Thursday, December 08, 2022

Cambridge City Council Communication Censored by City Clerk’s Office?

Cambridge City Council Communication Censored by City Clerk’s Office?

1. The Situation.

2. Follow on communication.

3. The History.


1. The Situation.

My last blog post presented a distressing report which was the blog version of a letter which SHOULD HAVE BEEN received by the Cambridge City Council on Monday.  It is posted at:  https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-terrible-dcr-falsely-claims.html.  

The letter was damning.  Unfortunately, damning situations are altogether too normal with regard to the Charles River in the habitat of the Charles River White Geese.

The Cambridge City Council has recently changed its policies on timing of delivery to the Cambridge City Clerk of communications to be received at its Monday meeting.  The deadline used to be 3 pm the preceding Thursday.  The change made the deadline 12 pm the preceding Thursday.  The letter was received AND STAMPED AS RECEIVED at 11:41 am the preceding Thursday.  Here is a copy of the acknowledgment.

At about 9 pm on December 5, 2022, I checked the city council agenda for the meeting which was then ongoing or had been completed.  I checked the list of communications carefully and repeatedly.  

My communication did not appear.

At the upper right hand corner is the City Clerk Office’s date stamp, December 1, 2022, 11:41 am.

The list of communications is all that most people are aware of in the agendas.

The communications presented to the City Council are, of necessity in different format than appear in the various posting on line.  I have a PDF copy of the City Council submission.  PDF copies are very much not compatible with efficient on line practices, but I would be pleased to provide the PDF of the communication which did not reach the City Council.  Please email me at boblat@yahoo.com.  Make your request clear in the subject line.  Junk mail is a nightmare, and communications from new names stand a very good chance of being trashed.


2. Follow on communication.

December 6, 2022, I delivered a city council communication to the City Clerk’s office.  As has been my custom, I co-addressed the communication to the City Manager and the City Clerk. This communication acknowledged “cc”’s to the City Clerk and City Solicitor.

The communication read:

* * * *

RE: Yet another properly filed document CENSORED from the City Council Agenda.

Enclosed is the first page of a 20 page document (including attachments) filed with, stamped by and accepted by the City Clerk at 11:49 am on December 1, 2022, clearly ahead of the 12:00 pm deadline to get in the City Council agenda for December 5, 2022

It is not there.  The rules modifications are very clear.  This fits a REPEATED FAILURE of the City Clerk’s Office to fulfill its duty to process our communications in a clear manner, including making the full public notice required thereof. 

In the past, our communications have repeatedly been CENSORED by hiding them in all sort of bizarre locations.  Nightmares have delayed communications as much as a month at particular time.

This repeated censorship fits the established practice of HIDING actions in this part of the Charles River from the public and the public record.  As PARTIALLY objected to in this CENSORED letter.

Outrageous.

We object!!!!

* * * *

The title used the word “CENSORED.”  There is no intention to state whether censorship was deliberate or accidental.  The reality is that it was censored.


3. The History.

The censored letter included two attachments.  Both are included in the blog post.

Attachment 1 is a PARTIAL résumé of my activities in the most politically controversial part of the City of Cambridge.  Here is that attachment.



Since 1974, I have been active in Cambridge politics with emphasis on planning issues, property use and transportation.

My first zoning activity was in 1978.  The résumé has two pages.  The first page is a table which functions as an explanation of the second page, which is a map of the Harvard Square - Central Square portion of Cambridge including residential neighborhoods above and below Massachusetts Avenue, which street connects the two squares.

The upper left corner of the map has inserted several blocks north of Harvard Square directly north of Harvard Law School and including residence halls.  That area is also abuts Leslie University.  That area was my first experience in zoning.  I worked together with residents to protect a small scale neighborhood (by Cambridge standards) of housing threatened by expansion both by Leslie and Harvard.  It was a major victory.

In the years since then, I helped out many neighborhood groups.  A key factor in our activities AT ALL TIMES has been to keep the groups separate from “neighborhood associations” recognized by the City of Cambridge in the areas.  This separation is needed from fear of destructive membership, to put it mildly.

The people I advised have had strong records of achieving their goals.  People dealing with recognized neighborhood associations too often have achieved the opposite of their goals.

In my activities, I have kept an eye on the composition of the Cambridge City Council.  My activities always allowed for the proclivities of members on issues of interest to me.  I advised people to avoid “bad” city councils and to approach “good” city councils.

City Councils have varied from election to election.  The thing that has not varied has been the office of the City Clerk.  The City Clerk’s office simply and professionally did their job.  UNTIL AFTER THE RETIREMENT OF DONNA LOPEZ.

Since then, THINGS HAVE HAPPENED WHICH SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.  It is impossible to say where the problem is.  It could be in an employee or employees in the office.  It could be in the City Clerk position.  It could be in the failure of the City Clerk position to supervise employees.  Donna was the last of a series of internal promotions.  Thus Donna knew how the office had been run.  Donna’s first successor was external and thus was not familiar with practices.  The name of the latest City Clerk is not familiar to me.  I do not know if she is external or an internal promotion.

