1. The latest con.
2. My Record.
a. The former Inn at Harvard building.
b. Historical Building at 10 Mount Auburn Street.
c. Alewife.
d. Other.
3. Fraud on / near Memorial Drive.
a. Hotel zoning change.
b. Grand Junction Zoning.
c. I could keep going.
c. I could keep going.
4. Major zoning proposals based on lies.
5. The pattern of fake protective groups which help the policies of the City of Cambridge.
6. There is no reason to trust the employees of the City of Cambridge, or the Cambridge Machine, which, like a good company union, keeps the trouble makers under control.
1. The latest con.
For years the Cambridge Machine has yelled about the need for a “Master Plan”. Now the city has a councilor who is an architect and has had a distressing record on zoning / development issues. So they are pushing to destroy the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance in the name of creating a “Master Plan”, i.e. a zoning ordinance written by the developers.
The game with a “Master Plan” is that this would destroy the zoning ordinance because only the “experts” understand the games that go on with such large scale zoning maneuvers. The routine is that the developers are happy because they know what is going on and the voters are happy because they believe what they are told is going on.
Cambridge has a long record of neighborhoods creating zoning to protect neighborhood interests. Those interests would be casually destroyed and buried in fine print and fake protections.
The fake protections are to “allow public input” which is, under law of no value if negligible protections are simply complied with. Concerned folks get next to nothing. But they are allowed to talk and be ignored in exchange for destroying meaningful zoning.
A specific residential area which would be destroyed is the residential neighborhood on Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Central Squares. The City and the Cambridge Machine are offended by grass around buildings and by first floor housing, WHEREVER THEY CAN FIND AN EXCUSE TO DESTROY them.
But remember, first and foremost, when dealing with the Cambridge Machine, whether you are talking to a knave or a fool is irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is whether they really are on the side they claim to be on.
Remember the 45 year rent control activist who is now fighting against rent control and will not be concerned with reality.
2. My Record.
I have written more of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance than any person not employed by the City of Cambridge, MA, USA.
I used this as a environmental technique to make the City of Cambridge more environmentally responsible. I worked with various groups concerned about the world they live in.
The most visible targets have been Harvard Square and Harvard University.
I very skillfully increased publicly usable open space while emphasizing development which would generate a minimum reasonable number of vehicle trips.
Cambridge has twice the jobs or more it should have in comparison to its population. In addition to open space, it thus needs housing to get folks closer to their work and minimize trips.
I have been involved in downzonings and legal initiatives impacting areas highly visible to people concerned about the environment and the world of Cambridge. My most frequent enemies have been the city staff and the Cambridge Machine, an accumulation of interlocked groups which uses great words but which very clearly operates as an adjunct to the city administration.
I recall one guy in an important group who presented himself as a zoning expert. His expertise turns out to be that he goes to the city’s development people to find out what his opinion is.
I have downzoned 85% of Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Central Squares to emphasize open space and housing compatible with this existing very residential area and with the adjoining residential streets.
Individual victories which stand out are:
a. The former Inn at Harvard building.
This project is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Harvard Street in eastern Harvard Square.
The building is quite large but has yards around it and is limited in height to 5 ½ stories. Harvard wanted it 72% larger and built to the lotline.
An individual who was a creator of the Mid-Cambridge branch of the Cambridge Machine showed up in a key meeting and bullied concessions from the neighborhood group with the flat out lie “You have made a deal with the city council. Now you have to negotiate with the planning board.
This flat out lie allows the destruction of open space on the side streets and replacement of housing with retail. These are two standard goals of the Cambridge Machine.
The same person and his friends fought against my other two major downzonings between there and Central Square, repeating fighting for the destruction of ground open space and first floor housing in favor of retail with generation of much more pollution from cars.
This area would be one of the first whose protections are destroyed.
b. Historical Building at 10 Mount Auburn Street.
This building was constructed in the 1890's. I saved it from destruction based on Rent Control protections. Harvard has since built in the area. Saving this building maintained an important historical framework which could very likely have been the basis for the subsequent Harvard construction on the side streets.
As usual a Cambridge Machine operative “created” a neighborhood association to push for the building’s destruction. When he lost the first vote, he redefined the boundaries of the “neighborhood.”
c. Alewife.
I wrote zoning that resulting in the return to nature of a private parking lot on parkland.
The Cambridge Machine conducted a “celebration” of the decision to return to nature. They neglected to include in the honors the woman who led the fight, Sheila Cook, or me.
They did praise themselves. And they did treat Sheila like crap.
These are the guys who succeeded in destroying acres of the Alewife woodlands while lying that they were defending Alewife. They told people to look at everything but the important stuff.
d. Other.
I could keep going.
3. Fraud on / near Memorial Drive.
a. Hotel zoning change.
Two key members of the Cambridge Machine obtained the passage of zoning to, they said, protect ground floor open space. As usual, it was a lie, written by the City of Cambridge with undisclosed fine print.
The fake neighborhood association helped it pass, of course, by telling people to look at everything else.
Then they got caught. So they passed a zoning change to allow the expansion of that hotel legalized by lies but not to build on grass elsewhere, supposedly, but key fine print sneaked in by the City of Cambridge was kept in. As usual, retail, retail, retail.
b. Grand Junction Zoning.
About ten years ago, major upzoning was inflicted on that portion of the Grand Junction railroad near the end of Putnam Avenue under the flat out lie that a subway line was certain to have a stop at Putnam Avenue.
The City of Cambridge has now lied for more than 20 years about the subway line planning.
In 1991, the state planners adopted as an alternative, a route proposed by me because I consider that station irresponsible and I consider the related Charles River destruction irresponsible.
The state has subsidized the responsible alternative by paying for transportation improvements around Fenway Park and Yawkey Station. The alternative which Cambridge is lying about would move Yawkey Station, but the state has subsidized Yawkey Station in place.
To the best of my knowledge, Cambridge has not stopped lying about the alternate routes for the “Urban Ring” subway system.
c. I could keep going.
4. Major zoning proposals based on lies.
The same guy who lied to kill part of the Harvard Square Downzoning ran around with a citywide change.
He kept pointing out provisions on a specific page which he said were great.
I kept pointing out that the next page made those provisions lies in the same manner as so many Cambridge written zoning initiatives.
These fraudulent zoning initiatives are not at all unusual.
Lovely promises turned into lies by undisclosed fine print are not at all unusual.
5. The corrupt vote of April 23, 2013
Not at all unusual.
5. The pattern of fake protective groups which help the policies of the City of Cambridge.
This has gone along too long. I could keep going and going.
This is corrupt.
6. There is no reason to trust the employees of the City of Cambridge, or the Cambridge Machine, which, like a good company union, keeps the trouble makers under control.
The record is altogether too clear.
You show me fine print. There will be massive lying.
