Lead Failure in Lawrence
On September 30, 2019, the Department of Housing & Urban Development announced the awards for Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Grant and the Healthy Homes Production Grant. The City of Lawrence was not awarded either grant. This might just be a regular story, however, if you knew that the City of Lawrence has been awarded one or both grants since 1999 (that I can remember) then you might be interested in this article. You’d be more interested in reading about this topic when you find that these grants have been awarded to Lawrence, in the past, of between $3 million to $5 million dollars per grant period.
Rumbo decided to investigate and I have requested under the Freedom of Information Act information on the most recent HUD monitoring done to Community Development. When I receive it, I’ll be sure to let you know if there were any indications of wrongdoings or HUD’s findings for taking such measure against the city.
There are two issues at hand that we believe (and the citizens of Lawrence should explore and know) may have caused the City being denied further grants by the Office of Lead Hazard Control & Healthy Homes. Just in case, if you are told by Mayor Rivera that the city is not in need of these funds, don’t believe him. I am sure that is what this administration will tell you that to brush aside fault. The fact is that there are many homes needing lead removal in the City of Lawrence and the City would not have requested the grant if they knew they did not need the money. So, why the city would not receive this funding? Two very solid hypotheses are in order.
The first is that these grants are federal grants handed to communities by the federal government – the very same federal government that Mayor Rivera has decided to choose a fight. This is the same government that Mayor Rivera decided to file a law suit. When a tiny little city’s leader decides to fight against the president of the US, things will happen – and those things are less federal funding for projects and needs.
On March 2019 President Trump’s proposal to abolish block grants was worrisome to local elected leaders throughout the nation. President Trump had left $3.3 billion out of his budget proposal. However, the block grant was eventually restored in the budget by Congress. But you would be additionally like to know that this year was a record year by HUD in investing in lead reduction.
HUD awarded a record $319 million across the nation – which means that even while there was more money available, Lawrence still received zero dollars for the first time ever since 1999. Above all, the Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes stated that “…this year, HUD is awarding a record number of awards to jurisdictions to directly support their efforts to identify and clean up housing-based health hazards like lead and mold.” This means that Lawrence, not receiving this grant was not due to a lack of funds, but possibly by Mayor Rivera big foot in his big mouth.
During my research, someone told me that, “In the midst of all his problems, the furthest thing from President Trump’s mind is Lawrence.” He was probably right.
The second is that this grants request is submitted by the Community Development Department and the Community Development Director is responsible with submitting the request, forms, and reasons to the Housing of Urban Development (HUD). Previously Director James Barnes was responsible with bringing in millions of dollars for lead removal/reduction. Before Jim, it was Community Director Ezra Glenn and before him other directors going back since 1999 brought in millions of dollars.
Vilma Martinez-Dominguez is the current City of Lawrence Community Development Director. She is responsible and submitted the current grant request to HUD, and if there is anyone to blame for this failure it could be her. Whether she wrote the grant poorly or did not make the grant proposal sound significant was on her court. Those grants are based on a formula that uses population, median income, and the age of housing stock, and includes statistics of lead in children. Those community block grants are an integral part of the revitalization of our neighborhoods. We depend on them, especially in the lower-income areas of our city. If those dollars go away, it’s going to be very, very difficult to continue the infrastructure and programming needs of those communities.
Go to the city’s webpage and look up Community Development. Then, go to Lawrence Lead Abatement Program and you’ll see the statement that the city received a $3.1 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and they even offer loans to residents for up to $10,000 per unit to eliminate lead paint hazards from Lawrence homes.
You will also find the name of Steve Vega, lead program director. The funny thing is that Mr. Vega has not worked for the city for almost two years. Another thing, he worked as a contractor for many years without putting the job out for bids. So, don’t believe anything the city tells you. I tried contacting him in Lowell but the telephone listed was not working.
I recall Mayor Rivera giving Planning Director Theresa Park a 45 thousand dollar increase because “she was responsible with bringing millions of dollars into the city”. Well, if Vilma Martinez Dominguez is responsible now, what happens when you fail to bring in millions of dollars into the city? Do you get a decrease in pay? No. You get asked by Mayor Rivera to run for the office of the mayor and be his chosen candidate.
I just don’t understand why the city residents would want a future mayor that can’t bring the bacon home or drops the ball. After all, this is devastating as this is an important and staple community development initiative of Lawrence. Thousands of children depend on not being poisoned by lead paint or lead based products that were used in homes in past years.
As you can see, I have lots of questions that I hope get answered if I receive the documents I requested from the city.
This year’s lead reduction grant, in Massachusetts, were awarded to the City of Lynn ($9.3M), City of Worcester ($5.6M), City of Boston ($4.3M), City of Quincy ($300,000).
