Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA, resident - loves the reservation.
2. North Cambridge, MA, resident - loves nature, nesting hawks.
3. Nearby neighbor of mine in Cambridge Highlands - move out please.
I have received some comments that I think might be of interest.
1. Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA, resident - loves the reservation.
This message is for the City Manager and the City Council:
I am a resident right in front of the recent cut down of a lot of the mature trees near Neville Manor.
It is very upsetting for me to see this. Fresh Pond is a big part of our life. We enjoy all the woods and the greenery there.
For all those mature trees to be cut down is such a shame, is such a shame. And I can’t express to you how upset me and my family are about this.
I know there will be saplings that are replacing those, but that does not give us the woods and the green area and all the creatures we see when we walk Fresh Pond and when we get to Fresh Pond.
I heard from a Realtor that it is going to be replaced by a soccer field, but that does not excite me as much as the natural woods that we have loved, and we really really want to prevent any more trees from being cut down. That is my very strong opinion.
I just wanted to voice that so that you are aware that a lot of the residents here are not very happy about this.
If you want to reach me, my number is [omitted]. I would be glad to talk with you if you want, but please please stop the destruction of our trees, the native trees which have been here for decades. It is just not worth the sacrifice to have new plants.
I just do not understand the reasoning, and I am really really going to miss them, the ones you cut.
It is like seeing animals killed. It is very very saddening.
Ok have a nice day.
2. North Cambridge, MA, resident - loves nature, nesting hawks.
I am a resident of North Cambridge.
I received a letter. "Do you think Fresh Pond Woods should be destroyed?" . . .
My personal opinion: no.
I have been watching the Hawks out here build their nests and raise their babies.
It is a sin.
I just hope you do the best you can.
3. Nearby neighbor of mine in Cambridge Highlands - move out please.
Bob,
I got a flyer at my door tonight. It is about the on going improvements at Fresh Pond.
I see and feel you don't think this is improvements. They are and will help this area for people
You Bob are a trouble maker have been and I guess always will be We don't like trouble so please go away.
Dan Brennan
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA, USA: The villains identify themselves
Bob La Trémouille reports:
A new sign has appeared just west of the Neville Manor complex on Concord Ave. This is the location of the first and most visible of the logging on the Fresh Pond reservation.
A large number of mature trees was very visibly logged here at the beginning of this outrage: 20? 40? Once they are down, they are rapidly chopped up to give the impression they never existed.
The sign, appropriately, is in black background.
It announces "landscape improvements," neglecting, of course, to mention that saplings are in no way an improvement over the mature trees which have been destroyed, unless, of course, you are paid to destroy the mature trees or paid to install the saplings. And frankly, the most visible supporters of these projects tend to be people who make money out of destruction and replacement.
The most visible villain on the sign is City Manager Robert Healy.
Immediately below the name of Healy appears, credit given to Cambridge, MA Mayor Kenneth Reeves.
Below Reeves are the names of ALL eight other currently incumbent Cambridge, MA City Councilors including three who claim to be environmentalists.
One caveat: The city manager does a lot of lying by omission. He claims he has a right to only tell people about the saplings (or grass) he is planting; the Cambridge City Manager claims he has no duty to volunteer the nature of destruction involved.
Of course, as with regard to the truly sick situation on the Charles River, extended silence is very clearly consent and approval.
A new sign has appeared just west of the Neville Manor complex on Concord Ave. This is the location of the first and most visible of the logging on the Fresh Pond reservation.
A large number of mature trees was very visibly logged here at the beginning of this outrage: 20? 40? Once they are down, they are rapidly chopped up to give the impression they never existed.
The sign, appropriately, is in black background.
It announces "landscape improvements," neglecting, of course, to mention that saplings are in no way an improvement over the mature trees which have been destroyed, unless, of course, you are paid to destroy the mature trees or paid to install the saplings. And frankly, the most visible supporters of these projects tend to be people who make money out of destruction and replacement.
The most visible villain on the sign is City Manager Robert Healy.
Immediately below the name of Healy appears, credit given to Cambridge, MA Mayor Kenneth Reeves.
Below Reeves are the names of ALL eight other currently incumbent Cambridge, MA City Councilors including three who claim to be environmentalists.
One caveat: The city manager does a lot of lying by omission. He claims he has a right to only tell people about the saplings (or grass) he is planting; the Cambridge City Manager claims he has no duty to volunteer the nature of destruction involved.
Of course, as with regard to the truly sick situation on the Charles River, extended silence is very clearly consent and approval.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA, USA: Related Initiatives; The Villains Brag
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Fresh Pond: Related Initiatives.
A. Introduction.
B. Neighborhood zoning problems.
C. The logging down the street.
D. The Cambridge city manager moves in exactly the wrong direction on zoning, as usual.
2. The Villains Brag.
A. Introduction.
B. Introductory / General.
C. Area being logged.
(1) Past destruction.
(2) Destruction to come.
D. Links.
1. Fresh Pond: Related Initiatives.
A. Introduction.
I sent the following letter to the Cambridge (MA, USA) Chronicle yesterday. The property in question is one short block off the Fresh Pond Reservation and from the eastern edge of the Cambridge, MA city manager’s proposed upzoning. The environmental destruction starts perhaps another block to the west.
I am subdividing it to fit this format:
***********
Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
RE: Letter: Tobin-Danehy Zoning Petition in Context
B. Neighborhood zoning problems.
Neighbors of the Cambridge Self Storage facility near the Sozio’s rotary on Concord Avenue have good reason to be concerned about development on the Cambridge Self-Storage site since a brief review of the zoning or the site (Residence C1A) indicates it allows construction 2½ times the allowed density in the neighborhood (Residence B).
There is more going on in their neighborhood than that, however, and the other problems include problems much worse than the problem at Cambridge Self-Storage.
The enemy, as in too many such problems, is the Cambridge City Manager.
C. The logging down the street.
On the Concord Avenue side of Fresh Pond, the Cambridge City Manager wants to plant 1000 saplings. This would run from the rotaries to the Burger King or further.
Trouble is that the existing trees are in the way of the City Manager’s saplings, so the City Manager is taking action. The City Manager is destroying large numbers of trees.
A guess based on the City Manager’s usual planting densities and the existing tree density would be destruction of 2000, 3000 or more trees. The logging has already commenced.
Death or forced eviction of valuable small resident animals is obvious. Destruction of bird nests during mating season is obvious. Looking at the starvation being inflicted on Charles River animals for more than a year and a half, this is business as usual.
Stirring up of resident rats is obvious. Where they will go is anybody’s guess, but the last thing that bothers the City Manager is behavior of animals affected by his projects. Clearly, they will be moved closer to people’s homes than they are now. The existing rat problem in various parts of the city can easily come from irresponsible developers.
D. The Cambridge city manager moves in exactly the wrong direction on zoning, as usual.
The City Manager has filed for the third time an incredibly massive upzoning in this area.
This upzoning affects construction on the north side of Concord Avenue running from Sozio’s Circle at least through both shopping centers. It also, at minimum, also threatens the north side of the railroad tracks at Alewife.
On the Cambridge Self-Storage site, the density allowed by zoning is 2.5 times that of the neighborhood. The City Manager’s pending upzoning could allow buildings 12 times the size of the neighborhood or worse. The City Manager’s proposal could allow buildings more than 50% denser than Harvard Square.
The neighborhood’s downzoning proposed for the Cambridge Self-Storage site, to Residence C-1 (50% denser than the neighborhood zoning) is clearly moderate.
The big threat is from the City Manager. I hope the neighbors are able to fight three fights at once. They are being attacked from three sides.
2. The Villains Brag.
A. Introduction.
Following is an email I got from the Cambridge city manager’s people concerning their logging initiatives.
Talk about “reviews” should be taken with a very major grain of salt. The people doing the reviews are appointed by the Cambridge city manager.
The entity which passes as a “Conservation Commission” in Cambridge, MA is so bad that they had maps of the outrage on Magazine Beach posted on their walls.
I will not insult you by translating “tree management.”
As with my letter to the editor, I have added subdivisions.
**********
B. Introductory / General.
Greetings from Fresh Pond Reservation!
Welcome to the Fresh Pond reservation Weekly email update.
At Little Fresh Pond, the first row of coir fascines is being staked into place along the perimeter of Little Fresh Pond. An erosion control fabric is being placed underneath the fascines, and will be spread out after the second row of fascines is put into place.
