The reality of Harvard University’s Coming New Off Ramp from the Massachusetts Turnpike (I90) over the Charles River in Boston / Cambridge, MA

1. Introduction.
2. Photos of reality.
A. Soldiers Field Road / Storrow Drive.
B. The Massachusetts Turnpike / I90.
C. The Charles River White Geese.
D. A key target.
3. A summary.

1. Introduction.

In our paragraph 3 below, we summarize the outrage by which Cambridge, an irresponsible state agency and their friends are fighting to get an Interstate highway exit to Cambridge for the benefit of Harvard University. This report is a follow on to our report at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/photos-harvards-targeted-off-ramp.html.

The reality is that Cambridge (MA) politics is dominated by a corrupt machine which lies about which side it is on and fools good people into stabbing themselves in the back. They work openly with a well programmed construction lobby fighting for destruction, and the most visible person in the Cambridge machine’s “defense” / fight for destruction of the BU Bridge / Magazine beach area of the Charles River in Cambridge is publicly hand in glove with a very belligerent construction lobby which conducts its meetings on the premises of one of Cambridge’s largest developers.

One of the most destructive parts of the highway lobby lies that it is a “Conservancy” and the supposedly liberal Boston Globe is organizing money contributions to fund this falsely named Charles River “Conservancy.”

2. Photos of reality.

[overview photo]

[photo of connection location.]

There is a mural on the back of the MicroCenter building across from the Magazine Beach playing fields. It memorializes the last fight against massive highway construction in Cambridge. The last time, the destroyers were not lying about which side they are on.

The above are two photos in our recent report. Those photos severely understated the destruction that the Cambridge Machine, through its organization of lies and corrupt tactics is fighting to inflict on Cambridge.

The following photos were taken on February 23, 2014.

The first is a photo of the rail bridge showing the underpass under Memorial Drive and the track area east of the Destroyed Nesting Area and west of the wild area which has seen all its ground vegetation destroyed by the Charles River “Conservancy.”

The irresponsible bicycle activists who meet on the campus of the city’s biggest developer are seeking to widen that bridge and widen that underpass. The lie is that the underpass is being widened for the benefit of these destructive people. The reality is that it is being widened to hold the lanes of the Mass. Pike (I90) off ramp intended to go over the widened rail bridge.

A. Soldiers Field Road / Storrow Drive.

[photo of connection location.]

This photo, the second photo at the top, shows a rail bridge.

Here are some photos from below the rail bridge from beneath and around that rail bridge.

B. The Massachusetts Turnpike / I90.

[photo of connection location.]

I went through a great effort to point out the Mass. Pike straight ahead. Here are photos of the Mass. Pike. The first is taken from the eastern side of the BU Bridge with Commonwealth Avenue to the left. The view is over the traffic lanes of the BU Bridge, showing the Mass. Pike.

The green traffic sign straight ahead is in the background of the above photo.

The following photos are taken from the west side of the BU Bridge. The parking area on the right is straight ahead as you are looking at the photo at the beginning of this section B. The obstructions in the photo are wires of the woven fence next to the sidewalk.

[544, 545, 546]

These photos are, again from Commonwealth Avenue west of the BU Bridge and from the west side of the BU Bridge. They are looking over the Mass. Pike. toward the BU Bridge and toward the rail bridge the Cambridge Machine is fighting to get turned into that off ramp. Notice they never say what they are fighting for.

They just say it is anti Charles River to look at reality. The only “politically correct” thinking, according to the Cambridge Machine is to look at one building which has not been used for 80 years, and pretend everything and everything else does not exist, until the Cambridge Machine pulls corrupt stunts to expand destruction and then that is done as fast as they can get away with.

These photos are, again from Commonwealth Avenue west of the BU Bridge and from the west side of the BU Bridge. They are looking over the Mass. Pike. toward the BU Bridge and toward the rail bridge the Cambridge Machine is fighting to get turned into that off ramp. Notice they never say what they are fighting for.

