Cardinals with Cranes.
By Jim Conley • Apr 16th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Those 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 to protect themselves from improper lead and asbestos removal at the site) into a settlement agreement that essentially gagged the residents from further speaking out on the project.
It is O’Malley’s company that told residents on April 1st that abatement of asbestos during project demolition could be accomplished in a day or two (it’s still going on thanks to the intervention of state regulatory agencies). That means his company appears to have planned to demolish buildings without proper abatement of toxic materials.
It ought to be O’Malley who marches into the offices of his development company to dismiss the staff who appear willing to put their financial interests in the project (the less the project costs the more they make) before the environmental health of people in a densely populated neighborhood. And for dragging him into the snake pit of Brookline town government.
I’ve tried to talk to the Cardinal on all of this, but his office has the construction company return my calls.
Update: And at that April 1st meeting, O’Malley’s crew said that they were dealing with a small amount of asbestos on the roof. Each time I asked them about asbestos on the exterior of the building, they wanted to talk about the interior. Here’s a picture of material removed that ought to scare you. And show you why they wanted to take it inside.
Update(2): And after viewing the picture of significant abatement activity, recall that Selectman Nancy Daly called efforts by neighbors to protect themselves from flying asbestos by filing a lawsuit: “outrageous behavior.”
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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RUMOR HAS IT THAT THE POPE WILL NOT VISIT THE BOSTON AREA during his current visit to America not only because of the area’s centricity in the pedophile priests scandals but also because of St. Aidan’s abetting of inappropriate asbestos abatement for this project. The neighbors might appeal to a higher authority than Cardinal O’Malley but he is busy with George W. Bush and the District of Columbia. So I guess it’s up to Brookline voters this May and May of next year to rid the Town of the accommodaters.