Cleveland councilman ignored lead-safe law at his rental properties
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Cleveland City Councilman Kevin Bishop for years ignored the city's lead-safe housing laws at his own rental properties, even as he repeatedly voted to strengthen them, Cleveland.com reports.
Why it matters: More than 1,000 Cleveland children still test positive for elevated blood lead levels each year, despite years of outreach, incentives, and enforcement.
- The city's regulations are doomed if even lawmakers don't bother to comply.
The big picture: Cleveland passed its 2019 landmark lead-safe law to require landlords to inspect and remediate homes built before 1978, replacing a system that often acted only after lead poisoning occurred.
Driving the news: Cleveland.com reported last week that Bishop has owned four Cleveland rental properties since at least 2014. Only one was once registered as a rental. None has been certified as lead-safe.
What they're saying: Bishop, who has represented the city's southeast side since 2018, acknowledged the properties were not registered and said lead-safe compliance was on his "to-do list."
- Council President Blaine Griffin told the outlet he isn't disappointed in Bishop and still considers him very reliable.
- "I believe that this just got lost in the cracks," he said.
The other side: In a follow-up column, Cleveland.com's Leila Atassi explained why the hypocrisy is so damaging.
- "Landlords who have resisted compliance have long treated the rules as optional. Now they know they are. If a sitting councilman can ignore the law for years and be publicly excused, enforcement looks uneven and accountability selective.
- "For a city still struggling to bring tens of thousands of rental units into the system, that perception is corrosive."
Go deeper: A lead law meant to protect children — ignored by the people who passed it