The reality, however, is that communications NEVER DISAPPEARED OR HAD BIZARRE HANDLINGS before the retirement of Donna Lopez.  Communications were automatically presented to the City Council at its next meeting as long as deadlines were met.  A communication which missed the deadline would be presented at the following meeting.

Since Donna’s retirement, there have been difficulties getting communications to the City Council.  Mishandlings have suddenly appeared which NEVER occurred before Donna’s retirement.  I had a communication which took a month to get to the City Council and the City Council’s PUBLIC list of communications.

People might not know the exact details of the communications in the list, but they knew there was something there, and could find the communication should they go to the effort.

The communication which did not make the list of communications is damning.  And SOMEHOW it did not make the list of communications

Saturday, December 03, 2022

The terrible DCR falsely claims sainthood on the Charles, ONCE AGAIN.

The terrible DCR falsely claims sainthood on the Charles, ONCE AGAIN.

The following report was submitted in hard copy on December 1, 2022 to the Cambridge City Manager, and to the Cambridge City Clerk for the Cambridge City Council’s December 5, 2002 meeting, with a copy mailed to the Chair of the Cambridge Department of Public Works.  Format and corresponding references are modified to fit the needs of this blog.

* * * * 

1. Phil Barber reports

2. “Value,” coming destruction.

3. Partial History of the Shore of the Charles River at Magazine Beach.  The playing fields, the area Phil’s sign lies of concern about.

A. DCR and Cambridge poisoned the Charles River through the Government Contractor who is pawned off as supposedly the TOTAL sum of interested people concerning the Charles River in this area.

B. The area being “protected.” according to the DCR propaganda / sign.

4. ADDENDUM: Cambridge Conservation Commission Meetings look like they have been essentially secret to the public since the beginning of 2022 or earlier.

Attachments:.  The writer’s partial activist résumé; the last known depiction of DCR irresponsible plans at Magazine Beach.  See below.


1. Phil Barber reports

Two Reports Edited and combined for better understanding by the Reader:

* * * *

There is a new sign at the fenced in area of the Magazine Beach playing fields- but no trees of the mentioned species were planted there (or were there originally) and the planted shrubs died from neglect the same season they were planted, what was it, four years ago.

[ed: here is the copy of the sign included in the report.]



Blames "goose droppings" for river pollution too.

However did nature manage before we came along?!

They also put up another sign about "invasives" and the need to police them lest they "crowd out native species". What utter nonsense. This isn't a pristine natural wetland, it's manmade landfill in the heart of a most unnatural ecosystem, a human city.  Whatever flourishes there on its own accord is the native species! People can be such egomaniacal idiots. In every handful of soil at Magazine Beach there are literally billions of living organisms, 99.99% of which are unknown to science.

A third sign invites people to notice the bark on shrubs chewed on by cute little bunnies in the winter in their desperate struggle not to starve to death in the dying season. Look for signs of native animals, it says. The ones they also think they have the right to regulate. Pretty little songbirds, lovely, rats, evil!

One thing on that first sign, it does mention cottonwoods. It's vexed me no end that the idiots identify that stand of big cottonwoods as poplars in their plans. Not a small thing in my opinion for these dedicated nature buffs to make such a carelessly mistaken observation.


2. “Value,” coming destruction.

It is extremely difficult to nicely analyze the behavior of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Cambridge City Council, together with the supporting bastions of great language at Mass. Audubon and other lovely sounding entities.

Here is my video of the construction on the Charles River of which the latest outrages are a continuation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o.  This outrage was supported by lovely sounding entities.

The most important concept to understand is the word “value” as used by the construction lobby and friends of the construction lobby to which these entities pay homage.

“Value” in this world is value to a contractor.  

[Ed: Red text box enclosed the following.  Then resumed in normal text.

* * * *

WHO MADE MONEY HERE?

WHO CAN MAKE MONEY HERE?

* * * *

ANYTHING WHICH DOES NOT PROVIDE MONEY TO THE CONTRACTORS HAS NO “VALUE” IN THEIR WORLD.

Things which “lack value” are things which grow or live WITHOUT CONTRACTORS MAKING MONEY.

EXISTING, MAGNIFICENT TREES AND FREE ANIMALS PROVIDE NO MONEY TO CONTRACTORS.  

IN THIS WORLD, EXCELLENT TREES, VEGETATION AND ANIMALS HAVE NO “VALUE.” BECAUSE NO CONTRACTOR IS MAKING MONEY FROM THEM.

AS FAR AS THE CONTRACTORS ARE CONCERNED, THOSE EXCELLENT TREES, VEGETATION AND ANIMALS ARE IN THE WAY OF CONTRACTORS MAKING MONEY.

SO DESTROY THEM, WHICH IS WHAT THE DCR AND CAMBRIDGE AND FRIENDS ARE DOING AND HAVE BEEN DOING.

My video of the beginning of this accelerating outrage shows their SICK value system in operation in January 2016.  It is posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o.  This video includes destruction of the excellent Wild Area to the east of the BU Bridge in addition to the accomplished destruction of hundreds of trees between the BU and Longfellow Bridges.  They did not get it done then, it seems to be targeted now.  Comments in the video about outrages coming at the Magazine Beach playing fields have been started and worse.

