On May 13, 2007, in this blog, I reported that Cambridge insider Sam Seidel had publicly mocked me because I believe in the old definition of Environmentalism rather than the secret definition which he shares with other Cambridge insiders.
Seidel is a member of the Cambridge Conservation Commission. He and his group have been supporting really outrageous environmental destruction on the Charles River.
Read this blog. Read the destructiveness I oppose. It is highly likely that this group with its still secret definition of environmentalism support the destruction in the name of their "environmentalism," whose secret definition they have yet to disclose.
I found the following on Craigslist:
***********
Campaign Manager sought ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: job-335198976@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-05-21, 10:18AM EDT
Looking for an opportunity to do something challenging and fun this summer and fall? Interested in politics? Want to gain some very good experience while developing leadership skills in a demanding environment?
Help a strong challenger win a seat on the Cambridge City Council this year.
Sam Seidel is making his second bid for a seat on the Council. A strong progressive, Sam came 90 votes short in 2005. Sam is an urban planner who understands that responsive government, environmental stewardship and children's services are important priorities in this dynamic and vibrant city.
Sam is looking for a campaign manager to manage all aspects of this local campaign. Tasks include: strategic campaign planning, developing communications materials, web and database management, voter contact, working closely with the candidate on a variety of other tasks.
Important skills for the position are: ability to handle multiple tasks in time-pressured environment, ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in written form, comfortable working knowledge of computers including Word and Excel and web-based programs, prior campaign experience preferred but not required.
This will be a paid position in Cambridge, MA and all are encourage to apply.
To find out more, please contact the campaign at info@SamSeidel.org or 617-547-1067.
Location: Cambridge
Compensation: $1,500 per month
This is a contract job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Attacks on Pit Bulls Part of a Pattern
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Karen Parker.
2. Your Editor. Not just this one problem.
a. General.
b. Tree Destroyer who wants to destroy Canadas.
(1) His achievement. Destruction of excellent trees.
(2) "Replacements" loudly promised. Casually destroyed.
(3) Wife on board of reprehensible Charles River conservancy.
(4) "Fight" for Swimming in the Charles River.
(5) Destroy the Canadas.
(6) Possibly a few isolated events.
c. Summary.
1. Karen Parker.
Now the pitbulls are invading our state right? You heard about that on the news I guess, some people want to be able to question to ban pitbulls, my brother's girlfriend has a pitbull that is the sweetest dog in the world. Our old dog Bobbie was part pitbull.
My mother and I joked we will have to hide my brother's girlfriends dog Skippy in the attic, just like they did to the Jews, that is awful, these people are sick. How obnoxious can people get.
Pitbulls attack because bad people train them to be aggressive, its not the dog. Obviously the people that are behind this are not too bright.
Pitbulls are wonderful pitbulls that attack are victims of violence and they are not bad, they are victims of abuse by human beings. We should put the people in jail that abuse these animals, not ban the pitbulls.
2. Your Editor. Not just this one problem.
a. General.
It not just the people who abuse pit bulls who are part of the problem.
The problem is the destructive people running around trying to destroy whatever they can that is living and is non-human.
I was at the public hearing on pit bulls (and other animal regulations) at the state house. The opponents of the bills clearly communicated the problem.
b. Tree Destroyer who wants to destroy Canadas.
What interested me was a person who sat down next to me on the subway either then or on a following day.
(1) His achievement. Destruction of excellent trees.
He achieved destruction of a park containing truly massive trees in Cambridge (after I got an preliminary injunction under nearly impossible circumstances). The trees which he did not destroy are an example of just how irresponsible this person and his buddies are.
(2) "Replacements" loudly promised. Casually destroyed.
When the Cambridge pols destroyed these ancient, irreplaceable trees, the destroyers promised a large number of saplings half a block away.
Now the Cambridge pols have destroyed the saplings they provided as "replacements."
(3) Wife on board of reprehensible Charles River conservancy.
This individual bragged that his wife is on the board of the reprehensible Charles River Conservancy.
(4) "Fight" for Swimming in the Charles River.
The leader of the CRC was part of a group that conducted a "swim in" at Magazine Beach in 2005.
In September 2004, the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the City of Cambridge started starving the Charles River White Geese by walling off Magazine Beach from the Charles River for this project. At pretty much exactly the same time, the City of Cambridge walled off the rest of their 25 year food across from the Hyatt Regency as Cambridge LEFT a sewerage project.
The DCR and Cambridge, at Magazine Beach, installed a wall of designer bushes blocking access to an from the Charles River, aggressively fighting to prevent swimming.
The "activist" was absolutely shocked that we should expect the Charles River Conservancy to HONESTLY state that a project is doing EXACTLY the opposite of what their photo opportunity says the project is doing.
(5) Destroy the Canadas.
When I mentioned the Charles River Conservancy's five year poisoning of every goose egg they can get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles River, he gave the knee-jerk and inane responses.
First he came back with "we are not poisoning. We are oiling."
Then he spouted "Too many Canadas." The fact that these are water fowl being destroyed because they are living on a water way was totally irrelevant.
Then objected to the fact that animals defecate. English translation: kill each and every animal living anywhere near human beings.
(6) Possibly a few isolated events.
Now, it is entirely possible that these examples are a few, very isolated events. It is much more likely that these examples are not.
I honestly cannot say. But I would be silly to call him the opposite of his actions.
c. Summary.
This is part of a culture of destruction.
The people attacking pit bulls are part of the culture.
The City of Cambridge is part of the culture. So many state bureaucrats are part of the culture.
Most people are neutral. A very, very tiny number of people are aggressive destroyers.
When aggressive destroyers find neutral people, the destructive people who know what they want have a distressing tendency to bully their way into dominance, especially if you have two who get together and reinforce each other, falsely praising each other's "achievements."
Destroy, destroy, destroy.
What is the excuse this time?
