Left to right: Director of Development Crystal Surdyk, Jamestown resident Jade Shirey, Healthy Communities Consultant Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller, Council member Brent Sheldon, Council Member Regina Brackman, and Council Member Marie Carrubba at City Council Housing Committee meeting (March 20, 2023)

A Jamestown mother is urging the City to take on lead hazards in housing that’s resulted in hundreds of children being affected by lead poisoning.

Hazzard Street resident Jade Shirey spoke before the City Council Housing Committee, saying health issues caused by lead paint exposure is 100% preventable and that no homes should be allowed to have lead paint, “It is, I get, an expensive fix, but we are spending money either way. We are either going to spend it in being proactive and getting lead out of homes, or we are going to spend it reactive in giving services, inundating our school system, our fire people with the condemned houses or the fire calls from the properties not being where they should be, police activity later on in their years when these (lead-poisoned) kids are facing impulsivity.”

Shirey shared that her son was diagnosed with lead poisoning two years ago, “So, in part of that, I brought my child who suffers from verbal delays, speech-cognitive delays, is going to be put in a (inaudible) classroom, who I’ve had so much trouble securing services for. I’m not sure how families have been doing this for 45 years.”

Shirey said Jamestown is seventh in the state for lead poisoning, with 60 kids in the 14701 zip code being affected by lead poisoning a year. She said that equates to about 900 students in the Jamestown Public Schools system who have suffered from lead poisoning.

Shirey said her goal is to make sure no other families go through what she has.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said while she doesn’t have a fix that can have an immediate impact, the city is working on dealing with lead in housing from a policy standpoint, “So, we have rental inspection ordinance that we are working on. We have a vacant property ordinance that we’re working on. And then we have a third, a nuisance property ordinance that we’re working on which won’t directly impact lead inspections, but through those two other ordinances, lead inspection, mandatory lead inspections will be rolled into those.”

Surdyk said the city has been working with the Healthy Housing Coalition, which includes county government and other housing agencies, on how to give landlords incentives to take care of lead paint in their properties, “We want to offer a carrot, right? We’re going to give you this big stick. We’re going to say, ‘This has to be done,’ and we’re going to have ‘x’ amount of time to do all of these inspections. And if there is lead found, you’re going to have another ‘x’ amount of time to remediate it. And then the intention is, if we’ve identified it, looking at ways to subsidize the cost of the inspection for the lead.”

Council member Brent Sheldon, who previously worked for the Chautauqua County Health Department in lead hazard reduction, said while the county has received funds to do lead abatements, it’s a struggle to get people to participate.

For additional information on lead poisoning prevention, visit the County’s Environmental Health Department’s website at: https://chqgov.com/environmental-health/lead-poisoning-prevention