The area destroyed in January 2016 was planned to run from the BU Bridge to the Longfellow Bridge, the second bridge east of the BU Bridge.  For unknown reasons, the area nearest the BU Bridge was not destroyed THEN.

We will proceed with stills from “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw.  This first still is from minute 9.28.



The B.U. Bridge is slightly off camera below the bottom of the still.  The first bridge above it is the Mass. Ave. Bridge.  Barely visible beyond it is the Longfellow Bridge.  Hundreds of mostly excellent trees as shown in the video were destroyed in this area.

Under the latest games, the Cambridge City Council looks like it is working with the DCR to destroy this thick woods, the Wild Area, through maneuvers which remove its destruction from public view.  By the bizarre definitions which exist in this world, the ONLY “public” review will be by a government contractor who POISONED THE CHARLES RIVER as agent for the DCR with help from the City of Cambridge.  Although she might invite some friends to rubber stamp her.

The building to the right of the Wild Area in this photo is across Memorial Drive from the bottom building in the above still.


The figures in the water are a group of the Charles River White Geese hunting for food.

Here, from minute 1.59 above the river is the EASTERN portion of the area currently being targeted by the DCR and the Cambridge City Council.  For most of the last 42 years, this was the main land habitat of the tourist and resident loved Charles River White Geese.  

To the far right, beyond the BU Bridge is the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese and the Wild Area.  The Charles River White Geese went to their nesting area in the spring and for protection against bad weather.  Their habitat extended about over about a mile of the Charles River and its banks centered on the BU Bridge.

Here is a photo of part of the tourist and resident loved gaggle during the winter admiring the Charles from their Destroyed Nesting Area.  They are standing under the railroad bridge, which is visible above their heads.  Below the White Geese are visiting Canada Geese.


I have repeatedly provided the Cambridge City Council with the PUBLISHED destruction plans of the two destructive entities on Magazine Beach in the area shown and the area to its west / left in the photo.  The report contrasts plans with photos of targeted trees.  It is posted on the Charles River White Geese Blog at http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/ar1.htm.  

A lot of destruction has already been accomplished, featuring destruction with city funding.  The funding votes have been accomplished with the maximum possible secrecy and without meaningful public presentation.

The original plans were to destroy 54 mostly excellent trees.  That destruction number has passed 60.

Here are the destruction plans for the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese and the Wild Area.  A photo in live is on page 3, above.

Below  are the destruction plans which have been pending since 2009 for the Wild Area, but have NOT YET been implemented.


The Wild Area is the thick wood to the right of the Railroad both in the photo on page 3 and in the 2009 plans.  In the plans the railroad is the thin vaguely diagonal and vertical lines running up and down  in the middle.

Note that EXACTLY ONE tree is NOT DESTROYED in the plan.  The most recent outrage is games by the Cambridge City Council and the DCR apparently to proceed with destruction AS SECRETLY AS POSSIBLE.

The following  enlargement blows up the ONE TREE (number 535) not being destroyed and the lying code which gives the impression that the map is meaningful while omitting almost all trees in the Wild Area..


Future plans are to be “publicly” reviewed ONLY by the GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR who poisoned the Charles River for the DCR (see following section).  She may or may not invite friends to rubber stamp her.  This is a GOVERNMENT BREAK-OUT of THE LATEST, DELIBERATELY SECRET initiative.  The break-out would have “meaningful public review” far less than even  “meaningful” reviews as such “reviews” are allowed in Cambridge with its fake protective groups so common.

Details are posted at:  https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2022/07/memorial-drive-phase-3-fraud-on-charles_27.html.


3. Partial History of the Shore of the Charles River at Magazine Beach.  The playing fields, the area Phil’s sign lies of concern about.

A. DCR and Cambridge poisoned the Charles River through the Government Contractor who is pawned off as supposedly the TOTAL sum of interested people concerning the Charles River in this area.

The native and non-native terms as used on the Charles River fit the same mold as “VALUE” and “NO VALUE.”  In the bizarre world with whom we are dealing.  Excellent vegetation and the LAST REFUGE OF FREE ANIMALS ON THE CHARLES RIVER (the Wild Area, and to its left in the above presentations) have “NO VALUE.”

Contractors are not making money on them.

Here is another sign which has been on Magazine Beach longer.  This is my compilation of three photos by Phil to present that hypocrisy.  


The sign explicitly says the DCR and Cambridge are preventing poisoning of the Charles River by poisons INTRODUCED INTO THIS FORMERLY PRISTINE AREA BY THE TWO IN THE LATE 2000's.

Here is how the DCR through the Charles River Poisoner poisoned the Charles River, WITH DCR MONEY AND DCR “volunteers” mostly from outside of Cambridge.

First, here is a still from Minute 10.26.  It is a blow up of a much closer shot than provided above.


The Starvation Wall at the top deliberately takes their food away from the Charles River White Geese, along with the introduction of poisoning of that food after a Century in which Magazine Beach had been pristine.

