Monday, July 24, 2017
CLEVELAND (AP)
A Cleveland councilman says he’ll propose that the city start requiring homes, childcare centers and schools to be certified as safe from lead hazards if they were built before 1978.
Councilman Jeff Johnson tells The Plain Dealer that the proposal he’ll introduce next month could help address Cleveland’s child lead-poisoning problem.
Johnson says it would be part of a broader initiative to address lead hazards in paint and in soil and water. The requirements wouldn’t be limited solely to rental properties, as similar legislation in some other cities has been.
The Cleveland proposal would call for the safety certifications by 2021. Johnson says he’d like to require it sooner, but the area doesn’t have enough qualified, private lead-risk assessors to accomplish tens of thousands of checks so quickly.