0. Cambridge’s “achievement” at Alewife.
1. Introduction.
2. Cambridge City Council.
a. Council action.
b. Reality.
c. Chronicle fails to publish Cambridge’s bragging of destruction.
3. Cambridge Conservation Commission.
a. Report to the Cambridge Conservation Commission.
b. Fake group policies.
c. Responsible behavior.
d. My comments to the Conservation Commission.
0. Cambridge’s “achievement” at Alewife.
Details below.
1. Introduction.
Last Monday evening, September 14, 2014, both the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge Conservation Commission discussed Alewife.
2. Cambridge City Council.
a. Council action.
The City Council and City Manager were reported by the Cambridge Chronicle as discussing private property on the Route 2 side of Alewife. The City Council made pious noises.
The Cambridge Chronicle report is on Page A7 of their edition of September 11, 2014.
b. Reality.
This property is the subject of a nearly 20 year con game by one of the usual fake groups.
I have reported the destruction of 3.4 acres of Cambridge owned Alewife by the Cambridge City Council located behind 165 CambridgePark Drive. I have published the City of Cambridge’s puff photo bragging about the destruction. Here it is again.
c. Chronicle fails to publish Cambridge’s bragging of destruction.
This photo was attached to a press release printed loyally on a blog written by a long time Cambridge Machine activist.
It is highly unlikely that Cambridge failed to send the same blurb and photo to the Cambridge Chronicle.
To the best of my knowledge, it has never been published by the Cambridge Chronicle, but the Cambridge Chronicle has repeatedly published nonsense out of the Cambridge City Council and out of the fake group.
The prior editor did publish a letter from the leader of the fake group. She bragged about Cambridge destruction of 3.4 acres of irreplaceable woodlands identical to the woodland she claims to be defending from private developers. She has spent nearly 20 years telling concerned folks to ignore public development.
She has spent nearly 20 years yelling at private developers obeying municipally created zoning, but has a great deal of difficulty mentioning that the Cambridge City Council which has made so much lovely words about Alewife controls the zoning under which the Cambridge properties in private ownership have been severely overdeveloped.
Repeated letters by me reflecting reality since they changed editors, have failed to be published. They keep on printing nonsense, but have no use for even photos of reality.
Here is the Cambridge’s puff piece photo of their destruction of 3.4 acres + of the Alewife Reservation behind 165 CambridgePark Drive. The trees in the background occupied the entire area of the photo until the Cambridge City Council destroyed them.
3. Cambridge Conservation Commission.
a. Report to the Cambridge Conservation Commission.
Monday evening, the Cambridge Conservation Commission had three items on its agenda concerning Alewife. I think it was very much telling that I was the only person in the audience not related to a developer.
The first two hearings concerned the large project between Alewife Station and Route 2, Cambridge Discovery Park. The third was on the former nightclub site.
The board, after the first hearing asked the Executive Director about litigation concerning the fake Alewife group. As near as I could gather, another windmill got tilted with the usual results. The exec commented that the fake Alewife group was seeking organization assistance from her and she provided some.
b. Fake group policies.
These various company unions have a very clear pattern. They very strongly support almost any and all attempts to work toward their stated objectives.
The only courses of action the core people seem antagonistic toward are the ones most likely to work.
The fake groups, in particular, get downright hostile toward the idea of talking with the Cambridge City Council. Inasmuch as the real purpose of company unions is to keep trouble makers from achieving their desired goals, it is not at all surprising that folks are chased away from the Cambridge City Council. True, the Cambridge City Council is terrible, but they are the only real game in town, inasmuch as they do have to stand for election.
The supposed groups do seem to be involved in a lot of petty litigation. That really stems from the zoning written by city staff. It has a lot of fake protections. When fake protections turn out to be fake, folks are talked into suing.
The last thing, the key people want, however, is any attempt to change zoning to make it responsible and meaningful.
At Alewife, the real property in action, without changing zoning, now is the publicly owned property, so folks are told to ignore the publicly owned property. Heck, you talk to a city councilor and you might get something done.
On the other hand, you talk to a city councilor and do not get things done, and you realize that the Cambridge City Council is the problem. You do that, and you might even find responsible people elected to the Cambridge City Council.
The leader of this group has stooped very low. She has spent nearly twenty years telling people to yell at private developers and ignore the City Council, with its zoning powers and its development powers. The latter is particularly important because Cambridge owns much of Alewife. The area it does not own, the Cambridge City Council has given outrageously dense zoning to.
The leader of the fake group has even stooped to praising the City Council’s destruction of 3.4 acres on municipally owned forest while yelling non stop at private developers obeying the City Council’s zoning.
The alleged neighborhood association fits the pattern as well. Never talk to the city council if at all possible. Yell at developers obeying the zoning, insofar as they can maneuver folks in that direction.
It is very clear to me that the fake groups are funneling Alewife in the path of total destruction: Tilt at windmills on the private development, and let Cambridge and the Department of Conservation and Recreation destroy, destroy, destroy, while keep the latter, highly possible wins, away from well meaning people.
c. Responsible behavior.
The Cambridge City Council’s destruction of 3.4 acres of the Alewife Reservation behind 165 CambridgePark Drive was advertised as provided protection against the worst possible storm in any two year period, a two year storm.
There have been two fifty years storms in the 25 years. They were very devastating.
Flood protection is seriously deficient, and the fake groups are telling folks to yell at the private developers, and how dare you yell at the City Council.
The trouble is that the Alewife area needs protection against 100 year storms. Destroying 3.4 acres for protection against 2 years is the usual cynical Cambridge lie.
That protection has to come somewhere, either under privately owned property by city easement or by destroying the publicly owned Alewife reservation.
The leader of the fake protective group has publicly praised the first step toward destruction of the entire reservation.
Both groups are anathema toward talking responsible behavior with the City Council. You do that, something might get done.
And the real goal of the folks pulling the strings very clearly is total destruction of Alewife.
And, once again, here is the fake group (and the Cambridge Chronicle)’s achievement to date, photo courtesy of the City of Cambridge:
d. My comments to the Conservation Commission.
I spoke to the Conservation Commission and the developers. The Cambridge Discovery Park (the one between Alewife Station and Route 2) developer helped things out by mentioning the “MDC lot” in his presentation. I led by introducing myself including my very major development / environmental experience.
That experience includes my writing the zoning that is returning the "MDC lot" to the environment, the lot the developer mentioned. I communicated my contempt for the fake protectors, and I followed with my wishes that Cambridge provide the needed flood protection as part of future projects in addition to the flood protection required by the individual projects.
The reality is that, as is usual with the various Company Union groups, the victims, the well meaning folks, have only been talking with the bad guys and folks controlled by the bad guys. The victims are committed to chasing their tails because there are so many people telling them to chase their tails.
And the people supporting tail chasing always sound so good.