The areas of vegetation below the Starvation Wall were created to drain the DCR and Cambridge poisons off and KEEP THEM OUT OF THE CHARLES RIVER as is stated on the above sign.

The Charles River Poisoner and her DCR funders were horrified to see vegetation in the drainage area that did not have payments to contractors involved in their growth.

The Charles River Poisoner, using “volunteers” and funds supplied by the DCR including Trump moneys destroyed much of the protective vegetation in the area created to KEEP THE DCR / CAMBRIDGE POISONS OUT OF THE CHARLES RIVER.

Here is part of what they did to “defend” the Charles from UNPAID, FREE EXCELLENT VEGETATION.December 1, 2022 [ed.  this date is date of submittal of the letter.  Apparently erroneously inserted in the text by a robot and I missed the "improvement."  Love those robots.]

They tore up healthy, vibrant vegetation and REPLACED IT WITH PLASTIC.


Here is a City of Cambridge truck picking up the valuable vegetation DESTROYED BY THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER who is now the only entity allowed to participate in public review of projects in this area.  This and the damage photo were taken on December 7, 2017:


Here is a photo by Phil Barber from the river end of the destruction, to the left of the MEANINGFULLY INTRODUCED BLACK PLASTIC in the above photo.  May 2, 2018.


Here are Phil Barber photos of the algae which formed in the Charles River next to the Starvation Wall.  September 3, 2018.





Come 2019, the Charles River was so overrun with this stuff that a fake protective group which supported the January 2016 outrages started yelling about algae infestation.

At no time did any of the various fake protective groups associated with the DCR or the Cambridge City Council bother to notice the CREATION OF THE POISONS IN THE CHARLES RIVER BY THE DCR AND CAMBRIDGE THROUGH THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER.

Subsequently, the DCR with Cambridge funding supported an apparent boondoggle to clean up the poisoning which was CREATED BY THE DCR AND CAMBRIDGE THROUGH THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER.  I am unaware of any cessation by the DCR and Cambridge of their poison dumping next to the Charles River.

On the Boston side of the Charles River, A RESPONSIBLE AGENCY, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is working on rebuilding Interstate 90, a.k.a. The Massachusetts Turnpike, to correct deterioration of a raised portion because of age.  They are also straightening it out in an area which was formerly a rail yard.  This area abuts the western portion of Boston University and a residential neighborhood, plus the commercial district known as Allston Village.

The future resident (and current owner) of the rail yard is Harvard University.  This area is very clearly Harvard’s coming relocation of the professional schools which share the Harvard / Longwood Medical Area with massively expanding hospitals.  Harvard has floated its idea for a Deep Bore Red Line Subway spur to connect Harvard Square, the Allston Village Campus and the area in which the Harvard / Longwood Medical area is located.

Cambridge’s City Council has massively upzoned Harvard Square, rewarding Harvard to move facilities in Harvard Square to Harvard’s coming Allston Village Campus.  Harvard’s coming Allston Village campus is triangular, with the top of the triangle near the Allston Village business district.  That point is the obvious location for university housing, both moved from Harvard Square (thanks to the Cambridge City Council) and as needed to support the uses moved from the Harvard / Longwood Medical Area.

The Allston Village business district has been allowed to slide, obviously deferring maintenance for the coming campus AND COMING STUDENTS.  It already is a student Mecca, particularly for Boston University and Boston College.  It could readily replace the Harvard Square student Mecca.

As part of the legislature’s destruction of the Metropolitan District Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is tasked with management of open space being created in the process.

I have publicly questioned the DCR in an advisory committee meeting on the I90 Rebuild / Allston Village Campus project to determine if they intend to duplicate there the poisoning THEY AND CAMBRIDGE HAVE INSERTED ON THE CAMBRIDGE SIDE.

The DCR refused to comment.

Until about 2010 or so, the Metropolitan District Commission was responsible for all state lands abutting the Charles River.  The legislature destroyed the MDC.  Members of the legislature said they were responding to the destructiveness of the MDC.  Open space went to the DCR.  Highways went to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The terrible plans of the MDC are what underlie the outrages on the Cambridge side.  “Planners” of the MDC moved to the DCR and resumed destruction, WITH CAMBRIDGE SUPPORT.

MassDOT has frequently looked like the adult in the room with two spoiled, destructive brats.

Here, from minute 10.02 is a still of Harvard’s future Allston Village Campus.



B. The area being “protected.” according to the DCR propaganda / sign.

Here is a photo of the Charles River at the Playing Fields at the beginning of this outrage.  This shot was taken in mid-2006.  I think the photo was taken by a representative of the Metropolitan Water Resource Agency.


This is part of a collection of these photos.  It was taken as part of a memorial which was front paged on the Cambridge Chronicle in 2006.  

A service was conducted at that time on the environmental facility between the playing fields and the BU Bridge.  It was taken with the assistance of the MWRA which owns the facility, and which brought the original gaggle to the facility for protection.  Their guard dog passed away so they got White Geese who would raise a racket if a trespasser entered the pollution processing plan area.   

