Bob La Tremouille and Marilyn Wellons carried signs and distributed several hundred leaflets at the BU Bridge about Cambridge's destruction of Magazine Beach. The flyers indicate responsibility for the project lies with the Cambridge City Council and ask people to contact the Councillors.
This was Visibility No. 363 since the 1999 start of Cambridge's and the DCR's joint campaign to destroy the Charles River environment. As usual, passing drivers honked to support the visibility and pedestrians and cyclists stopped to learn more.
Cambridge's contractor began removing the grass and dirt from Magazine Beach at the start of October. Migrating waterfowl have continued to feed on the remaining grass as it disappears.
Cambridge intends to replace what is simultaneously wildlife habitat, passive open space, and playing fields for everyone, with commercial sod, an irrigation system, and fences for professional-level organized sports fields. The project will destroy passive green space, wildlife habitat on the Atlantic flyway, and general use of the fields for a wide variety of casual and organized sports.
Cambridge is converting state parkland to the privileged use of Cambridge schools and youth groups because it is too cheap to buy land for these purposes in underserved neighborhoods, where there is a crying need for them.
*********
Bob La Trémouille:
The above report is from Marilyn. I thank her for the excellent report.
These blog reports were preceded by an email newsletter which ran from March 2000 to 2005 and, at its peak, distribution reached 1300 recipients. They were, during most of their run, matched to visibilities at the destroyed nesting area of the Charles River White Geese.
For technical reasons, it was only possible for one person to publish the newsletter. This blog relieves me of the need to be the only person, but requires a correction to the number of visibilities. They are much greater than 363, I think. I did multiple series of reports of visibilities related to various purposes. The general series totals 363. All brought together greatly exceed 363.
We must talk and agree on correct language.
********
Marilyn has reported to me a conversation with Cambridge City Councilor Craig Kelley that evening.
He preached process.
There was no process. Public complaints and public input have been flatly and simply ignored including complaints to the Cambridge City Council to Kelley's face.
They took their vote in December 1999 and did not want to know nothing in spite of constant and repeated objections.
The years of silence of a varying but always united crew of nine includes silence that encouraged the rape and murder of a young woman in fall 2001. In 2001, nine city councilors blessed the woman's killer's repeated killings of nesting geese with the praise of silence.
The killer graduated, exactly as we predicted.
By the current outrageous behavior at Magazine Beach, nine heartless hypocrites have graduated as well.
Even if the strikingly irresponsible bureaucrats for the City of Cambridge and the state had gone through some sort of meaningful process, which they did not, Cambridge has nine city councilors who have the nerve to call themselves environmentalists.
Kelley's response is the typical response of a fake Cambridge liberal: How dare YOU NOT KEEP ME from doing this terrible thing.
Claims of environmentalism by the any of the nine are flat out nonsense.
The nine repeatedly demonstrate their contempt for the environment where it counts, in their back yard, as is demonstrated by the outrageous environmental destruction they are responsible for or planning on the Charles River, at Fresh Pond, at Alewife, and almost in all other open space projects.
Fancy buildings are no excuse for cavalier destruction of the land and the vegetation and animals on it.
Holier than thou hypocrisy. Really, really heartless people.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Press Release: Cambridge City Council and DCR Destroy Magazine Beach
Bob La Trémouille reports:
I have just released the following press release:
PRESS RELEASE, October 7, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bob La Trémouille, 617-283-7649, Marilyn Wellons 617-354-3858, charlesriverwhitegeese@yahoo.com
RE: Cambridge City Council and DCR Destroy Magazine Beach
On Monday, October 6, the peace at Magazine Beach on the Charles River in Cambridge was once again disrupted by massive earth moving equipment.
The earth that water fowl have fed on for more than 50 years was dug up and placed in piles.
This is the latest step in the destruction of living beings on the Charles River by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and nine Cambridge City Councilors.
This particular action is intended to replace green maintenance of Magazine Beach with chemical maintenance. The nine city councilors have never specifically justified the destruction at Magazine Beach. According to activists, it is part of a pattern which includes an ongoing project at Fresh Pond which is apparently destroying thousands of healthy trees and a project at Alewife which would destroy the Alewife reservation for flood storage which should go under a parking lot 500 feet to the south.
The project at Magazine Beach will destroy seven acres of perfectly good dirt and grass and replace the seven acres of dirt and grass with seven acres of dirt, grass, and chemicals. The chemicals will poison the eggs of water fowl feeding at Magazine Beach and poison kids rolling around in the poison.
The last such project by the DCR was at Ebersol Fields on the Charles near Mass. General. At Ebersol Fields, their beloved chemicals did not work, so the DCR added Tartan in spite of prohibitions near water. The next day the Charles River was dead from the harbor to the Mass. Ave. Bridge with annually recurring algae.
A bizarre wall of vegetation was installed at Magazine Beach, blocking access to the Charles River. It was installed by the two groups in 2004-2005. The DCR’s agents bragged that this solid wall would help swimming. The DCR explained their taking their food, the grass at Magazine Beach, from the Charles River White Geese after four years of DCR promises that the Charles River White Geese would not be harmed: The DCR explained that starving the Charles River White Geese is not harming them.
