More than 3,000 children in Bushwick, Brooklyn, suffer from high levels of lead poisoning. Parents and community organizations, with the support of 37 city councilors, are advocating for city legislation that would prevent this tragedy.
The community organization Make the Road by Walking It (Se hace camino al andar), which is organizing a vigil in the office of a city council member, has denounced the situation and blames landlords for the quantity of poisonings due to the extremely poor condition of many apartment buildings in the area.
Poisoning from lead-based paint and dust causes great damage to children’s brains. In Bushwick and East New York alone, 3,152 cases were registered between 1995 and 2000, according to the community group advocating for the implementation of the Prevention Law Against Lead, better known as Intro 101.
“It’s been almost a year since I took my son for medical tests and they found lead. I complained to the owner and she got angry, arguing that probably my son inherited the poisoning through me,” said Viridiana Padilla, mother of Bryan Alvarez who is one year and two months old. Padilla, her son and husband live in apartment 1-R at 298 Grove St., where Bryan was born.
“The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene checked my apartment afterwards and in a letter informed me that the location effectively has lead paint,” said Padilla. She said that the owner added a new cover of paint and that the Health Department’s inspectors have not returned to confirm if that prevents future poisoning.
Shirley Wood lives on the same street, on the first floor of 379 Grove St. and has four children, all with high levels of lead poisoning.
The landlords’ reactions were similar to that of Padilla’s landlord. Like Padilla, Wood went to the Department of Health, but as of today, still has not received an answer.
“I had the medical tests done twice and when I told the landlord, he said nobody else in the building had complained,” she said.
This morning, mothers and their children with the same problems as Padilla and Wood, will hold a vigil in Councilor Erick Dilan’s office. He has not joined the 37 other council members in endorsing Intro 101.
Make the Road by Walking accused Dilan of receiving many campaign donations from the real estate industry.
Dilan indicated that the health of the children in his district is an issue for him and that he is not opposed to Intro 101, but remarked that this legislation does not direct funds to the areas of the city that really suffer from lead poisoning.
Dilan stated that Intro 101 makes general references to the distribution of funds to combat lead poisoning without specifying that his area, along with others, should receive priority assistance. He added that he did not sponsor this initiative and therefore feels free to not support it.