The memorial was for Bumpy, the long time leader of the gaggle of the Charles River White Geese.  A nut assassinated him in 2001.  The nut had apparently been killing nesting geese.  Friends of the White Geese begged the Cambridge City Council for protection.  They ignored our requests.  So the nut and friends raped and murdered a woman under and on the railroad bridge.  The Cambridge City Council spent an hour discussing the rape and murder.  They did not want to know WHERE it occurred.  One City Councilor accidentally mentioned the location.  She swallowed her words, looked around guiltily and joined her accomplices in not mentioning the location.

The Charles River White Geese, for most of the last 42 years fed and lived at Magazine Beach playing fields.

Here is the first view of the Charles River White Geese of the “improvements.” on September 4, 2008.


The Boston Sunday Globe featured a report on this act of heartless abuse.  The report led an internal section of the paper.

Remember the sainted Charles River Master Plan as written called for a “Lawn to the River.”

Here is the riverfront in 2012.


After the outrage to the left was created blocking access, the Charles River Master Plan was amended to delete the promised lawn to the river and allow this outrage.

And a cross section at the same time.

And from the Boston side.


The DCR and Cambridge walled off the banks of the Charles River with a bizarre wall of vegetation INSTEAD OF THE LAWN TO THE RIVER PROMISED IN THE SAINTED CHARLES RIVER MASTER PLAN AS PUBLISHED.

Sane people hated this bizarre wall since it made the Magazine Beach playing fields the equivalent of facilities ten miles from the Charles River.

By April 2021, the supposed protective work had started which is advertised by that sign which Phil blasted above


This is part of the area shown three pictures above and is a few hundred feet west of the cross section.

Instead of that wall 16 feet or more high, they are creating a wall six feet or so high in this area.  People and animals are still kept from traveling between most of the playing fields and the adjoining Charles River.  AND, AS FAR AS I KNOW, THE POISONS CONTINUE TO BE DUMPED ON THESE BANKS OF THE CHARLES RIVER.

Later in 2021:




Magazine Beach survived very well before 1997 or so when the Later Court Condemned City Manager Robert Healy and his fake protective groups started to publicize “improvements.”  Since then, the destructiveness of the incompetents far exceeds what little good they have done.  

[A footnote was inserted after the mention of Robert Healy.  It read as follows]

* * * * *

Monteiro v. Cambridge, trial court decision is posted at:  http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/judge-issues-decision-denying.html.  Appeals Court panel’s comments are posted at: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/appeals-court-decision-in-monteiro.html.  I say “comments” with care.  The Appeals Court panel SPECIFICALLY REFUSED TO DIGNIFY THE APPEAL OF THE CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL SUFFICIENTLY TO CALL THEIR COMMENTS AN “OPINION.”   This was an employee / women’s rights case in which Judge and Jury roundly damned Healy for destroying the life of a minority department manager because she had the nerve to expect equal pay for equal work.  The sequence of opinions may be summarized in one word about his behavior: “reprehensible.”  The guilty City Council saw one incumbent clearly fired in the next election, and a second fired for multiple reasons probably including this outrage during the next election.  [ed: sloppy wording. the second "next election is intended to refer to the election after the immediately following election.]

* * * *

Destruction of one of these fake protective groups was one of Friends of the White Geese’ first projects.

Healy was the middle of three related City Managers who assisted in the creation of a very real machine of what clearly look like fake protective groups which fool well meaning people into behavior contrary to their wishes.  

One of the first things the City Manager machine did when it returned to Cambridge in about 1974 was to declare that they wanted to create “neighborhood associations.”  One big reason was very clearly that the sire of the City Manager line, James Leo Sullivant and his then assistant, Robert Healy, were fired about seven years earlier as the result of INDEPENDENT groups organizing against the behavior of James Leo and friends.

Since the return of James Leo and the court condemned Robert Healy, a lot of “protective groups” predictably have appeared when the city’s development department has some sort of wild idea.  The “protective groups” sound great but have a strong tendency to deliver the opposite of what they claim to stand for.

Magazine Beach has been a tourist attraction because of the gaggle of free Charles River White Geese which have lived there for most of the last 42 years since the MWRA brought in their ancestors to protect the pollution control plant. 

The “plans” upon which the outrage was based included a” Charles River Master Plan” which supposedly is sainted, but which was almost immediately violated.  The plans called for a “lawn to the river” at the Magazine Beach playing fields which were the home most of the year of the beloved Charles River White geese.

The DCR and Cambridge provided the Starvation Wall to starve the Charles River White Geese, plus they started dumping poisons on the grass, their food.

The latest nonsense is the DCR / Cambridge City Council response to sane people objecting that the starvation wall created a situation where the Magazine Beach playing fields might as well be ten miles from the Charles River.  This silly addition is silly. 

From the point of view of the heartless animal abusers at the DCR and Cambridge City Council, it continues their heartless abuse of the Charles River by blocking access to their food while also, it would appear, continuing to poison that food.