For five years the DCR’s agents have been destroying vegetation protecting migrating birds throughout the Charles River below the Watertown dam.
For five years, the DCR’s agents have been poisoning as many eggs of waterfowl as they can get away with in the same part of the Charles River.
During the past five years, the DCR’s agents have destroyed the vast majority of ground vegetation between the BU Bridge and the BU Boathouse,. This is the ghetto where the DCR and Cambridge have consigned the Charles River White Geese. Useful vegetation is massively destroyed. The bizarre wall at Magazine Beach keeps growing.
Soon to come BU Bridge reconstruction is planned to destroy what little ground vegetation has not been destroyed between the BU Bridge and the BU Boathouse. The project as announced is planned with maximum and unnecessary cruelty to resident animals, following upon eight years of vile behavior toward resident animals.
One Cambridge city councilor, Samuel Seidel has publicly bragged that environmental destruction shows Cambridge’s enlightened version of environmentalism. That analysis may be viewed at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2007_05_29_archive.html.
A public hearing on the BU Bridge project has been announced by the DCR for Thursday, October 16, at 6 to 8 pm, at 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 129, in Boston. A public hearing was requested by the Cambridge Conservation Commission at its discussion of the project in early September. The DCR apparently is responding to the Cambridge request with a Boston hearing.
The Cambridge Conservation Commission may formally consider the BU Bridge proposal at their October 20, meeting at 7 pm on the fourth floor of the Cambridge City Hall Annex, Broadway and Inman Streets in Cambridge.
Prepared by Robert J. La Trémouille
I have just released the following press release:
PRESS RELEASE, October 7, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bob La Trémouille, 617-283-7649, Marilyn Wellons 617-354-3858, charlesriverwhitegeese@yahoo.com
RE: Cambridge City Council and DCR Destroy Magazine Beach
On Monday, October 6, the peace at Magazine Beach on the Charles River in Cambridge was once again disrupted by massive earth moving equipment.
The earth that water fowl have fed on for more than 50 years was dug up and placed in piles.
This is the latest step in the destruction of living beings on the Charles River by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and nine Cambridge City Councilors.
This particular action is intended to replace green maintenance of Magazine Beach with chemical maintenance. The nine city councilors have never specifically justified the destruction at Magazine Beach. According to activists, it is part of a pattern which includes an ongoing project at Fresh Pond which is apparently destroying thousands of healthy trees and a project at Alewife which would destroy the Alewife reservation for flood storage which should go under a parking lot 500 feet to the south.
The project at Magazine Beach will destroy seven acres of perfectly good dirt and grass and replace the seven acres of dirt and grass with seven acres of dirt, grass, and chemicals. The chemicals will poison the eggs of water fowl feeding at Magazine Beach and poison kids rolling around in the poison.
The last such project by the DCR was at Ebersol Fields on the Charles near Mass. General. At Ebersol Fields, their beloved chemicals did not work, so the DCR added Tartan in spite of prohibitions near water. The next day the Charles River was dead from the harbor to the Mass. Ave. Bridge with annually recurring algae.
A bizarre wall of vegetation was installed at Magazine Beach, blocking access to the Charles River. It was installed by the two groups in 2004-2005. The DCR’s agents bragged that this solid wall would help swimming. The DCR explained their taking their food, the grass at Magazine Beach, from the Charles River White Geese after four years of DCR promises that the Charles River White Geese would not be harmed: The DCR explained that starving the Charles River White Geese is not harming them.
For five years the DCR’s agents have been destroying vegetation protecting migrating birds throughout the Charles River below the Watertown dam.
For five years, the DCR’s agents have been poisoning as many eggs of waterfowl as they can get away with in the same part of the Charles River.
During the past five years, the DCR’s agents have destroyed the vast majority of ground vegetation between the BU Bridge and the BU Boathouse,. This is the ghetto where the DCR and Cambridge have consigned the Charles River White Geese. Useful vegetation is massively destroyed. The bizarre wall at Magazine Beach keeps growing.
Soon to come BU Bridge reconstruction is planned to destroy what little ground vegetation has not been destroyed between the BU Bridge and the BU Boathouse. The project as announced is planned with maximum and unnecessary cruelty to resident animals, following upon eight years of vile behavior toward resident animals.
One Cambridge city councilor, Samuel Seidel has publicly bragged that environmental destruction shows Cambridge’s enlightened version of environmentalism. That analysis may be viewed at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2007_05_29_archive.html.
A public hearing on the BU Bridge project has been announced by the DCR for Thursday, October 16, at 6 to 8 pm, at 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 129, in Boston. A public hearing was requested by the Cambridge Conservation Commission at its discussion of the project in early September. The DCR apparently is responding to the Cambridge request with a Boston hearing.
The Cambridge Conservation Commission may formally consider the BU Bridge proposal at their October 20, meeting at 7 pm on the fourth floor of the Cambridge City Hall Annex, Broadway and Inman Streets in Cambridge.
Prepared by Robert J. La Trémouille
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)