1. General Introduction.
2. Neighborhood Association head says nice things - Cambridge Chronicle and fancy light bulbs. 11/17/06.
3. Laura Blacklow - Urban Ring, “Green” Group, Neighborhood Association, 11/19/06.
4. Kathy Podgers - Where does Green Port and Green Decade stand on the Urban Ring? 11/20/06.
5. Bad Guy responds to Your Editor. 11/21/06.
6. Your editor to Bad Guy. 11/21/06.
7. Kathy Podgers - Where does Green Port and Green Decade stand on the Urban Ring? 11/20/06.
8. Marco - Green Port Working Group - Help in any way possible. 11/25/06.
9. Kathy Podgers - Green Groups and Energy Conservation, 11/25/06.
10. Close associate of Green-Destructive City Councilor - Excellent example of the genre. 11/25/06.
11. Editor responding to bad guy, 11/23/06.
12. Editor: “Green” Group, 11/27/06.
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. General Intro
As I have reported elsewhere, nine Green-destructive Cambridge City Councillors are poised to push the next SICK step in Cambridge’s attack on the Charles River and starvation attacks on the resident animals including the Charles River White Geese.
It comes as no surprise to see increasing visibility in a group which sounds pro-Green but which, with careful investigation turns out, in general, to be saying next to nothing about their real goals, but to loudly proclaim with NO MEANINGFUL SUPPORT: We mean well. Help us achieve goals which we really do not disclose but which SEEM to be going in the right DIRECTION.
As usual in Cambridge, the Devil is in the details.
And the details COMMONLY are bad from groups which fit this modus operandi.
Here is a sample of email exchanges on the matter. I have edited some of my points for clarification, but attempt to simply quote other positions. Correction of capitalization and spelling errors has been done wherever I deem appropriate without regard to the side that is talking.
Please note the repeated requests that the supposed Green group define its position on the issue of destruction of the Green. Please also note the total failure of the supposed Green group and its apologists to do so.
2. Neighborhood Association head says nice things - Cambridge Chronicle and fancy light bulbs. 11/17/06.
From Bill Augustus:
Neighborhoods Section in yesterday's Chronicle has good blurb on Greenport and our last CNA meeting and the discussions about neighborhood association helping to get it going.
Chronicle also has a great article on distribution of compact fluorescent bulbs, written by Susan Butler of Cambridge Green Decade. Chronicle seems to be very supportive of these issues.
3. Laura Blacklow - Urban Ring, “Green” Group, Neighborhood Association, 11/19/06.
I thought there really is a problem with phase 2 [of the Urban ring, ed.] (see craig's message below). I thought that what we suspect is that, once the urban ring backers get their polluting buses---most of which won't even stop in the port, right?---okayed, the powers-that-be will probably tell us that they have run out of money. we will be stuck with noxious fumes, no rapid rail, and busier streets to serve Harvard and MIT employees mostly.
So, again, I ask---what is the neighborhood association planning to do? and what about the Green group?
For those of you who praise Robert Healy, the city manager, please note that he has NOT responded to our plight. on the contrary, healy seems to support more gas guzzling traffic in
our neighborhood.
Laura
4. Your Editor responds to Laura. 11/20/06.
My understanding is that the green group follows the position of nine members of the Cambridge City Council.
Our world is being destroyed because people everywhere in our world are destroying their back yards. Nine members of the Cambridge City Council are aggressively destroying our back yard.
Their explanation is: "How dare you look at our destruction of our back yard and thus of our world. The important thing is our fancy light bulbs." Then they loudly call themselves environmentalists.
5. Bad Guy responds to Your Editor. 11/21/06.
[Ed. This individual has a long and very clear record.]
Why does every group have to take a stand on every issue?
6. Your editor to Bad Guy. 11/21/06.
It depends.
Is this a group which is concerned about our environment or a misnamed group selling fancy light bulbs?
There is very real problem about people who are concerned about things being persuaded to act against the causes they think they stand for.
The people I have seen who are most aggressively fighting for fancy light bulbs disclose their real goals with their contempt for fighting ongoing destruction of our back yards and thus standing up to destruction of our worlds.
