I have submitted the following letter to the Cambridge (MA) Chronicle. It builds on the outrages of April 23, 2013, but also is a good, concise communication of the situation on the Charles River in Cambridge, MA, USA.
RE: Letter: More Corrupt Practices in the Fight to Destroy on the Charles
The fight for destruction on the Charles River has taken a new turn.
The Machine has started to proclaim its love for the Charles River / Magazine Beach. It insists that people who do the same follow its orders and do nothing else. Although they claim they want to be made aware of problems.
Following orders translates as supporting renovation of one building. Following orders translates as pretending the real problems do not exist:
● walling off the Charles from the playing fields with bizarre introduced bushes,
● destruction of healthy grass which survived for the better part of a century without poisons;
● replacement of the healthy grass with sickly stuff that requires poisons;
● destruction of playing field acreage to drain off poisons to keep alive the sickly grass;
● deliberate starvation of the 32 year resident Charles River White Geese, confining them in a tiny area which has been further destroyed with introduction of bushes which look like they will grow into another wall; use of the rest of the area for parking, and plans for two highways through it.
● plans for an east-west highway which will destroy hundreds of trees, habitat, wetlands and the Charles. This was sold as “underpasses.” The “underpasses” are opposed by MassDOT. Governor Patrick seeks $26 million in bond authorization; and
● destruction of boat docking.
The Machine’s “neighborhood association” has now tried to ram through expansion of this outrage to the hill to the west of the playing fields and the wetlands behind the swimming pool, along with destruction of the little guy’s parking lot needed by a picnic area on the hill.
The Machine could not get a favorable vote to expand destruction in their January meeting. Pretty much all of that meeting was devoted to project discussion. It included much negative response from people in the audience.
So the machine deferred the matter to their February meeting which in corrupt practices, was conducted on April 23, two months late, driving away the folks who showed up in January. A “vote” was conducted on a complicated motion which was kept secret until ten minutes before the end of the meeting. This complicated motion had fine print which blesses the destruction subject to meaningless “protections.”
Corrupt practices were needed to get “support” for expansion of outrages at Magazine Beach which were put in place in secret in the first place, This is sold as beneficial and inevitable?
