1. Introductory.
2. Closing of the Webster School / Graham and Parks School / closed school on Upton Street.
3. Cambridgeport School.
4. Morse School under attack? — The Con.
5. Morse School under attack? — The, as usual, nasty reality.
6. Aerial View.
1. Introductory.
Things are starting to fall into place in Cambridgeport and it is looking like very nasty treatment of the neighborhood.
What it looks like is that the neighborhood, which formerly had three grammar schools may be slated to have none, and the latest move could be a con game to justify destroying the environment at Magazine Beach.
I have not paid full attention to the games played with the schools, and I welcome correction.
2. Closing of the Webster School / Graham and Parks School / closed school on Upton Street.
A few years back, using a really cynical con game, the Graham and Parks School, formerly the Webster School, on Upton Street was closed. The Machine closed the school but claimed they “did not close the school.” This bizarre claim was accomplished by moving the name to a school adjacent to a major quadrangle of the former Radcliffe College in West Cambridge.
So Graham and Parks School, formerly Webster School, on Upton Street was taken from the Cambridgeport neighborhood, but the city claims it is still on the books, always neglecting to mention that the supposedly continued school is now several miles away in a totally different part of the city on the far side of Harvard Square, one of the two major dividing points of the city.
3. Cambridgeport School.
I think that this is the name that was applied to the former Blessed Sacrament School located between Magazine and Pearl Streets facing Dana Park when that school was reused.
Blessed Sacrament School was closed as part of the Catholic Archdiocese reorganization. It was located about three blocks from the Webster School / Graham and Parks School / closed school on Upton Street.
The facility was taken over and run under the name Cambridgeport School.
It could have been part of the public school system, just an experimental part.
As part of the conversion of the school to housing, the private / experimental school itself, with its name was moved to a city owned and now closed school on Elm Street between Broadway and Cambridge Street on the opposite side of Central Square. This is a moving of perhaps eight blocks.
I see its website seeming to describe it as part of the Cambridge Public School system.
A cynical aspect of the problem is emphasized by the fact that this school is in the historical Cambridgeport neighborhood in a portion of the historical Cambridgeport neighorhood which is no longer recognize by the city as part of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is formally given a number and informally known by The Machine as the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood.
The Machine would not dream of using the name assigned to the area by the long term residents. This name is “The Port” as opposed to “The Coast” where the Webster School / Graham and Parks School / closed school on Upton Street is located.
And another Cambridgeport school was “not closed.” The name of another school was changed to the name of the school in the Cambridgeport neighborhood.
4. Morse School under attack? — The Con.
The city / The Machine has been talking about reorganizing to create a Middle School, 6, 7 and 8 grades, I think, with school closing as part of the proposal deliberately vague.
The Machine has been apparently neutral while mentioning the proposal, always discouraging talk of where it would go.
I have been on a very nasty receiving end of a communication from a woman who could be a very typical victim of a con. The scam artists can get people really involved to the extent that it becomes offensive to the victim to realize that the victim has been conned.
The sales pitch is: isn’t this a lovely idea.
The sales pitch is: it would be unreasonable to create a new school for this purpose.
The sales pitch is: how dare you consider what school we would close for this lovely idea.
So the mark does not want to lose their only remaining of three neighborhood schools and gets sold on the concept while being told it is unfair to consider the fact that the mark is stabbing the mark in the back.
This particular person does not want to lose the Morse School, the last remaining neighborhood school of three schools in Cambridgeport.
But the person was quite horrified at the possible use of the Webster School / the Graham and Parks School / the closed school on Upton Street for the purpose, and apparently the official talk about possible facilities does not even mention the Webster School / the Graham and Parks School / the closed school on Upton Street.
5. Morse School under attack? — The, as usual, nasty reality.
Cambridge has a truly outrageous situation on the Charles River at Magazine Beach.
Cambridge a very massive machine in place which is proven to do really bad things. This is The Machine.
The Morse School is within sight of Magazine Beach. Magazine Beach is on the south side of Memorial Drive. The Morse School is on the north side of Memorial Drive.
They are connected by an overpass above Memorial Drive which, surprise, surprise, is being rebuilt by the state.
Could the creation of a middle school in place of the Morse School be a game to justify the irresponsible destruction at Magazine Beach? Could Cambridgeport be going from three grammar schools to none as part of the irresponsible destruction at Magazine Beach?
The entire situation is sufficiently rotten to be exactly in character with the City of Cambridge and The Cambridge Machine.
6. Aerial View.
Above is an aerial view, probably from the state, of Cambridgeport and the Charles River.
The bridge in the bottom middle is the BU Bridge. The green area with two patches of brown (one now destroyed) is Magazine Beach. Directly north of Magazine Beach is Memorial Drive. Then you see the Morse School.
