Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Introduction.
2. The legal advertisement.
3. "Public hearing."
4. Vassar Street behind the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
A. General.
B. Importance to the Charles River White Geese and other Water Fowl.
C. Outrageous destruction proposed.
5. Harvard Square.
A. Recent History in Harvard Square.
B. The latest make work project in Harvard Square.
C. Palmer Street and Church Street.
(1) General.
(2) Reality at Palmer and Church Streets.
6. Key motivation in an environmentally repulsive City of Cambridge, MA.
1. Introduction.
This is an update of a report issued a couple of days ago. I have already corrected some typos.
I just viewed what is being destroyed behind the Hyatt.
One of the biggest hypocrisies in the City of Cambridge is the city and its pols’ belligerent claim to environmental sainthood.
The large scale environmental destruction ongoing or pending on the Charles River, at Fresh Pond and at Alewife are excellent large scale examples of their very destructive hypocrisy.
The reality, however, is that in pretty much every public works project of any scope, the first thing that happens is tree destruction.
2. The legal advertisement.
The February 2, 2007 Cambridge Tab at the bottom of page 19 announces a "public hearing" in front of a City Manager appointee on the destruction of a lot of street trees.
It announces that they are considering destroying two 8 inch Norway Maples, an 18 inch, a 14 inch, an 18 inch, and a 13 inch Norway maple, two 12 inch Honey Locusts and 18 inch, 17 inch, 18 inch, 19 inch, 19 inch, 21 inch, 22 inc, and 20 inch Norway maples. All of these are being destroyed as part of "improvement" of Vassar Street between the Charles River and the MIT campus.
Some have "pruning damage." Guess whose friends did the pruning damage?
It also announces destruction in Harvard Square.
It announces destruction of five 3 inch dbh Ginkgo trees and one 12 inch dbh norway maple trees on the short Palmer Street. No sickness. No reason given except: "to be removed as part of the Palmer Street reconstruction."
The same advertisement states that the adjoining Church Street is proposed to see the excavation of eight 2 to 5 inch Gingkos to "recenter" them in the tree pit if possible. Golly gee, the trees are not centered in their tree pits. No thought to rearranging the tree pits. They are going to move the trees, IF POSSIBLE.
3. "Public hearing."
If you feel like talking with an appointee of the Cambridge City Manager to discuss whether the Cambridge City Manager should casually destroy even more trees, the "public hearing" is scheduled for February 7, 2007, at 5:30 pm in the conference room at 147 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, the city’s public works department. Comments are expected in writing.
4. Vassar Street behind the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
A. General.
The reason for the rewrite and republication of this report is that I just drove up Vassar Street near the Charles River. I had deprecated the destruction of the Vassar Street trees in the prior report because I figured the trees were in the heart of the MIT Campus between Mass. Ave. and Main Street, an area which has seen major street work.
B. Importance to the Charles River White Geese and other Water Fowl.
The Hyatt Regency Hotel fronts on part of the habitat of the Charles River White Geese.
The Charles River White Geese fed on the banks of the Charles River across from the Hyatt Regency for 25 years. In 2004, the City of Cambridge did a sewerage project there.
When Cambridge was done, Cambridge left a wall barring access from the Charles River. The wall had nothing to do with the sewerage project and plenty to do with an environmentally really sick city government.
That wall continued to bar access until sickos from the Charles River Conservancy wiped out the riverfront vegetation. But by then, the Charles River White Geese had been trained that there was no food for them there.
At the same time as Cambridge created this wall across from the Hyatt Regency, Cambridge and the state bureacrats created another wall blocking access to Magazine Beach from the Charles River.
100% of the 25 year food of the Charles River White Geese was simultaneously taken away from them.
This is a city in which the city and nine city councilors constantly claim environmental sainthood.
Massive tree destruction is proposed by state bureacrats friendly with the City of Cambridge on the banks of the Charles River across from and within a block or so from the Hyatt Regency. Planned tree destruction is between 80 and 90 of about 110 trees. Trees were destroyed as part of the sewerage project.
C. Outrageous destruction proposed.
One block off the Charles River is a row of eight magnificent street trees directly behind the block containing the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
These trees cover Vassar Street. Truly excellent.
Certainly there is pruning damage.
These excellent trees are so large that the buildings next to them are in the way of their normal limb growth. The buildings are built to the sidewalk.
Similarly, they have been pruned to allow for utility wires.