They just say it is anti Charles River to look at reality. The only “politically correct” thinking, according to the Cambridge Machine is to look at one building which has not been used for 80 years, and pretend everything and everything else does not exist, until the Cambridge Machine pulls corrupt stunts to expand destruction and then that is done as fast as they can get away with.

The eastbound lanes of the Mass. Pike are nearest the camera. As we demonstrated in our last report, extending the existing track straight ahead going over the rail bridge readily connects with the westbound lanes, further from the camera.

All that is necessary to connect to the added lane on the rail bridge is to run a ramp over the field on the far side of the highway. The ramp would run from the east bound lanes over the westbound lanes, and then over the field.

[547,548,549]

Here are views of that field from further toward Cambridge on the BU Bridge. You can see the field, the Mass. Pike, and Commonwealth Avenue. This includes views of the Mass. Pike going under Commonwealth Avenue.

[541,542,543]

Here are views from Commonwealth Avenue and from BU property.

Clearly there is plenty of room to run that off ramps from this side of the Mass. Pike.

The railroad in these photos is the main line from Downtown Boston to Worcester.

[550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557]

C. The Charles River White Geese.

The goal of the state bureaucrats is to kill off or drive away all animals living on or near the Charles River. This is stated in their public planning document which the Cambridge Machine treats with the same great respect as they do the belligerently lying state bureaucrat whose key lies got them this far. They implement the latest proposals for expansion of destruction through corrupt tactics.

The Charles River White Geese are offensive to these incompetent bureaucrats and corrupt “activists” because they are living beings who live on the Charles River of their own initiative. They are offensive to the rotters because nobody was paid to install them. They are free. They installed themselves. They are loved by decent human beings.

They are the most visible, most beloved part of a free ecosystem. All pre-existing animals in it are intended to be destroyed.

They have no value to these incompetents. Nobody was paid to put them there.

From the point of view of the rotters, the Charles River White Geese must be destroyed.

[571]

Look carefully, these are the beautiful beings targeted by corrupt tactics and lies. The destroyers cannot succeed with honorable behavior.

D. A key target.

[568]

This is the rail bridge. The goal is to widen it with an addition to its right.

Straight ahead is a very quiet area which has a few minor trains a day. The trainmen are responsible and respectful of the environment and the Charles River White Geese.

The Charles River White Geese use this area heavily in nesting season. The males strut and show off for the females.

The area to the right used to be heavily vegetated. All ground vegetation to the right has been destroyed by the Charles River “Conservancy.” It has not returned. Poisons?

The area to the left is the nesting area. When things have gotten particularly bad, geese have nested next to rails.

Almost all native ground vegetation to the left was destroyed by the Charles River “Conservancy”, or the BU Bridge project. Damage has been magnified by irresponsible workers.

Straight ahead is an underpass for Memorial Drive. The portion under Memorial Drive holds two lanes of traffic.

A highway lobby which gives the appearance of belligerently irresponsible bicyclists is fighting to widen that underpass to three lanes.

The people pulling their strings do not tell them there is a responsible alternative for a bike highway to Memorial Drive. (Photos in the prior report.) The people pulling their strings do not tell them that their goal of connecting to the dangerous bicycle highways on the Boston side is impossible

The people pulling the strings will stab this highway lobby in the back when Harvard has its off ramp in line.

3. A summary.

[overview photo]

[photo of connection location.]

[photo of underpass]



The Cambridge Machine tells people that, if people support the Charles River, they must ignore the problems of the Charles River, especially those created by an irresponsible government of the City of Cambridge and its irresponsible friends in the environmentally incompetent Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The Cambridge Machine has a woman whom it calls its point person in “defending” Magazine Beach, by telling people to ignore Magazine Beach’s very real problems. This woman is an active supporter of the highway lobby, that very destructive bunch of bicycle activist who meet on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of Cambridge’s largest developers. The fake defender was key in the Cambridge Machine’s corrupt abuse of voting process in the Cambridge Machine’s bizarre “vote” to double the area of the problems at Magazine Beach. AND SHE BRAGS OF HER SUPPORT FOR THIS HIGHWAY LOBBY.