1. Karen Parker.
2. Your Editor. Not just this one problem.
a. General.
b. Tree Destroyer who wants to destroy Canadas.
(1) His achievement. Destruction of excellent trees.
(2) "Replacements" loudly promised. Casually destroyed.
(3) Wife on board of reprehensible Charles River conservancy.
(4) "Fight" for Swimming in the Charles River.
(5) Destroy the Canadas.
(6) Possibly a few isolated events.
c. Summary.
1. Karen Parker.
Now the pitbulls are invading our state right? You heard about that on the news I guess, some people want to be able to question to ban pitbulls, my brother's girlfriend has a pitbull that is the sweetest dog in the world. Our old dog Bobbie was part pitbull.
My mother and I joked we will have to hide my brother's girlfriends dog Skippy in the attic, just like they did to the Jews, that is awful, these people are sick. How obnoxious can people get.
Pitbulls attack because bad people train them to be aggressive, its not the dog. Obviously the people that are behind this are not too bright.
Pitbulls are wonderful pitbulls that attack are victims of violence and they are not bad, they are victims of abuse by human beings. We should put the people in jail that abuse these animals, not ban the pitbulls.
2. Your Editor. Not just this one problem.
a. General.
It not just the people who abuse pit bulls who are part of the problem.
The problem is the destructive people running around trying to destroy whatever they can that is living and is non-human.
I was at the public hearing on pit bulls (and other animal regulations) at the state house. The opponents of the bills clearly communicated the problem.
b. Tree Destroyer who wants to destroy Canadas.
What interested me was a person who sat down next to me on the subway either then or on a following day.
(1) His achievement. Destruction of excellent trees.
He achieved destruction of a park containing truly massive trees in Cambridge (after I got an preliminary injunction under nearly impossible circumstances). The trees which he did not destroy are an example of just how irresponsible this person and his buddies are.
(2) "Replacements" loudly promised. Casually destroyed.
When the Cambridge pols destroyed these ancient, irreplaceable trees, the destroyers promised a large number of saplings half a block away.
Now the Cambridge pols have destroyed the saplings they provided as "replacements."
(3) Wife on board of reprehensible Charles River conservancy.
This individual bragged that his wife is on the board of the reprehensible Charles River Conservancy.
(4) "Fight" for Swimming in the Charles River.
The leader of the CRC was part of a group that conducted a "swim in" at Magazine Beach in 2005.
In September 2004, the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the City of Cambridge started starving the Charles River White Geese by walling off Magazine Beach from the Charles River for this project. At pretty much exactly the same time, the City of Cambridge walled off the rest of their 25 year food across from the Hyatt Regency as Cambridge LEFT a sewerage project.
The DCR and Cambridge, at Magazine Beach, installed a wall of designer bushes blocking access to an from the Charles River, aggressively fighting to prevent swimming.
The "activist" was absolutely shocked that we should expect the Charles River Conservancy to HONESTLY state that a project is doing EXACTLY the opposite of what their photo opportunity says the project is doing.
(5) Destroy the Canadas.
When I mentioned the Charles River Conservancy's five year poisoning of every goose egg they can get away with on the first ten miles of the Charles River, he gave the knee-jerk and inane responses.
First he came back with "we are not poisoning. We are oiling."
Then he spouted "Too many Canadas." The fact that these are water fowl being destroyed because they are living on a water way was totally irrelevant.
Then objected to the fact that animals defecate. English translation: kill each and every animal living anywhere near human beings.
(6) Possibly a few isolated events.
Now, it is entirely possible that these examples are a few, very isolated events. It is much more likely that these examples are not.
I honestly cannot say. But I would be silly to call him the opposite of his actions.
c. Summary.
This is part of a culture of destruction.
The people attacking pit bulls are part of the culture.
The City of Cambridge is part of the culture. So many state bureaucrats are part of the culture.
Most people are neutral. A very, very tiny number of people are aggressive destroyers.
When aggressive destroyers find neutral people, the destructive people who know what they want have a distressing tendency to bully their way into dominance, especially if you have two who get together and reinforce each other, falsely praising each other's "achievements."
Destroy, destroy, destroy.
What is the excuse this time?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Cambridge Declares Norwegian Maples Invasive
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Cambridge, MA calls Norwegian Maples Invasive.
2. Your editors opinion.
3. Bhiksha Raj.
4. Your Editor.
5. Bhiksha Raj.
1. Cambridge, MA calls Norwegian Maples Invasive.
Karen Parker tells us:
The city calls Norweigian Maple trees invasive now. We have a Norweigian Maple planted in front of our house, there were two but one was destroyed by a drunk driver, we have waited three years for the city to replace the tree. They have not yet.
I saw Craig Kelley and told him about it, he has been helpful. I dont see the Norweigian Maple in front of our house invading any other plants so I dont how they consider it invasive. My mom told me I should let you know.
2. Your editors opinion.
The city has planted purple loosestrife on Magazine Beach as part of their replacement of the wetlands there. They call purple loosestrife invasive at Fresh Pond.
The city destroyed a grove of about 8 to 12 four story high trees at Squirrel Brand and replaced them with grass. "Invasive" sniff.
The city and its friends destroyed most of the trees in the parks at Inman Square and at Porter Station. The city replaced the bird sanctuary in front of city hall (bird song 365 days a year) with grass.
State plans (with close Cambridge coordination) are to destroy every Cherry Tree from the Longfellow Bridge to Magazine Beach as part of the destruction of 449 to 660 trees there.
The city wiped out meaningful yard protections on Memorial Drive loudly proclaiming they were increasing protections.
I wish I could call this latest outrage a surprise.
3. Bhiksha Raj.
Its outrageous that supposedly sane people can even *think up* such ridiculous
plans. At a time when they should be cherishing all the greenery we have
they want to wipe it out.
Im not sure if they actually think about this matter, but urban concrete is hot.
