By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – The city of St. Louis is pointing to a newly rehabbed and lead-free apartment building as proof that its lead remediation program is working.
The ribbon-cutting for the Winston Churchill Apartments was held Monday.
The owner, Eagle Point Companies, received $110,000 dollars from the St. Louis Multi-Family Lead Remediation Program to remove all lead hazards.
Mayor Francis Slay says it's part of the city's plan to remove more lead before it affects children.
"We're going to do more of this, and we've done a lot of it through our lead-safe St. Louis program and our problem property initiatives," Slay said. "So this is an example of what can be done when you pull the resources together and pull partnerships together to address critical problems like this."
Slay says lead testing of St. Louis children has shown a drop from 13.6% affected in 2003 to 4% today.
A state audit is being conducted on how lead poison prevention money is spent after the Green Party filed a petition.
Slay says it's been a successful program.