City's lead abatement plan is focusing on quantity instead of need
from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/EC924714EEE3B886862572BD00001DD7?OpenDocument
04/15/2007
City's lead abatement plan is focusing on quantity instead of need
The editorial "Excuses, excuses, excuses" (April 10) about lead abatement efforts pointed out that the City of St. Louis may lose millions in federal grant money because of its sluggish pace in removing lead from homes. Since the city now needs to abate as many housing units as it can as rapidly as it can, it may end up ignoring homes that are most in need of treatment.
For years, lead activists have been urging the city to devote the most funds to neighborhoods where the largest number of children are lead poisoned. But the "Workout Strategy" that the city completed for submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development proposes to focus on the largest multiple-family housing units it can find. It does not select homes in neighborhoods with the highest rates of lead poisoning.
The strategy would provide developers $5,000 lead remediation money for the first two units of housing property and $1,000 for each additional unit. City money would average $3,000 for a four-unit building and $1,080 per unit for a 100-unit property. According to city analysts, going to large apartment complexes would mean spending less money per unit and allow for more units to be treated in less time.
It's a sad day when the criterion for targeting homes to receive lead abatement is how much they will allow it to play catch-up with grant requirements.
Lead is as much a social problem as a health problem. In addition to causing brain damage, kidney damage and lower math and reading scores, lead is associated with violence and crime. When the city uses selection criteria other than need, we all become victims of lead poisoning.
Don Fitz | St. Louis
Co-coordinator, Green Party of St. Louis
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/EC924714EEE3B886862572BD00001DD7?OpenDocument
04/15/2007
City's lead abatement plan is focusing on quantity instead of need
The editorial "Excuses, excuses, excuses" (April 10) about lead abatement efforts pointed out that the City of St. Louis may lose millions in federal grant money because of its sluggish pace in removing lead from homes. Since the city now needs to abate as many housing units as it can as rapidly as it can, it may end up ignoring homes that are most in need of treatment.
For years, lead activists have been urging the city to devote the most funds to neighborhoods where the largest number of children are lead poisoned. But the "Workout Strategy" that the city completed for submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development proposes to focus on the largest multiple-family housing units it can find. It does not select homes in neighborhoods with the highest rates of lead poisoning.
The strategy would provide developers $5,000 lead remediation money for the first two units of housing property and $1,000 for each additional unit. City money would average $3,000 for a four-unit building and $1,080 per unit for a 100-unit property. According to city analysts, going to large apartment complexes would mean spending less money per unit and allow for more units to be treated in less time.
It's a sad day when the criterion for targeting homes to receive lead abatement is how much they will allow it to play catch-up with grant requirements.
Lead is as much a social problem as a health problem. In addition to causing brain damage, kidney damage and lower math and reading scores, lead is associated with violence and crime. When the city uses selection criteria other than need, we all become victims of lead poisoning.
Don Fitz | St. Louis
Co-coordinator, Green Party of St. Louis
