Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Updates from Magazine Beach on the Charles River with different levels of destruction imminent.

Updates from Magazine Beach on the Charles River with different levels of destruction imminent.

1. Lay of the land.
2. Phil Barber Reports
3. Coming.


1. Lay of the land.

We have been reporting to you of multiple outrages at Magazine Beach.  ALTHOUGH IT IS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS REPORT, on Monday night, the destructive City Council in Cambridge, MA, USA, has taken steps which could make things worse.

Phil Barber has updates.

Here are a couple of file photos to place you in perspective.

First is an overhead photo from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s environmental filing concerning the rebuild project on I90 in Boston across the Charles River.  This is the relevant part of key photo.  The second photo is a view of Magazine Beach from the Boston side of the river.




The perspective in both photos are very much the same.

In both photos, the area Phil is photographing is on the right.

In the shot from across the river, you can clearly see the Starvation Wall which has been installed to keep the Charles River White Geese from feeding / living at their home for most of the time since 1981.  The opening is the boat dock which was destroyed in the 2000's outrages by having its access to land blocked.

In the overhead shot, the starvation wall can be seen stretching the entire length of the Magazine Beach Playing fields, and the same tiny opening is visible near the lower right.  A lot of the trees in the left are being destroyed by the environmentally destructive Cambridge City Coumcil.   Note thje ball field inland from the opening.  There is a parking lot barely visible in the overhead shot, the gray asphalt.

2. Phil Barber Reports

I finally had some time Sat to get to MB & found: the dock project begun, sign up, construction fencing up; the Phragmites growing back nicely, even pushing through the tarps & undisturbed in the area further back from the path (I tend to think this reinforces my theory that the homeless man storing his belongings in the reeds near the path last summer is why they decided the reeds had to go, as that area is still bare and they're not paying attention to them elsewhere); and finally a very large group of "teenage" Canada goslings, about thirty in three families traveling together.

[ed: This photo is west of the destroyed boat dock which is being renovated.  The greenery to the right is the Starvation Wall which makes the playing fields on the Charles River the equivalent of being 10 miles from the Charles River.  Its overwhelming purpose is to keep the Charles River White Geese from their food of most of the last 37 years

[The softball field which can be seen in the overhead shot is probably to the left of the camera.

[The sign in the next photo can be seen way up on the left.  The fencing at the left is the contractor’s demarkation of the dock work, whatever it is, and it, based on many years of outrages is probably destructive.  ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT IS SECRET]


[Ed: The destroyed boat dock and the only opening in the Starvation Wall is to the right, with the Charles River ahead.  The “bridge” prevents access to the destroyed boat dock because it is too narrow to use and probably not strong enough.  Additionally, there are bollards at the left end, which is the parking lot end.

[As a result of the second round of destruction in the 2000's, the bridge is above introduced wetlands.  It originally crossed an artificially created pond bare feet from the Charles River.  The Charles River White Geese loved the pond and crossed it to get to food.  So it “had to go.”

[Of interest is the placement of the sign on top of a bunch of dirt in the middle of the introduced wetlands.  The introduced wetlands, whatever the plans are, would appear to be on the verge of being gone.]


[Ed.  Horrors, these are the reeds (Phil uses the correct name) which the Cambridge Development Departments’ designated “Charles River Protectors” are determined to destroy because they grow without contractors receiving any payments in the process.]


[And here is the second level of blockage of the poisons drainage system to kill free, beautiful vegetation which has the nerve to grow without contractors being paid.  This blockage moves the poisons which were introduced by Cambridge and the state in the 2000's away from the expensive poison drainage system and into the Charles, although we have previously published a photo of algae accumulation created by blocking drainage of the introduced poisons.

[Prior to the outrages of the 2000's, the Playing Fields were responsibly managed without poisons, but Cambridge and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation do a lot of lying about environmental sainthood which, in reality is belied by a lot of irresponsible stuff.]


[Ed: And the lovely Canadas and their adolescent babies.]


3. Coming.

The exact nature of this particular destruction was kept so secret that it was not even in the documentation for the funds which the Cambridge City Council voted.

Additionally, and very likely not that far in the future, ALSO AS SECRET AS POSSIBLE, is the imminent destruction of 56 mostly excellent trees and related outrages voted for by the Cambridge City Council on April 24, 2017, pretty much immediately after a rally on City Hall steps lying about their environmental sainthood.

My letter of June 6, 2017 to the Cambridge City Council provided photos of all the trees in the Magazine Beach Recreation area and attempted to match the photos to the only two publicly outstanding plans.

That is on line at http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1815&Inline=True, pages 198 to 249, the official city council record on line.  There have been multiple follow ups included early destruction which in itself is outrageous.