lead poisoning can cause permanent brain damage to children – especially babies and kids six and under.
- Lead can cause learning, behavior, hearing and speech problems, sometimes requiring special education services. Lead is a risk factor for criminal behavior.
✴️ For every dollar spent on removing lead paint-based hazards in children’s homes and apartments, $17-$221 would be returned in health benefits, increased IQ, higher lifetime earnings, tax revenue, reduced spending on special education and reduced criminal activity!’”
✴️ WHAT DOES THE LEAD POISONING CRISIS LOOK LIKE IN YORK COUNTY?
▪️ York County has the 4TH HIGHEST NUMBER OF CHILDREN POISONED of all PA counties.
▪️ OVER 250 CHILDREN ARE POISONED EVERY YEAR* – enough to fill 12 pre-school classrooms.
▪️ With ONLY 12% OF CHILDREN SCREENED for lead, more are likely to be poisoned.” York County children are POISONED AT A RATE 2 TIMES HIGHER THAN CHILDREN POISONED IN FLINT, MICHIGAN at the peak of the city’s crisis.
✴️ LEAD-BASED PAINT HAZARDS IN CHILDREN’S HOMES ARE THE MAIN SOURCE OF LEAD POISONING.
✴️ Lead-based paint was not banned for residential use until 1978, and 57% of residential properties in York County were built before 1980.
✴️ Black and Hispanic children are disproportionately poisoned because they are more likely to live in older properties with deteriorated lead-based paint. In York County, 2.5 TIMES MORE BLACK CHILDREN AND 1.5
TIMES MORE HISPANIC CHILDREN ARE POISONED THAN WHITE CHILDREN.
🔴🔴🔴 CALL TO ACTION 🔴🔴🔴
CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING IS 100% PREVENTABLE primarily by removing lead paint-based hazards in their homes. York County babies need protection from toxic lead.
URGE YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR TO:
- FUND REMOVAL OF LEAD PAINT FROM CHILDREN’S HOMES.
- GUARANTEE EVERY PA CHILD IS APPROPRIATELY TESTED FOR LEAD AS PER CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL REQUIREMENTS.
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The following is from the “Lead Free Promise Project” (which is part of Thriving PA – https://thrivingpa.org/ ).
“KEVIN IS A RAMBUNCTIOUS 5-YEAR-OLD starting kindergarten, Sarah is his 2 – year-old sister, and John is the youngest of the bunch at just 1-year-old.
Their mom Denise noticed that Sarah was not progressing in the same way that Kevin did when he was her age. She was slower to speak and seemed unable to pay attention when they read books together.
Denise took Sarah to the doctor who recognized these symptoms as developmental delays. Because the family was covered by Medicaid, which requires blood lead testing for all children at ages one and two, Sarah and John were tested for lead and Kevin got a follow-up test as well.
All three kids had elevated blood lead levels, and Sarah’s was especially high at 19 ug/dL, nearly four times higher than the CDC’s threshold for poisoning.
Her pediatrician contacted her Medicaid health plan to send a lead inspection team to test the family’s home, which Denise described as more than 50 years old and in significant disrepair with holes in the roof and peeling paint inside and out.
There are no medications to cure Denise’s children and reverse any damage done. The number one ‘treatment’ for Sarah and her siblings is to stop being exposed to lead hazards and remove the toxic lead from their home.
The Lead Free Promise Project is part of Thriving PA – https://thrivingpa.org/“
Clear Blue Sky 