[The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation conducted a public hearing by ZOOM on its supposed “phase III” plans for Memorial Drive destruction on the Charles River. [The number is Roman numeral is some places and non-Roman numeral in others. I used non Roman numeral.]
These outrages have been under consideration for years. This latest “proposal” seemed a vast improvement because the area around the BU Bridge had been deleted and the entire project was limited to the area west of Harvard Square. I missed the original ZOOM event, but picked up the slides and an apparently complete video.
The Q&A at the end was major. An aid for Cambridge City Councilor Zandervann repeatedly raised questions about the omission of the portion proposed in the Magazine Beach and Destroyed Nesting Area / Wild Area.
After repeated questions, the panel spoke about working for “improvements” there as well, WITHOUT THE PUBLIC REVIEW IN THE REST OF THE PROPOSAL (FAKE REVIEW, RATHER CLEARLY BY THE DESTRUCTIVE CAMBRIDGE CONTRACTOR WHO POISONED THE CHARLES RIVER A FEW YEARS AGO.)
Comments were due by July 21. Our comments were way too extensive for the form provided, but they also allowed hard copy. I mailed the comments Express Mail, Return Receipt on July 19, in plenty of time for the deadline.
Here are the comments, modified to comport to the blog format, on Friends of the White Geese letterhead.
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July 19, 2022
EXPRESS MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
Department of Conservation and Recreation
Office of Public Outreach
251 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02114
RE: Memorial Drive, Phase 3
The Fraud on the Charles River Gets Thicker, Destruction “Prevented” Reappears
I. Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Cambridge City Council reverse improvement making the situation more secret, more destructive and more fake.
II. “Equivalent” to the January / February 2016 outrage is an admission of incompetence worthy of destroying the DCR on the Charles River as the legislature destroyed the Metropolitan District Commission - - - TO PROTECT THE CHARLES.
Gentlemen / Ladies:
I. Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Cambridge City Council reverse improvement making the situation more secret, more destructive and more fake.
We are getting more fraud on the Charles River. I have reviewed the tape on the meeting concerning the “Phase 3” of government destruction. It was conducted in late June on line. UNTIL THIS MEETING, the latest version of ”Phase 3” supposedly was all west of Harvard Square.
Cambridge City Councilor Zondervann’s aid very forcefully participated in the meeting and got what seemed to be a commitment to do “sidewalk repair work” east of River Street, including areas on the north side, plus Magazine Beach, plus the BU Bridge Rotary. The “sidewalk repair work” WILL INCLUDE WIDENING.
The fraud is thick. The 2019 version included slides of what is included in their definition of the BU Bridge Rotary, and THUS IN THIS LATEST REINTRODUCTION.
Here is the DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT IN THE PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT:
[Paragraph retyped. It got lost in copying from the hard copy. Asterisks added to denote direct quote.]]
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Phase III of the Memorial Drive Project extends from the Boston University Bridge Rotary to the Eliot Bridge. This project, which will renovate and upgrade the greenway, encompasses both redesign of the roadway and associated traffice analysis, as well as environmental and landscape improvements. At this meeting, which serves as a kickoff to the design project, DCR, its consultant team, and the public will discuss existing conditions and community priorities as the team starts analysis.
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Here are the three slides presented in the public presentation on June 25, 2019, as to the reality behind the fraudulent description of “Phase 3” the project, insofar as it is CLAIMED TO BE beginning / ending at the BU Bridge Rotary.
Suddenly in the FRAUD which is too common in the DCR, the BU Bridge Rotary extends beyond the eastern extreme of the Wild Area. THE WILD AREA IS THE NARROW AREA TO THE RIGHT. THAT IS FRAUD.
Compare the slope’s top edge to the outline of “BU BRIDGE CIRCLE” in the three slides. The outline in the slides extends to the right of this plan.
The destruction plans show EXACTLY ONE TREE NOT DESTROYED, and lie through omission of the thick woods. IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE EXPLANATION ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT.
The DCR plans whose validity was extended by the legislature long after they became outdated included destruction of the Wild Area with the usual lying. THE PLANS DID NOT SHOW ANY OF THE MORE THAN 100 TREES IN THE WILD AREA. They show exactly one tree NOT DESTROYED:
Here are the trees during summer which are kept secret in this fraud. The white figures are members of the gaggle of the Charles River White Geese. The Boat Club is on the right:
Here is a winter photo of the Charles River White Geese from the sidewalk through the woods the DCR claims does not exist. They go to this cove because its temperature is much warmer than the adjacent water or the air. The Boat Club is on the left.
Zondervann’s aid’s sidewalk improvements” / “widening” as stated by the DCR in the meeting would wipe out this slope. IN SECRET because of the fraudulent use of a very much NOT PUBLIC “public forum.” LISTEN TO THE MEETING. LISTEN TO THE TONE OF THE SPEAKER WHEN THE SPEAKER MENTIONS PUBLIC INPUT.
