According to the complaint, 600 children in Chestnut Holdings buildings are under the age of six and receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, colloquially known as food stamps. Lead paint in residential housing has been a pervasive problem for decades, particularly in New York. Chestnut And we greatly appreciate the attorney generals willingness to pay attention to the call for action from local stakeholders, including Families for Lead Freedom Now, and to pursue a bright line against childhood lead poisoning in Syracuse.. Lead poisoning in Onondaga County occurs predominantly within Syracuse, and disproportionately harms low-income communities and communities of color. Every New Yorker especially children living in our most disadvantaged communities has a right to live a healthy life without the threat of lead paint poisoning, said Attorney General James. The Office of Attorney General's website is provided in English. Residents of the Bronx took part inClaremont Park Dayas Chestnut Holdings partnered with The Bronx is Blooming and The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation to engage the community through environmental stewardship and educational activities. quoteRotator.delay=5;quoteRotator.fadeDuration=1;quoteRotator.fadeoutDuration=2;quoteRotator.quotesInit(); At Chestnut Holdings, we value our relationships with our tenants and are dedicated to building and preserving our tenant communities. Chestnut Holdings has recently come under fire for allegedly turning away tenants with housing vouchers. Any landlord or group that fails to address properties that contain these dangerous levels of lead need to be held accountable, and I commend the Attorney General for taking action., I have seen the impact of lead poisoning on members of my own family, and one of my proudest moments as a legislator was the creation of a pilot program to expand educational intervention services for children who suffer from lead poisoning, said Erie County Legislature Chair April N. M. Baskin. Visite 516abogado.com, Huggins v. Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc.; 1425 U LLC; and Jonathan WienerCivil Action No. Our Church has had a great relationship with our landlord, Chestnut Holdings, for over fifteen years. The lawsuit, filed in October 2021, alleged that Kiggins and Endzone endangered the health of its tenants, primarily children, by repeatedly violating lead paint laws and failing to properly address related hazards. Anyone relying on information obtained from Google Translate does so at his or her own risk. Lead poisoning is completely preventable, and the city has plenty of laws on the books but they are rarely enforced. Chestnut fully complies with all lead laws and addresses any lead issues immediately. It is as immoral as it is illegal that a landlord would knowingly expose families to lead poisoning, which disproportionately threatens the health and development of Black and brown children, said Attorney General James. and one of the advocates who helped write the current New York City lead law. Some of the worst landlords in our city put the health and safety of New Yorkers at risk to protect their own profits, and Chestnut Holdings is near the top of my office's list, said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. There is no excuse for landlords failing to abide by the law and protect the health of their tenants.. Chestnut also works to make a positive impact on surrounding neighborhoods by providing cleaner, safer housing options and reliable service to tenants at reasonable rental rates. NYC workers strip searched in hunt for 'stolen' money - New York Young children are more likely to be exposed to lead than any other age group. The Bronx rental management company firmly denies the accusations, claiming they have hundreds of tenants currently paying for rent in vouchers. This is incredibly pervasive in New York City. 6 were here. They failed to ensure that my constituents and New Yorkers across the city were living in homes that were free of lead paint and, in doing so, put hundreds, if not thousands, of families at risk of lead poisoning. hUmo0+jlNH4t : C Unfortunately, some landlords have ignored that responsibility with impunity., New York Lawyers for the Public Interest supports Attorney General Letitia James' offices action today to protect families from toxic lead exposure through enforcement of New York Citys Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, Local Law 1 of 2004, said Christine Appah, senior staff attorney, Environmental Justice Program, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. The refusal to accept the voucher came at a troubling time for Morrison, who had recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. CHESTNUT HOLDINGS INC. Email | Print | Comments (0) No. The New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act requires owners of apartments and houses built before 1960 to take critical safety measures to prevent lead poisoning in children tenants. This matter is being handled by the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New York Attorney Generals Office and is led by Assistant Attorneys General Matthew Eisenson and Patrick Omilian, Special Assistant Attorney General Marissa Lieberman-Klein, Environmental Scientist Jennifer Nalbone, Science Interns Meredith Seibold and Serena Labrecque, and GIS Intern Gregory Welter. Google Translate cannot translate all types of documents, and it may not give you an exact translation all the time. During this same period, at least 32 Endzone properties were flagged by the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County for chipping, peeling, deteriorating paint, and other conditions conducive to lead poisoning, which are prohibited by county and city laws. Sticker shock: Ranking South Floridas priciest residential rentals, Here are Chicago's top 