The horror of the destruction being inflicted on the Charles River is that it stems from flat out fraud.
Fraud is crucial in Cambridge because Cambridge has responsible voters that demand responsible behavior.
So you get fraud.
On April 24, 2017, members of the Cambridge City Council loudly praised themselves as environmental saints on the front steps of Cambridge City Hall and went indoors and the very first order they passed supported the funding of destruction of 54 trees on Magazine Beach. Key in the order were three words which were flat out lies, “dead and dying” giving the impression that all 54 trees were “dead and dying” as opposed to the reality that a tiny portion of “dead and dying” is claimed to justify destroying all 54.
The front line fighters simply lie, and use corrupt tactics to enforce their lies. They have gone from flat out preventing mention of reality to a form of “allowing” discussion in which the key liars lie and their organization calls mention of reality “disruptive” and closes down supposed public meetings at the horror of reality being mentioned in response to their beloved lies.
The destroyers have a major defect, reality and the fact that they have been forced to tell the Cambridge Conservation Commission what they are doing. So they just demand that reality and the filings with the Cambridge Conservation Commission be ignored in favor of their lies and in favor of their keeping reality secret.
They fear reality. The ONLY time they have publicly presented their plans, in January 2013, they were faced with opposition and they used corrupt tactics to further hide their destructiveness.
In response to these flat out lies and belligerent corrupt tactics, I have put together a detailed package which I have given to the Cambridge City Manager and which will formally be presented to the Cambridge City Council at its meeting on June 12, 2017.
The package analyzes the entire destruction proposed, not just tree destruction but use of poisons on the banks of the Charles River and heartless animal abuse to kill off or drive away resident animals from the tiny ghettos to which they have been confined. The destroyers find the last vestiges of free animals offensive. They find a clean Charles offensive. They large healthy trees offensive.
And they lie.
The package I am giving to the Cambridge City Council runs 51 color pages with easily more than a hundred plans and photos. It is overwhelming to communicate all in one report on the Internet.
It is based on the officially filed package with the Cambridge Conservation Commission, and on a propaganda supplement which admits more destruction in the midst of skillfully worded fraud. The destruction in the area “protected” by the fraudulent “protectors” increases in the latter, propaganda piece. The destruction (two healthy trees) in one area with MEANINGFUL protection is wiped out.
This is the first Internet report on this report. This report will communicate the introductory language. Subsequent reports will provide the blow by blow analysis of proposed destruction of parkland and animal habitat, and the dumping of poisons on the banks of the Charles River. We will include and dismiss fake distractions.
The report is in full color. The City Clerk routinely provides black and white copies of communications to the City Council. I have edited the original reports into PDF segments which may be distributed through email. I am happy to provide them to all who wish to know reality. Please just email me at boblat@yahoo.com for the full report, in 5 subsidiary packages.
You can also look at the record of these terrible people. The hundreds of trees plus animal habitat they have destroyed east of the BU Bridge is presented in our video on line at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o. The reality of their “improvements” after the destruction is presented at https://youtu.be/dWyCdcWMuAA.
Here is the first portion of the report on the next stage of destruction, the summary.
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[This is a copy of the first page]
[Here is the photo used as a watermark on page 1:]
[Part one of this report on the report:]
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June 6, 2017
City Manager Louis A. DePasquale
City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139 City Council, City of Cambridge, c/o City Clerk
City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Gentlemen / Ladies
RE: Balance of destruction by the April 24, 2017 vote (Order 1) by City Council to destroy at Magazine Beach, Communication 9 in a series.
1. Introduction.
A. Cambridge City Hall, Preamble.
B. Phil Barber.
C. Gamesmanship on the part of the destroyers.
D. General.
E. Word Games.
F. Past errors should be corrected, NOT EXPANDED.
Map index, sections 2 to 7.
