NYCHA lead work done right – Blaz

MAYOR DE BLASIO insisted Thursday that work had been done correctly to remove lead from vacant public housing apartments before new families moved in — even though some of those families later saw their children test for high levels of the toxic metal.

“The actions taken when an apartment is vacated, the full work done on an apartment, that was done in an appropriate way by certified people,” de Blasio said at a 1 Police Plaza press conference.

The city has admitted that work done in some apartments where lead paint was found had been done by workers without the proper certifications to do the dangerous job — but de Blasio insisted that was only true in cases where “there was only a repainting, for example.”

He was responding to a Daily News story about little Melany Herrera, whose Red Hook Houses apartment has been abated for lead and deemed “clean” in 2013. Melany, who was an infant when she moved in, had 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter in her blood by the time she was 2 years and 6 months old, double what’s safe.

The mayor insisted the story, which noted uncertified crews have been doing NYCHA lead remediation work, was “just plain wrong” and did not accurately portray “the situation with these children.”

“We all need to know what is the nature of their disability, is it lead-based? Is it lead that came from the living space or some other source?” he asked, later adding that “some lead problems may have come from other sources.”

Asked for proof that workers were certified when they removed lead from vacant apartments like the one Herrera moved into, the administration first provided certificates showing a supervisor had completed an EPA approved class on July 27, 2017, and that a worker had done so on June 22, 2015.

Herrera’s apartment, which de Blasio insisted was remediated by certified workers, was vacated and cleaned in 2013. Asked if they could provide earlier records, the administration did not offer new documents.

It was in 2012 that Sherron Paige’s apartment at the Red Hook Houses was vacant, remediated for lead and deemed “clean” by NYCHA.

Years later, her son Kyan Dickerson tested for high levels of lead in his blood. The Department of Health found lead using X-ray tests in the abated apartment, but lab testing requesting by NYCHA said there was no lead. Another test of the dust in the apartment again found lead.