City of Englewood signs “Model Lead-Safe City” agreement with Public Advocate

 ENGLEWOOD –The City of Englewood has signed an agreement with the New Jersey Public Advocate to aggressively respond to and prevent the problem of childhood lead poisoning.

View Model Lead-Safe City Agreement

"By signing the Model Lead-Safe City agreement, the City of Englewood is positively re-affirming its commitment to the health and welfare of the children of our community,” said Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes.   “Every child in Englewood deserves our full devotion to their safety by protecting them from the potential harms of lead poisoning in their homes."

Flanked by local officials, community-based organizations and citizens who have committed their time and skills to partner with the city to address this health issue, New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen and City Mayor Wildes signed an agreement designating Englewood as a “Model Lead-Safe City.”

 “The City of Englewood is to be commended for taking such an aggressive stance against childhood lead poisoning,” said Chen, who unveiled a report in April 2008 that showed that thousands of children in New Jersey are poisoned in their homes every year due to exposure to deteriorating lead-based paint.

According to the Public Advocate’s report, the childhood lead poisoning problem was determined to be particularly acute in the state’s cities. In response to the report, Governor Jon S. Corzine has signed an executive order requiring state departments to tighten their lead poisoning prevention activities.

Under the Model Lead-Safe City agreement signed today, city officials committed to take steps to: improve educational outreach on the issue; expand the number of children screened for lead poisoning; improve the inspections of properties that may be lead-burdened; tighten oversight of lead abatement contractors; and provide improved relocation assistance and more lead-safe housing to affected families.

Approximately 2,201 children under the age of six reside in the City of Englewood. In addition, about 81% of the housing stock in Englewood was built before 1978, when the national ban on the sale of lead paint went into effect.  About 31% of the housing stock in the City was built before 1950 when the level of lead in paint was at its highest. 

“I am pleased that Englewood has determined to combat possible multiple poisonings by notifying all residents of an apartment building of the risk and urging all children between six months and six years of age to be screened for lead,”   said Chen. “Another forward thinking component is the city’s commitment to work with the local school districts to identify school room products that many contain lead.”

Specifically, the city will:

• Designate a Lead-Safe City Coordinator who will be the point person for all work related to responding to and preventing lead poisoning;
• Ensure that educational materials concerning the dangers of lead poisoning and the need for blood lead screening are made available to all families;
• Offer lead safe work practice training for contractors, home owners, demolition experts, and redevelopment contractors doing work on pre-1978 housing;
• Meet with landlords and tenants to offer educational information and assistance;
• When a lead hazard is identified in an apartment of a multi-unit dwelling, notify residents of the risk and urge that children between the ages of six months and six year olds be screened for elevated blood lead levels;
• Work with the local school districts to identify its usage of products that may contain lead;
• Continue its efforts to check stores that may be selling recalled toys and other merchandise containing lead.
  

In May, the Englewood Health Department received a Lead Identification and Field Testing grant award in the amount of $23,395 from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.  The grant award will be used to purchase a XRF gun that will identify the presence of lead paint during a lead inspection/risk assessment.  Each of the Model Cities that applied for these grants received them.

Lead, a metallic substance, remains in the environment years after its initial use.  It is toxic to the body’s tissue and enzymes and can cause brain damage, learning delays and, in extreme cases, coma and even death. Even though lead has been banned for decades, it still may be present in homes built prior to 1978 and is most commonly found in chipping or peeling paints, plumbing and surrounding soil. 

The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate conducted a field investigation in late 2007 in five of the New Jersey cities with the highest concentration of lead-poisoned children: Trenton, Camden, Newark, East Orange and Irvington. Together, these five cities accounted for 31 percent of all reported lead poisonings in New Jersey in FY 2005.

At each of the 104 addresses inspected, one or more children had already been lead poisoned within the past 10 years, and thus were or should have been inspected. Additionally, a minimum of approximately one-third of the homes had already undergone abatement.  DPA took up to 12 samples in each of the homes of the floors, window sills and window wells. 

Over the course of the last year, the Public Advocate has directed his attention to establishing partnerships with local governments and community-based organizations to combine resources and work collaboratively to address the childhood lead poisoning problem.

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