Cleveland announces new battle against paint additive
CLEVELAND — Cleveland community officials envision an ambitious plan to eliminate lead hazards from over 10,000 homes in the next decade — breaking with a previous plan of cleaning a few hundred homes at a time.
The new plan for removing lead hazards from homes in Cleveland and East Cleveland would require $159 million in upfront investment, the Plain Dealer has reported. According to Boston-based nonprofit Third Sector Capital Partners, the return on that investment would be about $200 million.
Third Sector Capital was hired by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health in to explore a social impact bond model plan aimed at drastically reducing lead poisoning threats. The board received a $100,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation to explore the model.
“There’s no question that we want to think big,” Cuyahoga County Health Commissioner Terry Allan said this month after a private meeting to discuss the plan.
The plan calls for investors to be repaid incrementally over the next 10 years based on savings from reduced costs in other civic areas.
A Cleveland city spokeswoman said the new model has the potential to bring significant resources to increase Cleveland’s inventory of lead-free homes.
More than 500,000 older homes in Cuyahoga County are potential lead hazards, and rental homes in neighborhoods with deteriorating houses are a particular risk for young children.
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have relied mainly on grants from the federal government to remediate lead hazards. On average, only about 250 homes a year are remediated under the current model each year.
YOUNGSTOWN — The former police chief of a village near Youngstown has been indicted on charges related to assaulting his ex-girlfriend and stealing cash from a home while removing a body as a coroner’s investigator.
The Vindicator newspaper reported 41-year-old Richard Jamrozik, of Campbell, was charged in an indictment Thursday with three counts each of felonious assault and possessing criminal tools and two counts each of tampering with evidence and theft in office.
Jamrozik was Lowellville’s chief from November 2015 until he resigned in August 2016 after agreeing to a fiveyear civil protection order filed by his live-in girlfriend.
The indictment alleges Jamrozik that split his girlfriend’s skull with a golf club and caused other injuries, and that he stole $2,500 from a home where he removed a body before becoming chief.
A message seeking comment was left with Jamrozik’s attorney Saturday.
More than 500,000 older homes in Cuyahoga County are potential lead hazards, and rental homes in neighborhoods with deteriorating houses are a particular risk for young children.