Bureaucratic Mistakes, Lack Of Cooperation Have Stymied Lead Paint Cleanup Efforts Near LA’s Exide Technologies Plant
The state has staged a massive cleanup of soil near the plant, but lead paint in homes still endangers children in the area. Interviews show failures at multiple levels. The state blamed inaction on limitations in its authority and said other agencies must respond. County health officials cited funding constraints.
Los Angeles Times:
Lead Paint Threatens To Undo California's Biggest Residential Cleanup, Officials Warn. But They're Doing Little To Fix It
Officials have long known that children across a swath of southeast Los Angeles County are exposed to brain-damaging lead from two distinct sources: pollution from a now-shuttered battery recycling plant and lead paint in the walls of their homes. The state has begun cleaning soil contamination from yards near the Exide Technologies plant in California’s biggest-ever lead cleanup. But bureaucratic mistakes and a lack of cooperation between state and local agencies have blocked efforts to fix lead house paint, state records reviewed by The Times and interviews show. (Barboza, 8/31)
In other news from across the state —
Ventura County Star:
State OK Allows CMH To Move Into New Hospital
Seven years after construction started on a new Community Memorial Hospital and three years after it was once projected to be finished, state inspectors have declared the work virtually complete. The go-ahead on Wednesday allows leaders of the Ventura hospital to start training staff in the 250-bed, six-story hospital and stocking it with beds, desks and other equipment. Hospital leaders say they hope to open the facility to the public by the end of the year. (Kisken, 8/30)
KQED:
Cuts To Oakland Free Dinner Program Felt By Thousands Of Students As School Resumes
Cuts to Oakland Unified high school sports have riled up district parents and raised legal questions, but the elimination of a dinner program that serves low-income kids has gotten far less attention. The cuts to the dinner program impact at least 3,000 students, according to program staff, while the sports cuts initially affected about 500 students. (Rancano, 8/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Essential Clinic For Low-Income Women, Teens Gets Back On Its Feet
On Wednesday, the fear of permanent closure was put to rest for good when New Generation officially opened at a new location in the cavernous headquarters of the Homeless Prenatal Program at 2500 18th St. As city leaders, including Supervisor Hillary Ronen and medical professionals, hailed it as a new day, the clinic’s counselors saw a bright future. New Generation actually began its relocation a couple of months ago, slowly taking in patients, and by the time the ribbon cutting and speeches happened, its teams were already seeing about 40 young people a week, most of them women and girls. (Fagan, 8/30)