Replacing a half acre of trees with a half acre of lawn can warm up the
surrounding areas considerably. Replace it with concrete and the neighbors
suddenly have to turn on the AC in summer when they didnt have to earlier.
It is not merely a matter of environment, or natural beauty or aesthetics
that can only affect future generations we dont worry about. The effect
of such depradations is immediate and it is on our physical comfort and
lifestyle!
Just how shortsighted can people get!
4. Your Editor.
Thank you, but this is business as usual in the City of Cambridge.
I neglected to mention the thousands of trees being destroyed at Fresh Pond.
5. Bhiksha Raj.
The destruction of trees at fresh pond is *very* distressing to me.
Its quite frustrating that people can be so stupid.
1. Cambridge, MA calls Norwegian Maples Invasive.
2. Your editors opinion.
3. Bhiksha Raj.
4. Your Editor.
5. Bhiksha Raj.
1. Cambridge, MA calls Norwegian Maples Invasive.
Karen Parker tells us:
The city calls Norweigian Maple trees invasive now. We have a Norweigian Maple planted in front of our house, there were two but one was destroyed by a drunk driver, we have waited three years for the city to replace the tree. They have not yet.
I saw Craig Kelley and told him about it, he has been helpful. I dont see the Norweigian Maple in front of our house invading any other plants so I dont how they consider it invasive. My mom told me I should let you know.
2. Your editors opinion.
The city has planted purple loosestrife on Magazine Beach as part of their replacement of the wetlands there. They call purple loosestrife invasive at Fresh Pond.
The city destroyed a grove of about 8 to 12 four story high trees at Squirrel Brand and replaced them with grass. "Invasive" sniff.
The city and its friends destroyed most of the trees in the parks at Inman Square and at Porter Station. The city replaced the bird sanctuary in front of city hall (bird song 365 days a year) with grass.
State plans (with close Cambridge coordination) are to destroy every Cherry Tree from the Longfellow Bridge to Magazine Beach as part of the destruction of 449 to 660 trees there.
The city wiped out meaningful yard protections on Memorial Drive loudly proclaiming they were increasing protections.
I wish I could call this latest outrage a surprise.
3. Bhiksha Raj.
Its outrageous that supposedly sane people can even *think up* such ridiculous
plans. At a time when they should be cherishing all the greenery we have
they want to wipe it out.
Im not sure if they actually think about this matter, but urban concrete is hot.
Replacing a half acre of trees with a half acre of lawn can warm up the
surrounding areas considerably. Replace it with concrete and the neighbors
suddenly have to turn on the AC in summer when they didnt have to earlier.
It is not merely a matter of environment, or natural beauty or aesthetics
that can only affect future generations we dont worry about. The effect
of such depradations is immediate and it is on our physical comfort and
lifestyle!
Just how shortsighted can people get!
4. Your Editor.
Thank you, but this is business as usual in the City of Cambridge.
I neglected to mention the thousands of trees being destroyed at Fresh Pond.
5. Bhiksha Raj.
The destruction of trees at fresh pond is *very* distressing to me.
Its quite frustrating that people can be so stupid.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
“Neighborhood Association” Honors Bureaucrat Who Shafted Neighborhood.
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Introduction.
2. Announcement of Intended Presentation.
3. Reality, my response.
4. Marilyn's Response.
1. Introduction.
The announcement in section 2 was sent to the Cambridgeport listserve. The author has been censoring communications on the listserve as stated below, with apparent emphasis on protecting the Upzoning Which Destroyed Zoning Protections on Memorial Drive.
The core group of this group has made very pious comments about how unreasonable is the expansion of the hotel next to Trader Joe’s and across from Magazine Beach.
What they do not want people to hear is that the unreasonable expansion was made legal by an upzoning whose advocates claimed they were fighting for to protect Memorial Drive. The advocates told people that their very destructive upzoning did EXACTLY the opposite of what is done by fine print they did not tell people about.
This outrage is part of a series of related upzonings which related individuals have fought for over the past ten years. It is a standard package. These upzonings are always written by city employees. These upzonings more often than not include secret fine print which does the opposite of key claimed benefits (or interrelate with fine print sneaked into the zoning ordinance before with the same result).
The key city employee in this continuing outrage has been invited to talk to the group, without mentioning his record or his part in the false statements made to destroy zoning protections on Memorial Drive.
Comments which accurately describe the fake downzonings have been suppressed from the listserve.
Some comments favorable to certain people (yours truly) have been suppressed on the list serve, no matter now true. The censor finds my reality based comments unacceptable and thus finds comments favorable to me unacceptable.
The announcement in section 3 was sent to the Cambridgeport Free List, a list I created to counter the censorship.
2. Announcement of Intended Presentation.
Titled: "Get Smart!" Come to the Monthly CNA Meeting!
[omitted] wrote:
To: cportneighbors@yahoogroups.com
From: [omitted]
Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 20:33:55 -0000
Subject: [cportneighbors] Get Smart! Come to the Monthly CNA Meeting!
If you are wondering whether modern glass buildings will be the new face of Memorial Drive from River Street to Magazine Street, you need to come to the monthly Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association meeting.
If you want to know what the most accident-prone intersections are in Cambridgeport, you should also come to this meeting. The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association will hold that monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at the Woodrow Wilson Court apartment community room on Fairmont Street from 7 to 9 pm.
Les Barber, from Community Development, will present an overview of Cambridgeport zoning, and address CNA concerns about overdevelopment, specifically within the Memorial Drive Overlay District.
Susanne Rasmussen, also of Community Development, will address traffic and transportation issues in light of the recently conducted "hot spots" survey on the CNA list serv.
And we'll hear the latest news on the CNA's Dana Park Party for June 9th.
Bring a friend! See you then.
3. Reality, my response.
We have had flat out censorship by the listserve, [censor’s name omitted to protect the guilty] apparently, for the purpose of keeping the outrageous upzoning that the Development Department wrote.