The word used by Cambridge City Councilor Zondervann’s aid was a need to improve “sidewalks.” That was followed by DCR comments that the sidewalks would “need to be widened.” Widening would create destruction of the Wild Area because of the steep slope.
The “community input” is secret, SOLELY BY THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER who got DCR / Trump money for that and is being paid to work on the destruction of the MicroCenter Grove. Below is a copy of our info sheet on the Cambridge City Council funding of the Micro Center Grove destruction BY HER.
Here is our letter to the Cambridge City Council on the CITY / DCR PAID “neighborhood activist”’s destruction of the Charles, UNDER DCR / TRUMP moneys: http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/docs/2020-10-26CCC.pdf. The letter leads with her poisoning of the Charles and follows up with so much more of the outrage by the Cambridge City Council and the DCR.
Of course the DCR will go to this PAID CONTRACTOR to get fraudulent “neighborhood input” probably through her Magazine Beach fraudulent protective group, but she also has something she calls a “neighborhood association” which has specifically delegated to the fraudulent protective group. She may or may not add controlled others to the “independent review.”
This photo is the blocking of the drainage ditchs by which the SOLE REVIEWER of any outrage on Memorial Drive caused poisoning of the Charles River.
This photo, courtesy of Phil Barber, with our edit combining separate photos, is the DCR’s sign bragging that the drainage ditches keep DCR / Cambridge introduced poisons out of the Charles River, poisons first introduced by the two in the 2000's.
Here are further photos from Phil Barber. The first is the algae bloom which was created by the Charles River Poisoner to the east of the blocked drainage. The balance are outrages created by the Charles River Poisoner in the Charles River.
Destruction WITH CITY OF CAMBRIDGE ASSISTANCE, occurred in December, 2017. The other photos are from May and September, 2018. After that, the Cambridge City Council helped the DCR to pay for a boondoggle to address the poisoning done by the DCR through the Charles River Poisoner with the City of Cambridge picking up trash on the day of the outrage. Then the City of Cambridge funded the Charles River poisoner for “environmental” and other work associated with the destruction of the Micro Center Grove.
This photo is of the City of Cambridge picking up valuable vegetation destroyed by the Charles River Poisoner in the process of blocking the drainage pits in December 2017.
We have documented the Charles River Poisoner’s poisoning of the Charles River in our letter posted at http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/docs/2020-10-26CCC.pdf. This posting is of our letter copied directly from City of Cambridge records. The detail gets a lot more gruesome as the letter progresses.
II. “Equivalent” to the January / February 2016 outrage is an admission of incompetence worthy of destroying the DCR on the Charles River as the legislature destroyed the Metropolitan District Commission - - - TO PROTECT THE CHARLES.
The DCR bragged that the plans for “Phase 3" are consistent with what was done between the Longfellow and BU Bridges. “Phase” names are inconsistent with what is posted on Mass.gov. The one thing which seems to be unchanged are the plans which were issued in 2009, except that things have gotten worse. Some specifics pointed out in our video.
Environmental “reviews” were way out of date when the destruction was implemented in January and February 2016. The supposed “public hearings,” also out of date, were conducted at Boston University and at a part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which was very distant from impacted residents. To put it mildly the “public comment” in addition to being stale were blatantly fraudulent, useless events.
The legislature, for good cause, destroyed the Metropolitan District Commission which wrote the plans and managed the “review.” The legislature was trying to protect the Charles from the MDC. MDC “planners” went to the Department of Conservation and Recreation with their destructive plans and implemented them, based on legislative reinvigoration of the review of the 2009 plans. The work was done by the DCR in close proximity with a group strongly related to the DCR contractor who poisoned the Charles River.
We have documented the outrages in my video, “The Destruction of Memorial Drive, Charles River, Cambridge, MA, USA, January - February 2016 - Final Cut,” Posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTplCCEJP7o,
Tellingly, the “Public Meeting” by ZOOM on “Phase 3,” called the work done in January and February 2016 to be a good example of what is planned.
What was done in January and February 2016 was an excellent example of the destructive incompetence and extreme contempt for the environment which the legislature tried to defend on the Charles River from by destroying the MDC. The DCR “replacement” amply reinforced excellent reasons why the legislature voted to destroy the MDC. The DCR as such proved itself unfit to function as caretaker for the Charles River. This outrage is analyzed in detail in the video.
A sound replacement this time would be the Department of Transportation. MassDOT is not perfect, but, on matters of shared interest, it has looked like the adult in the room next to the DCR and the Cambridge City Council.
A fake “Neighborhood Association” controlled by the Charles River Poisoner and friends at the city told concerned people to ignore state plans for massive destruction. At its last meeting before the destruction, this fake group proclaimed that the destruction outside of its jurisdiction AND REFUSED TO ALLOW IT TO BE DISCUSSED.
At its next meeting, after the destruction, the fake group had no trouble discussing whether or not the group should be paid off by the DCR for keeping people away from the destruction. That fake neighborhood association then voted to delegate full responsibility for destruction at Magazine Beach to an even tinier entity clearly controlled by the Charles River Poisoner who poisoned the Charles River ACTING AS AGENT FOR THE DCR.
