For the first time in more than a decade the 100 block of Franklin St. had two vacant residences. Many properties empty during the final days of each month as leases end. This scenario provides a fantastic opportunity for the city of Trenton to improve both housing stock and community health. Imagine what can be accomplished with no tenants nor any of their belongings in these properties. First, here’s the chance for a thorough lead inspection to assure houses provide a safe environment, especially for child and elderly residents. Lead paint when ingested can cause can cause serious health problems. Children younger than six years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. Even the lowest level of lead can produce devastating consequences. Elyse Pivnick, senior director of Environmental Health for Isles, Inc., offered these insights in a New Jersey Future article published in Sept. 2021 where she emphasized that, “data underscores the need to assess and correct for lead hazards in New Jersey homes using all tools. Families need information about DCA programs that offer free home assessment and lead hazard repair across the state, and there is an urgent need for every jurisdiction to step up their housing code enforcement. There is no housing code that sanctions lead hazards in a home.” Pivnick, an authority on the lead issue and an advocate for children, knows that this issue needs immediate and sustained attention. So, the fact that Trenton and state leaders show a lack of urgency on the lead issue worsens an already hazardous situation. We keep referencing Pivnick in articles about lead based on her lifetime of learning and offering education to government officials and organizations that deal with lead contamination. Pivnick said, “experts tell us that approximately 80-percent of lead exposure comes from old lead paint in housing not well maintained.” Unfortunately, Pivnick made those comments in October 2016. Obviously, Trenton needs a workable plan to inspect thousands of houses built pre-1978 when lead paint literally spread throughout the city. L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at [email protected].