A major part of the environmental outrage is Harvard University’s very clear plans to move the Harvard Medical School to the former rail yards and current I90 (Mass. Pike) exit across the Charles River from Magazine Beach to the rail bridge under the BU Bridge and then to Memorial Drive.

A photo of the area is above, along with a photo of the area of connection to I90 / the Mass. Pike. A lot more detail is included in our post on the matter at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/photos-harvards-targeted-off-ramp.html.

The state agency has a goal to kill off all animals in the Charles River Basin. They have cruelly and deliberately been starving their most visible victims, the Charles River White Geese for years. How they have been walling off Magazine Beach with a bizarre wall of bushes.

The Cambridge Machine has explained the bizarre wall on the grounds that their friends are too incompetent to chop down bushes. Then the Cambridge Machine indulged in blatantly corrupt behavior to expand the problems. Part of the corruption clearly encourages the destruction of hundreds of trees which are in the way of moving traffic from the future location of Harvard’s Medical School to Memorial Drive.

Governor Patrick’s bond authorization bill, H3332, provides $24 million for the destruction under the euphemism “Historical Parkway.” A fraudulently named Charles River “Conservancy” has obtained “approvals” claimed to support the outrage through the lie of “underpasses.” They have claimed that the $24 million of destruction is ancillary to the $4 million of “underpasses”, underpasses opposed by the Department of Transportation which would be responsible for the “underpasses.”

Harvard bought their future Medical site shortly after the local public transportation agency, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, demonstrated it is possible to create that off ramp.

The leader of the Cambridge Machine’s fake protection is in the middle of another con game, the con game to the irresponsible bicyclists that they are going to destroy the environment for their benefit and link a bike highway to Boston, a goal which responsible state managers have called impossible.

Key in this particular outrage is that the bicycle activists (meeting on the MIT campus) are being used as stalking horses, primarily to widen the railroad underpass under Memorial Drive. It is only wide enough for two lanes. Harvard needs three, so the bicyclists are being lied to that it is being widened for them.

In our report, we have shown the responsible way to connect the bike highway to Memorial Drive, the route that will be used after Cambridge and their state agency stabs the extremists in the bicyclist lobby in the back.

This report shows much more detail in this irresponsible attack.

Harvard University Receives Environmental Approval

Environmental approval was received by Harvard University for projects in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, all very close to the Charles River. It was issued on February 14, 2014, but only announced in the February 26, 2014, edition of the Environmental Monitor, the official state environmental notice publication.

This does not include, as I recall, the future Harvard Medical School site or the various machinations with regard to I90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), the proposed off ramp to Cambridge and the many environmental outrages on the Cambridge side of the Charles River resulting therefrom.

URL of the approval is http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepacerts/2014/sc/eir/14069deir.pdf.

It runs 37 pages.

I have not read it and may not for awhile. I am in the middle of a very large follow up report with many photos on concerning Harvard’s / the Cambridge Machine’s off ramp to Memorial Drive.

Photos: Harvard’s Targeted Off Ramp Location which looks like the source of a lot of Charles River destruction.

1. Reality proves a bunch of lies false..
A. General.
B. Reality.
2. Nice words on the photos posted last Sunday, and on the Charles River Connectivity Report.
A. Goose Photos, February 2, 2014:
B. Charles River Connectivity:
3. The rest of my photos from Sunday, February 2, 2014.
4. Context.
A. Harvard Medical School relocation.
B. Con game with irresponsible bicycle activists with Cambridge connection..


[2006 aerial photo]

1. Reality proves a bunch of lies false..

A. General.

Last Sunday, February 2, 2012, I took a number of photos on the Charles River.

I published photos more directly associated with the Charles River White Geese at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/photos-charles-river-white-geese-in.html.

Since then, I have been thinking over how best to present the balance of the photos, which have to do with the off ramp from I-90 (Mass. Pike) Harvard is targeting for the railroad bridge under the BU Bridge. This clearly is the source of a lot of the dirty tricks and destruction going on.