Most definitely the limbs are totally over the street, but they are really over the street. Massive, beautiful trees covering an entire block of Vassar Street. Clearly, they must have massive roots. There is no way these magnificent trees are dangerous.
But Cambridge has an environmentally sick City Government.
Cambridge’s city government routinely destroys excellent trees to make work for its contractor buddies.
These excellent trees fall into that category.
I see three less large trees about a block closer to the MIT campus which are also marked.
Clearly healthy, fine trees and quite mature, just not as massive as the eight behind the Hyatt. I am not certain where the other trees in the advertisement are.
Naturally, the hypocrites will brag of the saplings they put in to replace excellent trees.
Alleged "hearing" as stated above.
5. Harvard Square.
A. Recent History in Harvard Square.
A couple of years ago, the city showed its contempt for the environment in the Brattle Square part of Harvard Square in a small park next to the Harvard Square Hotel. This little park was constructed as part of the Red Line extension a couple of decades ago. Its trees were just reaching adult beauty.
Scorched earth destruction of all of these twelve healthy trees was followed by replacement with an equal number of saplings. The city’s brags of saplings. The city calls healthy trees destroyed to plant saplings "irrelevant." Nine destructive city councilors call themselves "environmentalists."
B. The latest make work project in Harvard Square.
Cambridge’s Harvard Square is in the middle of yet another contractor make work project. Most visible NOW is ongoing construction on Mt. Auburn Street near the Harvard Lampoon building. The city is putting in a strikingly useless traffic island. The most important "benefit" of that traffic island is that it forces yet more traffic through the heart of Harvard Square. It partially blocks a short cut to get through Harvard Square from central to west Cambridge. The short cut still exists. It is just necessary to drive an additional two blocks in the core part of Harvard Square.
The reality of these bizarre projects does not come when they are announced since the City Manager and nine city councilors keep tree destruction secret when announcing projects. The reality comes with the chain saws or in the legal notices should you read legal notices.
C. Palmer Street and Church Street.
(1) General.
In the fine print legal ad on February 2, 2007, the Cambridge Tab dropped the other shoe on one of the silliest parts of the Harvard Square boondoggle: Palmer Street and Church Street.
Cambridge's friend, the DCR / MDC, claims to be destroying hundreds of trees on Memorial Drive in the name of a history that never existed.
The Palmer Street project destroys the last cobble stone street in Harvard Square (and probably the last in Cambridge) to replace cobble stones with bricks.
Palmer Street is one short block out of Harvard Square proper. It is a one block long street which connects the beginning of Brattle Street to Church Street. Palmer Street is parallel to the highly visible leg of Massachusetts Avenue between the Coop and the MBTA subway entrance.
Palmer Street is a very quiet street. It sees a few pedestrians and almost no cars although it is located in the middle of a thriving municipal square. Those cobble stones, when they were maintained, were absolutely beautiful.
The idea of spending money to destroy a cobble stone street to replace the cobble stones with brick is so bizarre as to be flat out sick, but that is the part of the project they are bragging about.
(2) Reality at Palmer and Church Streets.
I looked at the logging site just before the prior publication of this, now modified, report.
This make work project will destroy EVERY tree on the one block Palmer Street.
There is only one tree on the two block Church Street which is not posted for destruction. That one tree has grown at a 60 degree angle to the ground rather than the usual 90 degree angle. It is entirely possible that this tree simply could not hold the notice given its odd growth.
As far as the tree pits go, if this were not part of a long time record of environmental irresponsibility, the claim of concern for centering would be downright silly.
6. Key motivation in an environmentally repulsive City of Cambridge, MA.
The obvious key to both projects is the city's tax for creating new open space. The voters approved the tax because the voters want new open space. The city manager does not want new open space. New open space takes property off the tax rolls. So the City Manager and City Council churn the existing environment, destroying healthy trees and bragging about saplings.
But people who look connected to Cambridge City Councilors are creating "Green" groups in the City of Cambridge, MA. The "Green" groups just could care less about massive destruction of the Green in the City of Cambridge. "Don't look at the destruction. Look at the fancy light bulbs."
Take a peak at the construction / logging zones before they are accomplished.
PARTICULARLY look at the block behind the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The block does not have the political importance of the blocks in Harvard Square which are not particularly large trees.
The destruction of that block just constitutes truly sick environmental behavior.
And nine environmentally reprehensible Cambridge City Councilors and their fake "green" groups will simply not want to know what is going on.
Sick, bizarre? That is the way the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, is.