The new design for the southern wetland of Little Fresh Pond will be presented to the Cambridge Conservation Commission on Monday, March 27th.
The new design for the beach in the southeast corner of the Pond will also be presented to the Conservation Commission on March 27th.
Next week's forecast:
The coir fascines will continue to be placed along the shoreline of Little Fresh Pond.
Upon approval from the Conservation Commission, work on both the southwestern wetland and the southeastern beach area will move forward.
C. Area being logged.
(1) Past destruction.
Much work has taken place in the Northeast Sector. The slope behind Neville Place extending to Black's Nook has had extensive work done to it. Many of the invasive species have been cleared out, allowing Perimeter Path users visual access to the beautiful beeches on the slope.
Over the past two weeks, the organic matter on the slope was taken out, and erosion control log bars were placed into the soil. The soil was covered with a seeded mulch, and the mulch covered with a woody fiber matrix that will protect the new soil and the seeds it holds. A brush barrier is being erected along the perimeter of the slope area using the trimmings from native tree species on the Reservation.
[Ed: If you want to understand, what vegetation the City of Cambridge calls “native species,” check out the bizarre designer bushes which have been planted on the Charles River where wetlands and native vegetation has been destroyed. The most certain thing about the designer bushes is that they are “native” somewhere. They just are not native on the Charles River. “Invasive species” should be translated as “native species” if you are concerned about reality.]
Eventually the brush barrier, currently acting as protection for the slope area, will be removed, and the brush will be spread throughout the slope as plant protection and temporary erosion control.
Fencing of several of the trees along Concord Avenue has taken place, with more tree protection fencing to be placed throughout the site in the coming weeks.
(2) Destruction to come.
Next week's forecast:
Tree management will continue on site, with the trimming and felling of trees, as well as placement of tree protection fencing.
Starting with the regrading of the area behind Neville Place and moving up towards Concord Avenue, soils will be taken out and brought to Lusitania Field for storage and eventual cleaning and processing. Much of the soil--after being sorted and cleaned--will be used again on site.
Northeast Sector Project Walk-Abouts will begin April 3rd. Chip Norton, Watershed Manager, will be hosting the weekly information walks on Monday evenings through the summer. Anyone interested in learning more about the project should meet Chip Norton at 6 pm at the Walter J. Sullivan Water Treatment Facility at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway.
D. Links.
For more information:
See the attached Northeast Sector Project Guide created by a landscape architect who assisted with the project design.
Please stop be either of the projects websites for more information:
and be sure to check out the Little Fresh Pond Shoreline Restoration and Drainage Improvement Project Photo Album and the Northeast Sector Project Photo Album while you are there. This will be updated with new pictures on a weekly basis.
Feel free to email with questions or concerns, or stop by the Ranger Station located at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway to talk with a watershed staff member.
Look for our next update on Friday, March 31st! Please forward this on to anyone who is interested in the work going on at Fresh Pond Reservation. Please let me know if you would like to be taken off the distribution list.
Hannah D Wilbur
Office of Watershed Management
Cambridge Water Department
1. Fresh Pond: Related Initiatives.
A. Introduction.
B. Neighborhood zoning problems.
C. The logging down the street.
D. The Cambridge city manager moves in exactly the wrong direction on zoning, as usual.
2. The Villains Brag.
A. Introduction.
B. Introductory / General.
C. Area being logged.
(1) Past destruction.
(2) Destruction to come.
D. Links.
1. Fresh Pond: Related Initiatives.
A. Introduction.
I sent the following letter to the Cambridge (MA, USA) Chronicle yesterday. The property in question is one short block off the Fresh Pond Reservation and from the eastern edge of the Cambridge, MA city manager’s proposed upzoning. The environmental destruction starts perhaps another block to the west.
I am subdividing it to fit this format:
***********
Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
RE: Letter: Tobin-Danehy Zoning Petition in Context
B. Neighborhood zoning problems.
Neighbors of the Cambridge Self Storage facility near the Sozio’s rotary on Concord Avenue have good reason to be concerned about development on the Cambridge Self-Storage site since a brief review of the zoning or the site (Residence C1A) indicates it allows construction 2½ times the allowed density in the neighborhood (Residence B).
There is more going on in their neighborhood than that, however, and the other problems include problems much worse than the problem at Cambridge Self-Storage.
The enemy, as in too many such problems, is the Cambridge City Manager.
C. The logging down the street.
On the Concord Avenue side of Fresh Pond, the Cambridge City Manager wants to plant 1000 saplings. This would run from the rotaries to the Burger King or further.
Trouble is that the existing trees are in the way of the City Manager’s saplings, so the City Manager is taking action. The City Manager is destroying large numbers of trees.
A guess based on the City Manager’s usual planting densities and the existing tree density would be destruction of 2000, 3000 or more trees. The logging has already commenced.
Death or forced eviction of valuable small resident animals is obvious. Destruction of bird nests during mating season is obvious. Looking at the starvation being inflicted on Charles River animals for more than a year and a half, this is business as usual.
Stirring up of resident rats is obvious. Where they will go is anybody’s guess, but the last thing that bothers the City Manager is behavior of animals affected by his projects. Clearly, they will be moved closer to people’s homes than they are now. The existing rat problem in various parts of the city can easily come from irresponsible developers.
D. The Cambridge city manager moves in exactly the wrong direction on zoning, as usual.
The City Manager has filed for the third time an incredibly massive upzoning in this area.
This upzoning affects construction on the north side of Concord Avenue running from Sozio’s Circle at least through both shopping centers. It also, at minimum, also threatens the north side of the railroad tracks at Alewife.
On the Cambridge Self-Storage site, the density allowed by zoning is 2.5 times that of the neighborhood. The City Manager’s pending upzoning could allow buildings 12 times the size of the neighborhood or worse. The City Manager’s proposal could allow buildings more than 50% denser than Harvard Square.
The neighborhood’s downzoning proposed for the Cambridge Self-Storage site, to Residence C-1 (50% denser than the neighborhood zoning) is clearly moderate.
The big threat is from the City Manager. I hope the neighbors are able to fight three fights at once. They are being attacked from three sides.
2. The Villains Brag.
A. Introduction.
Following is an email I got from the Cambridge city manager’s people concerning their logging initiatives.
Talk about “reviews” should be taken with a very major grain of salt. The people doing the reviews are appointed by the Cambridge city manager.
The entity which passes as a “Conservation Commission” in Cambridge, MA is so bad that they had maps of the outrage on Magazine Beach posted on their walls.
I will not insult you by translating “tree management.”
As with my letter to the editor, I have added subdivisions.
**********
B. Introductory / General.
Greetings from Fresh Pond Reservation!
Welcome to the Fresh Pond reservation Weekly email update.
At Little Fresh Pond, the first row of coir fascines is being staked into place along the perimeter of Little Fresh Pond. An erosion control fabric is being placed underneath the fascines, and will be spread out after the second row of fascines is put into place.
The new design for the southern wetland of Little Fresh Pond will be presented to the Cambridge Conservation Commission on Monday, March 27th.
The new design for the beach in the southeast corner of the Pond will also be presented to the Conservation Commission on March 27th.
Next week's forecast:
The coir fascines will continue to be placed along the shoreline of Little Fresh Pond.
Upon approval from the Conservation Commission, work on both the southwestern wetland and the southeastern beach area will move forward.
C. Area being logged.
(1) Past destruction.
Much work has taken place in the Northeast Sector. The slope behind Neville Place extending to Black's Nook has had extensive work done to it. Many of the invasive species have been cleared out, allowing Perimeter Path users visual access to the beautiful beeches on the slope.
Over the past two weeks, the organic matter on the slope was taken out, and erosion control log bars were placed into the soil. The soil was covered with a seeded mulch, and the mulch covered with a woody fiber matrix that will protect the new soil and the seeds it holds. A brush barrier is being erected along the perimeter of the slope area using the trimmings from native tree species on the Reservation.
[Ed: If you want to understand, what vegetation the City of Cambridge calls “native species,” check out the bizarre designer bushes which have been planted on the Charles River where wetlands and native vegetation has been destroyed. The most certain thing about the designer bushes is that they are “native” somewhere. They just are not native on the Charles River. “Invasive species” should be translated as “native species” if you are concerned about reality.]
Eventually the brush barrier, currently acting as protection for the slope area, will be removed, and the brush will be spread throughout the slope as plant protection and temporary erosion control.