On February 5, I passed on to this blog a preliminary state report on Charles River Connectivity. This has been in the works since 2011. In the meetings, the planners scoffed at the “underpass” proposal which is the con game tactic being used to destroy hundreds of trees between Magazine Beach and the Longfellow Bridge, four bridges (including the BU Bridge) to the east of the Magazine Beach playing fields. The trees are being destroyed to straighten out Memorial Drive so that it can handled the traffic from the I90 off ramp. The “underpasses” were condemned as environmentally destructive and just more Cambridge nonsense.

The con being used to get that off ramp in is that they are proposing a bike highway for widening the railroad bridge, but the planners at the preliminary meeting I attended in 2011 commented that such a bike highway would be nonsense. The lie is that the proposed bike highway would connect with existing bike highways on the Boston / south side. The planners in 2011 commented that it simply could not be done.

The report I passed on goes into great detail as to improvements needed to improve connectivity of traffic around the Charles River. Neither of these Cambridge Machine pieces of nonsense are recommended, as far as I can see.

That report is at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/charles-river-conductivity-study.html.

On February 7, 2014, I passed on a shortened version of the blog report to the Governor. If you would like to read the shortened version provided the Governor, my comments on the Charles River White Geese facebook page are essentially identical to the communication to the Governor.

Basically I will go through the on the ground photos and then put them into context in the later sections of this report.

B. Reality.

[0524]

This shot brings the lies together and proves them lies.

This photo is taken from the Boston end of BU Bridge above the railroad bridge passing under the BU Bridge.
Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road and the Boston side bike highway are visible at the lower part and buildings along Comm. Ave. are visible in the upper part.

The green sign is above the westbound side of the turnpike.

The railroad track is the one track of the Grand Junction railroad route in use in this area. At the bottom of the photo is the vestigial portion of the two track bridge which used to hold a second railroad track.

The plans are to add a third area to the left which will hold one lane, the off lane, carrying traffic from I90 (Mass. Pike) to Cambridge, MA, so that Harvard can build its Medical School / other facilities on the current off ramp from I90 to the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and to Cambridge, MA.

The existing track will become the lane from Cambridge to I90. The empty, former track, area will hold the Grand Junction railroad track.

In the very middle of the photo is a railroad bridge. Under the railroad bridge is Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road. This is the boulevard which follows the southern side of the Charles River in Boston. It is the corresponding highway to Memorial Drive which follows the river on the northern side of the Charles River in Cambridge.

On the left side of the photo is a tree. At the top of the photo are more trees, probably on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. Below the trees is a large building, part of the Boston University Campus. Below that large building and partially obscured by the first tree I mentioned is an automobile. Look ahead of the automobile, and you can see that green sign and the highway the automobile is traveling on. The automobile is traveling outbound / westerly on the outbound / westerly side of I90, the Massachusetts Turnpike.

As I said, the track you see is targeted to be the ramp which takes traffic from Cambridge to the Massachusetts Turnpike. All you have to do to connect to the roadway that car is on is to run the ramp straight ahead.

Not really seen is the inbound / eastbound traffic on I90 / the Mass. Pike. That traffic is beyond the car. Blowing up this photo, it is possible that side of the Mass. Pike can almost be seen in the very middle of the shot. On the other hand, I might be imagining that.

All that is necessary to connect that traffic to the inbound ramp to Cambridge which is proposed to the left of the railroad track you see is to construct a roadway from the eastbound side of the Mass. Pike over the westbound side of the Mass. Pike.

When the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority proposed this connection, the MBTA commented that this arrangement would only accommodate traffic between Cambridge and areas west.

Within months, Harvard bought the off ramps from the Mass. Pike to Brighton and Cambridge. Within months a U turn was approved in the area to the right of this photo allowing traffic going west on the Mass. Pike (I90) to turn around and go east, and thus to make this off ramp viable for traffic going between Cambridge and both directions on the Mass. Pike (I90).

