It’s hard to imagine anything more God-awful than children who live in a city in which they often ingest lead paint in their older, run-down rental homes, then go to school and swallow more of the IQ-robbing heavy metal, courtesy of the taxpayers. Meanwhile, children mere blocks away get gold-plated water fountains in hallways paved with engraved bricks (that will be $350, please).

In April, I watched Aaliyah and Rashaud Dinwiddie wander around in their north St. Louis home barefoot, playing with their toys in a mostly furniture-less room.

They had just moved because their old apartment had lead paint. Health department testing had found levels of lead in both of the children that were among the highest recorded in St. Louis last year. Rashaud, 5, started public school this month in a city that continues to poison its children.

In 2014, more than 3,000 children in the city of St. Louis were found with levels of lead in their blood high enough to potentially cause developmental delays.