By voting for destruction on Magazine Beach on April 24, 2017, the Cambridge City Council made itself one of the key villains, as is very much too common. They do a lot of lying to their constituents by doing the terrible stuff fast and hiding it in silence, followed by non stop lovely actions, frequently of negligible meaning, in the meetings. They then brag about the next to meaningless stuff. So I am responding, and the responses are highly appropriate for these reports.
Last Monday, October 16, the Cambridge City Council had three lovely items on their agenda. I have checked to see what they did with the lovely items, but I have not been able to access the actions on line yet. Normally the lovely items are approved without negative comment.
Here is my formal response to the lovely stuff on October 16. My response will be part of their meeting package next Monday. It is addressed to the City Manager and City Council.
The extended quote is of Phil Barber, the biggest RESPONSIBLE expert on the Magazine Beach area. I will have to follow up with a correction identifying him as the author of this material.
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RE: Bees, trees and poisons.
Gentlemen / Ladies:
I have reviewed with interest order 8 and committee reports 1 and 2 of October 16, 2017.
All these lovely words from the city council, of course, have no value given the reality which is order 1 of April 24, 2017, in which nine city councilors voted to destroy 56 mostly excellent trees on Magazine Beach, and have, since June 6, 2017, completely ignored our extensive, 51 page, report debunking of claims of “dead or dying” in that order.
It is to be noted that members of the public in the committee meetings expressed distress at the failure of just yelling at the other guy. Members of the public have expressed concern about public destruction.
The bee zoning ordinance gets into another part of the public outrage which exists on the Charles River with the apparent support of the City Council, while yelling at the other guy.
I have received the following report on Magazine Beach. The comments pick up as noticing a clear omission in propaganda put out by the local fake protective group people, by which they are lying that they are protecting Magazine Beach. This sort of nonsense has been common from the Company Union groups since their inception in 1974.
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What I don’t see in it and probably not surprisingly is the. . . large number of sick bees I’ve been noticing there all summer and especially now at the end of the season. I have seen many bumblebees who appear to be suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder (Monsanto’s infamous Roundup herbicide has been linked to this disaster and is banned by the EU I think because of it). They are lethargic and disoriented, even on warm days, and you can find dead ones in the AM who perished overnight unable to find their way back to the hive. There are a fair number of honeybees there as well, who seem to be less affected. It feels like the world is dying all around us and no one is noticing.
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The reality is that CAMBRIDGE AND THE DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation) love poisons on the banks of the Charles River, and the blank check in order 1 of April 24, 2017, reemphasizes this love.
In the 2000's, under the leadership of subsequent City Manager Rossi, Cambridge and the DCR started poisoning the previously responsibly managed Magazine Beach playing fields.
Part of the outrage of the 2000's was the fraudulent claims that playing fields were being improved. Part of the fraud is that playing fields were reduced in size to drain off poisons which should not even be used. At the top of the next page is a photo of part of the silly poison drainage system.
Draining off poisons which should not be there does not protect resident animals, INCLUDING BEES, and draining off poisons does not protect human beings rolling in poison-managed grasses.
The DCR has expressed an intent to replace the existing failed poison drinking grass on the playing fields with other grasses which, of course, will be maintained with poisons. The DCR has shown intention to expand its lovely poison drinking grasses to the portion of Magazine Beach west of the playing fields. It is, of course, silly to expect that that area or the area east of the BU Bridge will be managed responsibly.
That first blight occurred the day after the DCR reacted to what it considered inadequate response to its lovely poisons on Ebersol Fields next to the Massachusetts General Hospital. The DCR dumped more lovely poisons on Ebersol Fields to “improve” performance. The new lovely poisons were marked “Do not use near water.” The new lovely poisons could have been Round-Up.
It is thus no surprise that the infestation recurs annually.
Reality is that, as long as the DCR persists in management of the Charles River, outrages will multiply.
Implement your lovely words. Yelling at the other guy is useless if you are on the wrong side when it counts.
Have the legislature get rid of this belligerently irresponsible agency in favor of the not perfect Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MassDOT is not perfect. Like other human entities it does occasionally make mistakes. The DCR belligerently approaches being perfect, on the wrong side.
Reverse, as much as possible, the outrages of the 2000's and the outrages so far in the 2010's.
In particular,
● rescind order 1 of April 24, 2017,
● rescind the nonsense about Magazine Beach Boat Dock “improvements” in the CPA package,
● modify Grand Junction plans to eliminate the stalking horse changes south of Memorial Drive which, in reality,
move closer a new Inner Belt providing a private exit from the Mass. Pike to MIT with ramps to Memorial Drive, and which, as well,
are clearly hostile to the environment and to animals south of Memorial Drive.
● help out bicyclists by removing that portion of the current Grand Junction plans which make longer than necessary the distance bicyclists must go to get to Memorial Drive from the bike highway on the Grand Junction. We have shown you two responsible alternatives, one proposed by MIT.
● reverse the multiple starvation attacks on the 36 year resident and tourist and scholar attractive Charles River White Geese:
the Starvation Wall and the nonsensical vegetation, etc. north of the still present, but rendered unusable boat dock of the 20th Century on Magazine Beach,
the blocked entrance to keep them from grasses under Memorial Drive.
the shoreline modifications which keep them from their 36 year feeding area across from the Hyatt.
the poisons.
Sincerely,
Robert J. La Trémouille,
Individually, and as Chair,
Friends of the White Geese
P.S. Here is a photo of the massive grove overhanging the Magazine Beach playing fields. The Cambridge City Council voted to destroy this grove in Order 1 of April 24, 2017.
