Tag: Lead poisoning

Jun 3

2025

Protesting city inaction on lead poisoning

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Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of the Partnership for the Public Good (center) joined by community advocates and state elected officials Jon Rivera (left) and April Baskin (right). Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Local housing advocates and elected officials are condemning Buffalo’s failure to spend over three-quarters of a $2 million federal grant dedicated to removing toxic lead paint from city homes.  Meanwhile, proposed state legislation aims to pressure landlords to clean their property of lead when identified by housing inspectors.  Investigative Post reported last week that the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency to date has only spent  $479,481 of the $2[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

May 27

2025

City inaction on lead endangers federal funding

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The City of Buffalo has spent only a quarter of the $2 million in federal funds it has received to abate lead hazards in houses and apartments. Now, the program is coming to an end with less than two months to commit the remaining money before it has to be returned to the federal government. The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, which administers the grant, set a goal of remediating 110 residences when it received the funds in 2021. Four years later, only 18 units have been abated. The city last year received a one-year extension for the program from the[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jan 17

2025

Judge tosses lead lawsuit against Buffalo

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Community groups last February rally in front of City Hall for more funding for lead inspections. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that contended the City of Buffalo is failing to enforce a law that mandates inspection of rental units for the presence of lead paint. Partnership for the Public Good and three other community organizations filed the lawsuit last July against the city and the Department of Permits and Inspections. It claimed a failure to fully implement the rental inspections law contributed to substandard living conditions for city residents and increased risks for lead poisoning[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 10

2024

Buffalo schools replacing lead poisoning risks

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Buffalo’s challenge to address lead poisoning of children includes cleaning up contaminated water sources in city schools. Lead in school water isn’t a result of lead pipes leading from streets or in the buildings, but plumbing fixtures, school officials said. Testing conducted in 2022 and 2023 revealed 237 fixtures, including water fountains, with lead levels above current state limits, Investigative Post found. Lead-contaminated water fountains and cafeteria fixtures — 34 fountains and 19 kitchen/cafeteria faucets and kettles, according to an Investigative Post count — have been replaced districtwide over the past few years, school officials said. “Fixtures that are used[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 24

2024

Buffalo asks judge to dismiss lead inspection lawsuit

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Attorneys Matthew Parham, far left, with John Lipsitz, representing groups suing Buffalo, and Assistant Corporation Counsel David Lee, right, representing the city, appear before State Supreme Court Judge Michael Siragusa.  Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The City of Buffalo is asking a judge to toss out a lawsuit accusing the city of failing to enforce a rental inspection law aimed at reducing lead paint in its aging housing stock. Here’s why the case has no merit, according to the city: Buffalo is enforcing its inspections law, known as the Proactive Rental Inspections Program or PRI — just not as quickly as[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Oct 2

2024

$10 million plan to tackle Buffalo’s lead crisis

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Erie County is expected to play a larger role in battling Buffalo’s lead poisoning crisis under a new state program that is pouring millions of dollars into health departments across much of New York State. While the state program won’t be fully operational until late next year, Erie County has already been told it can expect an additional $1.9 million in each of the next five years. The Erie County Department of Health plans to use the money to beef up its lead inspections unit, bringing on eight more inspectors as well as clerical staff to supplement its 18 existing[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Jul 11

2024

Buffalo sued over inner-city lead poisoning

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Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, head of the Partnership for the Public Good. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel.   This story was updated at 2:11 pm on July 11, 2024 to include comments from the City of Buffalo. Tenants and community organizations are taking the City of Buffalo to court, contending it is failing to enforce rental inspection laws aimed at reducing lead paint in the city’s aging housing stock. The inspection law, enacted in 2020, was in response to the large number of children testing with high levels of lead in their blood. City inspectors have conducted relatively few inspections since then,[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Jun 20

2024

East Side landlord faces big fines

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Farhad Raiszadeh, left, with city building inspector Tracey Krug. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. An East Side landlord being sued by the state attorney general for lead paint violations is also under the gun from city building inspectors — and it’s going to cost him. The city is prosecuting 69-year-old Farhad Raiszadeh in Buffalo Housing Court for 125 code violations at 11 properties.  Raiszadeh, who lives in San Diego, was in Housing Court earlier this month, when he was ordered by Judge Patrick Carney to pay the city $65,000, half of which will cover the costs of demolishing a house and[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post