Pugh wants answers from Baltimore Housing
Baltimore Sen. Cathy Pugh is demanding that the city's housing department develop a plan to pay judgments owed to Baltimore residents poisoned by lead paint in city houses -- and is threatening to hold up about $17 million in funding until the report is finished.
A drafting error in Pugh's amendment held up the vote for now, but several senators, including GOP leader Nancy Jacobs, stood up to support it during a brief debate. The vote is expected in about an hour or so.
Pugh is offering an amendment to the state's capital budget that would stop funds for planning a controversial youth detention center in Baltimore city until the report is issued. There have been rumors flying in Annapolis that Pugh is gunning to challenge Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and today's move, with its implicit criticism of city government, could be the first step.
Pugh acknowledged that the amendment is largely symbolic: The youth facility is already on delay.
The Sun's Scott Calvert reported on Sunday that Baltimore's housing authority is refusing to make good on any of nine court judgments totaling nearly $12 million, even though in some cases it agreed to the dollar amount or lost an appeal.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake concurred with the housing authority's position, telling The Sun: "It is not possible" to make the payments.
Since 2005 the city's housing agency has spent $3.8 million defending against lead paint cases, trying a succession of courtroom strategies that one plaintiff's lawyer likened to legal Whac-A-Mole. The authority's lawyers have argued that it is immune to lawsuits. They've argued it's too strapped to be sued. They've argued most of its assets are federal and therefore off limits. They've been accused in court of stalling.
City Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano acknowledges the lasting damage caused by lead-based paint. But legal arguments aside, he says the agency – the fifth-largest housing authority in the country, with a $300 million annual budget, according to its website – simply cannot afford to pay. Besides the judgments already entered against it, the housing authority faces 175 additional lead-paint cases whose potential claims exceed $800 million.
Comments
Is the Sun implying that she is grandstanding? Would she hoold up funding for a project noone wants to make a payout the City can't afford. We are talking about $800 milion. What ever happen to suing the makers of the paint... Oh that's right they can't /won't pay either.
Posted by: OverTheTop | April 8, 2011 2:56 PM
NO TO ANY LEAD PAINT PAYMENTS! Pugh can pay them herself. It is the peoples money and these lead eating fools deserve nothing. Where were the parents?
Posted by: sling1 | April 8, 2011 4:02 PM
As a Baltimore City child welfare worker I am smart enough to know that you don't have to sit around eating paint chips to get lead poisoning. It in the dust particles that flow through the home. So you could watch your child 24/7 and if they live in a lead filled home they will be poisoned. Babies put everything in their mouth, including the pacifier they repeatedly drop on the floor. The only way to make sure your children don't get lead poisoning is to make sure your home is lead free. Unfortunately, these people are in public housing because they can't afford better. These landlords charge the government fortunes for unsafe shacks and endanger kids lives. The Housing Authority is supposed to test for lead before the approve a home for payment. If they give someone $1200 for a debilitated row home they should insure its safe, so yes they do have some liability......but $800 million that is riduculous. How come the actual landlords aren't required to pay these fees?
Posted by: Victoria | April 8, 2011 4:54 PM
Victoria these properties in question were properties either owned by city housing or managed by city housing , therefore they are the landlords . Those of us landlords in the private sector for the most part comply with MDE rules otherwise they will shut you down . Baltimore housing gets away with this type of crap because they are federally funded and claim that money cant be touched . If I get sued for a lead case and a judge tells me I have to pay , guess what , I have to pay .
And to your point about lead being in the air , you are exactly right but most lead contamination in Baltimore City comes in on peoples shoes as a result of the huge number of vacant and falling down homes in the city . Who is responsible for that ?
Posted by: Eddie | April 8, 2011 6:53 PM