LEADER STAFF
Mayoral candidate Fred Capone has asked for a special meeting of the city council to discuss allegations of improper asbestos disposal on the city’s streets in a lawsuit filed against an Everett city vendor in Superior Court by the Attorney General’s office last week.
The detailed lawsuit raises legal issues and health concerns and imposes large monetary fines and the possibility of criminal prosecution for the vendor and others who participated in pipe replacement contracts for the city on Cabot Street, Cabot Court, Wolcott Street and other communities.
Asbestos was improperly removed, improperly stored outside on Cabot Street, and improperly transported.
The vendor did not comply with Federal and State regulations and submitted invoices that did not reflect the failure to follow the environ- mental laws in the removal and the storage of asbestos.
According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, asbestos dust swirled around Cabot
Street for many days without being contained and was on the streets and sidewalks close to residents and the Everett Memorial Stadium.
The special meeting would take place next week.
The mayor’s office did not respond to the Leader Herald’s request for comment on the asbestos issue.
“I am very concerned to learn of the Attorney General’s suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court against a city-hired contractor for alleged illegal and unsafe asbestos work in the middle of Everett streets. In light of these serious allegations, I am asking for a special meeting of the city council to discuss the allegations and to ensure that proper safeguards are in place to protect the health and safety of our residents,” Capone told the Leader Herald.
He submitted a request for the special meeting to Council President Wayne Matewsky.
“I am honoring the request and moving forward with it. I believe this is important. It concerns possible asbestos violations by a contractor on streets in my ward,” Matews- ky told the Leader Herald.
“Safety and public health means everything to me,” he added.
Matewsky notified Council Clerk Mike Mangan.
Mangan will send out the request for the special council meeting to all the councilors.
Capone’s request for the special meeting asks for action to be taken.
“That the administration address what steps the city has taken since notice of the Attorney General’s suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court against a city-hired contractor for alleged illegal and unsafe asbestos work on Everett streets and protocol for overseeing contractor work to ensure that proper safeguards are in place to protect the health and safety of our residents,” he wrote to his city council colleagues.