MCSWEENEY APPEAL BRIEF submitted 62522

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We will do anything to keep this child well and safe and to ensure him the life we promised him when we became his foster parents and took him into our home. It is this sacred promise which the Historical Preservation Commission is attempting to abrogate through its arbitrary and capricious denial of our application to appropriately abate the lead in our home. A review of the reasons given for denial set forth in the Preservation Commission's letter of April 13, 2022 give no significant acknowledgement of the serious, compelling and dangerous health effects of delaying remediation by denying approval. This Denial is egregious. And is faulty in three regards: 1) It violates guidelines of the HPC itself. It creates and exacerbates hardship in the petitioner by casually disregarding the health and wellbeing of a child with elevated lead levels and thereby bringing stress and harm to both the child and its family. 2) It contains factual errors. As the exhibits show, we *did* seek out additional bids, and, as was orally communicated, we *have* consulted alternative window restorers. However, we were unable to utilize such alternatives within the confines of a county -mandated and county - supervised lead abatement, which requires work with lead -licensed firms. The HPC seems either unfamiliar with or in wilfull disregard of county board -of -health ordered lead investigation and abatement procedures. 3) It mischaracterizes us by suggesting that our "judgement is clouded" because we are "so focused on GreenTree." In fact our judgement is clear and our actions have been reasonable and in keeping with medical consensus around the urgency of addressing childhood exposure to lead. CDC guidelines hold that "children with a blood lead level (BLL) within the 3.5-5 µg/dL range will also be prioritized for lead reduction action. "[Exhibit G, page 3, italics mine]. We are focused not on Greentree, but on reducing our child's blood lead levels and abating the lead in our home in a timely and appropriate manner. By the time we present this appeal, nine months will have passed since Othello's initial elevated blood lead screening. The further delay this denial has created in the abatement process has actually increased the risk of long-term lead exposure and bodily harm to the child, and increased the mental hardship this has caused our family. CONCLUSION AND PERMISSION STATEMENT We ask that our application be immediately APPROVED. We love our home and our neighborhood and have made a long-term commitment to the community and to the University. We wish to remediate the dangerous situation which presently