BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Erie County Comptroller is calling on the Erie County Executive to close equipment at five playgrounds in Erie County that may contain lead paint.
In a letter sent to County Executive Mark Poloncarz (D), County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw (R) says his office tested five playgrounds at Chestnut Ridge Park, Emery Park, Sprague Brook Park, Elma Meadows Park, and Akron Falls Park.
His office first used kits purchased from Home Depot to test the paint on the five playgrounds. They say those tests were positive for lead.
In the letter, Mychajliw says he contacted the commissioner of the Erie County Health Department to alert her department of the test results. The comptroller says Dr. Gale Burstein sent him a response that they would conduct their own tests on the playground equipment.
Mychajliw says his office then went back to the playgrounds and took their own samples and sent them to an independent laboratory to test the samples. He says 12 of 12 samples tested showed a presence of lead. Eleven of those 12 samples had lead concentrations above the 0.5% threshold. Their test shows one of the playgrounds at Akron Falls Park had the highest percentage of lead concentration at 18%wt.
Mychajliw is calling on Poloncarz to remove, close, or block off the playgrounds and remove those pieces of playground equipment and test other pieces of playground equipment.
Poloncarz, who spoke at a press conference Wednesday, says there is likely lead paint on older playground equipment, and that there is not a health threat because that would require repeated exposure.
He says the playground equipment will not be shut down and the county health department will reinspect the older playground equipment.