2. Nice words on the photos posted last Sunday, and on the Charles River Connectivity Report.

Anjell Benjanian commented:

A. Goose Photos, February 2, 2014:

Yes, they r well and alive!--- Made my day Robert, and thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

B. Charles River Connectivity:

This helps a bit or a lot in me knowing more, but, I am still not really clear. But so good of u Robert, to have done this much work finding out about it.-- thanks and more thanks, and want to know more about the well being of the geese.-- thank u VERY MUCH

Ed: The planners who wrote the Charles River Connectivity report noted the lack of connection between the BU Bridge and the bike highways on that side of the Charles River. They did not recommend any connection. Verbally they called the connection impossible.

But the Cambridge Machine is lying to destructive bike activists, people they will shaft when / if that off ramp is built. Then the bike highway will connect to Memorial Drive by way of the L on Vassar Street which comes close to the tracks where the bike highway will meet Harvard’s off ramp, if at all.

3. The rest of my photos from Sunday, February 2, 2014.

[2006 aerial photo]

[0522]

The concrete (?) running up the left side of the photo is the eastern sidewalk of the BU Bridge. The metallic line to its right is decorative, and strong protection for pedestrians.

Straight ahead is a large building which contained a Cadillac - Olds dealer for half a century or more. It is now owned by Boston University. Directly below the Cadillac Olds building is Commonwealth Avenue. At this point, both Commonwealth Avenue and the BU Bridge are constructed on air rights above I90 (the Mass. Pike). The brownish coloration is a field which has been left to nature since the Mass. Pike construction in the 1970's. The Mass. Pike runs through this area. The change in color between the field and Commonwealth Avenue is the Mass. Pike.

That field would be used for construction of the ramp from the inbound / eastern direction of the Mass. Pike to the inbound / northern ramp off the Mass. Pike to Cambridge.

Below the Grand Junction is the Boston Side bike highway the Cambridge Machine is tempting the destructive bike activists with. There are signs in the area of that bike highway warning of the muggings which have occurred in the area at night.

The supposed reason for the massive destruction of environment including trees in Governor Patrick’s House Bill H3332 (Historic Parkways) is to duplicate this dangerous area and destroy hundreds of trees in the process (while keeping the destruction as secret as possible).

I do not have the slightest idea what the barge is there for.

[0525]

The mostly frozen Charles River is shown against the Boston shore.

The monstrous buildings straight ahead are new Boston University dormitories.

The line at the foot of the buildings is the Mass. Turnpike. This segment of the Mass. Pike is the only portion of I90 built in Boston on air rights.

Below the Mass. Pike is Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road.

If you follow the river up to the bend, you and see vehicles on Soldiers Field / Storrow. If you look above it and below the brown building to the left of the dormitories, you can see the elevated Massachusetts Turnpike / I-90.

The thin structure at the very right is probably in the area where Harvard now proposes to build a massive expansion, an area larger than Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, purchased by Harvard in 2004 / 2005. This includes off ramps from the Mass. Pike to Brighton and Cambridge.

I90 is depressed from its eastern extremity at Boston Logan Airport to the Commonwealth Avenue / BU Bridge intersection. It rises above the rail yards which Harvard now owns and intends to use for the Harvard Medical School. The comparison to adjacent properties varies after the rail yards.

The next bridge across the Charles River west from the BU Bridge is the River Street Bridge. River Street is called Cambridge Street in Boston. Cambridge Street goes over the Mass. Pike which is at ground level under and beyond Cambridge Street and eventually is raised again.

4. Context.

A. Harvard Medical School relocation.

[Aerial Photo / 2006 / Harvard Med - DNA]

This photo is a cropped and marked up version of a state photo in a 2006 environmental report. I have copied it twice above for reference.

The Charles River is the blackish (black and white photo) expanse running from the central portion of the right side of the photo to the top of the photo about a third of the way from the far left.

On the left side of the photo, occupying all of the photo except the bottom is what I understand is now an empty railroad yard along with the existing exits from I90 to Cambridge and the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. The area is much larger than is shown.

Harvard’s key purchase in this area from the state occurred just months after a report from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority determined that the railroad bridge under the BU Bridge could be widened to add a lane so that the widened rail bridge would contain a two lane off ramp and one railroad track. The continuing railroad track connects this purchased area to railroad storage associated with Boston’s North Station.