The fake neighborhood association further hid the outrage in an essentially non existent entity controlled by the Charles River Poisoner, HIRED BY THE CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL WORK ON THE MICROCENTER GROVE, I.E. ITS DESTRUCTION..
Both entities have the blatant stench of company unions.
The DCR is now proclaiming the latest fake group controlled by the Charles River Poisoner to be a proper neighborhood representative IN ADDITION TO BEING A PAID CONTRACTOR FOR THE DCR AND THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE ON THE CHARLES RIVER. The nicest reasonable expression for such “public input” is blatant “fraud.”
After the January / February 2016 outrage, the DCR provided to the City of Cambridge plans to destroy 54 mostly excellent trees on Magazine Beach, which is west of the BU Bridge. Shortly after this announcement, a group of Cambridge City Councillors called a May Day rally for themselves on the steps of Cambridge City Hall at which they declared their own environmental sainthood. They stepped inside and, as the first policy item, praised the outrage planned by the DCR at Magazine Beach as an example of environmental sainthood.
In response to this particular outrage, I carefully studied the situation at Magazine Beach and did extensive photographing of the targets of the DCR plans. We then provided the combination to the City Council and City Manager.
We have provided the DCR’s plans for destruction of 54 trees at Magazine Beach to the Cambridge City Council more than once. We have published them on our website at http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/agenda1.pdf, matched to our photographic analysis of the outrage. This is our combination of the files submitted to the Cambridge Conservation Commission to our photos of the results.
The 54 targeted trees have been increased to more than 60 including areas on the north side NOT IN THE DESTRUCTION PLANS. A subsequent map from the Charles River Poisoner to the City Council shows a different SECRET map of the area in question. I have copied that map and split it into three portions.
Below is the western of the 3 portions, the after plan for the Micro Center Grove next to the Swimming Pool
On the photo to the left of the swimming pool is the planned future of the excellent Micro Center Grove (#3). , A PARKING LOT. #3 on top of the parking lot replacing the Micro Center Grove, what the City Council voted to pay the Charles River poisoner for as stated in the above fact sheet.
Massive destruction kept as secret as possible.
And Councilor Zonervann’s aid proposed “sidewalk work” in this area and next to the Micro Center (the tree destruction next to the parking lot and the Micro Center building seems to reflect the situatuion before desstrution. itself to be given “public discussion” IN SECRET BY THE CITY COUNCIL’S DESTRUCTIVE CONTRACTOR, THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER.
Here is our photo of the excellent AND DOOMED Micro Center grove currently living with magnificance in that COMING PARKING LOT to the west of the Swimming Pool. It is so large that a complete picture was not possible.
A better, but still inadequate, view is our cropping of Minute 2.33 of “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw. The doomed grove is above and to the right of the swimming pool. The Micro Center parking lot, from which the above photo was taken, is across the street to the right. The parking lot being “moved” is visible to the left of the swimming pool and stretching through the middle.
Here are the two other portions now under attack by the DCR and the Cambridge City Council WITH THE IRRESPONSIBLE LATEST CHANGES BEING PROPOSED IN “Phase 3.”
These are the middle and right portions of the previously secret plans of the ongoing outrage at Magazine Beach
The U shaped figure in both pictures is the crossing bridge over Memorial Drive.
In the second picture, note the EXCELLENT trees around the lower curve. The two most excellent trees formerly framing that curve have been destroyed already.
The secret plans made public by the Charles River Poisoner go further. They show trees irresponsibly destroyed by the MDC NEXT TO THE MICRO CENTER parking lot will not be replaced. They further show trees NEXT TO THE MICRO CENTER BUILDING ITSELF that were destroyed after inclusion in the plans AND PROMISED TO BE REPLACED WILL NOT BE REPLACED.
But the “Public Meeting” called for secret planning of sidewalk work both on the North and South, WITH THE USUAL FRAUDULENT PUBLIC MEETINGS ONLY PARTICIPATED IN BY THE CHARLES RIVER POISONER AND HER FRIENDS.
[The following was presented in a red double lined text box:]
We have effectively reported on items learned at such meetings.
Effective reporting is not compatible with the goals of the Cambridge City Council. Effective reporting includes reality commonly kept from the voters. Our subsequent request for reinstatement has been ignored.
This has the odor of keeping irresponsible planning out of responsible ears. This does not look like independence / professionalism. This looks like the too much of the behavior of Cambridge and the DCR.
[end of red text box]
Sincerely,
Robert J. La Trémouille, Chair
Friends of the White Geese
Post Office Box 391412
Cambridge, MA 02139
Copies:
A compatible version of this letter will be provided to the Cambridge City Council through the Cambridge City Clerk in time to be included in the Agenda for their August 1, 2022 meeting. A copy of this version will also be provided to the City of Cambridge’s Acting City Manager. The permanent position of the Acting City Manager is head of the Cambridge Department of Public Works.