Now, rather than kill this outrage, we are told that we should pay obeisance to the author who, as usual, FAILED TO INFORM of the fine print which destroyed his lovely and FALSE promises.
Why believe the author of this outrage?
Why does the chief censor give credibility to the author of this outrage after belligerently censoring objections to the outrage while allowing attacks on the principal person standing up to the outrage? [Ed. Badly worded. Big brother clearly censored favorable comments about me.]
And why is swallowing further nonsense from a proven misleader supposed to be "smart?"
FALSE promises belied by undisclosed fine print is not somebody it is "smart" to listen to, especially since the behavior is part of a long-standing package.
4. Marilyn's Response.
[Ed. This was printed on the Cambridgeport Listserve. The fact that it has been printed indicates to me that the bad guys who control the organization figure that their censorship has successfully squelched the indignation of their victims.
[So now they can resume giving the impression that they are the good guys.]
Dear Neighbors
Soon after the Planning Board vote on the Radisson, I sent this to the Cport list. Possibly through some error of mine, it wasn't posted. Time and topics move on, and we're all busy, so I didn't follow up. However, as the issue is on the agenda for tomorrow night's meeting, I resubmit this, slightly revised:
Given the law about special permits, it was almost certain the Planning Board would vote as it did on the Radisson. Given the Board's history, it's not surprising it seemed contemptuous of the public, as several neighbors commented.
The City Council has sprinkled special permits throughout the zoning ordinance. To gain immediate advantage in any one zoning issue, affected neighbors have chosen to believe the special permits are either 1.) good in themselves because they talk about design issues or the like; and 2.) the price they have to pay to get the immediate benefit at issue.
The most recent example of this was the provision for Planning Board special permits in projects less than 50,000 SF in Bus-A2 zones, I believe, as a condition for adequate setbacks of development parcels along North Mass Ave. where they abut residential zones. I think the vote was in March this year.
The special permit provision will come back to bite, as the ones in the Memorial Drive Overlay District did at the Radisson and will do again. But by the time that special permit does in North Cambridge, people will have forgotten warnings about special permits and their own agreement to them for the reasons given above--as we've seen on Memorial Drive.
Neighborhoods expend a great deal of misplaced time and energy at the Planning Board. Accountability for special permits and the tangible benefits they deliver to developers rests with the City Council. The Council has been happy to pass off hard choices between developers and neighborhoods in regular zoning (where they are forced to a public vote) to the discretion of the Manager's appointees on the Board. It is the Councillors who collude in this expansion of Manager's and Planning Board's powers at the expense of the Council's own accountability.
All the wheel-spinning at Planning Board hearings exhausts residents' political energies and diminishes the life of the city. These are significant costs as well.
Nevertheless, people seem to like things as they are and re-elect, time and again, the Councillors who insulate themselves from public accountability. When the special permits are granted and the building in question is done, who will remember the Overlay District, Area of Planning Concern, or whatever category its special permits fall into? Or who spoke in their favor, or who voted for them?
Marilyn Wellons
1. Introduction.
2. Announcement of Intended Presentation.
3. Reality, my response.
4. Marilyn's Response.
1. Introduction.
The announcement in section 2 was sent to the Cambridgeport listserve. The author has been censoring communications on the listserve as stated below, with apparent emphasis on protecting the Upzoning Which Destroyed Zoning Protections on Memorial Drive.
The core group of this group has made very pious comments about how unreasonable is the expansion of the hotel next to Trader Joe’s and across from Magazine Beach.
What they do not want people to hear is that the unreasonable expansion was made legal by an upzoning whose advocates claimed they were fighting for to protect Memorial Drive. The advocates told people that their very destructive upzoning did EXACTLY the opposite of what is done by fine print they did not tell people about.
This outrage is part of a series of related upzonings which related individuals have fought for over the past ten years. It is a standard package. These upzonings are always written by city employees. These upzonings more often than not include secret fine print which does the opposite of key claimed benefits (or interrelate with fine print sneaked into the zoning ordinance before with the same result).
The key city employee in this continuing outrage has been invited to talk to the group, without mentioning his record or his part in the false statements made to destroy zoning protections on Memorial Drive.
Comments which accurately describe the fake downzonings have been suppressed from the listserve.
Some comments favorable to certain people (yours truly) have been suppressed on the list serve, no matter now true. The censor finds my reality based comments unacceptable and thus finds comments favorable to me unacceptable.
The announcement in section 3 was sent to the Cambridgeport Free List, a list I created to counter the censorship.
2. Announcement of Intended Presentation.
Titled: "Get Smart!" Come to the Monthly CNA Meeting!
[omitted] wrote:
To: cportneighbors@yahoogroups.com
From: [omitted]
Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 20:33:55 -0000
Subject: [cportneighbors] Get Smart! Come to the Monthly CNA Meeting!
If you are wondering whether modern glass buildings will be the new face of Memorial Drive from River Street to Magazine Street, you need to come to the monthly Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association meeting.
If you want to know what the most accident-prone intersections are in Cambridgeport, you should also come to this meeting. The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association will hold that monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at the Woodrow Wilson Court apartment community room on Fairmont Street from 7 to 9 pm.
Les Barber, from Community Development, will present an overview of Cambridgeport zoning, and address CNA concerns about overdevelopment, specifically within the Memorial Drive Overlay District.
Susanne Rasmussen, also of Community Development, will address traffic and transportation issues in light of the recently conducted "hot spots" survey on the CNA list serv.
And we'll hear the latest news on the CNA's Dana Park Party for June 9th.
Bring a friend! See you then.
3. Reality, my response.
We have had flat out censorship by the listserve, [censor’s name omitted to protect the guilty] apparently, for the purpose of keeping the outrageous upzoning that the Development Department wrote.