Harvard’s holdings are larger than Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

Harvard has attempted to get the state to create a subway spur from the Red Line subway stop in Harvard square (further to the left and above the Charles River) to a location near the Harvard / Longwood Medical Center in the Fenway area of Boston. The proposal would connect the subway spur to a supposed bus tunnel proposed to connect from a location near Boston’s Kenmore Square (Green Line Subway) to Louis Pasteur and Longwood and then to a location near the Ruggles Station (Orange Line subway). I have done an extended analysis of this proposal on this blog. The Louis Pasteur Station would provide excellent connections to the Longwood / Harvard Hospitals.

Harvard has announced intention to move the Harvard School of Public Health to its holdings in Allston. Clearly this is being done to allow hospital expansion in place of the Harvard School of Public Health. In an even more obvious location for Harvard Hospital expansion is the Harvard Medical School which, in turn, is also very close to the Louis Pasteur stop. The Harvard Medical School currently abuts and is to the east of the Harvard School of Public Health,.

Clearly, Harvard’s holdings in Allston are targeted for the relocation of the Harvard Medical School, and Harvard’s Red Line spur is intended to have the state provide a shuttle service from the relocated Harvard Medical School to give its medical students ready access to the Harvard Hospitals in the Longwood / Harvard Medical Area.

B. Con game with irresponsible bicycle activists with Cambridge connection..

I have done a detailed photo essay on the responsible way to construct the (according to the Cambridge Machine) sanctified north south bike route.

Looking at this aerial photo, there is a thick highway running south of the Charles River from the BU Bridge to the future Harvard Medical School area. The BU Bridge is the nearly vertical crossing of the Charles River toward the right side of the photo. It is marked, as is the railroad bridge below it.

Compare this aerial photo to photo 0525 which I analyzed above.

[0525]

On the right hand side of the aerial photo is an “M” which is the beginning of “Memorial Drive” on the less cropped version of this aerial photo. Directly above the “M” is a street whose segment in this photo is L shaped. This is Vassar Street.

The railroad crosses the bridge in almost a straight line and comes very close to the point of the L of Vassar Street.

The corrupt situation in Cambridge is telling irresponsible bike activists that Harvard’s off ramp over the railroad bridge is their future bike highway. The responsible route for the bike highway is to connect to Memorial Drive by taking a narrow strip connecting the point of the L to the railroad.

[2013 / 05 / 05-17A / 04 15 Vassar Street]

This is the L of Vassar Street. The white building fronts on Vassar Street and backs to the railroad. The responsible place for the bike path is the near side of the white building.

The following photo is of the railroad side of the white building.

[2013 / 05 / 05-17A / 07 18 Gd Jctn, Bk Hwy]]

That is the route the con artists will “suddenly” discover when Harvard decides to go forward with the off ramp over a widened railroad bridge, widened to “allow” the stalking horse bike highway. The reality, however, is not widening the railroad bridge for the bike highway because the promise is impossible of connection to the bike highway on the Boston side, so the bridge will not be widened as part of the bike highway.

The real con is the Memorial Drive railroad underpass. Memorial Drive starts at the right, with that M on top of it and runs through the photo basically parallel to the Charles River, leaving the photo just to the right of the Charles River. The underpass will hold two railroad tracks. It is not enough for the 2 lane off ramp and one railroad track. It is also not wide enough for the bike highway and two railroad tracks. The con is to widen the underpass “for the” bike highway which would then do even more destruction to the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese.

This is the current underpass viewed from next to the Destroyed Nesting Area.

[2013 / 06 DNA / 06-23A / 0206]

The above three photos are part of the much more detailed photo analysis which I published concerning the fraud being inflicted on the irresponsible bike activist highway lobby.

The precursor to this highway is the northern of the crushed gravel highways which has been built in the Destroyed Nesting Area, photo taken on January 11, this year. The lower part of the gravel was wantonly dumped by workers associated with the DCR..

[0505]

This bike route is much longer, much more time consuming and much more expensive than just cutting over to Vassar Street, but the destructive bicyclist highway lobby are being promised a bike highway over the Charles, and this route will be the “Oh, I am so sorry” alternative, the first shafting of some destructive people.