2. Northeast corner of Playing Fields.
3. Parking lot of Playing Fields.
4. Southern Edge of Playing Fields.
5. The Starvation Wall.
6. The middle of the playing fields. Poison usage. Drainage for poisons that should not be used.
7. Northern Edge of Playing Fields.
Index to Maps, sections 8 to 12
8. Northeast Hill, Northwest playing fields.
9. Magnificent Grove on Hill, Overhanging Playing Fields.
10. Southeast Hill.
11. Hill, Parking Lot.
12. Hill, West Central.
13. Bath House Northeast, MicroCenter South.
14. Swimming Pool West, Across from MicroCenter Parking Lot.
15. Boat Club Area.
16. West of Boat Club.
17. Conclusion.
Appendices: Original Cambridge Conservation Commission submittal marked up to point out the location of areas 1 to 13 in this analysis. [Ed: this was replaced with the two indices. Sorry I failed to delete this.]
1. Introduction.
A. Cambridge City Hall, Preamble.
A relevant, and true, comparison that can be made to Order 1 of April 24, 2017, is to compare the 54 trees the City Council has supported destroying at Magazine Beach to trees on the City Hall grounds, specifically to the grove directly behind the rear entrance to City Hall, which shows behind these words..
I was recently very much impressed by this grove. Then it came to me.
This is a good grove, BUT its individual trees are inferior to a significant number of trees at Magazine Beach which the Cambridge City Council voted to destroy by Order 1. The reality is that the skillful word games used by the DCR in its color amendment to its destruction plans, to justify outrageous destruction are fraud, fraud, fraud. Key words in Order 1 converted skillfully reworded fraud in the DCR color amendment to a statement of an absolute fact. Rewording fraud as absolute fact does not change reality. I presume this order with the fraud was written by the Cambridge Development Department and not by the signers of the order.
In any case, A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF THE TREES THE CITY COUNCIL VOTED TO DESTROY ON MAGAZINE BEACH ARE SUPERIOR TO THE TREES AT THE REAR OF CITY HALL. It is irresponsible and wasteful to destroy them.
This letter updates my previous reports and adds portions of the Magazine Beach destruction not previously provided to the City Manager and City Council. I analyze every parkland tree which would be destroyed by Order 1.
Core destructive behavior, the really bad stuff, is in sections 2, 3, 5 through 12, 14 and 16, especially sections 5 through 12 and 14.
This does not mean that other sections should be ignored because they also analyze very real and uncalled for destruction. This just means that these section are truly horrible.
B. Phil Barber.
I have previously passed on to the City Council and City Manager the wisdom of Phil Barber with regard to destruction proposed on the Charles River. Phil’s analysis in this letter is specifically with regard to Section 9, below. It however, has general relevance to the destruction called for in Order 1 of April 24, 2017.
It's certainly an outrage to destroy entire stands because of some deadwood or unsightly growth. I see this all too often, that trees that have valiantly survived the elements and abuse are cut down simply because someone judges them not to be sufficiently aesthetic. I imagine people who lack the awareness that these are living beings deserving of care simply see the bottom line, that it's cheaper to ruin an irreplaceable old tree and put in a new one, as if it didn't matter.
I've also seen city workers on the job in the various little parks and public landscaping hacking away willy-nilly at the vegetation blissfully unaware of the difference between weeds and plantings. The lack of concern, and of knowledge, is appalling but such is our time.
C. Gamesmanship on the part of the destroyers.
This letter started as a completion of my prior analyses of the destruction supported by the Cambridge City Council in order 1 of April 24, immediately after City Councilors led a rally on the City Hall steps praising their own “environmentalism.”
As I have analyzed the original official DCR black and white submittal to the Cambridge Conservation Commission in comparison to the subsequent color package with the fraudulent word games, it has become clear that the proposed destruction in the areas I have previously reported has grown.
While destruction has gotten more irresponsible in the area claimed to be under the protection of the fake neighborhood association associated with the development department, DESTRUCTION IN THE BOAT CLUB AREA WITH MEANINGFUL PROTECTION HAS DROPPED FROM TWO TREES TO ZERO.
Those two trees were dropped in the word game / propaganda color package. This reversal is shown in section 15, the Boat Club area.
There are trees which may accurately be described as dead or dying in the area proposed to be destroyed by Order 1 of April 24, 2017. This report points them out. The dead and dying are almost all outside the core areas of outrageous destruction. Most of the dead and dying are around the playing fields.
