BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo City Court has a backlog of hundreds of cases surrounding lead safety violations. Wednesday, the court announced a specialized “Lead Court” will tackle those cases quicker.
Buffalo resident Jackie Martinez spent years fearing for her and her family’s health.
She fought with a landlord to fix lead contamination within an apartment she signed to live at in 2019.
“[Tests] were all positive for lead, the health department came in,” Martinez said. “It’s scary, scary and stressful… It was a very long processs, [and we] got nowhere with it.”
After two and half years of trying to get the issue fixed, she moved out of the apartment without ever seeing any changes.
Now, the Buffalo City Court is putting a priority on rectifying these issues quicker than Jackie’s situation.
“They should be the top ones on the court’s list,” Jackie said.
“Unfortunately, there also is a backlog of lead cases,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. “Not necessarily those that effect the youngest children, but cases against landlords.”
Buffalo City Court is starting a specialized “lead court” to address lead-related housing violations.
Erie County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein says Buffalo has seen more cases than anywhere else across the county.
“The largest volume, 85% of our cases are in the city of Buffalo,” Burstein said.
Buffalo City Court judge Phillip Dabney says this amassed a backlog of roughly 600 of these lead-related cases still yet to be seen.
In order to help the renters like Jackie, this initiative will have judge Dabney preside over only these lead cases every Tuesday and Thursday.
“Addressing some of the concerns that have been cited, then providing measures and working towards a work plan and resolving those matters,” Dabney said. “And this will continue until [cases are] emptied out.”
The first 20 cases in this initiative were heard Tuesday, and the initiative will continue for the foreseeable future.
