Dust Between the Ears.
By Jim Conley • Apr 23rd, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sNow that the Boston Archdiocese has demolished the rectory at the St. Aidan’s housing project site, they’re hauling the debris away. And until recently, that was kicking up a fair amount of dust.
I thought the purpose of having air monitors at the site was to make sure that there’s no lead and asbestos intermingled [...]
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St. Aidan’s Open House.
By Jim Conley • Apr 18th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan's
If you haven’t yet been able to bid farewell to one of Brookline’s oldest buildings (one listed on the National Register of Historic Places), there’s still plenty of time. Though it’s in a pile, the rectory at the church where JFK was baptized will remain on site through Tuesday.
Critics are saying that the [...]
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Cardinals with Cranes.
By Jim Conley • Apr 16th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sThose coming late to the St. Aidan’s debacle may not be aware of this point — the Boston Archdiocese’s development company (which has misled the community on asbestos and lead removal) has as its president Cardinal Sean O’Malley.
It is O’Malley’s company, and its lawyers, who browbeat 75 resident plaintiffs in a lawsuit (filed in part [...]
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Fire Fran Price.
By Jim Conley • Apr 15th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Selectmen, St. Aidan'sIf it were up to me, more than a few period would be relieved of their town hall positions because of the St. Aidan’s debacle. But at the top of my list would be the town’s housing director, Fran “The Snitch” Price.
On March 25th Price sent an “update” by e-mail to neighbors of [...]
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Detecting Asbestos and Lead - The Brookline Method.
By Jim Conley • Apr 12th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan's
(Click on Picture to View)
Every once in awhile an environmental project yields a revolutionary method in abatement, detection or mitigation. Such is the case with the demolition of the rectory at the St. Aidan’s housing project (sponsored by the Town of Brookline and the Boston Archdiocese).
The Brookline method of air detection is [...]
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Great Moments in Project Delay.
By Jim Conley • Apr 10th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Selectmen, St. Aidan'sThe TAB has a story up on the discovery of new asbestos at St. Aidan’s which is just bizarre, as in this passage:
[The developer for the Archdiocese] said demolition could still begin as early as tomorrow, depending on how much abatement is required.
The demolition delay, which is not related to the new asbestos, has frustrated [...]
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Happens All the Time.
By Jim Conley • Apr 9th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Selectmen, Robert Allen, St. Aidan'sLast Monday, during the St. Aidan’s PR spectacle put on by the Town and the Boston Archdiocese, Brookline Selectman Bobby Allen treated the crowd with this analytic pearl: “We demolish buildings in Brookline all the time” (implying that the St. Aidan’s demolition—and its asbestos abatement—is no big deal).
Well, if your view is bucolic South Brookline [...]
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Man, That Was Some Fast Abatement.
By Jim Conley • Apr 7th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sI’ve never tried to remove 7,500 square feet of asbestos-related material from a building, so I’m not sure whether it can be done in a day or not. But apparently, the contractor who will tear down the rectory building at St. Aidan’s tomorrow says it’s all out.
Maybe.
Last Monday, the Archdiocese and the contracting team [...]
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Great Moments in Local Environmental Protection.
By Jim Conley • Apr 4th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Selectmen, Robert Allen, St. Aidan'sOkay, so demolition begins at the St. Aidan’s housing project at 7:15 this morning (though the Town assured residents it will begin after children are safely ensconced in school). Neighbors tell me that the contractor is using the “wet method” of asbestos abatement during demolition, as in a garden hose spraying the buildings as [...]
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Time Is Money.
By Jim Conley • Apr 2nd, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sSomething’s bothering me when it comes to the asbestos and lead removal going on at the St. Aidan’s housing project. How do you get a suspected 7,500 sq. feet of asbestos material out of a 150 year-old building, look for additional material in the walls and floors and remove it from the premises in [...]
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Benka Shows Up.
By Jim Conley • Apr 1st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Politics, Robert Allen, Spooner Road, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesGee, you would think that after imposing the burden of the St. Aidan’s housing project on residents around Pleasant Street, our selectmen would show up to hear their neighbor’s concerns over lead and asbestos abatement. You’d be wrong.
Sure, Bobby Allen was on hand to provide his concierge service to this developer. But no others made [...]
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I Wish I Didn’t Know…
By Jim Conley • Mar 31st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Robert Allen, St. Aidan'sHere’s what I wish I could tell you coming out of this afternoon’s “information session” on the St. Aidan’s project.
I wish I could tell you that the people supervising asbestos removal at the site (i.e., the developer and the Town’s health department) were eminently capable to handle the removal of 7,500 square feet of material [...]
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Demolition Begins Tomorrow.
By Jim Conley • Mar 31st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sThe Boston Archdiocese will begin removing asbestos in advance of demolition of a garage on the site of their housing project at St. Aidan’s. What. you were expecting the seven days mandated in a settlement agreement stemming from a resident lawsuit?
Not gonna happen.
Lots of bizarre moments (even by Brookline standards) from this afternoon’s meeting. [...]
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An Afternoon Hosing.
By Jim Conley • Mar 31st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sHere’s what the Town of Brookline and the Boston Archdiocese will likely say at this afternoon’s information session on asbestos removal at their St. Aidan’s joint venture. They’ll say that residents have confused wetting asbestos (a generally accepted practice) with the “wet method”, a controversial practice of hosing buildings down while demolishing (in order [...]
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Brookline’s Katrina Moment.
By Jim Conley • Mar 31st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, St. Aidan'sIt’s hard to escape the parallel between Brookline town government’s handling of environmental protection at St. Aidan’s and the Bush Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Both are miserable failures.
And the ethic shared by the two — selective appropriation of resources — is also hard to miss. Though I can’t say that the Bush [...]
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