1. Op Ed questioning Harvard Environmentalism.
2. Application.
3. Related fake environmental group.
4. Proposed destruction of hundreds of trees lining Memorial Drive.
5. Summary.
1. Op Ed questioning Harvard Environmentalism.
The Cambridge Chronicle regularly publishes a column written by the city’s Republicans. This week’s report is posted at: http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/opinions/x1015660787/The-Right-View-Harvard-s-deep-green-pockets#axzz1jS50y4oR.
There is a lot to be said about the comments.
Harvard’s excuse for greenness, as quoted and objected to by the author, rings very true.
The ring is that of the lies of environmental sainthood coming from the Cambridge City Council.
2. Application.
At no point does there appear in the Harvard words described by the Republican even the slightest concern for the most basic environmental dangers: the destructiveness of the environment by Cambridge and by one key state agency, the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Cambridge and the DCR are fighting to kill off all resident animals on the Charles River Basin. Bizarre projects during the last ten years have gone a long distance in that direction. Their goal looks very much like they are converting all remaining wilderness into something that looks like a college campus.
Harvard is massively expanding on south side of the Charles River and has presented plans to have the state subsidize its expansion. Killing off all animals certainly sounds like that.
I recall that, when the attacks on the Charles River White Geese were just starting, people were running around Harvard bragging that they would replace them with “better” animals, ones without bodily functions. Since lacking bodily functions is patently impossible, that very clearly stated the goals of the organizers for the Charles River.
3. Related fake environmental group.
A fake environment group receiving funds from Harvard and other developers calls itself the Charles River “Conservancy.” It neglects to mention that its use of the word “conservancy” is a flat out lie since it supports the mass animal abuse and massive proposed destruction of trees, plus it runs around destroying ground vegetation and bordering vegetation, totally indifferent to the impact on resident or visiting animals. It very consistenly supports the destructive stuff being done on the Charles.
The CRC held a “swim in” to celebrate the outrages at Magazine Beach. It somehow seems to think that walling off Magazine Beach from the Charles Rive and dumping poisons on Magazine Beach to keep alive sickly introduced grass are environmentally beneficial. The CRC sniffs at the idea of resident animals.
The CRC was the most visible advocate of the highway in and abutting the Charles River which was condemned by the state as environmentally irresponsible. Key in the state opposition is the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, a responsible agency which apparently shamed DCR into behaving responsibly as well.
The CRC is key in the current efforts to “protect” Magazine Beach which has such a striking resemblance to the tactics the Cambridge Machine used to destroy the core Alewife Reservation, and a total lack of notice of the bizarre wall, the heartless abuse of the Charles River White Geese, the dumping of poisons to keep alive the sickly grass which replaced healthy grass which survived responsibly for the better part of a century. The initiative is pushing the destruction of the lower class picnic area at the foot of Magazine Beach by destroying its tiny, very environmentally integrated parking lot.
I have seen the Boston Conservation Commission flat out shocked by CRC destruction of protective vegetation on their side of the Charles River.
4. Proposed destruction of hundreds of trees lining Memorial Drive.
Cambridge and the DCR are fighting to destroy hundreds of trees between the BU Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, the second bridge to the east of the BU Bridge. The DCR has even gone so far as to lie that there are no trees to be destroyed except for diseased trees, a lie proven by their filing on the project with the City of Cambridge.
The reality is that this reprehensible project by straightening out Memorial Drive, makes Memorial Drive more fit to accept traffic off I90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) on the off ramp proven possible by the MBTA over the Grand Junction Bridge.
The reality is that the Cambridge Machine very prominently features Harvard types with a very tut tut ness which has supported massive environmental destruction and animal killing in the truly bizarre Alewife project.
Another beneficiary is Massachusetts Institute of Technology in that removal of parking in this area makes access by non MIT people that much more difficult if not nearly impossible, and MIT lines the area of destruction.
Yet another beneficiary is Boston University which started the attacks on the Charles River White Geese by destroying their nesting area in 1999 with violations of law. BU’s Boathouse is directly east of the small wild area. BU regularly uses Magazine Beach for its graduation ceremonies. The highway proposal hopefully killed by MassDOT included a highway connecting Magazine Beach to the goose meadow running in the Charles River.
I have seen official maps which mark the goose meadow as the “BU Triangle.”
Governor Patrick may have stood up to a very visible attempt to destroy hundreds of trees between the BU Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge. That is the one is which the DCR lied that they were all diseased, trying to get Obama moneys. Governor Patrick got the proof that they were lying and the money did not come.
But the destroyers are very determine. The plans are not dead.
5. Summary.
So, I am happy to listen to somebody making responsible noises about the environment in Cambridge. It is interesting that the responsible noises are coming from a Republican leader, although Cambridge politics is owned by the democrats, and the Cambridge Machine definitely has major looks resembling the Cambridge Democratic party.
