I. Introduction.
A. General.
B. Specific
(1) The very terrible destruction.
(2) Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s private exit from I90 (Massachusetts Turnpike).
II. Section 11 of the June 6, 2017 letter, Hill Parking lot.
A. Maps.
B. General Analysis.
C. Photos.
III. Responsible Action, repeating from our letter of June 28, 2017, to the Cambridge City Council.
IV. Lies, outright lies and flat out fraud. An analysis for newcomers and for people who need a refresher.
V. Links to Official Report, Prior Reports in this Series.
I. Introduction.
A. General.
This is Part 10 of a series placing on the internet record, our attempts at preventing YET MORE DESTRUCTION on the Charles River by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, by the City of Cambridge, MA, and by their cheerleaders. Check the last section of this report for links to referenced documents which are not directly attached to the reference.
The first 6 parts of this series and the 9th section present sections of our 51 page letter to the Cambridge City Council responding to the vote of the Cambridge City Council to help the DCR in its destruction. Key in the vote were a few things:
(1) They preceded the vote with a rally for themselves on the steps of Cambridge City Hall, deifying themselves for their environmental sainthood,
(2) They gave the impression that all they, and their accomplices were doing is destroying “dead and dying” trees. The introduction to our letter wiped out the fraudulent word game which is the source of this false claim, and we presented photos of EVERY tree in the parklands of which they had voted to subsidize the destruction. Section V, below, repeats much of the most direct response to this fraudulent nonsense. Our series is reproducing all photographs in the 51 page report, finishing the response to this nonsense.
(3) They did not communicate the hugely irresponsible parts of the destruction at Magazine Beach by Cambridge and the DCR that they are continuing and making worse: the bizarre walling off of the Magazine Beach playing fields by in introduced wall of vegetation which now reaches 16 feet. This bizarre wall has turned the playing fields into a situation where they might as well be 10 miles inland, a strikingly irresponsible thing to do on the banks of the Charles River.
The main purpose of this starvation wall is to starve the 36 year resident Charles River White Geese by denying them access to their food and home of most of the last 36 years. This gaggle is hugely valuable as a tourist attraction, but the “managers” cannot see beyond the tip of welfare for contractors. They do not make money for contracts. The DCR has a policy to kill off and / or drive away all resident animals, codifying a blatant lack of fitness on the part of the DCR to manage the environment.
(4) There is a very real goal to create a ramp to Cambridge / the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from I90, the Massachusetts Turnpike, which is visible on the Boston side of the Charles River. Meaningful activists prevented a related highway, the “inner belt” from going through Cambridge, and probably got the first of a series of three interrelated City Managers fired in the process.
(5) James Leo Sullivan was rehired in 1974, with a stated goal of creating a system of “neighborhood associations.” What he did not state was that these and other fake “protective” groups would exist hand in glove with his Development Department and act as Company Unions to PREVENT meaningful organizing in Cambridge, plus to further the development goals of the City Manager, whether the voters wanted those goals or not.
B. Specific.
(1) The very terrible destruction.
Section 11 is implementing the 4th general goal by one of several techniques to increase speed on the adjacent Memorial Drive so that the MIT off ramp could have access to a highway on the Cambridge side more attractive to Interstate highway users.
The park that Cambridge and the DCR are destroying SLOWS DOWN TRAFFIC on Memorial Drive to allow access to the park. So Cambridge and the DCR are destroying this park.
One thing which, from the beginning of this latest series of outrages has been non-negotiable has been the destruction of this park.
Here is the general map of Magazine Beach that we have been using to show the area of the plans we are discussing.
We are now proceeding with our presentation of the letter to the Cambridge City Council of June 6, 2017, presenting a tree by tree analysis of what the Cambridge City Council REALLY is destroying at Magazine Beach.
This report presents section 11, which communicates destruction of all but one tree in the little guys’ parking lot at the foot of Magazine Street. I say “little guys” parking lot because that is the type of people who use this parking lot, people who do not make a heck of a lot of money. Getting rid of such “undesireables” makes destruction of this parking lot that much more attractive to those who love gentrification.
This is a thick parking lot of which EVERY tree withing that U but one is proposed to be destroyed.
To the east of the pedestrian crossing are excellent trees equally doomed. We went into those awhile back. Destruction of those trees devestates view from Memorial Drive and from the playing fields.
In recent reports, we have analyzed the destruction of magnificent grove overhanging the playing fields. That grove is below the parking lot to the right, on the extended curve pointing at the playing fields. Also being destroyed is the magnificent willow at the top point of the brown triangle. This destruction totals the really, really big trees being destroyed.