10 construction permits issued in May. The CDC recommends that children with blood lead levels higher than 5 g/dL undergo case management to prevent further exposure and to avoid reaching a level that requires medical intervention. The suit alleges that Chestnut Holdings has put the health of its tenants at risk by repeatedly violating the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, Our intention is to deepen our understanding and connection to nature and weave it into the daily life of our communitys residents. Chestnut Holdings endstream endobj startxref Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), and Peter D. Lopez, Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced today that the United States has filed a civil lawsuit against Chestnut Petroleum Distributor, Inc., and its affiliates CPD Energy Corp., CPD Since 2017, OAG hasfound that the group violated the law in other ways, such as: The poisoning of children from lead paint in aging rental housing is an ongoing national public health crisis, but is of particular concern within New York, and especially the Buffalo region. This matter is being handled by Attorney General James Environmental Protection Bureau by Assistant Attorney General Abigail Rosner, Special Counsel Sara Haviva Mark, Assistant Attorney General Samantha Liskow, Deputy Bureau Chief Monica Wagner, Chief Scientist Jodi Feld, Environmental Scientist Jennifer Nalbone, Environmental Science Intern Jeffrey Fralick, and Amanda Moody, Legal Assistant II, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic. Exposure to lead paint in our aging housing stock puts children in grave jeopardy and our future at risk. The Environmental Protection Bureau is part of the Division of Social Justice, led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux, all under the oversight of First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy. In 1960, New York City prohibited the sale of paint with high levels of lead for residential use, New York state imposed a state-wide ban in 1970, and the federal government banned lead in paint in 1978. Google Translate cannot translate all types of documents, and it may not give you an exact translation all the time. In the state of New York, its illegal for landlords to deny housing to voucher recipients. Veritas $450M loan default: A sign of things to come? He eventually received help from Breaking Ground, a permanent supportive housing provider. The group also consistently violated federal lead disclosure requirements by providing either no lead disclosure statement to tenants or false disclosures, which stated that the landowner had no reports of lead paint or lead paint hazards, when in fact there were multiple reports of lead paint and lead paint hazards regarding the residences. Chestnut Holdings All rights reserved. Lead poisoning is devastating for a childs future health, and I applaud Attorney General James for taking swift measures to ensure this never happens again., These settlement agreements are showing landlords who have generally acted autonomously for decades that they can no longer ignore their duty and continue to put the health and safety of our communities at risk, said New York CityCouncil Member Oswald Feliz. We must prevent exposure to lead by taking bold and consistent steps to protect families., We thank New York Attorney General Letitia James for bringing this significant lawsuit," said Sonal Jessel, policy and advocacy coordinator, WE ACT for Environmental Justice. From 2018-present, the eight plaintiffs in the case experienced a range of discrimination from brokers and agents employed by Chestnut Holdings. The State of New York, its officers, employees, and/or agents shall not be liable for damages or losses of any kind arising out of, or in connection with, the use or performance of such information, including but not limited to, damages or losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy of any such information, or damages incurred from the viewing, distributing, or copying of such materials. According to a 2018 study, the city of Buffalo suffers from some of the highest rates of childhood lead exposure in the nation from poor housing conditions in old homes with lead paint. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that in 2017, 715 children in Erie County under six years of age tested with blood lead levels between 5 and 9 g/dL, and 415 children tested with blood lead levels of 10 g/dL or higher. %%EOF Last week, she reached a pre-suit agreement with A&E Holdings to ensure that children living in its NYC apartments are protected from dangerous lead-based paint. NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL. The Office of Attorney General's website is provided in English. In fact, lead paint has been found in approximately 43 percent of all of New Yorks dwellings. Harvey Lindo, 68, is another plaintiff in the case against Chestnut. The event brought out close to100 volunteers who enjoyed a great day of helping to beautify and restore Claremont Park. A copy of this disclaimer can also be found on our Disclaimer page. New York State has the highest percentage of buildings built before 1950 in the nation. 2 3-4, The suit alleges that Chestnut Holdings has put the health of its tenants at risk by repeatedly violating the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, which requires property owners to take several critical measures to prevent children under six from being exposed to paint with dangerously high levels of lead. Children under six are more likely to be exposed to lead than any other age group, as their normal behaviors could result in them chewing lead paint chips; breathing in or swallowing dust from old lead paint that gets on floors, window sills, and hands; and can be found in soil, toys, and other consumer products.
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