Fencing of several of the trees along Concord Avenue has taken place, with more tree protection fencing to be placed throughout the site in the coming weeks.
(2) Destruction to come.
Next week's forecast:
Tree management will continue on site, with the trimming and felling of trees, as well as placement of tree protection fencing.
Starting with the regrading of the area behind Neville Place and moving up towards Concord Avenue, soils will be taken out and brought to Lusitania Field for storage and eventual cleaning and processing. Much of the soil--after being sorted and cleaned--will be used again on site.
Northeast Sector Project Walk-Abouts will begin April 3rd. Chip Norton, Watershed Manager, will be hosting the weekly information walks on Monday evenings through the summer. Anyone interested in learning more about the project should meet Chip Norton at 6 pm at the Walter J. Sullivan Water Treatment Facility at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway.
D. Links.
For more information:
See the attached Northeast Sector Project Guide created by a landscape architect who assisted with the project design.
Please stop be either of the projects websites for more information:
and be sure to check out the Little Fresh Pond Shoreline Restoration and Drainage Improvement Project Photo Album
Feel free to email with questions or concerns, or stop by the Ranger Station located at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway to talk with a watershed staff member.
Look for our next update on Friday, March 31st! Please forward this on to anyone who is interested in the work going on at Fresh Pond Reservation. Please let me know if you would like to be taken off the distribution list.
Hannah D Wilbur
Office of Watershed Management
Cambridge Water Department
Friday, March 17, 2006
The official word on Harvard’s Memorial Drive Projects.
Bob Reports:
The official word on Harvard’s Memorial Drive Projects.
We reported a few week’s ago on this blog about complaints at Harvard’s Cowperthwaite project, in the middle of a residential neighborhood between east Harvard Square and the Charles River, about a block from the river. I had passed complaints I was aware of to the meeting the planning board had on planning for expansion of the Cambridge, MA, USA educational institutions.
On March 9, 2006, a committee of the Cambridge, MA, City Council had a meeting on this project. The meeting included comments on the related Mohoney site project at and near the corner of Western Avenue and Memorial Drive. It was scheduled during the daytime preventing participation by a lot of people.
A report on this meeting is included as part of the agenda for the Monday, March 20, 2006, meeting of the Cambridge, MA, City Council.
Reading the report on this meeting, it appears that some complaints which I understood were reports concerning the Cowperthwaite site concerned problems about the Mahoney site. Clearly, there are major dust problems and clearly, the university is not living up to the expected level of candor concerning hazardous substances in the soil.
The reports are at: http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityClerk/CommitteeReport.cfm?instance_id=263. I would be pleased to get any comments you might have at charlesriverwhitegeese@yahoo.com, or at boblat@yahoo.com.
Thank you.
The official word on Harvard’s Memorial Drive Projects.
We reported a few week’s ago on this blog about complaints at Harvard’s Cowperthwaite project, in the middle of a residential neighborhood between east Harvard Square and the Charles River, about a block from the river. I had passed complaints I was aware of to the meeting the planning board had on planning for expansion of the Cambridge, MA, USA educational institutions.
On March 9, 2006, a committee of the Cambridge, MA, City Council had a meeting on this project. The meeting included comments on the related Mohoney site project at and near the corner of Western Avenue and Memorial Drive. It was scheduled during the daytime preventing participation by a lot of people.
A report on this meeting is included as part of the agenda for the Monday, March 20, 2006, meeting of the Cambridge, MA, City Council.
Reading the report on this meeting, it appears that some complaints which I understood were reports concerning the Cowperthwaite site concerned problems about the Mahoney site. Clearly, there are major dust problems and clearly, the university is not living up to the expected level of candor concerning hazardous substances in the soil.
The reports are at: http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityClerk/CommitteeReport.cfm?instance_id=263. I would be pleased to get any comments you might have at charlesriverwhitegeese@yahoo.com, or at boblat@yahoo.com.
Thank you.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Thousands of Trees to be Destroyed at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA, USA?
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Environmental destruction has started at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA and looks like it will get a lot worse.
2. The environment at Fresh Pond.
3. The area around the area under attack.
a. Water Works.
b. City Manager upzoning proposal.
(1) The shopping center between Danehy Park and Alewife Brook Parkway (not identified on the map);
(2) Another shopping area west of Alewife Brook Parkway and streets to its west; and
(3) A paved area currently used for parking north of the railroad tracks on the other side of the tracks from area (2).
c. Application, flood zone.
4. Area under attack and threatened.
5. Public presentation of the City of Cambridge, MA, March 9, 2006.
6. The damage progresses.
7. Destruction at Fresh Pond in context.
8. Major destruction in process at Fresh Pond.
1. Environmental destruction has started at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA and looks like it will get a lot worse.
It is very difficult for a person who loves our world to associate with the City of Cambridge. Just when you think they could not stoop any lower, they prove you wrong.
Massive environmental destruction has started and a lot worse appears imminent in yet another part of Cambridge, MA on the grounds of the Cambridge owned Fresh Pond reservation. 2000 to 3000 or more healthy trees could be destroyed along with key animal and bird habitat.
2. The environment at Fresh Pond.
Fresh Pond is located in the westernmost of Cambridge, essentially across the street from Belmont. It is about half a mile from the Charles River. Fresh Pond has for quite awhile been used as part of Cambridge’s water supply system along with several other reservoirs. The state system acts as a backup.
The grounds of Fresh Pond are a natural oasis among an increasingly dense part of the Cambridge/Belmont urban environment. The surrounding neighborhoods are non-dense by Cambridge standards, but by the standards of most of the Unites States, they are quite dense.
There is a lot of animal habitat and many heavily wooded areas.
A good map from Yahoo of Fresh Pond and its environs may be found at: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=300+Fresh+Pond+Pkwy&csz=Cambridge%2C+MA+02138&state=MA&uzip=02138&ds=n&name=&desc=&lat=42.384138&lon=-71.142145&mlt=42.384138&mln=-71.142145&zoomin=yes&BFKey=&mag=2&resize=l&trf=0&compass=w
3. The area around the area under attack.
a. Water Works.
On the eastern extremity of the Fresh Pond Reservation at the star on the Yahoo map is Cambridge’s recently rebuilt water works. The area north of the Water Works to Concord Avenue has been nicely revegetated in recent years.
b. City Manager upzoning proposal.
Directly north of Concord Avenue are shopping centers which the Cambridge City Manager has been attempting to upzone.
A zoning proposal he has submitted would allow development at a density 50% denser than Harvard Square or more. Hopefully that proposal has been defeated with at least a little help from me.
But the fight is not over. What upzoning will be proposed next is yet to be seen.
The area most endangered by the most recent upzoning proposal was the area west of Danehy Park. Prime targets are
(1) The shopping center between Danehy Park and Alewife Brook Parkway (not identified on the map);
(2) Another shopping area west of Alewife Brook Parkway and streets to its west; and
(3) A paved area currently used for parking north of the railroad tracks on the other side of the tracks from area (2).
This paved parking area is of major importance because this entire region is a sensitive flood zone.
That parking lot it should be used for badly needed flood storage with a storage tank constructed under it. The city manager wants to destroy the Alewife reservation instead. Alewife is a few hundred feet further north of the area show on the map (click north to see it).
c. Application, flood zone.
That portion of the Fresh Pond Reservation on the south side of Concord Avenue across from the core upzoning area is being attacked.
This entire area is a flood zone.
4. Area under attack and threatened.
A map showing the City of Cambridge’s public version of the proposal is at http://www.CambridgeMA.gov/CWD/northeastsector.frm. There is a good map there with greater detail on this development area. The non-wooded area shown in brown on the Yahoo map contains buildings which are part of the city’s Neville Manor elderly housing.
A distressing number of large trees west of Neville Manor were casually destroyed last Thursday and Friday.
There are a number of trees at the entrance to the Neville Manor complex with yellow ribbons on them.
5. Public presentation of the City of Cambridge, MA, March 9, 2006.
Unaware that destruction had started, last Thursday, March 9, I attended a meeting in the Water Works building at which the City of Cambridge, through its number two man, Mr. Rossi, was “briefing” the public on plans for the northeast sector, the area under attack.
The Cambridge link I have given you purports to describe the plans.
I got to the meeting at the very end. I asked Rossi about the yellow ribbons. He said they marked trees designated for pruning, not for destruction. Other people followed up with questions clearly demonstrating concern about possible (or existing) harm to trees by the City of Cambridge.
