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Mayor Bibb makes a sharp turn from Lead Safe to Lead Free, but performance lags expectation
Mayor Bibb makes a sharp turn from Lead Safe to Lead Free, but performance lags expectation
May. 04, 2025. Cleveland.com. $11.9 million: Cleveland may again lose millions meant to keep kids safe from lead over slow spending "Cleveland risks forfeiting $11.9 million in federal funding to remove lead from homes — a critical tool for protecting children — because City Hall once again failed to spend the money fast enough. Cleveland won two federal grants in 2020 and 2022 worth $15.4 million to identify and remove lead from homes to protect children from lead poisoning. But a mixture of City Hall’s own admitted issues — along with strict federal guidelines on spending — have made getting money out the door challenging. Mayor Justin Bibb has $11.9 million left to spend, but both grants are set to expire this year, with $7.6 million expiring on May 30. Initially, the idea that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would expand these grants and postpone the expiration seemed possible, Community Development Director Alyssa Hernandez told Cleveland City Council. But it’s now unclear if President Donald Trump’s administration will do so."
Apr. 10, 2025. cleveland.com. Cleveland enlists workers across City Hall to tackle backlog of lead-safe applications. "Cleveland has cleared a backlog of 1,200 lead-safe applications ahead of schedule after enlisting volunteers from across City Hall to tackle the logjam. The cleared backlog lets the city refocus on the bigger issue: trying to make real progress on preventing childhood lead poisoning. The bureaucratic bottleneck was originally expected to take six months and was tying up key staffers as they reviewed paperwork submitted by landlords. But Cleveland’s Health Director Dr. David Margolius said workers from four other city departments were brought in to help Building & Housing review 1,000 applications in about a month." Good work! Thanks to all the CLASHers who were working behind the scenes to make the backlog a front burner issue. More here.
February 3, 2025. Signal Cleveland. Mayor Justin Bibb’s $2.1 billion budget calls for tackling blight. First Cleveland needs more staff to do it. "The latest spending plan shows the city will have work to do filling code enforcement vacancies.Cleveland will have around 30 code enforcement vacancies to fill this year, according to Mayor Justin Bibb’s 2025 budget proposal. "This year’s spending plan calls for 120 positions in the code enforcement division of the Building and Housing Department. Only 92 people worked there as of December 2024, according to the budget estimate. In a letter introducing the budget proposal, Bibb wrote that “tackling blight through aggressive enforcement” would be a key priority."
October 17, 2024. Signal Cleveland. Mayor Justin Bibb shakes up Cleveland’s flagging effort to stop children from being lead poisoned. "Bibb wants to push for a higher standard of lead inspections in Cleveland rental properties. His executive order surprised the people who have been helping City Hall carry out its lead program for the last several years. A shakeup is coming to Cleveland’s multimillion-dollar fight against lead paint. In an executive order this week, Mayor Justin Bibb argued that the city’s five-year-old effort to clear household lead hazards was ineffective. The order came as a surprise to people who have worked for years to help City Hall carry out its battle against lead. Now the mayor is reaching for a more expensive and difficult goal: lead abatement. The term “abatement” means the full removal or permanent containment of lead in a house. That could entail replacing walls, baseboards, windows, doors – any surface coated with lead-based paint before the substance was banned in 1978. Chipped and peeling lead-based paint that was applied to homes decades ago still poses a risk to children. Cleveland, with its old housing stock, has one of the highest lead poisoning rates in the country."
Oct 14, 2024. WEWS. Cleveland pivots certification process to tackle lead paint hazards
Oct. 14, 2024. Cleveland.com. Worse than Flint: 4 takeaways from Cleveland’s big lead poisoning hearing
October 14, 2024. Channel 3 News. City of Cleveland determined to lower lead poisoning cases; Mayor Bibb takes action. "Mayor Justin Bibb signs executive order requiring anyone who owns or rents a home built before 1978 get additional testing."
Oct. 15, 2024. SpectrumNews1. Public health leaders raise alarm bells about lead crisis in Cleveland
October 14, 2024. Ideastream Public Media. Cleveland officials meet to address shortcomings in lead testing, remediation efforts.
Enforcement and Endorsement. October 21, 2024. Tracking Cleveland’s efforts to crack down on lead paint hazards. "We told you last week that Cleveland City Hall is shaking up its efforts against lead paint in rental homes. Here’s another angle on the city’s fight against lead."
Oct. 11, 2024 cleveland.com Five years in, Cleveland’s much-touted lead-safe law has failed to reduce child lead poisoning
CHILDHOOD LEAD EXPOSURE IN CLEVELAND, OH DATA BRIEF OCTOBER 2024 (this was the report that triggered the Mayor's Executive Order
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