PD Series on Sherwin- Williams

The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com series on "Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma" was a multi-part review of Cleveland's home grown lead polluter. 

Below you will find a section with links to the installments and a section of comments, questions and suggestions from the CLASH public. You can share your 2 cents by writing to clevelandleadsafe@gmail.com 

(the guidelines for blog posts are here.)

The Sherwin Williams series in the Plain Dealer

• Jul. 10, 2026 Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma: Cleveland pride, Cleveland pain and a reckoning. "It rises on the horizon for Clevelanders living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods of old wooden houses, where Sherwin-Williams has had a different kind of lasting impact. A toxin the company produced in great quantities for more than 80 years has permanently damaged the brains of countless children, making school, work, relationships and stability harder before their lives had truly begun. The lead paint that vaulted Sherwin-Williams to the pinnacle of the paint industry, flowing from company plants for decade after decade, stole away the future of Cleveland’s children."

• Jul. 11, 2026 Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer How Cleveland’s paint company conquered the world : Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma, Part 2. Keep in mind that the first medical challenge to use of lead in industry was the work of Alice Hamilton, an industrial hygienist in the 1920s. The connection between lead and child health was confirmed by Herbert Needleman in the 1970s.

• Jul. 12, 2026, Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com They knew: Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma, Part 3. "And to keep Americans buying gallons of the poison, in 1928 – almost 20 years after Europe started banning lead paint -- the American producers of lead and lead paint formed an association. Its chief purpose was to beat back the ever-growing research showing how dangerous lead is and keep the lead paint flowing across the country. Sherwin-Williams, then the world’s biggest paint company and one of the biggest producers of lead pigments, was a charter member of that association." More background on the Lead Industries Association (it wasn't just paint).  How the lead industry misled the public about its toxic problem for decades and Profiting from poison: how the US lead industry knowingly created a water crisis. 

• Jul. 15, 2026 The judgment that stands: Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma, "Clearly, America was at war with lead paint, yet it still took the U.S. government until 1978 to prohibit it. But what to do about the millions of tons of lead already coating the interiors of America’s homes? The battleground was the courts. Early on, lawsuits were filed against the owners of rental properties where lead paint poisoning had occurred. This happened in part because the Lead Industries Association was successful in steering the blame away from paint companies and toward landlords and slums. The argument was landlords had failed to maintain safe homes or repair peeling paint." For the record, Needleman's research on the connection between lead paint and children was not accepted until 1979. "After extensive scientific review, Needleman's findings were instrumental in convincing the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to issue guidelines for the diagnosis and management of lead poisoning in children, in goading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mandate the removal of lead from gasoline, and in inducing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban lead from interior paints. Needleman's research also helped cause the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to remove lead from thousands of housing units across the US." 

• Jul. 15, 2026 The right thing to do: Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma, Part 5.  "The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com have chronicled the repeated, chronic failures of city health programs to solve the problem, most notably in a series called Toxic Neglect more than a decade ago. Nothing has worked. The poison on the walls, doors and windows continues to wreck lives."  

• Jul. 17, 2026 Behind the series: Today in Ohio’s Leila Atassi, Chris Quinn discuss Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma "With the completion of a five-day series about the history of Sherwin-Williams and lead paint called Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer dedicated Thursday’s episode of Today in Ohio to a discussion about the series. Regular host Chris Quinn, who wrote the series, was in the role of guest for the special episode, with daily panelist Leila Atassi hosting and asking the questions about the motivations for and findings of the series." Editor Atassi interviews her boss Editor Quinn. 

• Jul. 18, 2026, PD/Cleveland.com. Why now? Why me? Wrapping up Our Sherwin-Williams Dilemma: Letter from the Editor. "A newsroom leader has a duty to advocate for what matters most. That is why I couldn’t simply document the problem. I felt an obligation to propose a solution. Giving up my nights and weekends for a while to try, one more time, to move the needle seems like a tiny sacrifice when I consider how much our children are losing because this city and its leaders have failed to rally to save them." Done nothing? Here's our take and a message back to Quinn. 

Past coverage of Lead Poisoning in Cleveland by the Plain Dealer

May. 16, 2026, cleveland.com Why we didn’t cover Sherwin-Williams’ ribbon cutting: Letter from the Editor "Sherwin Williams refused to let our photographers cover the event, telling us it would distribute its own approved photos afterward. That’s not journalism. That’s spin. And we don’t accept it. Never mind that this 33-story tower has nearly $200 million of the public’s money subsidizing it. Never mind that a ribbon cutting is among the most fake and meaningless of news events. (Sherwin Williams employees have been working at the building for months.) And never mind that the many politicians who show up for things like this say a whole lot of words without actually conveying a newsworthy thought. This is about journalism. If we cover something, we determine what the story is. Our reporters use their judgment to sift out what is new and newsworthy. Our photographers use their artistic eyes to get the kinds of shots that readers remember." Hurt feelings?