Rossi answered the specific questions with very narrowly worded responses.
Then he added quite significantly to the public announcement of plans. He started bragging about intending to plant 1000 trees. He and his assistants started knocking existing trees.
In response to a question, Rossi stated that he did not have to make any public announcement of pending tree destruction.
6. The damage progresses.
The next morning, I for the first time saw the incredible destruction of large trees on Concord Avenue. If they had failed to destroy all the “protected” trees, I cannot vouch for it. The amount of major, mature trees destroyed was outrageous.
Further examination of the northeast sector area shows construction barriers around what looks like almost all groups of trees in the area AND BEYOND.
Some, not many trees have the yellow ribbons which indicate do NOT destroy.
Further construction barriers have been added since then and further destruction of trees has been accomplished in the Fresh Pond Reservation in the construction area.
Clearly, this area cannot accept 1000 saplings without MAJOR destruction of existing healthy trees. Tree plantings in areas already planted indicate that the density of sapling planting would be quite a bit less than the existing tree density.
7. Destruction at Fresh Pond in context.
The Cambridge City Manager destroyed Vellucci Park at Inman Square a couple of years ago.
When he did it, he justified the destruction on grounds that the trees in Vellucci Parkwere “too thick.” Vellucci Park was planted in the early 80’s with trees that had become quite beautiful, with a thick canopy.
Those trees were destroyed to create a barren plaza with a fraction of the trees not destroyed. The trees in Vellucci Park were quite a bit less dense than the existing trees in this part of Fresh Pond.
8. Major destruction in process at Fresh Pond.
This proposal and ongoing effort could very possibly be a scorched earth development of almost all trees in the affected area. The City Manager is very clearly low enough to do it.
Destruction of animal habitat is quite certain. I have seen possums scurrying across Concord Avenue to get to their homes on Fresh Pond. Raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are among many species highly likely in the area. Birds, of course, nest in the area.
And it is a flood zone.
But Cambridge has an environmentally destructive City Manager.
Fresh Pond and its animal and avian population, not to mention the trees are in deep trouble.
1. Environmental destruction has started at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA and looks like it will get a lot worse.
2. The environment at Fresh Pond.
3. The area around the area under attack.
a. Water Works.
b. City Manager upzoning proposal.
(1) The shopping center between Danehy Park and Alewife Brook Parkway (not identified on the map);
(2) Another shopping area west of Alewife Brook Parkway and streets to its west; and
(3) A paved area currently used for parking north of the railroad tracks on the other side of the tracks from area (2).
c. Application, flood zone.
4. Area under attack and threatened.
5. Public presentation of the City of Cambridge, MA, March 9, 2006.
6. The damage progresses.
7. Destruction at Fresh Pond in context.
8. Major destruction in process at Fresh Pond.
1. Environmental destruction has started at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA and looks like it will get a lot worse.
It is very difficult for a person who loves our world to associate with the City of Cambridge. Just when you think they could not stoop any lower, they prove you wrong.
Massive environmental destruction has started and a lot worse appears imminent in yet another part of Cambridge, MA on the grounds of the Cambridge owned Fresh Pond reservation. 2000 to 3000 or more healthy trees could be destroyed along with key animal and bird habitat.
2. The environment at Fresh Pond.
Fresh Pond is located in the westernmost of Cambridge, essentially across the street from Belmont. It is about half a mile from the Charles River. Fresh Pond has for quite awhile been used as part of Cambridge’s water supply system along with several other reservoirs. The state system acts as a backup.
The grounds of Fresh Pond are a natural oasis among an increasingly dense part of the Cambridge/Belmont urban environment. The surrounding neighborhoods are non-dense by Cambridge standards, but by the standards of most of the Unites States, they are quite dense.
There is a lot of animal habitat and many heavily wooded areas.
A good map from Yahoo of Fresh Pond and its environs may be found at: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=300+Fresh+Pond+Pkwy&csz=Cambridge%2C+MA+02138&state=MA&uzip=02138&ds=n&name=&desc=&lat=42.384138&lon=-71.142145&mlt=42.384138&mln=-71.142145&zoomin=yes&BFKey=&mag=2&resize=l&trf=0&compass=w
3. The area around the area under attack.
a. Water Works.
On the eastern extremity of the Fresh Pond Reservation at the star on the Yahoo map is Cambridge’s recently rebuilt water works. The area north of the Water Works to Concord Avenue has been nicely revegetated in recent years.
b. City Manager upzoning proposal.
Directly north of Concord Avenue are shopping centers which the Cambridge City Manager has been attempting to upzone.
A zoning proposal he has submitted would allow development at a density 50% denser than Harvard Square or more. Hopefully that proposal has been defeated with at least a little help from me.
But the fight is not over. What upzoning will be proposed next is yet to be seen.
The area most endangered by the most recent upzoning proposal was the area west of Danehy Park. Prime targets are
(1) The shopping center between Danehy Park and Alewife Brook Parkway (not identified on the map);
(2) Another shopping area west of Alewife Brook Parkway and streets to its west; and
(3) A paved area currently used for parking north of the railroad tracks on the other side of the tracks from area (2).
This paved parking area is of major importance because this entire region is a sensitive flood zone.
That parking lot it should be used for badly needed flood storage with a storage tank constructed under it. The city manager wants to destroy the Alewife reservation instead. Alewife is a few hundred feet further north of the area show on the map (click north to see it).
c. Application, flood zone.
That portion of the Fresh Pond Reservation on the south side of Concord Avenue across from the core upzoning area is being attacked.
This entire area is a flood zone.
4. Area under attack and threatened.
A map showing the City of Cambridge’s public version of the proposal is at http://www.CambridgeMA.gov/CWD/northeastsector.frm. There is a good map there with greater detail on this development area. The non-wooded area shown in brown on the Yahoo map contains buildings which are part of the city’s Neville Manor elderly housing.
A distressing number of large trees west of Neville Manor were casually destroyed last Thursday and Friday.
There are a number of trees at the entrance to the Neville Manor complex with yellow ribbons on them.
5. Public presentation of the City of Cambridge, MA, March 9, 2006.
Unaware that destruction had started, last Thursday, March 9, I attended a meeting in the Water Works building at which the City of Cambridge, through its number two man, Mr. Rossi, was “briefing” the public on plans for the northeast sector, the area under attack.
The Cambridge link I have given you purports to describe the plans.
I got to the meeting at the very end. I asked Rossi about the yellow ribbons. He said they marked trees designated for pruning, not for destruction. Other people followed up with questions clearly demonstrating concern about possible (or existing) harm to trees by the City of Cambridge.
Rossi answered the specific questions with very narrowly worded responses.
Then he added quite significantly to the public announcement of plans. He started bragging about intending to plant 1000 trees. He and his assistants started knocking existing trees.
In response to a question, Rossi stated that he did not have to make any public announcement of pending tree destruction.
6. The damage progresses.
The next morning, I for the first time saw the incredible destruction of large trees on Concord Avenue. If they had failed to destroy all the “protected” trees, I cannot vouch for it. The amount of major, mature trees destroyed was outrageous.
Further examination of the northeast sector area shows construction barriers around what looks like almost all groups of trees in the area AND BEYOND.
Some, not many trees have the yellow ribbons which indicate do NOT destroy.
Further construction barriers have been added since then and further destruction of trees has been accomplished in the Fresh Pond Reservation in the construction area.
Clearly, this area cannot accept 1000 saplings without MAJOR destruction of existing healthy trees. Tree plantings in areas already planted indicate that the density of sapling planting would be quite a bit less than the existing tree density.
7. Destruction at Fresh Pond in context.
The Cambridge City Manager destroyed Vellucci Park at Inman Square a couple of years ago.
When he did it, he justified the destruction on grounds that the trees in Vellucci Parkwere “too thick.” Vellucci Park was planted in the early 80’s with trees that had become quite beautiful, with a thick canopy.
Those trees were destroyed to create a barren plaza with a fraction of the trees not destroyed. The trees in Vellucci Park were quite a bit less dense than the existing trees in this part of Fresh Pond.
8. Major destruction in process at Fresh Pond.
This proposal and ongoing effort could very possibly be a scorched earth development of almost all trees in the affected area. The City Manager is very clearly low enough to do it.
Destruction of animal habitat is quite certain. I have seen possums scurrying across Concord Avenue to get to their homes on Fresh Pond. Raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are among many species highly likely in the area. Birds, of course, nest in the area.
