Notice of Project Change, I90 Allston Multimodal Project, update on requirements, filed comments.
I. I90 Rebuild Project Notice of Project Change has later comments due date.
II. Comments.
1. Directly on the point.
2. Ancillary.
III. Attached Fact Sheet Update.
I. I90 Rebuild Project Notice of Project Change has later comments due date.
The correct name is the I90 Allston Multimodal Project.
The official due date for comments is now September 13, 2022.
As usual, the Notice of Project Change is massive.
It can be downloaded at https://www.mass.gov/doc/appendix-g-npc-circulation/download.
I filed my comments yesterday. The procedure is new to me and has strange limits. Unfortunately, the format does not seen to allow graphics in the comments and has a short limit, but does allow attachments. I put the lengthy part of the comments into the attachments and incorporated by reference. My comments were definitely placed into the record.
Section II has the comments. Section III has my summary sheet on the latest outrages which was included as an attachment.
II. Comments.
Gentlemen / Ladies:
1. Directly on the point.
This notice of project . involves a massive increase in construction in the Charles River. Especially with the existence of other reasonable alternatives, this destruction of the Charles River is unacceptable.
Government allowed the poisoning of Massachusetts Bay and the filling of the Charles River. Government objected its own achievements WHEN GOVERNMENT GOT CAUGHT. The ongoing and increasing destruction of the Charles River, its water, its trees and its animals is an outrageous worsening of the very terrible record of government behavior.
A partial possible explanation is the incredibly active contractor lobbying sector. The mentality of such people toward existing parts of the environment WHICH NOBODY GOT PAID TO CREATE is consistently: “HAS NO VALUE.”
To this sick lobby, the existing Charles River, its vegetation, and its animals “have no value.”
2. Ancillary.
I have been very happy with MassDOT’s behavior during this extremely long process. MassDOT has looked like the adult in the room along with two spoiled children, the Cambridge City Council and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Ten years or so ago, the legislature tried to protect the Charles River from the reprehensible Metropolitan District Commission by giving the Charles River to the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Transportation. However “planners” of the MDC moved to the DCR and have continued the very terrible destruction of which the MDC was guilty along with their destructive bedmates in Cambridge. These entities very much please the contractor lobbying sector.
This Notice of Project Change brings to the fore a striking defect in the composition of the Allston Multimodal Project task force. This is the apparent lack of MEANINGFUL protectors of the Charles River. This absence is striking (as opposed to development groups with their own obvious conflicts of interest).
Here is my video as to RECENT ACHIEVED outrages on the Charles River with the support, insofar as I can determine, of pretty much all of all of the members of the Allston Multimodal Project task force entities involved in the current project, except for MassDOT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o. Particularly shocking is the participation ON THE DESTRUCTIVE SIDE of people currently demanding environmental improvements on the Boston side of the river.
Here is my detailed analysis of the DCR / Cambridge plans for destruction at Magazine Beach: http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/ar1.htm. A lot of the destruction has been achieved, WITH FUNDING AND OTHER ASSISTANCE FROM THE CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL in actions kept as secret from public scrutiny as possible BY DESIGNATING A DESTRUCTIVE CONTRACTOR AS THE ONLY ENTITY ALLOWED FOR PUBLIC REVIEW, and by burying major votes in long lists of projects passed on to people without knowledge of the Charles River.
A lot of information about these outrages has been obtained by attending meetings of the Cambridge Conservation Commission. I am no longer on the mailing list the Cambridge Conservation Commission uses to publicize its agendas, and requests to return to the list manager, the Cambridge City Council and the Acting City Manager have not apparently been successful. In Cambridge, it is not acceptable to the powers that be to be MEANINGFULLY concerned about the environment.
Attached is our fact sheet as to current coming outrages. Please note, that, WITH THE SECRECY INVOLVED it is impossible to keep in contact with all the changes. One operator of major importance is the Charles River Poisoner who is getting paid with compensated destruction work by the Cambridge City Council. The Charles River Poisoner and friends HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS THE ONLY ENTITY ALLOWED TO HAVE ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE of coming outrages east of River Street, WITH PREDICTABLE SILENCE. NOBODY ELSE IS ALLOWED TO REVIEW.
The type of representation the advisory committee desperately needs is formal participation by an entity with a clear record of protective actions and achievement on the Charles River. There are only two such entities to our knowledge, us, Friends of the White Geese, and our non political counterpart, the Charles River Urban Wild Initiative.
CRUWI has stepped in to feed the free animals being attacked, poisoned and starved by the DCR and the Cambridge City Council. FOWG has been a recognized non profit in Massachusetts since 2001. CRUWI is the descendent of an even longer existing charitable corporation. FOWG assisted in the repurporsing of this charitable corporation but has been totally separate from CRUWI since its change of operation.
We strongly suggest the addition of Friends of the White Geese to the advisory committee through me, its chair. I have been as active in advisory committee deliberations as much as has been possible given the limited publicizing of committee activities.
I, acting on behalf of Friends of the White Geese and many concerned Cambridge residents several major achievements, thanks to responsible acceptance of my ideas by MassDOT.
The intersection ON THE COVER OF THE NOTICE OF PROJECT CHANGE directly connecting both sides of Soldiers Field Road to the former rail yards and the I90 off ramps was my idea and is now proudly displayed on the cover of the Notice of Project Change. This depiction seems to be pretty much MassDOT’s established public depiction of the effort.
This new intersection replaces the existing left turn from the Soldiers Field Road west off ramp to the River Street Bridge. It will greatly improve traffic on Soldiers Field Road, traffic at the intersection of the River Street Bridge and Soldiers Field Road, and traffic feeding to that intersection along with the highway structure containing that traffic.
The one part of my recommendation which was not initially accepted was the continuance of the right turn to the River Street Bridge carrying traffic to Cambridge. That ramp is crucial for traffic to large parts of Cambridge. DELETION OF THE RIGHT TURN IN ADDITION TO THE LEFT TURN WAS SUPPORTED BY BOTH APPOINTEES OF THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE. Deletion of the right turn was then responsibly reversed after I communicated the troubles with that deletion. To that regard, I HAVE BEEN A MORE MEANINGFUL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NEEDS OF THE RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE THAN HAVE BEEN THE CAMBRIDGE APPOINTEES.
I have gotten confessions from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation that they will not denying intent to poison the open space created as part of this project. This refusal is MAJOR because the DCR and the Cambridge City Council introduced poisoning onto the Cambridge side. The DCR acting through the Cambridge City Council favored Charles River Poisoner rerouted those poisons from an expensive drainage system into the Charles River. The DCR created the algae blight with its own poisons from the Cambridge banks.
We have been a positive influence OF MEANINGFUL PRO ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS NOT OTHERWISE AVAILABLE without formal membership. This project, now that it is getting much more visible in the waters and animal habitat of the Charles River, shows project’s need for representation by an entity with a MEANINGFUL record of concern for the waters, the vegetation and the animals of the Charles River. With our more than 20 years of existence, we have that record.
CRUWI is deliberately and necessarily non political. Its members do not think in political terms. They are also overwhelmed with their current activities. The heartless and increasing abuse of free animals by Cambridge and the DCR gives these activists a drastically needed function, PROTECTING FREE ANIMALS FROM THESE VERY DESTRUCTIVE ENTITIES.
This Notice of Project Change shows a need to have Friends of the White Geese, through me, formerly part of the advisory group.
III. Attached Fact Sheet Update.
