Day: December 27, 2018

Toxic City Investigation Review

In December 2016, Mayor Kenney promised to add money to the city’s Lead and Healthy Homes Program. Was that promise kept?

 

The mayor added $900,000 in fiscal year 2018. Almost half, or $425,000, was used to remediate lead hazards in homes owned by people who didn’t qualify for a federal grant. Health officials also used the new money to hire 11 staffers and to purchase XRF guns (handheld X-ray fluorescent devices that detect lead paint) and vehicles for inspectors. Kenney renewed the $900,000 for this fiscal year. The city also received new federal dollars. Just this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Philadelphia $4.1 million to help repair or remove lead paint in 240 homes with low-income families with children.

http://www.philly.com/news/philadelphia-schools-lead-poisoning-children-reform-soil-asbestos-mold-cancer-fishtown-construction-20181227.html

By Barbara Laker, Dylan Purcell and Wendy Ruderman

Health Department Website Launch Coverage

“Being able to present critical health information in a format that works with how the public actually uses the internet today has been a key goal of ours for a long time,” said James Garrow, the health department’s director of communications. “Working with ODDT has enabled us to realize this goal and to build a website that meets the needs of Philadelphians and gives them access to all of the dozens of services the Health Department offers.”

https://technical.ly/philly/2018/12/27/get-access-to-100-services-on-the-new-website-for-phillys-health-department/

By Roberto Torres