And it is a flood zone.
But Cambridge has an environmentally destructive City Manager.
Fresh Pond and its animal and avian population, not to mention the trees are in deep trouble.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Cambridge, MA, USA
Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods
This analysis was originally published as part of the responses to our report on the rehiring by the Cambridge (MA) City Council of the Cambridge City Manager. We objected to Laura Blacklow's favorable reference to the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods. Our response was so long that it was out of scale in that report. I have thus split our response off separately.
1. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Bob, March 5, 2006.
2. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Marilyn, March 6, 2006.
3. Further about the cast of characters, Bob, March 6, 2006.
1. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Bob, March 5, 2006.
I would like to thank Laura for her comments. One very major nit, however, and that nit is the reason for the editors' control of comments that get put on this blog.
Cambridge, MA is a minefield for well meaning people who support responsible development.
One of the biggest pitfalls is organizations which are controlled by the development clique and which look like exactly the opposite. Some of these organizations are honest. Some are not. The key factor, however, is participation and impact by Cambridge's extremely active and extremely influential developer / contractor clique.
The so-called Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods has two key members. They and many others in the group have a long record of fighting for zoning petitions which sound terrific and which altogether too often have fine print which belies the terrific public claims. These people rather consistently function as apologists or worse for Cambridge's really destructive Development Department and City Manager.
One of the two key members is a director of the environmentally reprehensible Charles River Conservancy, subsidized by the developer lobby and worse than the Cambridge City Manager.
This group is publicly fighting for relocation of traffic on the south side of the Charles River (Boston, Newton, etc.) to the North Side (Cambridge, Watertown), and it gets a lot worse.
It is difficult to distinguish the second of the two key members from the first. He publicly spoke to the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals in 1998 supporting massive environmental destruction on the banks of the Charles River. In recent years, he led a zoning change in the Cambridgeport neighborhood, on the north side of Memorial Drive, which would greatly increase retail uses between Trader Joes and Western Avenue.
But they sound great. Just don't look at the real records or the fine print.
2. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Marilyn, March 6, 2006.
On the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods: In 1998 ACN leader Stash Horowitz and [City Councilor Henrietta] Davis spoke at the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing about the BU boathouse. They pushed,unsuccessfully, to get the BZA to order BU to incorporate the goose meadow into its campus as "melioration" for the boathouse.
As we know, even in 1998 the DCR's plans for the goose meadow tied in to plans for the Urban Ring river crossing (MDC draft document for the Charles River Master Plan).
Horowitz is friends with Sage, owner of the Howard Johnson's [ed: now Radisson Hotel]. Horowitz makes no secret of this, of course.
Just as the Polaroid site question was arising, ACN leaders Horowitz, Moot, and Yarden invited me to a meeting at which they asked me directly how my neighborhood pulled off the 1996 Green Street zoning petition [ed: a number of key lots half a block off Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Central Squares]. Foolishly, I told them. The next thing I heard was not that the Polaroid neighbors were filing a downzoning, but that Horowitz was telling his neighbors and, later, the Riverside neighbors facing Harvard's expansion, that zoning petitions didn't work and negotiation would get them what they want.
Consequently you and I, who had been successful in several downzonings, were kept out of those issues.
When Horowitz [the second listed above, ed.] isn't fighting for harmful zoning, as you report, he's telling neighborhoods that they can't win zoning fights and should negotiate with Harvard or Polaroid or whoever. He then advises on the "negotiations" wrapped in the ACN's coak of virtue.
[ed: The first named above is John Moot.]
3. Further about the cast of characters, Bob, March 6, 2006.
The first named above is John Moot. The second is Horowitz.
The Polaroid 5 year "battle" by Horowitz concerned a very visible parcel across from the western end of Magazine Beach. It resulting in a "compromise" in which the buyers of the Polaroid parcel essentially got everything they wanted, and construction in the area NEAREST Horowitz was delayed. Subsequently Horowitz got retail legalized on that lot, where retail previously was illegal.
I have mentioned this testimony of Horowitz and City Councilor Davis to the BZA above. This is the game that is played. A developer wants to do something irresponsible. So his friends argue that the project should be made even more irresponsible as a condition of the granting of authority.
The Boston University Boathouse is immediately east of a dense woods which is part of the goose habitat. The dense woods is just east of the railroad track which is very important to them during nesting season. The railroad track is just east of the core goose nesting area.
Boston University wanted to massively increase the size of their boathouse and also wanted to essentially incorporate the nesting area into their campus.
The Cambridge City Manager's plans, still being forwarded, would link the goose nesting area to Magazine Beach by a roadway in the Charles River paid for with government money, going under the BU Bridge and to the river side of a pollution control plant.
Magazine Beach is already used by Boston University for its graduation ceremonies.
Horowitz and Davis argued for the destruction of the nesting area to extend that roadway and further connect the Boston University holdings.
Boston University owns pretty much all of Boston and much of Brookline on the southern end of the BU Bridge.
The Board of Zoning Appeals said no.
Boston University, with very clear illegalities, destroyed the nesting area of the Charles River White Geese in October 1999. Boston University denied doing it until they were condemned by the Cambridge Conservation Commission six months later. Then they started bragging about it. They blamed the denials on their president's secretary.
For years, Boston University's friends argued that they had to destroy the nesting area because the BZA had ordered it. The reality that the BZA said "no" was irrelevant.
This analysis was originally published as part of the responses to our report on the rehiring by the Cambridge (MA) City Council of the Cambridge City Manager. We objected to Laura Blacklow's favorable reference to the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods. Our response was so long that it was out of scale in that report. I have thus split our response off separately.
1. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Bob, March 5, 2006.
2. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Marilyn, March 6, 2006.
3. Further about the cast of characters, Bob, March 6, 2006.
1. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Bob, March 5, 2006.
I would like to thank Laura for her comments. One very major nit, however, and that nit is the reason for the editors' control of comments that get put on this blog.
Cambridge, MA is a minefield for well meaning people who support responsible development.
One of the biggest pitfalls is organizations which are controlled by the development clique and which look like exactly the opposite. Some of these organizations are honest. Some are not. The key factor, however, is participation and impact by Cambridge's extremely active and extremely influential developer / contractor clique.
The so-called Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods has two key members. They and many others in the group have a long record of fighting for zoning petitions which sound terrific and which altogether too often have fine print which belies the terrific public claims. These people rather consistently function as apologists or worse for Cambridge's really destructive Development Department and City Manager.
One of the two key members is a director of the environmentally reprehensible Charles River Conservancy, subsidized by the developer lobby and worse than the Cambridge City Manager.
This group is publicly fighting for relocation of traffic on the south side of the Charles River (Boston, Newton, etc.) to the North Side (Cambridge, Watertown), and it gets a lot worse.
It is difficult to distinguish the second of the two key members from the first. He publicly spoke to the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals in 1998 supporting massive environmental destruction on the banks of the Charles River. In recent years, he led a zoning change in the Cambridgeport neighborhood, on the north side of Memorial Drive, which would greatly increase retail uses between Trader Joes and Western Avenue.
But they sound great. Just don't look at the real records or the fine print.
2. Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Marilyn, March 6, 2006.
On the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods: In 1998 ACN leader Stash Horowitz and [City Councilor Henrietta] Davis spoke at the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing about the BU boathouse. They pushed,unsuccessfully, to get the BZA to order BU to incorporate the goose meadow into its campus as "melioration" for the boathouse.
As we know, even in 1998 the DCR's plans for the goose meadow tied in to plans for the Urban Ring river crossing (MDC draft document for the Charles River Master Plan).
Horowitz is friends with Sage, owner of the Howard Johnson's [ed: now Radisson Hotel]. Horowitz makes no secret of this, of course.
Just as the Polaroid site question was arising, ACN leaders Horowitz, Moot, and Yarden invited me to a meeting at which they asked me directly how my neighborhood pulled off the 1996 Green Street zoning petition [ed: a number of key lots half a block off Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Central Squares]. Foolishly, I told them. The next thing I heard was not that the Polaroid neighbors were filing a downzoning, but that Horowitz was telling his neighbors and, later, the Riverside neighbors facing Harvard's expansion, that zoning petitions didn't work and negotiation would get them what they want.
Consequently you and I, who had been successful in several downzonings, were kept out of those issues.
