Newark Mayor proposes plan to bypass landlords amid lead crisis

The city of Newark plans to replace thousands of buried lead service lines as it works to respond to a public health crisis that has forced residents to drink bottled water due to elevated lead levels in their water, the New York Times reported. As it stands now, owners and landlords have to grant access to excavate under private properties, but “70 percent of residents are renters,” and tracking down landlords may be hard, the outlet noted. Mayor Ras Baraka, however, hopes to bypass that problem with a law or ordinance that would let city contractors fix lead service lines on private properties “without permission.” So far, the city has only replaced 800 of its 18,000 lead service lines, according to the outlet. [NYTimes]