Those really, really big trees are not visible from Memorial Drive, but their destruction is major.
What are visible from the street are the trees of this parking lot, the trees behind them, and the trees to the east being destroyed, plus trees to the west being destroyed.
The combination of destruction of destruction of this parking lot with major trees south of the parking lot, and the dominant grove and Willow and trees east of the pedestrian overpass really devastates this part of the Charles River area.
We will later go into the destruction of seven magnificent AND ADMITTED EXCELLENT trees across from the purple asterisk and to the west of the parking lot. The combination of destruction is outrageous.
This is a general summary of the horror.
(2) Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s private exit from I90 (Massachusetts Turnpike).
But what is really going on here?
To start off the understanding, my first contact with this outrage came in 1997 when one of the usual fake groups announced lovely plans for “improvements” from the Cambridge City Manager. When I got her plans from the head of DCR (I will not go into organizational issues here) Planning, she pointed out the minor differences between her plans and the ones announced for the then Cambridge City Manager in 1997.
Here is a modification of the DCR map which I created. The purpose was to show the impact on the Charles River White Geese in their nesting area, the location which has been turned into their foodless ghetto.
To the far right is the BU Bridge and the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese.
In the middle is the environmentally sensitive pollution control plant of the Metropolitan Water Resources Agency.
To the far left is where we began this series, the eastern end of the playing fields. The goal of the DCR was, and probably still is, to create a new highway in the Charles River. The vertical arrows below the MWRA area, in the Charles River, point out the planed highway construction. This would connect the eastern end of the Magazine Beach playing fields to Destroyed Nesting Area.
Connecting the two areas greatly increases the value to Boston University, which has heavy involvement in this area.
Here is a state plan showing the Grand Junction going under the BU Bridge. Boston is to the left, Cambridge to the right. In the upper left corner can be seen I90.
Here is a photo of the Grand Junction railroad bridge, southern extension on the Boston side of the BU Bridge (the left side of the above map). In the distance can be seen a green sign. It is above I90.
In 2003, the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (the MBTA) did a study which proved an off ramp can be built from I90 to the Grand Junction Railroad bridge, and showed how the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge could be widened to handle two way traffic plus one railroad track.
Here is another City of Cambridge map.
If you blow up the right side of the map, you will see the words “retaining wall” pointing at the sidewalk which currently abuts the Wild Area. “Retaining wall” calls for destruction of the Wild Area. It is currently a steep hill containing wild animals and a LOT of Trees. Plans to destroy those trees are extensively studied in my video on the destruction of hundreds of trees east of the BU Bridge, posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o.
The MBTA plans very visibly showed an off ramp in this location, THROUGH THE WILD AREA, to Memorial Drive eastbound.
Above Memorial Drive, north of a large MIT building, Cambridge has converted parking lots into what is called the “Waverly Connector.” Nominally, the Waverly Connector connects MIT holdings north of the location to the intersection of Brookline and Granite, a block north of the rotary connecting Memorial Drive to Cambridge and to the BU Bridge.
Here is MIT’s plan showing that area.
The BU Bridge is diagonal from the bottom left. Under, marked in blue, is the Grand Junction railroad bridge. At the very bottom left is I90, the Mass. Pike. I will not go into the MBTA analysis. Clearly, there is a lot of room to connect I90 / the Mass. Pike to the Grand Junction railway bridge.
As you move to the right, the Grand Junction railroad approaches “Waverly Street”, the Waverly Connector. At the top middle, Waverly Street connects to Brookline and Granite which, in turn connects to the BU Rotary under Memorial Drive, slightly to the left top of that Waverly - Brookline intersection.
MIT’s campus and holdings for campus expansion dominate the area to the right of this map.
The initial plans for the Waverly Connector included detailed tree planting plans. I commented that there were gaps in the tree plantings which exactly fit connections of MIT’s off ramp from I90 to the Waverly Connector, and then to Memorial Drive westbound through the BU Bridge rotary. The tree plantings disappeared.
And here is my usual map of destruction at Magazine Beach taken from the DCR's fraudulent 2d plan. The BU Bridge rotary is to the far right. All that lovely traffic from I90 coming through the BU Bridge rotary and then on Memorial Drive would be slowed by traffic going into the little guys’ parking lot. So the parking lot and 30 trees PLUS are being destroyed.
These lovely plans for MIT’s private exit from I90 / Mass. Pike are greatly improved by increasing speed of traffic on Memorial Drive. There have been many changes to increase speed on Memorial Drive.