When Horowitz [the second listed above, ed.] isn't fighting for harmful zoning, as you report, he's telling neighborhoods that they can't win zoning fights and should negotiate with Harvard or Polaroid or whoever. He then advises on the "negotiations" wrapped in the ACN's coak of virtue.
[ed: The first named above is John Moot.]
3. Further about the cast of characters, Bob, March 6, 2006.
The first named above is John Moot. The second is Horowitz.
The Polaroid 5 year "battle" by Horowitz concerned a very visible parcel across from the western end of Magazine Beach. It resulting in a "compromise" in which the buyers of the Polaroid parcel essentially got everything they wanted, and construction in the area NEAREST Horowitz was delayed. Subsequently Horowitz got retail legalized on that lot, where retail previously was illegal.
I have mentioned this testimony of Horowitz and City Councilor Davis to the BZA above. This is the game that is played. A developer wants to do something irresponsible. So his friends argue that the project should be made even more irresponsible as a condition of the granting of authority.
The Boston University Boathouse is immediately east of a dense woods which is part of the goose habitat. The dense woods is just east of the railroad track which is very important to them during nesting season. The railroad track is just east of the core goose nesting area.
Boston University wanted to massively increase the size of their boathouse and also wanted to essentially incorporate the nesting area into their campus.
The Cambridge City Manager's plans, still being forwarded, would link the goose nesting area to Magazine Beach by a roadway in the Charles River paid for with government money, going under the BU Bridge and to the river side of a pollution control plant.
Magazine Beach is already used by Boston University for its graduation ceremonies.
Horowitz and Davis argued for the destruction of the nesting area to extend that roadway and further connect the Boston University holdings.
Boston University owns pretty much all of Boston and much of Brookline on the southern end of the BU Bridge.
The Board of Zoning Appeals said no.
Boston University, with very clear illegalities, destroyed the nesting area of the Charles River White Geese in October 1999. Boston University denied doing it until they were condemned by the Cambridge Conservation Commission six months later. Then they started bragging about it. They blamed the denials on their president's secretary.
For years, Boston University's friends argued that they had to destroy the nesting area because the BZA had ordered it. The reality that the BZA said "no" was irrelevant.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Cambridge, MA, USA, City Council to Hold Hearings on Urban Ring transportation plans
February 28, 2006
(Originally part of the City Manager Posting)
Cambridge to Conduct Public Hearings on the Urban Ring.
A. The proposal.
(1) General.
(2) Charles River Crossing.
(3) Highways and Buses.
B. Cambridge City Council Meeting.
(1) Monday Night.
(2) Past Experience and “Reality” in Cambridge, MA.
C. “Reality” Cambridge style.
Cambridge to Conduct Public Hearings on the Urban Ring.
A. The proposal.
(1) General.
The Urban Ring is a project of Boston’s regional transportation authority which stemmed from the need to take traffic off the downtown subway and to relocate the traffic to make the entire system work better. The basic concept is a new subway line which would run from Charlestown to Ruggles Station in Roxbury / the South End by way of Lechmere, Kendall, Mass. Ave near MIT, the Newton / Brighton Green Line branches and the Longwood / Harvard Medical Area.
(2) Charles River Crossing.
There are two possible crossings of the Charles River.
The good one, environmentally and from a transportation point of view would cross the Charles near the Mass. Ave. bridge and connect with the Green Line branches, Commuter Rail and Fenway Park by a new station between Kenmore and Fenway Park under the Mass. Pike. I suggested it to the MBTA about six years before they started to seriously look at it.
The other one has history going for it plus the political demands of Boston University, the Cambridge City Manager and a bunch of Cambridge developers.
It has an extra train stop at Putnam Avenue and the Grand Junction railroad tracks in Cambridge which is really threatening to the Cambridgeport neighborhood. It could be strikingly destructive to the Charles River environment. It would also stop quite close to the heart of the BU Campus at a location next to St. Mary’s Street on the far side of the Mass. Pike. It would directly connect from this station to commuter rail. By an awkward tunnel and walking across Commonwealth Avenue, it would connect from that station to the Commonwealth Avenue Green Line. It would also have another station very close to this one, under Park Drive between Beacon Street and the Riverside line, connecting to the Riverside Green Line at the existing Fenway station and to the Beacon Street line at another new station under Audubon Circle.
(3) Highways and Buses.
The MBTA has turned this good rapid transit concept (with the correct river crossing) into a bus / highway project called Phase 2, while the rapid transit is not phase 3. Phase 2 would create new highways in Cambridgeport and tar over part of the track area between Memorial Drive and Mass. Avenue.
B. Cambridge City Council Meeting.
(1) Monday Night.
Monday night, February 26, 2006, the Cambridge City Council decided to conduct public hearings on the MBTA’s Urban Ring transit proposals.
As is the wont of the Cambridge City Council, two members spent an excessive amount of time discussing this matter and saying nothing. Councilors Decker and Davis, both with bad records on the Charles River, had an extended disagreement on which committee should hear the matter and whether the hearings should be joint or separate. Both, without providing details, insisted they were on the side of the angels in the matter.
The Councilor who is chair of one of the committees participated in the discussion a little. Councilor Davis who chairs neither committee talked a lot.
(2) Past Experience and “Reality” in Cambridge, MA.
Key in my hearing of Davis’s comments was Davis’ apparent insistence that city staff present the plans to the public hearings.
Cambridge, on environmental matters, can live in a reality strikingly different from the reality that everybody else lives in.
The last time the Cambridge City Council conducted a hearing on the Charles River, it concerned the off ramp which would connect the Mass. Pike to Cambridge’s Cambridgeport neighborhood and to Memorial Drive.
Councilor Davis was insistent that no such possibility existed.
So they conducted a hearing at the Morse School, within view of Magazine Beach. The MBTA showed up and the MBTA behaved in a manner which was quite inappropriate from the point of view of the Cambridge pols. The MBTA had the nerve to tell the truth.
The MBTA informed the neighbors assembled that the MBTA had done engineering studies to determine if it were feasible to connect the Mass. Pike to Cambridge by way of the railroad bridge under the BU Bridge. The MBTA described this proposal as a rebuilding of the east side of the two track bridge so that the track on the eastern side would be replaced with a three lane road. The MBTA’s studies also showed the viability of moving the one track currently on the east side to the unused west side of the railroad bridge.
The MBTA clearly stated that the project was viable from an engineering point of view. The MBTA only withdrew from the project because it made no sense from a public transportation financing point of view. The latter was obvious from the beginning. They were proposing a major bridge rebuilding project to run an express bus from Newton to Cambridge. Such a bus would be unlikely to run more than three times an hour in rush hours, and that would be pushing it.
After this major defeat for truth City of Cambridge style, the minutes of the meeting were striking.
The minutes did not even recognize the existence of the rail bridge under the BU Bridge. The minutes talked only of the BU Bridge itself, over which a connection to the Mass. Pike would be silly.
C. “Reality” Cambridge style.
Councilor Davis has long been an advocate of the really bad BU Crossing.
Councilor Davis is talking of City of Cambridge staff reporting to the public on the Urban Ring proposals rather than the agency doing the work, the MBTA, doing the reporting.
City staff managing the information would ensure a “reality” more consistent with the official Cambridge view of reality.
Councilor Davis has good reason to fear the agency doing the work doing the talking.
The MBTA is much more likely to give an accurate version of reality to her voters.
(Originally part of the City Manager Posting)
Cambridge to Conduct Public Hearings on the Urban Ring.
A. The proposal.
(1) General.
(2) Charles River Crossing.
(3) Highways and Buses.
B. Cambridge City Council Meeting.
(1) Monday Night.
(2) Past Experience and “Reality” in Cambridge, MA.
C. “Reality” Cambridge style.
Cambridge to Conduct Public Hearings on the Urban Ring.
A. The proposal.
(1) General.
The Urban Ring is a project of Boston’s regional transportation authority which stemmed from the need to take traffic off the downtown subway and to relocate the traffic to make the entire system work better. The basic concept is a new subway line which would run from Charlestown to Ruggles Station in Roxbury / the South End by way of Lechmere, Kendall, Mass. Ave near MIT, the Newton / Brighton Green Line branches and the Longwood / Harvard Medical Area.
(2) Charles River Crossing.
There are two possible crossings of the Charles River.
The good one, environmentally and from a transportation point of view would cross the Charles near the Mass. Ave. bridge and connect with the Green Line branches, Commuter Rail and Fenway Park by a new station between Kenmore and Fenway Park under the Mass. Pike. I suggested it to the MBTA about six years before they started to seriously look at it.