4. ADDENDUM: Cambridge Conservation Commission Meetings look like they have been essentially secret to the public since the beginning of 2022.

Probably the most useful information on the outrages on the Charles River  has been divulged at the meetings of the Cambridge Conservation Commission.  I have been taken off the mailing list for agenda and that status has not been renewed in spite of various requests, including written requests to the City Council and City Manager

Here is a screen shot as of November 22, 2022, from the city’s on line records demonstrating that agendas, PREVIOUSLY AVAILABLE ON LINE TO THE PUBLIC, ARE NOW AS SECRET AS THE PENDING OUTRAGES ON THE CHARLES.


Agendas appear partially available to the public through the end of 2021.  They now look like they are for all practical purposes secret unless you go to staff and request particular papers.  But first you need to know what to look for.

Sincerely, 


Robert J. La Trémouille, Chair

Friends of the White Geese


cc: Owen O'Riordan, Commissioner

Cambridge Department of Public Works

147 Hampshire St.

Cambridge, MA 02139


Please note section 4 above.  We object.


Attachments [presented immediately following]:


1. A partial rendition of the author’s activist résumé showing property in the most controversial parts of Cambridge.

2. DCR generated map of plans agreed to by the Charles River Poisoner and provided by her to the Cambridge City Council in 2019.  I have divided up the plan into three parts for convenience of view.  These are not official filings of the DCR.  They are filings by the GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR who is presented to the public and government agencies as the equivalent of a meaningful neighborhood association.

Attachment 1



Attachment 2





Saturday, October 15, 2022

Update on Storrow Drive mess of 10/14/22. No impact on Charles River White Geese?

 Update on Storrow Drive mess of 10/14/22.  No impact on Charles River White Geese?

1. Introduction.

2. Update.

A. Phil Barber.

B. WBZ-TV, Channel 4.

C. Boston.com.

4. Context Analysis.


1. Introduction.

This follows up on yesterday’s report at https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2022/10/nasty-accident-on-boston-side-of-bu.html

There was a strikingly nasty accident with oil spill on Soldiers Field Road / Storrow Drive under the Boston End of the BU Bridge which abuts the ghetto in which the Charles River White Geese are heartlessly confined on the Cambridge side.


2. Update.


A. Phil Barber.

Phil Barber provided me with the following still from WBZ channel 4 yesterday after I had started distribution of our report.


B. WBZ-TV, Channel 4.

Post is dated 10/14/22, 12:37 pm

[A relevant photo disappeared while I was reading this.  It is a short report, fully quoted.]

BOSTON - Part of Storrow Drive was shut down for nearly 9 hours Friday morning after a tractor-trailer crashed, tore off its roof and spilled boxed sprouts and oil all over the road.

The truck hit the B.U. bridge on the eastbound side of the highway around 2 a.m. and rolled over. Massachusetts State Police said the driver, a 67-year-old man from Mattapoisett, was walking around when they arrived and he didn't appear hurt.

There's no word yet on what caused the crash. 

The Department of Environmental Protection was called in to help with the cleanup because of the oil that spilled from the truck.

The road re-opened around 11 a.m.

URL:  https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/storrow-drive-crash-boston-traffic-storrowed-truck/


C. Boston.com.

Boston.com’s report seems to be a direct quote from the state.  The relevant paragraph from:  https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/10/14/storrow-drive-truck-rollover-closes-road-morning-commute/?p1=recirc_mostpopular

"The parkway’s eastbound lanes remained closed through the morning commute, until around 11 a.m., as environmental officials cleaned up oil that had spilled from the truck. "


D. Short analysis.

Normally this sort of thing is from small box trucks with stupid students and family.

This driver was apparently a pro in a highly professional vehicle.  Analysis: apparently just another bad driver remaining on the road perhaps because of the terrible traffic enforcement by New England police.

The WBZ TV report is extremely brief about the oil spill, just comments that it was cleaned up.  If it were serious, they would have stated.

Similarly, they state that the contents and “oil” were spread “all over the road.”  Apparently no problem with pervious surfaces.

Boston.com seems to be quoting the state, and just mentions the clean up.  WBZ has the live camera report.  I assume they added that language.

The situation would APPEAR to be not harmful to the Charles River White Geese.

The structure visible in Phil’s still is the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge.


3. Context Analysis.

Here is a good shot of the area from “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 3, Drone footage, Drone footage, #3,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ciNKvj82d4, Minute 9.13.


The bridge which is most visible is the B.U. Bridge.  Running under it is the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge.  The triangular area on the right bounded by the two bridges and Memorial Drive is the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese to which the Charles River White Geese have been confined since they were driven off their core habitat on the Magazine Beach playing fields (above the bridge, beyond the brown roof) in 2007.  For most of their 42 year habitat on the Charles River, the Magazine Beach playing fields have been their core habitat and their food.  The food has been poisoned and access destroyed by a bizarre row of bushes.

The trees at the bottom are the Wild Area, which the Cambridge City Council, through an aid, has gotten the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to remove from public view in coming destruction on Memorial Drive.  TOTAL “Public” review of plans will very clearly be limited to the Charles River Poisoner and invited friends. 