Jun. 07, 2025 What’s wrong with us? Why can’t we rally to save our children from poisoning? Letter from the Editor "I’ve long fostered a dream of how it could happen, uniting the region in common cause to save thousands of children and showing the world what Northeast Ohio can do with its grit and determination. The aim would be to remove lead paint citywide, one neighborhood at a time, maybe 40 or 50 houses each. You’d go in, replace every window, door and inch of trim, which is where the lead paint causes the problems." Origin of the "we" conflation?

Feb. 07, 2020 Mayor says lead cleanup contributions not part of Cleveland Sherwin-Williams incentive negotiations. Almost every question about THE HQ deal is answered here.

Sherwin Williams responds

July 22, 2026. Axios Cleveland. 1 big thing: 👀 Sherwin-Williams responds State of play: Company spokesperson Julie Young told Axios it submitted a five-page response to editor Chris Quinn before publication, but none of its content was included. What they're saying: In the statement, shared with Axios, Sherwin-Williams argues it never had any greater knowledge or foresight than public health officials about the dangers of lead paint and says it "often was ahead of" federal, state and local regulations. The modern focus should be on protecting vulnerable families from predatory landlords, the statement reads, not manufacturers that 'made a legal product 50 to more than 100 years ago.' Between the lines: The Cleveland.com series showed how Sherwin-Williams promoted the concentration of lead in its paint because products from competitors with lower levels were deemed inferior. Sherwin-Williams now says it was actually a leader in moving the market away from lead-based paint. 'We continually innovated to lower lead content in our exterior paints, using lead pigments where it was necessary to impart specific qualities like water-resistance, adhesion, and durability,' the statement reads. By the numbers: The statement notes that from 2021 to 2025, Sherwin-Williams made sizable local charitable contributions as a member of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition...."

Citizen comments, questions and suggestions 

CLASH supporter writes: PD editor Quinn has a vision of civic engagement and a distrust of local government. Sherwin Williams still sells leaded paint...just not in Ohio. One thing to watch out for, something I call "programitization." Where there are half-hearted efforts to throw a program at a social problem. Or to address it only through some regulatory framework or through fines that are a drop in the bucket for well-healed absentee landlords 

CLASHer asks: Where is the public reaction (other than in the pages of the PD)? Where are the elected officials? What does Sherwin Williams say--are they ready to provide the leadership to reclaim their past corporate misbehavior?

CLASH Board member writes: "It is the nature of multi-national corporate capitalism to externalize the poisonous parts of their products to society at large so they can maximize profits that pay their CEOs and investors.  A larger argument can be made that we need to update our corporate charter laws to require that they include the best interests of their communities to prevent the pernicious nature of their current practices. In the meantime, perhaps you will educate the larger public about the dangers of corporate irresponsibility and what Sherwin-Williams’ moral, if not legal debt is to the generations of damaged Clevelanders."

Jul. 17, 2026 cleveland.com Could Cleveland churches help house families during lead paint fixes? "How about local churches getting involved in that aspect of planning? Maybe the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland could consider adapting or redirecting their planned $15 million Chancery renovation project for that purpose. In my opinion, such an initiative would be much more worthwhile and appropriate than creating office space. I think Pope Leo XIV might agree. Michael Tierney, Olmsted Falls.

• Axios Cleveland. The Sherwin-Williams reporting Cleveland should read  Two new news raised by Sam Allard. 

  1. 1. "The other side: Sherwin-Williams spokesperson Julie Young told Axios that Sherwin-Williams sent Quinn a detailed statement in response to his questions on July 9 but that none of its content was published by Cleveland.com.  'The series contained several inaccuracies,' Young said, noting that Sherwin-Williams would be publishing a rebuttal." 

     2. "Flashback: Local journalist Roldo Bartimole wrote in 2001 that Cleveland's history of corporate responsibility was 'tainted with a 'rich man's burden' flavor,' and Quinn's proposal feels indebted to that lineage."

• Jul. 21, 2026. cleveland.com Time to step up once and for all to rid Cleveland homes of the lead-poisoning scourge "Politicians and civic leaders who are sitting on millions of dollars have punted it away for far too long, compromising away their passion; taking their eyes off the prize -- which is to save future generations of children who are threatened by lead in their homes." anonymous Letter to the editor.

• Jul. 23, 2026. cleveland.com Let’s launch Cleveland lead-remediation effort without delay "We are writing to commend The Plain Dealer for its recent series on Sherwin-Williams Co. and a lead-free Cleveland. We appreciate the PD’s lead-poisoning clean-up proposal for its bold, comprehensive, and forward-thinking aspects. Although some details still need to be worked out, there is enough here to begin to identify neighborhoods and homes in need of remediation. There is enough here to establish a board to oversee the financing and work to be done. There is enough here to begin to train workers. And there is surely enough here to identify and enlist the help of civic leaders and community members.

Fallout from the series

July 31, 2026: Still no reaction from local or national media, except Axios Cleveland. No comments from community, civic or political leaders. What's up? Has the PD insistence on "subscriber only" paywalls and ad-blocker paywalls diminished the impact that Chris Quinn sought?

August 2, 2026: Did Sherwin Williams' donation to Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition serve to inoculate the corporation from a charge of civic neglect without making an admission of guilt? Has SW made similar donations to other communities?