The other one has history going for it plus the political demands of Boston University, the Cambridge City Manager and a bunch of Cambridge developers.
It has an extra train stop at Putnam Avenue and the Grand Junction railroad tracks in Cambridge which is really threatening to the Cambridgeport neighborhood. It could be strikingly destructive to the Charles River environment. It would also stop quite close to the heart of the BU Campus at a location next to St. Mary’s Street on the far side of the Mass. Pike. It would directly connect from this station to commuter rail. By an awkward tunnel and walking across Commonwealth Avenue, it would connect from that station to the Commonwealth Avenue Green Line. It would also have another station very close to this one, under Park Drive between Beacon Street and the Riverside line, connecting to the Riverside Green Line at the existing Fenway station and to the Beacon Street line at another new station under Audubon Circle.
(3) Highways and Buses.
The MBTA has turned this good rapid transit concept (with the correct river crossing) into a bus / highway project called Phase 2, while the rapid transit is not phase 3. Phase 2 would create new highways in Cambridgeport and tar over part of the track area between Memorial Drive and Mass. Avenue.
B. Cambridge City Council Meeting.
(1) Monday Night.
Monday night, February 26, 2006, the Cambridge City Council decided to conduct public hearings on the MBTA’s Urban Ring transit proposals.
As is the wont of the Cambridge City Council, two members spent an excessive amount of time discussing this matter and saying nothing. Councilors Decker and Davis, both with bad records on the Charles River, had an extended disagreement on which committee should hear the matter and whether the hearings should be joint or separate. Both, without providing details, insisted they were on the side of the angels in the matter.
The Councilor who is chair of one of the committees participated in the discussion a little. Councilor Davis who chairs neither committee talked a lot.
(2) Past Experience and “Reality” in Cambridge, MA.
Key in my hearing of Davis’s comments was Davis’ apparent insistence that city staff present the plans to the public hearings.
Cambridge, on environmental matters, can live in a reality strikingly different from the reality that everybody else lives in.
The last time the Cambridge City Council conducted a hearing on the Charles River, it concerned the off ramp which would connect the Mass. Pike to Cambridge’s Cambridgeport neighborhood and to Memorial Drive.
Councilor Davis was insistent that no such possibility existed.
So they conducted a hearing at the Morse School, within view of Magazine Beach. The MBTA showed up and the MBTA behaved in a manner which was quite inappropriate from the point of view of the Cambridge pols. The MBTA had the nerve to tell the truth.
The MBTA informed the neighbors assembled that the MBTA had done engineering studies to determine if it were feasible to connect the Mass. Pike to Cambridge by way of the railroad bridge under the BU Bridge. The MBTA described this proposal as a rebuilding of the east side of the two track bridge so that the track on the eastern side would be replaced with a three lane road. The MBTA’s studies also showed the viability of moving the one track currently on the east side to the unused west side of the railroad bridge.
The MBTA clearly stated that the project was viable from an engineering point of view. The MBTA only withdrew from the project because it made no sense from a public transportation financing point of view. The latter was obvious from the beginning. They were proposing a major bridge rebuilding project to run an express bus from Newton to Cambridge. Such a bus would be unlikely to run more than three times an hour in rush hours, and that would be pushing it.
After this major defeat for truth City of Cambridge style, the minutes of the meeting were striking.
The minutes did not even recognize the existence of the rail bridge under the BU Bridge. The minutes talked only of the BU Bridge itself, over which a connection to the Mass. Pike would be silly.
C. “Reality” Cambridge style.
Councilor Davis has long been an advocate of the really bad BU Crossing.
Councilor Davis is talking of City of Cambridge staff reporting to the public on the Urban Ring proposals rather than the agency doing the work, the MBTA, doing the reporting.
City staff managing the information would ensure a “reality” more consistent with the official Cambridge view of reality.
Councilor Davis has good reason to fear the agency doing the work doing the talking.
The MBTA is much more likely to give an accurate version of reality to her voters.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Environmental destroyer fighting to move traffic to the north side of the Charles River, in MA, USA
Bob La Trémouille Reports:
Environmental destroyer fighting to move traffic to the north side of the Charles River.
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
2. Marilyn – Traffic Analysis.
3. Bob addition:
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
Things are getting a little bit clearer.
The environmentally destructive Charles River Conservancy put the following notice in their monthly report for February 2006.
*************
Nonantum Road Tragedy and Hope for the Future
The death of two people on Nonantum Road in Newton has finally accelerated the commissioning of the traffic calming study that was included in last year’s budget. Narrowing the road and widening the pathway is the goal of this effort. To read a letter regarding this issue from the Conservancy to the Newton TAB in May 2005 click here.
*************
Nonantum Road is the extension of Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side. It is equivalent to Birmingham Parkway or Charles River Road on the Cambridge side.
These poor people. They need their traffic moved to Cambridge.
The Charles River Conservancy has consistently fought for all the environmental destruction going on on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, not just for the destruction of hundreds of trees and straightening out of Memorial Drive, but all of the destructive things going on between the northern sidewalk of Memorial Drive and the Charles River. For the last three years, they have happily poisoned every goose egg they could get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles Rive.
This latest initiative makes it very clear that (separate from the egg poisoning depravities), Cambridge is being destroyed by these people and their bureacrats and pols (including the Cambridge City Council) for the benefit of Boston.
2. Marilyn – Traffic Analysis.
Where does inbound traffic from the west cross over to the north side of the Charles to avoid Storrow Drive?
The DCR's just-announced plan to reduce the lanes on Nonantum Road would help divert traffic from Storrow to the Pike but also to Cambridge. Nonantum Road connects to the free inbound Pike exit at Newton Corner. Traffic from the west could stay on the Pike and pay the additional toll, or leave at Newton Corner, cross the river at Watertown Center (avoiding Nonantum Road) or deal with the single inbound lane on Nonantum, then cross at North Beacon Street, which would avoid backups on Soldiers Field and Storrow Drive.
In this connection I think Bob La Tremouille mentioned the Birmingham Parkway, which connects Nonantum Road to Western Ave. in Allston. [ed. For those who require exactness, the link is Nonantum – Watertown Center – Charles River Road – North Beacon Street – Arsenal Street [Western Avenue renamed in Watertown. Greenough Boulevard is the next link, from Arsenal Street Western Avenue to Memorial Drive.]
Traffic from the west could thus use Western Ave, briefly use Storrow to cross the Charles at River Street, then take Mem Drive eastbound (could be why the DCR instituted the right-only lane at that intersection--it otherwise makes no sense to me). Alternatively, traffic could turn left from Western and cross to Memorial Drive at North Harvard/JFK Street over the Anderson Bridge.
3. Bob addition:
As inserted above, there is yet another name for the Charles River roads on the north side which are for all meaningful purposes the extension of Memorial Drive / Birmingham Parkway in Watertown, MA. This named road runs from the end of Birmingham Parkway after a short jog on North Beacon Street. It is yet another boulevard which is "underutilized" ("shudder" according to the developers).
The name of this additional segment of the Charles River roads is “Charles River Road.”
Traffic from the Mass. Pike would be diverted to Watertown Square because of the "traffic calming measures on Nonantum Road and .2 minutes north of Nonantum Road is Charles River Road which becomes Birmingham Parkway which becomes Memorial Drive. (Ignoring a few jogs.)
So you see there is another purpose for giving the Charles River roads multiple names. Not only is it an excellent way to get tourists confused and into accidents, it is also a great way to confuse the voters.
Bob Reports:
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
Things are getting a little bit clearer.
The environmentally destructive Charles River Conservancy put the following notice in their monthly report for February 2006.
*************
Nonantum Road Tragedy and Hope for the Future
The death of two people on Nonantum Road in Newton has finally accelerated the commissioning of the traffic calming study that was included in last year’s budget. Narrowing the road and widening the pathway is the goal of this effort. To read a letter regarding this issue from the Conservancy to the Newton TAB in May 2005 click here.
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Nonantum Road is the extension of Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side. It is equivalent to Birmingham Parkway on the Cambridge side.
These poor people. They need their traffic moved to Cambridge.
The Charles River Conservancy has consistently fought for all the environmental destruction going on on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, not just for the destruction of hundreds of trees and straightening out of Memorial Drive, but all of the destructive things going on between the northern sidewalk of Memorial Drive and the Charles River. For the last three years, they have happily poisoned every goose egg they could get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles Rive.