The DCR includes one area in the original proposed destruction which really is not part of the parklands, the front yard of the pool’s bathhouse. In the Color package with the fraudulent word usage, the DCR adds two trees in front of MicroCenter. By including trees not really in the parkland in the proposal, i.e. in front of the swimming pool bathhouse and MicroCenter, the DCR artificially increases the number of supposed sick and dying trees disproportionately. This is yet another game.
This tiny number of dead or dying trees, in no way, justifies the massive destruction supported by Order number 1 of April 24,2017, in spite of the DCR’s skillful word game fraud in the color propaganda package being reworded in Order 1 as absolute truth.
Almost all of the dead and dying trees are at the playing fields, the beginning of my analysis. The parkland, from the east of the pedestrian overpass to the boat club, has the vast majority of doomed trees. These doomed trees are almost all excellent, especially when you ignore the areas which have been improperly added to the parkland.
This report goes through the entire destruction package, including the areas which are not parklands and should not be included in parklands work. The core, really offensive, destructive behavior is in sections 2, 3, 5 through 12, 14 and 16, especially 5 through 12 and 14. The other sections definitely involve the destruction of trees which should not be destroyed.
And we include maps both from the properly filed black and white package and the subsquent color package with its word game fraud.
D. General.
The plans in this package all have north at the top. All photographs are my work My photography has taken great care in finding the correct trees to photograph. My analysis of the plans, however, indicates that it is a nightmare to exactly match trees in the north part of the playing fields and in much of the hill. I have done my best and I have done multiple reshoots in my attempt to determine what the DCR is talking about.
Please look at this entire package, with photos and comparison between the two DCR plans to determine the very great lack of responsibility to which the city council was falsely led by Order 1.
Please, accordingly, end the destruction.
In particular, please look at the responsible analysis in Section 9, Area 6 by Phil Barber. Mr. Barber’s analysis is that of a normal, responsible, knowledgeable human being. This is strikingly different from what you are dealing with in the DCR plans.
The irresponsible plans for destruction of the magnificent grove on the hill which dominates the playing fields have gone from destroying 10 trees, called 3 to destroying 8 trees, called 2.
Phil Barber’s analysis is that, out of the 10, there is 1 tree that should be destroyed. He reports there is careful pruning called for, but not additional full chopping down. Phil does concur with the DCR analysis of multiple trunks for one particular type of tree.
While the single tree analysis seems to be technically correct, “technically correct” has commonly been used as a technique of fraud. Mr. Barber’s analysis is responsible behavior. The “planners” that human beings are dealing with altogether too often warp word games into something that is silly to distinguish from fraud.
If “technically correct” language knowingly communicates a different meaning to average human beings who hear normal meanings for that language, usage of the technical language without explanation of the difference from normal language is fraud.
I use the language of normal human beings and I call fraud fraud. I do not go into a long explanation which explanation, to the normal human being, is silly.
The chop, chop, chop mentality of the Department of Conservation and Recreation is one reason why the legislature destroyed the Metropolitan District Commission ‒ to protect, among other things, the Charles River from the horribly irresponsible “planners” of the MDC. Those horribly irresponsible “planners” moved to the DCR. Too many of those “planners,” are now working in the DCR. They, with the bad Cambridge Development Department and others in the City of Cambridge, have just destroyed hundreds of trees east of the BU Bridge.
In my analysis below, I, with great distress, attribute the proposal to destroy all these excellent trees to being destruction supported by the Cambridge City Council. I think fraud is at the basis of Order Number 1 of April 24, 2017. But Order Number 1 of April 24, 2017, taken immediately after the self deification for environmental purposes on the steps of City Hall, happened.
Skillfully worded fraud in the DCR color / propaganda map converted to “absolute truth” in Order 1 was the basis of that vote, but the vote was taken. That outrageous vote should be reversed.
I have analyzed the outrage east of the BU Bridge in “Memorial Drive Destruction . . ., Final Cut.” This video includes very limited analysis west of the BU Bridge.
I have provided the City Council and City Manager individual DVDs of this analysis, and have provided record copies. The analysis is posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o.
I have supplemented this analysis with “Nature and Beauty Ripped out along the Charles River”, posted at https://youtu.be/dWyCdcWMuAA, which goes into analysis of the supposed improvements east of the BU Bridge and shows how those supposed improvements in no way justify the outrage accomplished.
