CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In Cleveland, childhood lead poisoning persists as an entrenched reality -- a generational inheritance more reliable than any civic promise.
For decades, our city has cycled through a predictable pattern: mayoral declarations of urgency, task forces assembled with fanfare, federal grants secured with optimism, and then, inevitably, the quiet dissolution of momentum as bureaucratic inertia reclaims its territory.
The most recent chapter in this disheartening saga reveals that Cleveland risks forfeiting $11.9 million in federal lead abatement funding, with $7.6 million set to expire at the end of this month. Fiscal mismanagement would be one way to describe it. But it's really so much more than that. It represents thousands of children whose neurological development remains compromised, while solutions languish in administrative purgatory.
Five years after the city passed its lead-safe law, the percentage of Cleveland children with elevated blood lead levels remains unchanged. In some neighborhoods like Glenville, St. Clair-Superior, and Slavic Village -- where predominantly Black children live -- up to one in four children have been poisoned. They may seem like abstract statistics, but they represent permanently altered life trajectories, diminished educational opportunities and heightened behavioral challenges that reverberate across generations.
The historical record is damning in its consistency. In 1993, Mayor Michael White convened a summit of 200 participants, including 45 national experts. He eloquently named the stakes: "Lead erodes the school performance of our children, it undermines housing values, it saps the vitality of our future work force and ultimately threatens economic potential."
By 1999, the city had lost its federal HUD grant due to poor performance in cleaning homes. The pattern would repeat under Mayor Jane Campbell, who in 2004 pledged to eliminate childhood lead poisoning within a decade, declaring Cleveland would become "a national model." Five years later, city officials acknowledged those goals could not be met.
Mayor Frank Jackson's administration, despite some increased inspection efforts, similarly failed to create meaningful change. The Plain Dealer's 2015 investigation revealed the city often failed to inspect homes where children were poisoned, and when hazards were identified, rarely forced property owners to address them.
Now, under Mayor Justin Bibb, we confront the sobering revelation that despite a 2019 lead-safe law requiring rental property certification, the crisis persists unabated. In fact, child lead poisoning cases increased by 5.5% between 2022 and 2023.
The reality we must confront is that our approach has been fundamentally flawed. We've constructed a bureaucratic labyrinth that seems designed to impede rather than facilitate progress. We've settled for clearance exams rather than rigorous risk assessments. We've accepted temporary fixes -- fresh paint over ancient poison -- rather than permanent solutions.
Most troublingly, we've normalized a reactive system that uses children as human lead detectors, responding only after their blood tests reveal exposure that can never be undone. There is no safe level of lead in the blood, and exposure in young children causes irreversible brain and neurological damage, leading to learning disabilities, attention problems and increased propensity for behavioral issues, including violent crime later in life.
The city's acknowledgment that 11 housing units that passed clearance exams still poisoned children -- some "within a very short period of time" after certification -- should shock our collective conscience. But in Cleveland, it's simply another data point in a decades-long tragedy.
So, what would meaningful change require? First, dismantling the bureaucratic architecture that has repeatedly proven itself incapable of addressing this crisis. The city should launch a comprehensive national search for proven solutions and appoint leadership with the singular focus and authority to implement them effectively.
We need standards that reflect scientific reality -- not merely "lead-safe" certifications that can be achieved through pre-inspection deep cleaning, but genuine lead-free environments that protect children continuously. This means replacing, not just painting over, lead-contaminated windows, doors and trim.
We need to shift from fragmented responsibility to centralized accountability. The slow-walking of nearly $92 million in Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition funds and the impending loss of federal grants represents both an administrative failure and a moral abdication.
Most fundamentally, we need to acknowledge that our kids' futures are worth more than administrative convenience. Disproportionate lead poisoning in predominantly Black neighborhoods represents environmental racism in its most pernicious form -- invisible, denied, yet profoundly life-altering.
As we contemplate yet another iteration of promises and programs, let's also reckon with the true cost of our historical failure. Each child with elevated blood lead levels faces diminished cognitive potential, increased behavioral challenges and narrowed life opportunities. These individual tragedies compound into community-wide consequences: struggling schools, increased crime, reduced economic vitality and the perpetuation of intergenerational poverty.
The science is unambiguous. The moral imperative is clear. The resources exist. What remains lacking is the political will to prioritize our children's neurological health.
Cleveland has worn the shameful label of "worst in the country" for lead poisoning long enough. Our kids deserve better than becoming the latest statistics in a decades-long failure of governance and accountability. Until we fundamentally transform our approach -- demanding true abatement rather than temporary fixes, rigorous standards rather than superficial certifications, and proactive prevention rather than reactive response -- we will continue to poison a new generation, while promising to protect the next.