Here is a better view of the Boston side from minute 4.39, taken from the opposite direction:


To the right is the Boston end of the Grand Junction railroad bridge.  Soldiers Field Road is next to the river.  The Magazine Beach playing fields are below the brown area on the left.

The accident occurred on Soldiers Field Road between the Grand Junction Bridge and the BU Bridge.  The Grand Junction Bridge is visible in the background of the Channel 4 still above.  That shot was apparently taken from the BU Bridge.

The BIG highway is I90 (Mass. Pike), but that is another story.  The road at which the BU Bridge ends on the right above I90 is Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.

Friday, October 14, 2022

Nasty accident on Boston Side of BU Bridge apparently does not impact Charles River White Geese, YET.

Nasty accident on Boston Side of BU Bridge apparently does not impact Charles River White Geese, YET.

New England has terrible drivers because of more than a century of terrible traffic enforcement.  

One of the nastier examples is the low ceiling underpass under the BU Bridge for the boulevard on the Boston side of the Charles River from the ghetto to which the Charles River White Geese are confined.

This morning, apparently about 3:30 am, there was a nasty accident centered about a box truck on the inbound side of Storrow Drive / Soldiers Field Road.  

I am reporting this occurrence because the reports have been varied and confusing as to the impact on the Charles River and thus the Charles River White Geese.

The best report I have been able to find is from NBC Boston, at https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/tractor-trailer-rolls-over-on-storrow-drive-in-boston/2862704/.

Here is a still.


The logo on the TV report emphasizes an oil spill.  

The DETAILS of the report, however, state that traffic is readily flowing on the side of the road nearest the Charles River.  Thus the oil spill is not impacting that traffic, and thus does not get to the Charles River, and thus does not directly impact the Charles River White Geese, hopefully.

Underground transmission and thus to the Charles River can still be a possible concern.


Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Update from Magazine Beach

Update from Magazine Beach.

1. Phil Reports.

2. Analysis.

A. Magazine Beach Playing Fields.

(1) Introduction of Poisons, Poisoning of the Charles River.

(2) The Starvation Wall.

B. Coming destruction of the Wild Area.


1. Phil Reports.

Last week I saw a drilling rig on Magazine Beach, near the athletic equipment area. Soil sampling, perhaps? Never saw one there before.  (Phil’s photo.)

Interestingly, those reeds that some wanted to destroy are growing back very vigorously in the area that burned over last month. This while so much else is really struggling in the drought. The big cottonwoods are coming through it OK but maples and even oaks look quite stressed, with more new ones failing.  (Also his photo.)



2. Analysis.

A. Magazine Beach Playing Fields.

Here is the eastern part of a previously secret Department of Conservation and Recreation map of Magazine Beach laying out destruction plans agreed to by the DCR and the Charles River Poisoner.  It was submitted to the Cambridge City Council a few years ago by the Charles River Poisoner ancillary to comments to the City Council..


Near the top is Memorial Drive.  At the bottom is the Charles River.  Until the start of the heartless abuse of the 40 year resident tourist attraction Charles River White Geese, this was their feeding ground most of the year.  It was pristine for a Century until the late 2000's when the DCR and Cambridge City Council 

(1) introduced poisons into the habitat and 

(2) created a bizarre wall of bushes lining the river.  

These reprehensible people turned a clean waterfront area which was animal habitat into a poisoned area which might as well be ten miles from the river.  The bizarre wall kept the Charles River White Geese from feeding and the poisons would have poisoned them if they did feed.

The area of the drilling is to the left of black area to the left of the figure 3.  The two trees viewed in the photo show in the map to the left of the drills.

The regrowth is near the Charles River toward the bottom left corner.  

The vegetation area which burned out and has now regrown is in the near rectangular area which has has a narrow connection above it.  The greenery all around the area is the poison drainage facilities which the Charles River Poisoner previously blocked, causing an algae blight in the Charles River.

The green area next to the Charles River is the Starvation Wall.  Recent changes in the wall next to the Charles have been accomplished in essentially SECRET votes by the Cambridge City Council.  The SECRECY pattern has continued for years.  

The SECRET actions have had several impacts on the Playing Fields.


(1) Introduction of Poisons, Poisoning of the Charles River.

Poisons were first introduced in the late 2000's after a Century of responsible maintenance.  Dead bees have been observed in the playing fields.  The area surrounding the regrowth were planted as drainage to drain off the poisons, and the DCR even has a sign bragging of the drainage in the area.  (My combination of several Phil Barber Photos).

The state acting through an “activist” who is a City Council favorite who has an extended bad record and who has been repeatedly paid by the Cambridge City Council for “environmental work” blocked the poison drainage and caused an infestation of algae in the Charles River.  The drainage block is my photo.  This is the wide area to the right of the area of regrowth he is reporting.


Here are two photos of the algae blight in the Charles off Magazine Beach from Phil Barber.




(2) The Starvation Wall.

Pretty much entire river front of the Playing Fields as shown on the Charles River Poisoner’s map above has been blocked by a bizarre wall of bushes which turned waterfront land into land as hidden from the Charles as comparable areas miles from the Charles River.

