Community to County Legislature: "Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning!"
Primary tabs
[permalink]In what was standing room only, dozens and dozens of people jammed into the hot county legislative chambers Tuesday night to urge legislators to "protect our children from lead poisoning".
Over thirty people addressed the county legislature, most of them speaking on the lead issue. Community members, including teachers, parents, grandparents and residents, spoke of saving the county money by preventing lead poisoning, the need to protect our children and to act as a community. Even the Landlord Association agreed that testing for lead should be mandatory.
Wayne Zyra, the President of the Monroe County Legislature, had to bang his gavel and ask the crowd to be quiet and stop applauding.
In the middle of the legislative session, Todd Bullard, a county legislator from Rochester, called for the legislature to suspend rules to consider his resolution to make lead testing mandatory for all county subsidized housing. Discussion ensued over suspending Roberts Rules in order to address Bullard’s resolution, but Zyra called for a vote. That vote split down party lines. Since Republicans outnumber Democrats, the motion was defeated. There was no debate on the issue. One Republican legislator stated a need to study the issue further.
In September, Metro Justice will be going door to door in the districts of those legislators who voted against mandatory testing for lead. MJ will inform these constituents of the vote on the issue and to ask them to write letters to their legislators urging them to protect children from lead poisoning. Read the full article.
To get involved, contact Metro Justice at 325-2560 or e-mail metroj@frontiernet.net.
Additional Information: Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning | Metro Justice