People certainly have a right to sell fancy light bulbs, but to call themselves "green" if they have contempt for the real green around us which is being ruthlessly destroyed and thus our world ruthlessly destroyed.
I very strongly object to false statements of position / names of organization which mislead people from working for goals that they really want to work for and I very strongly believe that people who are totally indifferent to massive destruction of trees, wetlands and animals calling themselves "green" if that applies to these so-called "green" organizations.
If they want to call themselves the fancy light bulb people, let themselves call the fancy light bulb people.
If they want to call themselves the contractors coalition to sell fancy lightbulbs, let them call themselves the contractors coalition to sell fancy light bulbs.
The problem is not with the goals of the organization. The problem is with using a misleading name and not even approaching living up to that name.
7. Kathy Podgers - Where does Green Port and Green Decade stand on the Urban Ring? 11/20/06.
Laura makes a good point about the money "game" that's often played regarding transportation issues. Half measures, unfinished projects, dragged out construction (taking 2-4 years to complete a project that can be done in 6 months, lack of oversight, and too cozy relationships between our "representatives" with the "manufactures" of expensive "accessible busses" and other infrastructure items, and all mixed in with union employment demands.
Tell me true, Steve and Sue, where does Green Port and Green Decade stand on the Urban Ring?
Kathy
8. Marco - Green Port Working Group - Help in any way possible. 11/25/06.
Though I did not attend the session the Greenport group held a couple of weeks ago, I have heard enough about it from folks who are part of it and who attended to know a few things:
1. It's billed as a "working group," in other words, it's a group that functions as a satellite of the CNA for those in the community who are concerned with issues related to the environment and how to address them at the very local level, i.e. within Cambridgeport.
2. The Green Port working group is about brainstorming at this point. The initial discussion from what I understand was productive in this sense. I trust that any major issues they discuss and want to take action on as part of the CNA will be brought forth at CNA [Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association] meetings.
3. The positive direction taken by this group follows a passionate plea by a few key people in the community (Steve Morr-Wineman, Rosalie Anders, and Hubert Murray in particular) to address local solutions to global issues. And instead of characterizing what they and others have undertaken in a negative light, they ought to be supported (especially at such an early phase in their existence), if for no other reason than the fact that the environment has emerged over the past two decades as the decisive issue that is and will be affecting the entire world. We are connected to the environment at a local level. It connects us to energy policy and, ergo, foreign policy. It is the future of us all. And I know for a fact that the citizens and neighborhood leaders present at that meeting understand those connections. That's precisely why they were there.We should help them in any way possible.
Marco
9. Kathy Podgers - Green Groups and Energy Conservation, 11/25/06.
Hi, As one of the first to "form" or "join" Green Port I am not sure what is the purpose of "Green Port." I do not know what the relationship Green Port has with the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. I do wish that could be answered by either the Board, or the membership.
Initially there were a few of us who were present at the meeting when "Green port" was formed. I had been under the impression that Herbert Murry and Steve Winman, (Erie St Neighbors) had come to the Cambridgeport neighborhood Association meeting for support of this "new" idea. Bill suggested they schedule the first meeting at the Community room at Woodrow Wilson for accessibility reasons.
However it was held at the private (and inaccessible) home of Rosalie Anders. Rosalie works for the City of Cambridge, and heads up the Pedestrian Committee. She is responsible for the City's Pedestrian Plan that was found by the MAAB to be non compliant last March. She announced this in the next Pedestrian Committee meeting, and that she would be working on it to bring it into compliance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts safety Code, but has informed me that this has not been done yet.
Rosalie Anders is on the Green Decade Cambridge Steering Committee. The Green Decade is a totally different organization. I attended one of their meetings and discovered that their model is to hold small meetings hosted by home owners, and for the purpose of raising money. They plan to write/rewrite legislation that will affect citizens as much as affect the "environment."
Green Decade is a chapter of the Mass Climate Action Network; a coalition of 27 local and four state environmental groups devoted to public education and influencing municipal governments to achieve local reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Bill August is a municipalities attorney, he has been president of the Dana Park Nighborhoos Asociation (now known as the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association?) for some 20 years now.
I care very much about the environment, and have been writing, raising awareness, and "educating" the public on this issue for some time now. However, none of the basic environmental issues raised at the Green decade meeting I went to were understood by the "leaders."
