Sunday, May 13, 2007

Insider: Cambridge pols have secret definition of environmentalism.

Bob La Trémouille reports:

The latest edition of North Cambridge's The Alewife newspaper features a comment by a Cambridge political insider that Cambridge's political activists have their own secret definition of "environmentalism."

Inasmuch as I keep on saying that "environmentalism" is protecting the environment, I am showing my lack of contact with the real world in Cambridge.

Sam Seidel is a former (current as well?) member of the Cambridge Conservation Commission. Seidel ran for city council last election. Seidel writes a regular column for The Alewife. I was concerned about what I saw him writing last issue so I responded.

Seidel was given an opportunity to respond to my letter. The editor showed a lot about what was going on by the way Seidel's letter was printed in the hard copy edition. My letter was printed in full. Seidel's response was printed in part and continued to a back page. Trouble is that, when you go to the continuation page, there was no continuation.

I hunted through the paper and found the continuation. I then realized why the editor had made the continuation so hard to find.

Seidel voted for the environmental destruction which has occurred and which is pending at Magazine Beach. Seidel apparently has no problem with the ongoing destruction of thousands of trees at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Seidel apparently has no problem with the destruction of hundreds of trees pending for Memorial Drive. Seidel clearly has no problem with the destruction of wetlands and animal habitat at Magazine Beach. Seidel clearly has no problem with the introduction of poisons at Magazine Beach and has no problems with the deliberate starvation of the Charles River White Geese.

Seidel very clearly stated that my problems with these things indicates just how out of touch I am.

Cambridge's core group, it appears, has its own secret definition of "environmentalism." My failure to comport with the secret definition of "environmentalism" shows just how out of touch I am with the in crowd in Cambridge politics.

How dare I expect environmentalists to be pro-environment!!!!

I have tried to give you folks a link to the wisdom of Mr. Seidel, but the best I can find from The Alewife's on line edition is: http://thealewife.typepad.com/weblog/sam_seidel/index.html.

If you can do better than that, please let me know and I will pass it on.