One of those speed up proposals is to destroy the little guys’ parking lot and its trees. That sales pitch is not a saless pitch. It is an order. The fake group’s explanation is the usual:
DON’T LOOK AT WHAT WE ARE DESTROYING. LOOK AT WHAT WE TELL YOU TO LOOK AT.
II. Section 11 of the June 6, 2017 letter, destruction of the hill parking lot.
11. Hill, Parking Lot.
A. Maps.
B. General Analysis.
The proposal goes from destroying all but two trees while destroying this parking lot to destroying all but one tree.
C. Photos.
First of all, after the change in the propaganda piece, the tree at the upper left [ed: this is a correction from bottom left] is the ONLY tree in the hill parking lot, the DCR and order number 1 of April 24, 2017 do not want to destroy.
A distance shot from the west. Note the curb cuts, and note the size of the street tree. EVERY tree between the curb cuts but the one on the far right front is doomed.
Below is the only tree NOT BEING DESTROYED in this doomed Little Guys Parking Lot. It is the first tree to the left of the near curb cut.
Below is the doomed street tree in front of this doomed parking lot grove, looking west from beyond the left curb cut in the above picture.
View .from the east.
Everything you can see between the internal roadway and Memorial Drive will be destroyed. The internal roadway will be destroyed. Parking not destroyed will be drop off only.
This is yet another tactic in gentrification, given the lower economic status of people whose picnic area will be destroyed.
The only safe tree is on the far end and not readily visible.
And LARGER trees to the rear and to the left which create the great view are doomed.
And it gets much worse. The big trees to the left, south, of this view are impossible to fully communicate in photos because they get in the way of each other. THEY ARE THAT BIG.
From across the street, last October.
Very nice view of the street tree, on the left. Pretty much everything except for the right hand tree in the parking lot area is to be destroyed.
Destruction supported by the DCR and the Cambridge City Council includes significant trees to the rear of the doomed parking lot, as analyzed in detail below.
III. Responsible Action, repeating from our letter of June 28, 2017, to the Cambridge City Council.
The responsible thing to do is to implement the wishes of the legislature when the legislature destroyed the Metropolitan District Commission, in part to protect the Charles River from the destruction of its irresponsible “planners” in conjunction with the irresponsible “planners” of the Cambridge Development Department, and their controlled fake “protective groups.”
The reprehensible MDC “planners” took their irresponsible plans to the Department of Conservation and Recreation. They and the CDD and the Cambridge City Council are proceeding to implement those irresponsible plans. Hundreds of MOSTLY EXCELLENT trees have already been destroyed on the Charles River, as demonstrated in my videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o, and https://youtu.be/dWyCdcWMuAA.
Behave in a manner consistent with the proclamations of environmental sainthood on the steps of City Hall on April 24, 2017. Fulfill the wishes of the legislature when the legislature destroyed the MDC.
Reverse Order 1 of April 24, 2017.
Prevent any and all alternate sources of funding for this and for ALL SIMILAR OR RELATED outrages, including but not limited to actions of the legislature.
Reverse the destruction of the 2000s by Cambridge and the DCR / MDC.
Oppose the secret fine print in the blatantly deceptive Davis communication. My analysis was provided in a separate letter in the communications a little before the June 6, 2017 letter. I have posted my analysis of the Davis nonsense to the Secretary / CEO of Transportation at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-con-game-fights-for.html, and the analysis attached to that letter of the CDD and its fake protective groups at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-con-game-fights-for.html. The official record is filed a little before my June 6, 2017 letter.
Give the DCR’s powers on the Charles River to the Department of Transportation which has split the former MDC powers with the DCR since the MDC was properly destroyed. MassDOT is not perfect. The DCR and “planners” of the CDD approach being perfect from the wrong direction.
Hopefully, City Manager DePasquale will clean up the outrages remaining from the preceding 42 years of three destructive City Managers by severely pruning the destructiveness of the CDD, which fits hand in glove with the reprehensible DCR / MDC.
In the meantime, I have provided you photos of 4 more trees destroyed by the DCR as part of this outrage, including some really good photos. These, bringing accomplished destruction up to 5, are the first to be destroyed of the very terrible destruction of 54, now 56, MOSTLY EXCELLENT TREES on the Charles River IN ADDITION TO THE HUNDREDS ALREADY DESTROYED east of the BU Bridge.
FIVE supposed justifications for this destruction have now been destroyed. The “justification” for Order 1 is rapidly going to EVEN MORE indisputable non existence.