The second shafting will be to put the bike highway where it belongs.

Charles River Conductivity Study rejects Destructive Targets.

1. Introductory.
2. The Charles River Connectivity Preliminary Report.


1. Introductory.

Last weekend, I took a number of photos of the Charles River White Geese and of the area on the South Side of the Charles River where Harvard is aiming to have the state build an off ramp from the Massachusetts Turnpike to Cambridge by connecting to and widening the railroad bridge which runs under the BU Bridge.

Those photos are posted at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/photos-charles-river-white-geese-in.html.

Since then, I have been trying to put together a proper presentation of the balance of the photos.

My research has uncovered a state report concerning the Charles River Connectivity study. This is a study which was / is being conducted by a joint group made up of the state Department of Transportation and Department of Conservation and Recreation.

I previously reported on early meetings in this project which occurred in late 2011. I followed up on those meetings in an attempt to obtain the formal report. I have now found the formal report and am evaluating it.

That report, however, is of great value in understanding the situation and crucial planning on the Charles River. It benefits strongly from the inclusion of a responsible agency, the Department of Transportation which has clearly forced an irresponsible agency, the Department of Conservation and Recreation to participate in responsible planning.

The 2011 meeting I attended condemned outrages stemming from the City of Cambridge and its controlled groups, outrages at least on one of which the DCR on its own has aided. The terms used clearly indicated disgust at irresponsible initiatives from Cambridge.

The DCR has encouraged the “underpasses” proposal for the three bridges west of the BU Bridge as part of the DCR’s long standing destructive proposal for destruction of hundreds of trees between Magazine Beach and the Longfellow Bridge (four bridges, including the BU Bridge, east of Magazine Beach).

Outrages fought for by fake groups with bad connections have been sneaked into the Governor’s request for bond authorization, House Bill H3332. That bill specifically refers to funds for the DCR for “Historic Parkways”, the DCR’s euphemism for all that tree destruction. That destruction almost certainly, now, includes a destructive underpass under the BU Bridge as well.

Using a key lie, the falsely named Charles River Conservancy has obtained "approvals” all over the place for the “underpasses”. The key lie is that the $4 million for the “underpasses” is connected to $24 million for the “historic parkways”. And they do not mention the massive destruction which is part of the $24 million they are bootstrapping.

And the Department of Transportion, the responsible agency for the "underpasses" themselves, rejects the “underpasses” as outrageous wastes of money which are environmentally destructive.

Governor Patrick's bill is deliberately and horribly vague.

These “underpasses” were described by the staff in the Charles River Connectivity meeting I attended as Cambridge nuttiness. While problems with connectivity in the area of the supposed proposal have been noted, I do not see any proposal for underpasses in the report.

Similarly, the destructive bike activists have been conned into fighting for the off ramp from I 90 planning by being lied to. They are being told they are fighting for a bike highway. The 2011 meetings included a bit of a snort type of a response by the state planners on the idea of a bike highway crossing the railroad bridge (the con) and connecting to bike highways on the Boston side. The concept was rejected as impossible.

Basically, the destructive bike activists are being used as a stalking horse. The railroad underpass under Memorial Drive to the east of the Destroyed Nesting Area needs to be widened so that the railroad underpass will hold the two lane I90 off ramp plus one railroad track. The bike activists are being told by the City of Cambridge that the widening proposal is for them.

Responsible behavior would be to connect the bike highway to Memorial Drive by taking a narrow strip between Vassar Street, the next street to the east, where it bends and connecting Vassar Street to the railroad and the proposed bike highway.

The Cambridge bad guys are very clearly fighting for the responsible route via Vassar Street and lying to the destructive folks that the part of the bike highway “proposal” between that point and the Boston side of the Charles River is for them.

I have previously posted detailed photos showing the con game and the reasonable proposal.

2. The Charles River Connectivity Preliminary Report.

According to the falsely named Charles River “Conservancy”, now funded with help from the Boston Globe, the Charles River Connectivity report was up for comments through January 17, 2014.