Now, rather than kill this outrage, we are told that we should pay obeisance to the author who, as usual, FAILED TO INFORM of the fine print which destroyed his lovely and FALSE promises.
Why believe the author of this outrage?
Why does the chief censor give credibility to the author of this outrage after belligerently censoring objections to the outrage while allowing attacks on the principal person standing up to the outrage? [Ed. Badly worded. Big brother clearly censored favorable comments about me.]
And why is swallowing further nonsense from a proven misleader supposed to be "smart?"
FALSE promises belied by undisclosed fine print is not somebody it is "smart" to listen to, especially since the behavior is part of a long-standing package.
4. Marilyn's Response.
[Ed. This was printed on the Cambridgeport Listserve. The fact that it has been printed indicates to me that the bad guys who control the organization figure that their censorship has successfully squelched the indignation of their victims.
[So now they can resume giving the impression that they are the good guys.]
Dear Neighbors
Soon after the Planning Board vote on the Radisson, I sent this to the Cport list. Possibly through some error of mine, it wasn't posted. Time and topics move on, and we're all busy, so I didn't follow up. However, as the issue is on the agenda for tomorrow night's meeting, I resubmit this, slightly revised:
Given the law about special permits, it was almost certain the Planning Board would vote as it did on the Radisson. Given the Board's history, it's not surprising it seemed contemptuous of the public, as several neighbors commented.
The City Council has sprinkled special permits throughout the zoning ordinance. To gain immediate advantage in any one zoning issue, affected neighbors have chosen to believe the special permits are either 1.) good in themselves because they talk about design issues or the like; and 2.) the price they have to pay to get the immediate benefit at issue.
The most recent example of this was the provision for Planning Board special permits in projects less than 50,000 SF in Bus-A2 zones, I believe, as a condition for adequate setbacks of development parcels along North Mass Ave. where they abut residential zones. I think the vote was in March this year.
The special permit provision will come back to bite, as the ones in the Memorial Drive Overlay District did at the Radisson and will do again. But by the time that special permit does in North Cambridge, people will have forgotten warnings about special permits and their own agreement to them for the reasons given above--as we've seen on Memorial Drive.
Neighborhoods expend a great deal of misplaced time and energy at the Planning Board. Accountability for special permits and the tangible benefits they deliver to developers rests with the City Council. The Council has been happy to pass off hard choices between developers and neighborhoods in regular zoning (where they are forced to a public vote) to the discretion of the Manager's appointees on the Board. It is the Councillors who collude in this expansion of Manager's and Planning Board's powers at the expense of the Council's own accountability.
All the wheel-spinning at Planning Board hearings exhausts residents' political energies and diminishes the life of the city. These are significant costs as well.
Nevertheless, people seem to like things as they are and re-elect, time and again, the Councillors who insulate themselves from public accountability. When the special permits are granted and the building in question is done, who will remember the Overlay District, Area of Planning Concern, or whatever category its special permits fall into? Or who spoke in their favor, or who voted for them?
Marilyn Wellons
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Insider: Cambridge pols have secret definition of environmentalism.
Bob La Trémouille reports:
The latest edition of North Cambridge's The Alewife newspaper features a comment by a Cambridge political insider that Cambridge's political activists have their own secret definition of "environmentalism."
Inasmuch as I keep on saying that "environmentalism" is protecting the environment, I am showing my lack of contact with the real world in Cambridge.
Sam Seidel is a former (current as well?) member of the Cambridge Conservation Commission. Seidel ran for city council last election. Seidel writes a regular column for The Alewife. I was concerned about what I saw him writing last issue so I responded.
Seidel was given an opportunity to respond to my letter. The editor showed a lot about what was going on by the way Seidel's letter was printed in the hard copy edition. My letter was printed in full. Seidel's response was printed in part and continued to a back page. Trouble is that, when you go to the continuation page, there was no continuation.
I hunted through the paper and found the continuation. I then realized why the editor had made the continuation so hard to find.
Seidel voted for the environmental destruction which has occurred and which is pending at Magazine Beach. Seidel apparently has no problem with the ongoing destruction of thousands of trees at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Seidel apparently has no problem with the destruction of hundreds of trees pending for Memorial Drive. Seidel clearly has no problem with the destruction of wetlands and animal habitat at Magazine Beach. Seidel clearly has no problem with the introduction of poisons at Magazine Beach and has no problems with the deliberate starvation of the Charles River White Geese.
Seidel very clearly stated that my problems with these things indicates just how out of touch I am.
Cambridge's core group, it appears, has its own secret definition of "environmentalism." My failure to comport with the secret definition of "environmentalism" shows just how out of touch I am with the in crowd in Cambridge politics.
How dare I expect environmentalists to be pro-environment!!!!
I have tried to give you folks a link to the wisdom of Mr. Seidel, but the best I can find from The Alewife's on line edition is: http://thealewife.typepad.com/weblog/sam_seidel/index.html.
If you can do better than that, please let me know and I will pass it on.
The latest edition of North Cambridge's The Alewife newspaper features a comment by a Cambridge political insider that Cambridge's political activists have their own secret definition of "environmentalism."
Inasmuch as I keep on saying that "environmentalism" is protecting the environment, I am showing my lack of contact with the real world in Cambridge.
Sam Seidel is a former (current as well?) member of the Cambridge Conservation Commission. Seidel ran for city council last election. Seidel writes a regular column for The Alewife. I was concerned about what I saw him writing last issue so I responded.
Seidel was given an opportunity to respond to my letter. The editor showed a lot about what was going on by the way Seidel's letter was printed in the hard copy edition. My letter was printed in full. Seidel's response was printed in part and continued to a back page. Trouble is that, when you go to the continuation page, there was no continuation.
I hunted through the paper and found the continuation. I then realized why the editor had made the continuation so hard to find.