I would, therefore, like to know just what the relationship between the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association, Green Port and Green Decade really is.
Take care
Kathy
10. Close associate of Green-Destructive City Councilor - Excellent example of the genre. 11/25/06.
It is time to stop all the negativism about a proposed energy conservation group for Cambridgeport that isn't even formed yet. A small group of Cambridgeport residents met this month to brainstorm ideas for what an energy conservation group for Cambridgeport would look like. The organizers have given this energy conservation group a provisional name: Greenport.
The group is in now way a legal entity yet. The group, as far as I know, has not filed papers with the Commonwealth to be a 401c3 or to be any other type of corporation under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Yet, already there are the dissenters, the mud-slingers, and of course, round up the usual suspects.
I believe in taking positive action and the power of positive actions. If anyone really cares about energy conservation, they should be trying to help the fledgling group, not destroy it by complaining about the intentions of the group or any of its actions while it is in a formative stage. Give them a break people!
LET'S STOP THE NEGATIVISM OR KEEP IT OFF THE CAMBRIDGEPORT NEIGHBORS LISTSERV. SEE THE WORD "NEIGHBORS" IN THE LISTSERV NAME? LET'S TRY TO BE NEIGHBORLY. IF YOUR WISH TO POSIT AN INTELLECTUAL ARGUMENT, DO IT WITH A DOSE OF RATIONAL, POSITIVE, AND FACTUAL COMMENTARY. THANKS.
11. Editor responding to bad guy, 11/23/06.
It depends.
Is this a group which is concerned about our environment or a misnamed group selling fancy light bulbs?
There is very real problem about people who are concerned about things being persuaded to act against the causes they think they stand for.
The people I have seen who are most aggressively fighting for fancy light bulbs disclose their real goals with their contempt for objections to ongoing destruction of our back yards and thus destruction of our worlds.
People certainly have a right to sell fancy light bulbs, but to not call themselves "green" if they have contempt for the real green around us which is being ruthlessly destroyed and thus our world ruthlessley destroyed.
I very strongly object to false statements of position / names of organization which mislead people from working for goals that they really want to work for and I very strongly believe that people who are totally indifferent to massive destruction of trees, wetlands and animals calling themselves "green" if that applies to these so-called "green" organizations.
If they want to call themselves the fancy light bulb people, let themselves call the fancy light bulb people.
If they want to call themselves the contractors coalition to sell fancy light bulbs, let them call themselves the contractors coalition to sell fancy light bulbs.
The problem is not with the goals of the organization although the misleading method of presentation is very much wrong. The problem is with using a misleading name and not even approaching living up to that name.
12. Editor: “Green” Group, 11/27/06.
We have had a couple of comments that because people are interested in energy conservation products that it is destructive to expect them to have respect for the Green of the earth.
Last I heard, these people were calling themselves Green.
Every time I go to the Charles River since September 2004, I have been dramatically reminded of the CONTEMPT of nine members of the Cambridge City Council for the Green. Deliberate destruction of wetlands, cruel starvation of beautiful animals, needless destruction of trees, the walling off of the Charles River to PREVENT swimming in the Charles, the walling off of the shore to starve animals.
I see preparations for things to get much worse: a silly, wasteful project which will destroy more trees, which will make the DELIBERATE starvation that much worse, which will needlessly destroy the earth, and which will instal POISONS into a habitat which has been free of poisons.
People have been trying to find out from these purveyors of energy procucts what their position is on deliberate destruction of the Green.
This is not at all minor with regard to people who are running around calling themselves Green activists. The consistent refusal to answer these questions says EVERYTHING.
It is highly destructive of people with contempt for the Green to run around falsely calling themselves Green.
If these anti-Green people want to call themselves The Coalition for Energy Conservation, so be it.
If these anti-Green people want to call themselves The Coalition for Fancy Light Bulbs, so be it.
BUT HOW DARE THEY call themselves Green if they are not Green.
And HOW DARE ANYBODY call it destructive to expect self-proclaimed Green activists to be Green!
There is something very wrong here.
I am not at all amused by people claiming to be Green who consider environmental destruction normal.