Here is a photo of the Charles River White Geese learning that they were being starved by the creation of the Starvation Wall.


Here is a photo looking across the Charles River from the Boston / Brookline side.  Note: exactly one opening.  In the map from the Charles River Poisoner above, this opens to the rectangular area at the right marked 0.


The SECRET votes from the Cambridge City Council included a supposed boat dock in that opening.  It makes the access from the Charles worse for resident animals and, creates no meaningful improvement for boats which were FIRST barred from access during the outrage of the 2000's.

But they brag of creating a boat dock.

Here is a still from drone photos of the exact area which is key in Phil’s regrowth photo and looking in the same direction.  This a cropped still from “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw, minute 10.26


The “Charles River Master Plan” is constantly quoted as the state’s Bible for this area.  NEVER mentioned is that the “Charles River Master Plan” called for a “lawn to the river” UNTIL THE STARVATION WALL WAS INSTALLED.  Then the supposed Bible was changed to comport with this outrage.  Just another lie.

One of the SECRET votes from the Cambridge City Council was the Usual Fraud.  They chopped down a part of the large bushes.   This was definitely only a partial chopping.  The chopping that should be done is to remove it all.  

What they did chop down was silly because their replaced the bushes with deep vegetation which continues the solid Starvation Wall and does little to make the area look less isolated from the Charles than any area ten miles from the Charles.

This photo was taken in the Spring of 2021.  The vegetation has simply gone up and up and up.

As usual, exactly the opposite of the “Lawn to the River” of the supposedly sacred Charles River Master Plan.


B. Coming destruction of the Wild Area.

From minute 9.13 of the Drone Photos.  


Cambridge is to the right of the Charles River.  Crossing the river is the B.U. Bridge.  Going under it is the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge.  

The Grand Junction railroad separates the Destroyed Nesting area from the Wild Area.  

The Destroyed Nesting Area is bounded by the BU Bridge and the Grand Junction Bridge, above the Grand Junction.  Below the Grand Junction is the Wild Area.

Above the BU Bridge, with all the visible dirt, is the Magazine Beach Playing Fields.  That dirt is the result of dumping all those poisons over a decade and a half.  Supposedly an “improvement” over non poison maintenance.

The state and Cambridge have a goal, FOR A SERIES OF BIZARRE EXPLANATIONS, of destroying the Wild Area, primarily, with the usual harm, as well to the Destroyed Nesting Area.  This area, because of repeated outrages starting in the late 2000's is the last part to be destroyed of the former mile long habitat of the Charles River White Geese for more than 40 years.

And the Destroyed Nesting Area / Wild Area is the last remaining free animal habitat on this part of the Charles River.

Secrecy on the Charles River was recently been exacerbated in the City Council staffer exchange with the DCR which we previously reported.  The state apparently agreed to a deal which could  destroy the Wild Area WITH ACTIONS, ONCE AGAIN, AS SECRET AS POSSIBLE, yet another piece of hypocritical outrage in a very bad situation. 

One of the more bizarre explanations for destruction was the construction of a subway line across the Charles River.  A necessary part of that subway line was the moving of the Landsdowne Commuter Rail Train Station to a location about two blocks from the left end of the BU Bridge.  The station currently serves the Boston Red Sox’ Fenway Park, half a mile or so further away.  I informed the developer of a project which considered THE EXISTING Landsdowne Station the jewel of his project.  The station as close to suddenly as these things get done was greatly upgraded by the legislature, and the first few buildings have gone in.  Here is a photo of the currently location of this station which supposedly is being moved.


And here is a better view of the Wild Area which the Cambridge City Council and their favorite state agency want to destroy, WITH “PUBLIC HEARINGS” limited to the Charles River Poisoner and very few of her friends.


I was at the most recent public showing of Magazine Beach by the state.  As near as I could see, there was no participation whatsoever of the friends of the Charles River Poisoner who have helped her help Cambridge and its favorite state “environmental agency” destroy so much on the Charles River.

The composition of “activists” is strikingly similar to the “volunteers” the state provided to help the Charles River Poisoner poison the Charles River.  The “well meaning” folks from Cambridge  have been steadily part of the bragging, with non stop lies that they were not destroying trees.

On general principles, here is my video on the biggest part of the outrage accomplished so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o.  The “City Manager” mentioned is the same one who started this outrage in the 2000's as the Assistant City Manager.  The video gives plans for the coming outrage as it was going to happen then.  They are still at it, with the Cambridge City Council getting more and more visible, AS SECRETLY AS POSSIBLE.  But they have stopped mentioning that they are destroying the Wild Area for that subway line.  

My guess is that the subway line will no longer cross the Charles, because of a stunt pulled by the Cambridge City Council and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to block the surviving alternative crossing from the less environmentally destructive alternative.  Cambridge and MIT shot themselves in the foot.  Creating the subway line as a spur off the Orange Line from Ruggles Station to Kenmore with a superstation including Landsdowne Station will achieve their goals excellently.