Core destructive behavior is in sections 2, 3, 5 through 12, 14 and 16, especially 5 through 12 and 14.
E. Word Games.
There are significant and key trees which the DCR and Cambridge want to destroy that they admit are healthy and have not reached their peak beauty. The DCR and Cambridge just want to destroy them.
The color / propaganda package represents the second phase of fighting for destruction. It uses word games. It claims that, if a tree has reached peak perfection plus a day, the DCR and Cambridge have a right to destroy it. The euphemism is “decline.” Translation: while excellent, it only has another 50 years to live (or whatever). This outrageous word game is the sole supposed justification for a very significant part of this outrage. This outrage will devastate the river side of Memorial Drive from east of the pedestrian overpass to the Boat Club.
This outrage was based on skillfully worded fraud. The writers of Order 1, whether the named writers or the Cambridge Development, took skillfully worded fraud and converted the skillfully worded fraud to call the skillfully worded fraud an absolute (and false) “truth.”
This current report combined with the previous submittals, I hope, will persuade the City of Cambridge to reverse City Council Order Number 1 of April 24, 2017, and to get rid of the very terrible Department of Conservation and Recreation in favor of the Department of Transportation.
MassDOT is by no means perfect. MassDOT has been persuaded by DCR and Cambridge Development Department individuals to do a limited number of dumb things. The DCR and Cambridge Development Department approach being perfect in the wrong direction.
F. Past errors should be corrected, NOT EXPANDED.
Additionally, however, there are outrages done by Cambridge and the DCR which need to be reversed. Cambridge and the DCR started dumping poisons on the banks of the Charles in Cambridge as part of the 2000s outrage. Cambridge and the DCR want to expand use of poisons on the banks of the Charles.
The reasons? NEVER EXPLAINED. They just like poisons.
Cambridge and the DCR walled off the Playing Fields from the Charles River, making the playing fields, for all practical purposes, ten miles from the banks of the Charles River. Multiple lies were involved.
The real reason? Heartless animal abuse.
The Charles River White Geese are loved by decent human beings, and people have commuted from the suburbs to admire them. The Charles River White Geese have lived on the banks of the Charles River for 36 years, feeding and sleeping most of that time at the Playing Fields.
The DCR with the support of the Cambridge Development Department contends that there is no room on the Charles River for free animals. Mankind has destroyed habitat throughout man’s world. The DCR and the Cambridge Development Department want to end the last undestroyed habitat on the tiny areas of riverfront left where free animals remain.
The plaque in the photo was displayed as part of a propaganda piece in the Cambridge City Hall Annex.
As part of this mentality, the DCR and Cambridge have already destroyed 3.4 acres or more of the (to quote the City Council) “irreplaceable Silver Maple Forest” at Alewife, 3.4 acres of virgin habitat, while the Cambridge City Council was yelling at developers obeying municipally created zoning in another part of the Silver Maple Forest.
The Charles River White Geese are by no means the only free animals being attacked. They, simply, are the most visible, and they are highly popular and valuable.
The DCR and the Development Department want, as a matter of policy, to kill all resident animals or drive them away. So they are deliberately starving the Charles River White Geese. That is the reason for the wall. That is the reason for stone barriers installed in the area where they destroyed hundreds of trees, to prevent access to food. That is the reason why the entrance to their forced ghetto, the Destroyed Nesting Area, is now physically blocked. To prevent access to food under Memorial Drive.
By contrast, while MassDOT is less than perfect, the DCR and the Cambridge Development Department and friends approach perfection in the wrong direction.
End the current Magazine Beach outrage, reverse the outrages of the 2000s, including dumping of poisons, the creation of the bizarre introduced vegetation / wall separating the Charles and its shore, and the other aspects of heartless animal abuse, including items spelled out in my letter to MassDOT.
Get rid of the DCR.
Get rid of the poisons. Get rid of the heartless animal abuse BY WHATEVER MEANS. Get rid of destruction which provides value ONLY for the people paid to do the destruction and for the people paid to “repair” destruction which should not have been done in the first place. Get rid of the nonsensical word games.
Get rid of the DCR.
And, hopefully, the City Manager will clean up the outrage in the Development Department with its controlled fake protective groups.