Seidel voted for the environmental destruction which has occurred and which is pending at Magazine Beach. Seidel apparently has no problem with the ongoing destruction of thousands of trees at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Seidel apparently has no problem with the destruction of hundreds of trees pending for Memorial Drive. Seidel clearly has no problem with the destruction of wetlands and animal habitat at Magazine Beach. Seidel clearly has no problem with the introduction of poisons at Magazine Beach and has no problems with the deliberate starvation of the Charles River White Geese.
Seidel very clearly stated that my problems with these things indicates just how out of touch I am.
Cambridge's core group, it appears, has its own secret definition of "environmentalism." My failure to comport with the secret definition of "environmentalism" shows just how out of touch I am with the in crowd in Cambridge politics.
How dare I expect environmentalists to be pro-environment!!!!
I have tried to give you folks a link to the wisdom of Mr. Seidel, but the best I can find from The Alewife's on line edition is: http://thealewife.typepad.com/weblog/sam_seidel/index.html.
If you can do better than that, please let me know and I will pass it on.
Harvard Admits Subway Plans as Part of Urban Ring
Bob La Trémouille reports:
Harvard has admitted to working for a privately beneficial, very expensive heavy rail subway which it wishes to be added to the state's Urban Ring subway plans. The subway would be a branch of the heavy rail Red Line project.
The apparent route is as follows: It would run from the existing Harvard Station east of Harvard Stadium and south of Harvard Business School. It would generally go under a new boulevard Harvard proposes for that location, apparently extending under the rail yards in Allston, then under the commuter rail which runs south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. It would turn at Park Drive and go underground to the Longwood / Harvard Medical Area, the location of Harvard Medical School.
There is a track location in place running from the Harvard Station bus tunnel to a location just west of Harvard's JFK School. The end of the tunnel is under a path way connecting JFK park to Elliot Street and the Harvard Square Hotel. This connected a temporary station to the red line during construction of the Alewife extension. Connection of that track to the existing red line is probably not possible without major changes to the existing Harvard Station lobby.
Thursday morning, May 12, Harvard's planning people met with staff and members of the board of Massachusetts' Metropolitan Area Planning Council in a public meeting in Harvard's Holyoke Center administration building in Harvard Square. The topic was Harvard's expansion plans for Allston. The meeting room was a room, the "Allston Room," dedicated to the Allston expansion. It is located on the first floor corridor of the building.
Harvard's official plans for their Allston campus can be seen at: http://allston.harvard.edu. This on-line presentation repeats a lot of things communicated at the meeting.
I was struck by one item which was not officially presented but which explains options, very expensive options, in the state consultants' developing Urban Ring proposals.
This is taken from their website. It is a good diagram of part of the Allston plans. Significantly omitted are their plans for the Allston rail yards which are located on the map marked "to LMA."
The route described at the beginning is my extrapolation of fine print in the consultants' options and of a map presented in the presentation.
I questioned Harvard's representative on the side. He was extremely candid about wishing a red line subway running from Harvard Square to Harvard Allston to Harvard Longwood.
Harvard has admitted to working for a privately beneficial, very expensive heavy rail subway which it wishes to be added to the state's Urban Ring subway plans. The subway would be a branch of the heavy rail Red Line project.
The apparent route is as follows: It would run from the existing Harvard Station east of Harvard Stadium and south of Harvard Business School. It would generally go under a new boulevard Harvard proposes for that location, apparently extending under the rail yards in Allston, then under the commuter rail which runs south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. It would turn at Park Drive and go underground to the Longwood / Harvard Medical Area, the location of Harvard Medical School.
There is a track location in place running from the Harvard Station bus tunnel to a location just west of Harvard's JFK School. The end of the tunnel is under a path way connecting JFK park to Elliot Street and the Harvard Square Hotel. This connected a temporary station to the red line during construction of the Alewife extension. Connection of that track to the existing red line is probably not possible without major changes to the existing Harvard Station lobby.
Thursday morning, May 12, Harvard's planning people met with staff and members of the board of Massachusetts' Metropolitan Area Planning Council in a public meeting in Harvard's Holyoke Center administration building in Harvard Square. The topic was Harvard's expansion plans for Allston. The meeting room was a room, the "Allston Room," dedicated to the Allston expansion. It is located on the first floor corridor of the building.
Harvard's official plans for their Allston campus can be seen at: http://allston.harvard.edu. This on-line presentation repeats a lot of things communicated at the meeting.
I was struck by one item which was not officially presented but which explains options, very expensive options, in the state consultants' developing Urban Ring proposals.
This is taken from their website. It is a good diagram of part of the Allston plans. Significantly omitted are their plans for the Allston rail yards which are located on the map marked "to LMA."
The route described at the beginning is my extrapolation of fine print in the consultants' options and of a map presented in the presentation.
I questioned Harvard's representative on the side. He was extremely candid about wishing a red line subway running from Harvard Square to Harvard Allston to Harvard Longwood.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Fenway / Kenmore and the Urban Ring Plans
Bob La Trémouille Reports:
Last Friday, May 4, MOVEMass had a meeting at Fenway Park in which people involved in planning for the Fenway Park neighborhood presented their ideas for that neighborhood.
One of the many things impacting the environment of the Charles River is the Urban Ring subway / bus planning.
As usual, there is one excellent option, both environmentally and from a transportation point of view, and there is the option the City of Cambridge is fighting for.
On April 25, I summarized the various subway options in a report entitled “Urban Ring Options - Detailed Maps.” The report includes my evaluation of proposals for Harvard Allston and my alternate proposal. I have tweaked that report since then based on input from readers.
On April 27, I provided my evaluation of the subway options in a report entitled “Analyses of Urban Ring - Phase III.”
Of major importance to the Fenway Park neighborhood is the future of Yawkey Station on the commuter rail line to Worcester and Framingham. Yawkey Station is located perhaps 200 feet from Fenway Park and is named after the Red Sox longtime owner.