This latest initiative makes it very clear that (separate from the egg poisoning depravities), Cambridge is being destroyed by these people and their bureacrats and pols (including the Cambridge City Council) for the benefit of Boston.
2. Marilyn's added information.
Where does inbound traffic from the west cross over to the north side of the Charles to avoid Storrow Drive?
The DCR's just-announced plan to reduce the lanes on Nonantum Road would help divert traffic from Storrow to the Pike but also to Cambridge. Nonantum Road connects to the free inbound Pike exit at Newton Corner. Traffic from the west could stay on the Pike and pay the additional toll, or leave at Newton Corner, cross the river at Watertown Center (avoiding Nonantum Road) or deal with the single inbound lane on Nonantum, then cross at North Beacon Street, which would avoid backups on Soldiers Field and Storrow Drive.
In this connection I think Bob La Tremouille mentioned the Birmingham Parkway, which connects Nonantum Road to Western Ave. in Allston. Traffic from the west could thus use Western Ave, briefly use Storrow to cross the Charles at River Street, then take Mem Drive eastbound (could be why the DCR instituted the right-only lane at that intersection--it otherwise makes no sense to me). Alternatively, traffic could turn left from Western and cross to Mem Drive at North Harvard/JFK Street over the Anderson Bridge.
3. Bob addition:
For the sake of completeness there is yet another name for the Charles River roads on the north side which is for all meaningful purposes the extension of Memorial Drive / Birmingham Parkway in Watertown, MA. This named road runs from the end of Birmingham Parkway after a short jog on North Beacon Street. It is yet another boulevard which is "underutilized" ("shudder" according to the developers).
Traffic from the Mass. Pike would be diverted to Watertown Square because of the "traffic calming measures on Nonantum Road and .2 miles north of Nonantum Road is Charles River Road which becomes Birmingham Parkway which becomes Memorial Drive.
So you see there is another purpose for giving the Charles River roads multiple names. Not only is it an excellent way to get tourists confused and into accidents, it is also a great way to confuse the voters.
Environmental destroyer fighting to move traffic to the north side of the Charles River.
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
2. Marilyn – Traffic Analysis.
3. Bob addition:
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
Things are getting a little bit clearer.
The environmentally destructive Charles River Conservancy put the following notice in their monthly report for February 2006.
*************
Nonantum Road Tragedy and Hope for the Future
The death of two people on Nonantum Road in Newton has finally accelerated the commissioning of the traffic calming study that was included in last year’s budget. Narrowing the road and widening the pathway is the goal of this effort. To read a letter regarding this issue from the Conservancy to the Newton TAB in May 2005 click here.
*************
Nonantum Road is the extension of Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side. It is equivalent to Birmingham Parkway or Charles River Road on the Cambridge side.
These poor people. They need their traffic moved to Cambridge.
The Charles River Conservancy has consistently fought for all the environmental destruction going on on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, not just for the destruction of hundreds of trees and straightening out of Memorial Drive, but all of the destructive things going on between the northern sidewalk of Memorial Drive and the Charles River. For the last three years, they have happily poisoned every goose egg they could get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles Rive.
This latest initiative makes it very clear that (separate from the egg poisoning depravities), Cambridge is being destroyed by these people and their bureacrats and pols (including the Cambridge City Council) for the benefit of Boston.
2. Marilyn – Traffic Analysis.
Where does inbound traffic from the west cross over to the north side of the Charles to avoid Storrow Drive?
The DCR's just-announced plan to reduce the lanes on Nonantum Road would help divert traffic from Storrow to the Pike but also to Cambridge. Nonantum Road connects to the free inbound Pike exit at Newton Corner. Traffic from the west could stay on the Pike and pay the additional toll, or leave at Newton Corner, cross the river at Watertown Center (avoiding Nonantum Road) or deal with the single inbound lane on Nonantum, then cross at North Beacon Street, which would avoid backups on Soldiers Field and Storrow Drive.
In this connection I think Bob La Tremouille mentioned the Birmingham Parkway, which connects Nonantum Road to Western Ave. in Allston. [ed. For those who require exactness, the link is Nonantum – Watertown Center – Charles River Road – North Beacon Street – Arsenal Street [Western Avenue renamed in Watertown. Greenough Boulevard is the next link, from Arsenal Street Western Avenue to Memorial Drive.]
Traffic from the west could thus use Western Ave, briefly use Storrow to cross the Charles at River Street, then take Mem Drive eastbound (could be why the DCR instituted the right-only lane at that intersection--it otherwise makes no sense to me). Alternatively, traffic could turn left from Western and cross to Memorial Drive at North Harvard/JFK Street over the Anderson Bridge.
3. Bob addition:
As inserted above, there is yet another name for the Charles River roads on the north side which are for all meaningful purposes the extension of Memorial Drive / Birmingham Parkway in Watertown, MA. This named road runs from the end of Birmingham Parkway after a short jog on North Beacon Street. It is yet another boulevard which is "underutilized" ("shudder" according to the developers).
The name of this additional segment of the Charles River roads is “Charles River Road.”
Traffic from the Mass. Pike would be diverted to Watertown Square because of the "traffic calming measures on Nonantum Road and .2 minutes north of Nonantum Road is Charles River Road which becomes Birmingham Parkway which becomes Memorial Drive. (Ignoring a few jogs.)
So you see there is another purpose for giving the Charles River roads multiple names. Not only is it an excellent way to get tourists confused and into accidents, it is also a great way to confuse the voters.
Bob Reports:
1. Destroyer on the Offensive.
Things are getting a little bit clearer.
The environmentally destructive Charles River Conservancy put the following notice in their monthly report for February 2006.
*************
Nonantum Road Tragedy and Hope for the Future
The death of two people on Nonantum Road in Newton has finally accelerated the commissioning of the traffic calming study that was included in last year’s budget. Narrowing the road and widening the pathway is the goal of this effort. To read a letter regarding this issue from the Conservancy to the Newton TAB in May 2005 click here.
*************
Nonantum Road is the extension of Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side. It is equivalent to Birmingham Parkway on the Cambridge side.
These poor people. They need their traffic moved to Cambridge.
The Charles River Conservancy has consistently fought for all the environmental destruction going on on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, not just for the destruction of hundreds of trees and straightening out of Memorial Drive, but all of the destructive things going on between the northern sidewalk of Memorial Drive and the Charles River. For the last three years, they have happily poisoned every goose egg they could get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles Rive.
This latest initiative makes it very clear that (separate from the egg poisoning depravities), Cambridge is being destroyed by these people and their bureacrats and pols (including the Cambridge City Council) for the benefit of Boston.
2. Marilyn's added information.
Where does inbound traffic from the west cross over to the north side of the Charles to avoid Storrow Drive?
The DCR's just-announced plan to reduce the lanes on Nonantum Road would help divert traffic from Storrow to the Pike but also to Cambridge. Nonantum Road connects to the free inbound Pike exit at Newton Corner. Traffic from the west could stay on the Pike and pay the additional toll, or leave at Newton Corner, cross the river at Watertown Center (avoiding Nonantum Road) or deal with the single inbound lane on Nonantum, then cross at North Beacon Street, which would avoid backups on Soldiers Field and Storrow Drive.
In this connection I think Bob La Tremouille mentioned the Birmingham Parkway, which connects Nonantum Road to Western Ave. in Allston. Traffic from the west could thus use Western Ave, briefly use Storrow to cross the Charles at River Street, then take Mem Drive eastbound (could be why the DCR instituted the right-only lane at that intersection--it otherwise makes no sense to me). Alternatively, traffic could turn left from Western and cross to Mem Drive at North Harvard/JFK Street over the Anderson Bridge.
3. Bob addition:
For the sake of completeness there is yet another name for the Charles River roads on the north side which is for all meaningful purposes the extension of Memorial Drive / Birmingham Parkway in Watertown, MA. This named road runs from the end of Birmingham Parkway after a short jog on North Beacon Street. It is yet another boulevard which is "underutilized" ("shudder" according to the developers).
Traffic from the Mass. Pike would be diverted to Watertown Square because of the "traffic calming measures on Nonantum Road and .2 miles north of Nonantum Road is Charles River Road which becomes Birmingham Parkway which becomes Memorial Drive.
So you see there is another purpose for giving the Charles River roads multiple names. Not only is it an excellent way to get tourists confused and into accidents, it is also a great way to confuse the voters.
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