1. Introduction.
2. Phil’s update.
A. The Blocked Poison Drainage Ditch (Swale).
B. The Sand apparently delivered by the City of Cambridge.
C. Other observations.
3. Summary.
1. Introduction.
I am in a bind. Phil has filed a report following up on my recent posts concerning dumping of sand in a parking lot at Magazine Beach, apparently by the City of Cambridge, and on Fake Protectors blocking poison drainage ditches. I have started the report with extended background analysis of these problems. I gave up on the background analyses because they became so long that they wiped out the updates.
The report on the blocking of the poison drainage facilities is posted at https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/re-charles-river-destruction-on-charles.html.
The report which spun out of the dumping of the sand is posted at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2018/04/charles-river-whatever-proceeds-on.html.
The reality is that I cannot repeat these prior posts without this update getting out of control.
Please check the prior posts if I am confusing you.
Here is a repeat of my marked up of a Massachusetts Department of Transportation photo which I cropped to make it only show the Magazine Beach playing fields.
The Starvation Wall lines the Charles with exactly one opening, the brown gap we have marked “II” in dark blue toward the bottom right.
The “I” is our indication of the direction of the piles of sand. It is placed in the parking lot near that blocked boat dock, but actually the sand was slightly further higher and not really in the photo.
Toward the middle of the photo is an area marked with “II.” That is the blocked poison drainage system.
Here is Phil’s Photo of the sand piles, apparently dumped there by the City of Cambridge. Toward the left rear is the “bridge” which really functions to block use of the boat dock.
And my now stock photo of the blocked poison drainage system. Phil knows the technical terms. He uses the word “swales” for what I call “poison drainage systems.”
2. Phil’s update.
Phil reports that the sand has been completely dispersed, and NONE of it has gone in the area of the boat dock which is where I thought it would go.
Phil has marked up the photos, and provides other comments. My comments are in brackets.
Phil: I captioned all the pix but to recap
A. The Blocked Poison Drainage Ditch (Swale).
The fearsome Phragmites are making a dynamic comeback, spiking up everywhere, even through some of the ugly black tarps! [Sarcasm.]
The algae is blooming already in the stagnant standing water (this view is just below the baseball diamond)
[Another “achievement: Algae growing in the water prevented from draining by the tarps blocking the drainage. Algae is another “achievement” of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The Charles River sees an annual blight of it which dates back to a year when the DCR decided that their beloved poisons were not doing a good enough job at Ebersol Fields near Massachusetts General Hospital, perhaps a mile downriver from Magazine Beach. So they dumped poisons marked “Do not use near water.” The annual blight started the next day? This algae is yet another example of terrible achievements by a terrible bureaucracy and its robots. But now, Cambridge is apparently getting openly involved.
[Responsible solution: Replace DCR with Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The DCR is way beneath the level of competence appropriate for the job. The apparent involvement of the Cambridge Development Department, adds to the common sense of bringing in MassDOT. And, of course, the Fake Protector have very strong opinions. They go to DCR and CDD to find out what those very strong opinions are.]
B. The Sand apparently delivered by the City of Cambridge.
The mounds of sand we saw have been spread out over all the playing fields.
A (possibly) experimental trench was cut at the edge of one of the swales, where the earth under the turf appears to have been mixed with sand.
[The blue fence to the left is around the baseball fields. Since the BU buildings are in the background, this sand is between the playing fields and the blocked poison drainage ditch, probably west of the prior photo. The first of these two photos the blocked poison drainage system in the rear.]
C. Other observations.
[This] photo shows one of the two oddly domed drains at the bottom of the field. Don't know if they go into the river or the sewer system
[This photo shows the blocked poison drainage and a little of the blue playing field fence.]
There are also red and green tags tied to a number of the small saplings in the other swale. The red (for removal?) are all Norway maples as far as I can tell, with sugar maples tagged in green (to keep?). All are younger specimens.
[We are dealing with very destructive people.]
3. Summary.
Thanks to Phil for the update.
The Cambridge City Manager in his budget for the fiscal year starting July corrects the lies being put out that the boat dock work is a “new” boat dock. He describes it as upgrading work.
Nevertheless, the signs which were next to the sand when dumped definitely look like Cambridge DPW (Department of Public Works), and the City Manager does not seem to report work away from the boat dock, such as Phil reports.
Confusing.