I summarized for the group the truly excellent Kenmore stop on the Urban Ring subway’s Charles River crossing called the Kenmore crossing. The technology used for trains would be heavy rail in the manner of the MBTA’s Orange Line.
This alternative would have a subway stop under Brookline Avenue over the Massachusetts Turnpike. This station would be about half a block from Fenway Park. It would be attached on the Fenway Park end to Yawkey Station and on the other end to the existing Kenmore Station on the Green Line (streetcar technology). Kenmore is the point at which three Green Line branches combine to go into town.
The location of the station and its connections would provide ready, easy transfer for hundreds of rush hours commuter rail passengers to all three Green Line branches, truly excellent transportation planning.
As I detailed this alternative, I could hear the audience repeating my details with pleasure.
I then informed the audience of the river crossing option which the state's representatives are pushing now, the BU Bridge option for crossing the Charles River using Green Line technology, streetcars. Through details of the Urban Ring phase II, buses, the state could make the Kenmore crossing impossible. The state plans for the BU Bridge option would move Yawkey station several blocks further west to St. Mary’s Street, thus severely hurting the plans ongoing for the Fenway Park neighborhood.
From a transportation point of view, the relocated station would have far inferior connections to the rapid transit system. Passengers would walk through a tunnel over the Mass. Pike to the sidewalk on Commonwealth Avenue and then have to walk through traffic and the elements to the Green Line's B Branch in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue, further overloading already overloaded streetcar service on that one line several times an hour during the morning rush hour.
The state's transportation representative to the meeting quickly assured people that plans for Phase II are up in the area and will not be firmed up for a year.
But we had a developer at the meeting who presented extremely well thought out plans for construction on top of Yawkey Station next to Fenway Park.
The people in the room were not at all happy with the possible change to the detriment of the Fenway Park area.
On the other hand, Boston University, the City of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology see major developer advantages to the BU Bridge crossing. Harvard, as I will include in a subsequent report, has very major benefits being sneaked through in the fine print.
Last Friday, May 4, MOVEMass had a meeting at Fenway Park in which people involved in planning for the Fenway Park neighborhood presented their ideas for that neighborhood.
One of the many things impacting the environment of the Charles River is the Urban Ring subway / bus planning.
As usual, there is one excellent option, both environmentally and from a transportation point of view, and there is the option the City of Cambridge is fighting for.
On April 25, I summarized the various subway options in a report entitled “Urban Ring Options - Detailed Maps.” The report includes my evaluation of proposals for Harvard Allston and my alternate proposal. I have tweaked that report since then based on input from readers.
On April 27, I provided my evaluation of the subway options in a report entitled “Analyses of Urban Ring - Phase III.”
Of major importance to the Fenway Park neighborhood is the future of Yawkey Station on the commuter rail line to Worcester and Framingham. Yawkey Station is located perhaps 200 feet from Fenway Park and is named after the Red Sox longtime owner.
I summarized for the group the truly excellent Kenmore stop on the Urban Ring subway’s Charles River crossing called the Kenmore crossing. The technology used for trains would be heavy rail in the manner of the MBTA’s Orange Line.
This alternative would have a subway stop under Brookline Avenue over the Massachusetts Turnpike. This station would be about half a block from Fenway Park. It would be attached on the Fenway Park end to Yawkey Station and on the other end to the existing Kenmore Station on the Green Line (streetcar technology). Kenmore is the point at which three Green Line branches combine to go into town.
The location of the station and its connections would provide ready, easy transfer for hundreds of rush hours commuter rail passengers to all three Green Line branches, truly excellent transportation planning.
As I detailed this alternative, I could hear the audience repeating my details with pleasure.
I then informed the audience of the river crossing option which the state's representatives are pushing now, the BU Bridge option for crossing the Charles River using Green Line technology, streetcars. Through details of the Urban Ring phase II, buses, the state could make the Kenmore crossing impossible. The state plans for the BU Bridge option would move Yawkey station several blocks further west to St. Mary’s Street, thus severely hurting the plans ongoing for the Fenway Park neighborhood.
From a transportation point of view, the relocated station would have far inferior connections to the rapid transit system. Passengers would walk through a tunnel over the Mass. Pike to the sidewalk on Commonwealth Avenue and then have to walk through traffic and the elements to the Green Line's B Branch in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue, further overloading already overloaded streetcar service on that one line several times an hour during the morning rush hour.
The state's transportation representative to the meeting quickly assured people that plans for Phase II are up in the area and will not be firmed up for a year.
But we had a developer at the meeting who presented extremely well thought out plans for construction on top of Yawkey Station next to Fenway Park.
The people in the room were not at all happy with the possible change to the detriment of the Fenway Park area.
On the other hand, Boston University, the City of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology see major developer advantages to the BU Bridge crossing. Harvard, as I will include in a subsequent report, has very major benefits being sneaked through in the fine print.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
State Senate Candidates' forum, May 8, 2007
The State Senate candidates’ forum at the LBJ apartments in Cambridge was last night.
Barrios's endorsee, Revere City Councilor Dan Rizzo was, he said, not clear on all the details of the Urban Ring.
East Boston State Representative Anthony Petrucelli seemed aware of the various Phases and repeatedly endorsed rail. There was one question on the Urban Ring (not mine) and a second reference from someone who said she would have asked about it if the first person hadn't.
I asked about plans for regulation Little League fields at Magazine Beach and the algae bloom last summer just offshore the new “Teddy Ebersol’s Red Sox” Little League fields at Lederman Park.
Runoff there from the 6 acres of commercial sod, with its necessary regimen of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides (as applied last August and September) led to the unprecedented algae bloom last August and September. I pointed out that the state Department of Conservation and Resources' plans to put in 7 acres of the same stuff at Magazine Beach. We can anticipate the same results. Petrucelli seemed very concerned about beaches, is on the Beaches committee so I'll try to follow up with him on that.