Here are the on line links to the report for your information.

I would strongly appreciate separate analyses, especially analyses for publication, to boblat@yahoo.com.

Slides for Charles River Connectivity Report meetings, October 12 to 18, 2011: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/26/docs/ConnectivityMtgs_111318.pdf

Cover and Executive Summary: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/1-crb-connectivity-study-cover-toc-execsummary.pdf.

Part 1, Background and analysis: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/crb-backroud-analysis.pdf.

Report, Sections A-B:
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/3-crb-connectivity-study-pt2-recom-sect-a-b.pdf.


Report, sections C-D:
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/4-crb-connectivity-study-recom-sect-c-d.pdf.


Report, sections E-F: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/5-crb-connectivity-study-recom-sect-e-f.pdf.


Report sections G-H: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/6-crb-connectivity-study-recom-sect-g-h.pdf


Report Summary:
Implementation Project Tables: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/7-crb-connectivity-study-recommendation-summary-appendix.pdf.

Photos: Charles River White Geese in February Thaw.

1. Charles River White Geese.
2. The River west of the BU Bridge, in Cambridge, MA.


1. Charles River White Geese.

Today, February 2, 2014, I visited the Charles River White Geese.

The Charles River is starting to thaw, so some very happy Charles River White Geese were checking out the free water. All but one of the Canadas are standing on ice. The Emden Goose on the right had just had a good drink. The black and white White Goose to his left is just leaving after a swim.

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There are two or three members of the gaggle of the Charles River White Geese who have extensive brown markings. The black and white one is either the offspring of the Toulouse Goose who is a member of the gaggle or of Brown Beauty who is or was the daughter of Bumpy, the murdered long time leader of the gaggle.

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This is the Toulouse Goose. She was dumped at Magazine Beach with her sister in fall 2000. She mated a white and, after several seasons of trying did have her first brood. She is heavier in the body than either the Emdens or the Chinas who are the primary breeds of the Charles River White Geese.

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This is the male who was hatched in the mid 2000's from two clearly White Geese. Like Brown Beauty, he has the markings of a Brown China. These are vestigial markings. The two are decidedly a minority.

I am getting concerned about Brown Beauty. She was hatched in 1996 and would now be approaching her 18th birthday. I have not seen her this season. It is possible she has passed away. A major problem with such musings is that I get these concerns and pretty much always find myself proven wrong.

All members of the gaggle with mixed markings, including the goose above, are offspring of either Brown Beauty or of the Toulouse.

Here are a couple more photos of the gaggle from today:

Very visible in too many of these pictures are the outrageous crushed stone dumped by irresponsible railroad workers and made worse after they left by the usual “unknown” entities which can only be the Department of Conservation and Recreation and/or their friends.

The DCR has a goal of killing off or driving away all resident animals on the Charles River Basin, which includes the habitat of the Charles River White Geese.

2. The River west of the BU Bridge, in Cambridge, MA.

Here is Magazine Beach on the Charles River from the BU Bridge.

The second photo in its entirety shows nothing but introduced vegetation. The first also includes vegetation next to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority sewerage treatment plant, which is between the BU Bridge and the Magazine Beach playing fields. The MWRA have been friends. The DCR and its fellow travelers from the Cambridge Machine are rotten.

The vegetation bordering the Charles River at the Magazine Beach playing fields was introduced by the DCR IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THEIR PUBLIC PROMISE to provide a “lawn to the river.” The key manager has bragged that this bizarre wall starves the Charles River White Geese, blocking their access to grasses at Magazine Beach which were their principal source of food until the heartless starvation commenced.

This liar has spent most of the period since 2000 lying that he “has no intention” to harm the Charles River White Geese. The most glaring quote of this corrupt statement was placed by the Boston Globe to the right of a photo of a massive earth mover looming over one of the gaggle the day these heartless people started starving them.

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So the Cambridge Machine has presented this bureaucrat as a person worthy of respect and then indulged in corrupt tactics to expand the destruction put in place in secret / in direct violation of promises.