IV. Lies, outright lies and flat out fraud. An analysis for newcomers and for people who need a refresher.
The following is edited from the beginning of my letter of June 6, 2017 to the Cambridge City Council. These 51 pages provide a detailed analysis of the 54, now 56, trees at Magazine Beach for whose destruction the Cambridge City Council has voted to seek funding. This occurred in order number 1 of April 24, 2017, following a rally on City Hall steps by City Councilors praising themselves for their self-proclaimed environmental saintliness.
This analysis is being repeated because readers may need repetition of key issues. Editing has been done in an attempt to isolate the key issues.
People who wish to review the full 51 page analysis are encouraged to review it from the City Clerk’s detailed agenda preparatory to the City Council meeting at which the City Council received the letter. The official record of the letter is posted at http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1815&Inline=True, pages 198 to 249. This is a large document which is part of a truly massive document containing everything being considered at that meeting. There can be a significant delay in loading it. Should you prefer, we have PDF versions at a size transmittable (5 files) over the Internet. Please just give us a request at boblat@yahoo.com.
* * * *
A relevant, and true, comparison that can be made to Order 1 of April 24, 2017, is to compare the 54 trees (now 56) 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.
I was recently very much impressed by this grove. Then it came to me.
[Ed. A photo of this grove was watermarked on the first page of the letter. It appeared under the text at the beginning of the June 4, 2017 letter. Here the photo it is straight out.]
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.
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 Barber’s words have 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.
* * *
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Department, took skillfully worded fraud and converted the skillfully worded fraud to call the skillfully worded fraud an absolute (and false) “truth.”
V. Links to Official Report, Prior Reports in this Series.
The official and complete Cambridge, MA, USA, City Council record of the letter to them detailing the destruction they supported by that order is posted by the Cambridge City Clerk at http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1815&Inline=True, pages 198 to 249. It is part of a very large file and takes some time to load.
PDF copies of this filing with the City Council / City Manager may be obtained directly by email from boblat@yahoo.com
Prior Reports in this series may be viewed at:
Part 1, June 10, 2017, repeating Section 1, Introduction, of the Report, in
Charles River: What is being destroyed next, Part 1 at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-what-is-being-destroyed.html.
Part 2, June 11, 2017 Repeating Sections 2, Northeast Corner of the Playing Fields; and 3, Parking Lot of Playing Fields, of the Report, in:
Charles River: What is being destroyed next, Part 2, “Dead and Dying” reality of Magazine Beach, Early History of the Outrages, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-what-is-being-destroyed_11.html
Part 3, June 14, 2017, Repeating Sections 4, Southern Edge of Playing Fields; 5, The Starvation Wall; and 6, The middle of the playing fields. Poison usage. Drainage for poisons that should not be used. of the Report, in:
Charles River, MA: Magazine Beach Playing Fields Destruction, Council report part 3, sections 4 to 6, Starvation Wall, Use of Poisons, Some Dead Trees, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-ma-magazine-beach-playing.html
Part 4, repeating section 7, The Start of the BIG Destruction, Northern Edge of Playing Fields, in:
Charles River, MA: Magazine Beach Playing Fields Destruction, Council report part 3, sections 7, The Start of the BIG Destruction, Northern Edge of Playing Fields, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-ma-magazine-beach-playing_16.html
Part 5, repeating section 8, Northeast Hill, Northwest playing fields, in:
Charles River, MA, USA: Magazine Beach Destruction Plans, Council report part 5, section 8, at the Pedestrian Overpass, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-ma-usa-magazine-beach.html.
Part 6, repeating section 9, Destruction of the Magnificent Grove dominating the Playing Fields.
Charles River, MA, USA: Planned Destruction of Magazine Beach 6, to City Council, section 9, Destruction of the Magnificent Grove dominating the Playing Fields, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-ma-usa-planned.html
Part 7, Charles River, MA: Magazine Beach Destruction: Part 7, Destruction Starts, at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/charles-river-ma-magazine-beach.html
Part 8, Charles River, MA: Magazine Beach Destruction: Part 8, EARLY Destruction Proceeds, Doomed Trees Rise from 54 to 56, July 1, 2017.
Posted at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/charles-river-ma-magazine-beach.html.
Part 9, Charles River, MA: Magazine Beach Destruction: Part 9, southeast hill with magnificent doomed Willow, s. 10 of report, update on magnificent overhanging grove, July 3, 2017, Posted at:
http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/charles-river-ma-magazine-beach_3.html
