Friday, October 24, 2014

Charles River: Toomey order on Grand Junction destructiveness Gutted

Charles River:  Toomey order on Grand Junction destructiveness Gutted


1. Prior report.
2. Area in question.
3. Motion as amended and passed.
4. Analysis.
5. Summary.


1. Prior report.

In my recent report at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/grand-junction-railroad-charles-river.html, I commended and analyzed Councilor Toomey’s concerning the Cambridge goal of environmental destruction along the Grand Junction Railroad Track.

Toomey’s motion read:

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WHEREAS: MIT's Property Feasibility Study for the Grand Junction Community Path has been completed; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back on possible next steps to advance the creation of the Grand Junction Multi Use Path on City and CRA controlled property identified as Phase 1 in the Grand Junction Feasibility Study and report back to the City Council.

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2. Area in question.

Here is the relevant map.



The Toomey motion impacted SOLELY the area between Massachusetts Avenue and Binney Street, the second and fourth arrows from the bottom.


3. Motion as amended and passed.

Here is the motion as amended and passed:

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Order number 8, October 20, 2014

Toomey motion amended to read:

That the City Manager is requested to report back on possible next steps to advance the creation of the Grand Junction Multi Use Path on City and CRA controlled property identified as Phase 1 in the Grand Junction Feasibility Study and where possible to reach out to the Cities of Boston and Somerville to initiate coordination and to reach out and coordinate with MIT to delineate on the timeline on their portion of the Grand Junction.

Councillor Toomey. POR 2014 #306


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The language inserted reads:

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and where possible to reach out to the Cities of Boston and Somerville to initiate coordination and to reach out and coordinate with MIT to delineate on the timeline on their portion of the Grand Junction.

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Confusingly, this language replace a requirement to report back to the City Council.

Since the Development Department is aggressively fighting for this environmental destruction and heartless animal abuse, the report back requirement is not necessary.

4. Analysis.

Here is the map of the Grand Junction again.



The area at the top of the map is Somerville.  Beyond Somerville, the Grand Junction goes through Boston.  Much more importantly, however, is the bottom of the map which shows the Grand Junction going through Boston’s Allston neighborhood.

This is the area MassDOT has protected from Cambridge’s destructiveness.

So the motion went from an innocuous motion to a motion providing direction to gang up on MassDOT if possible.

5. Summary.

Cambridge, rotten Cambridge.