1. Introduction.
2. Letter to Secretary.
3. Photos of Grand Junction in habitat of Charles River White Geese and other free animals.
On July 22, 2016, I snail mailed the following comments to the State Environmental Secretary concerning impact on the Grand Junction and the Charles River of inadequate expansion presently being proposed for South Station in Boston.
To put it concisely, South Station expansion as proposed forces future expansion of train service to the west of Boston onto the Grand Junction Railroad, which runs through the goose habitat, with the associated environmental harm to the Charles River and its animals. This expansion is being fought for by the City of Cambridge with the sort of irresponsible tactics which are common by Cambridge and its friends, as was so brutally demonstrated in outrageous destruction on the Charles River.
The PS very briefly objects to the ongoing efforts of the Massachusetts governor to destroy the Massachusetts movie industry. It was no accident that I mentioned I was working on a significant movie IN RHODE ISLAND on the day of the presentation which I missed.
The concluding bracketed comment is in that form in the original.
Comments are due by snail mail, email or fax not later than August 5, 2016. Snail mail goes to the below address. Email comments go to holly.s.johnson@state.ma.us. Faxed comments go to Holly Johnson at 617-626-1181. Copies may also be sent to Steve Woelfel, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, 10 Park Plaza, Room 4150,Boston, MA 02116, or steve.woelfel@state.ma.us. I will notify Mr. Woelfel by transmitting a link to this blog post.
Photos of the Grand Junction in the habitat of the Charles River White Geese and other animals are presented in section 3, below.
2. Letter to Environmental Secretary.
Secretary Matthew Beaton
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)
MEPA Office, Attn: Holly Johnson, MEPA Analyst
EEA #15028
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Mr. Secretary:
I am writing individually and as Chair of Friends of the White Geese, a Massachusetts Non Profit registered with the Attorney General since 2001.
First of all, I object to the listing of my comments in the report as made individually (pages 186 to 194 of the DVD, pages 184 to 192 of chapter 5, as near as I can understand it) . Clearly, as stated at the top of page 2 of the principal comments (page 188 of the DVD, page 186 of chapter 5), I am commenting individually and as Chair of Friends of the White Geese. Failure to recognize the environmental concerns of this organization fit very well into the outrages going on on the Charles River which, commonly have been achieved by sweeping under the rug the very extreme irresponsibility inherent in these outrages.
I have provided great detail with more than a hundred photos on these related outrages in my YouTube video, “The Destruction of Memorial Drive, Charles River, Cambridge, MA, January - February 2016,” posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o, and incorporated herein by reference. A DVD of this video is attached to my hard copy submission.
My comments (pages 186 to 194 of the DVD, pages 184 to 192 of chapter 5) include my own very great experience and success in standing up to the irresponsible government of the City of Cambridge.
The FEIR hides the fact that mandating passenger service on the Grand Junction is forced by this project and omits any and all impacts of forced use of the Grand Junction. The report hides the fact that this omission and action MAKES WORSE the outrage started by the City of Cambridge and the DCR already.
The FEIR is deficient in that it only evaluates the South Station Expansion in terms of fulfilling needs for “south side expansion.”
The problem with the plan is that it does not recognize that South Station expansion should not only support expansion on the south side, but also MUST support expansion to the west.
There are significant plans for west side expansion.
Failure to allow for expansion to the west puts the railroad system in a situation where west side expansion must be supported through use of the Grand Junction, and there is no environmental analysis of use of the Grand Junction which is mandated by this inadequate expansion of South Station.
Responsible expansion of South Station would be comparable to the construction of the South Station Bus Terminal. The Bus Terminal has an addition floor currently used for parking but which can be used to expand bus service in the Bus Terminal when and if it is necessary.
The key failure is failure to analyze expansion by creating lower levels for track expansion below the proposed track expansion. This lack of adequate expansion foregoes west side expansion except by the UNSTUDIED Grand Junction Expansion.
Construction now of lower levels under the new tracks and / or under Dorchester Avenue would provide a responsible alternative to use of the Grand Junction, and use, in the interim, of the added levels for parking until they are needed. This is stated in great detail in my analysis with graphics (pages 186 to 194 of the DVD, pages 184 to 192 of chapter 5).
The FEIR fails to either include Grand Junction use forced by inadequate expansion of South Station and fails to evaluate expansion of South Station which includes those lower levels. The failure omits the responsible two alternative way to go.
Failure to include either renders the FEIR fatally deficient.
This glaring failure is distressingly common with regard to irresponsible projects in Cambridge which would generate, and have generated, massive opposition if done other than in secret.
Cambridge voter opposition to the Grand Junction use for passenger service with its environmental destruction has been widely communicated in spite of attempts by Cambridge to stifle the Cambridge population and to manipulate its population in destructive ways.
The Cambridge population has stood up to the outrages of its government and its attempt to manipulate its population with regard to the Grand Junction.
MassDOT has behaved exemplarily in standing up to the irresponsible Cambridge government and the Cambridge government’s contempt for the well founded objections of its own population.
The destructiveness of Grand Junction usage is being sneaked into the South Station expansion project by refusal to admit the destruction of west side service to South Station while loudly proclaiming full support OF SOUTHSIDE EXPANSION, AND ONLY SOUTHSIDE EXPANSION.
Creation of room to expand South Station by constructing lower floors in the new project is the only way to responsibly allow for westside expansion without use of the UNEVALUATED Grand Junction passenger service relocation.
The lower floors, as in the responsibly constructed Bus Terminal’s top floor, can be used for parking until expansion of South Station is needed to support westside expansion of service.
Sincerely,
Robert J. La Trémouille
Individually, and as
Chair, Friends of the White Geese
PS: I regret missing the July 20 presentation. I am a professional movie actor. At the time of the presentation, I was working in Rhode Island on The Polka King.
Attachment:
DVD of The Destruction of Memorial Drive, Charles River, Cambridge, MA, January - February 2016, Final Cut [URL to online publication provided in text.]
3. Photos of Grand Junction in habitat of Charles River White Geese and other free animals.
First of all, the video on the Destruction of Memorial Drive . . ., at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o, includes the two best photos I have of the Grand Junction and the Charles River White Geese patrolling it. I have not been able to find those photos again, so here are a few less beautiful.
The first photo, from the BU Bridge, shows the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge on the right, and the Destroyed Nesting Area on the left. The small white figures are the Charles River White Geese.
ALL GROUND VEGETATION in this area was destroyed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation acting through the falsely named Charles River "Conservancy."
Here are two Charles River White Geese just off the shore of the Destroyed Nesting Area. The photo was probably taken from the brown area next to the white figures, above. The structure in the rear is the same support for the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge shown above.
This is a photo of the Charles River White Geese desperately looking for food near the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge. The desperation is based on the deliberate starvation of them by Cambridge and the DCR, once again, analyzed in much greater detail in the video.
City of Cambridge plans would build a fence parallel to the tracks preventing free animals from crossing the tracks from the Destroyed Nesting Area to the Wild Area which Cambridge and the DCR want to destroy, as analyzed in detail in the video.
This is the same location taken from the Memorial Drive overpass, which is straight ahead, above. The various materials seen were there as part of the railroad work whose workers did so much totally unnecessary harm, WITH DCR CONSENT, to the Destroyed Nesting Area.
4. Supplement to Photos of Grand Junction, supplement posted July 24, 2006
I still cannot find the two photos in the video. Here is another good shot from the BU Bridge looking down the length of the Grand Junction Bridge.
On the right is the doomed wild area, the subject of yet another lie from the DCR and friends.
The destruction plans which the DCR and Cambridge just implemented show exactly ONE TREE to the right of the Grand Junction, and say that they are not destroying that one tree.
Very clearly, the only reason such a plan would be in the package is to lie that they are not destroying this thick woods.
The clear communication, recognizing the kind of people we are dealing with, is that Cambridge and the DCR intend to destroy every tree BUT ONE between the Grand Junction and Boston University’s Cambridge Boathouse on the right