Afterwards I spoke with Rep. Marty Walz about my e-mail to her about the algae bloom and plans for Magazine Beach. She asked if she could forward my e-mail to the DCR for information and I said yes, even a denial of any relation would be useful.
I intended to speak to Marc McGovern, the former Cambridge school committee member who’s pushing for the Little League fields at Magazine Beach, to ask him his opinion of the standard and extraordinary applications of chemicals to the stressed commercial turf on those fields, but missed him. My e-mail to Representative Walz on this subject was addressed to him as well.
Heather Hoffmann in her question time referred to my comments about the algae bloom and said the power plant in East Cambridge has been pumping out hot water into the Charles and that could help answer the question about cause.
Representative Walz and I, speaking after the question session and before I spoke with Heather, agreed that we didn't know any changes with the power plant, but assuming there had been a change, it was possible the changes at Ebersol fields and the power plant could together cause the algae bloom.
Heather told me after that that the power plant has increased operation from 4 to 20 hours a day since its sale by NSTAR to the current owners and is "cooking the Charles." She says the EPA is going after the owners.
She said the current owners, in trying to get out of building the pedestrian walk along the canal in front of the plant (mitigation), has offered Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy a half-million dollar “contribution,” to be paid to the Manager and used at his complete discretion for whatever he wants, with the sole exception that it not be spent in East Cambridge. The payment would be to release them current owners from the obligation of the pedestrian walk, mitigation for an undone mitigation, I guess. (I remember being at a meeting of the Cambridge Conservation Commission or the Board of Zoning Appeal at which the owners said they didn’t want to provide the “mitigation” promised, i.e., the walkway.)
The owners cited security then and now. Heather says there is none at the plant. A group of 12 East Cambridge residents, probably members of the East Cambridge Planning Team, met at the plant and were alone there for 15 minutes while they searched for the person who was supposed to meet them there on the matter of the walkway.
Security consists of a closed gate and lock, when the plant’s owners remember to do that. Otherwise the thing is wide open.
Kathy Podgers asked a question about harborage and habitat for urban wildlife, and only Rizzo had any clue what she was talking about. Petrucelli told her after the meeting his family had had skunks under the porch, that they had had them removed, and now they have problems with squirrels.
Kathy pointed out the skunks would keep the squirrels away, but she says he still didn't understand. He seems part of the leadership, she said, and look where we are on protecting the environment.
Nevertheless I'll follow up with him on Magazine Beach and the DCR.
In the forum and afterwards Petrucelli pointed with pride to his help getting more money for the DCR. I told him I didn’t think giving the DCR more money would help anything. They use it not for maintenance of what they have but to keep Plans and its design-development constituents happy, at public expense.
He seemed aware of the DCR’s history of neglecting its assets, so as to be able to replace them at greater cost than what ordinary maintenance would cost. I pointed this is how the DCR services its design-development constituents, and also mobilizes public support for the survival of its own Planning group.
On reflection now I see DCR Plans works to identify itself in the public mind as the “good” DCR and is happy to let Maintenance, which Plans consistently underfunds so it can have its major development projects, be the “bad” DCR
Marilyn Wellons
Barrios's endorsee, Revere City Councilor Dan Rizzo was, he said, not clear on all the details of the Urban Ring.
East Boston State Representative Anthony Petrucelli seemed aware of the various Phases and repeatedly endorsed rail. There was one question on the Urban Ring (not mine) and a second reference from someone who said she would have asked about it if the first person hadn't.
I asked about plans for regulation Little League fields at Magazine Beach and the algae bloom last summer just offshore the new “Teddy Ebersol’s Red Sox” Little League fields at Lederman Park.
Runoff there from the 6 acres of commercial sod, with its necessary regimen of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides (as applied last August and September) led to the unprecedented algae bloom last August and September. I pointed out that the state Department of Conservation and Resources' plans to put in 7 acres of the same stuff at Magazine Beach. We can anticipate the same results. Petrucelli seemed very concerned about beaches, is on the Beaches committee so I'll try to follow up with him on that.
Afterwards I spoke with Rep. Marty Walz about my e-mail to her about the algae bloom and plans for Magazine Beach. She asked if she could forward my e-mail to the DCR for information and I said yes, even a denial of any relation would be useful.
I intended to speak to Marc McGovern, the former Cambridge school committee member who’s pushing for the Little League fields at Magazine Beach, to ask him his opinion of the standard and extraordinary applications of chemicals to the stressed commercial turf on those fields, but missed him. My e-mail to Representative Walz on this subject was addressed to him as well.
Heather Hoffmann in her question time referred to my comments about the algae bloom and said the power plant in East Cambridge has been pumping out hot water into the Charles and that could help answer the question about cause.
Representative Walz and I, speaking after the question session and before I spoke with Heather, agreed that we didn't know any changes with the power plant, but assuming there had been a change, it was possible the changes at Ebersol fields and the power plant could together cause the algae bloom.
Heather told me after that that the power plant has increased operation from 4 to 20 hours a day since its sale by NSTAR to the current owners and is "cooking the Charles." She says the EPA is going after the owners.
She said the current owners, in trying to get out of building the pedestrian walk along the canal in front of the plant (mitigation), has offered Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy a half-million dollar “contribution,” to be paid to the Manager and used at his complete discretion for whatever he wants, with the sole exception that it not be spent in East Cambridge. The payment would be to release them current owners from the obligation of the pedestrian walk, mitigation for an undone mitigation, I guess. (I remember being at a meeting of the Cambridge Conservation Commission or the Board of Zoning Appeal at which the owners said they didn’t want to provide the “mitigation” promised, i.e., the walkway.)
The owners cited security then and now. Heather says there is none at the plant. A group of 12 East Cambridge residents, probably members of the East Cambridge Planning Team, met at the plant and were alone there for 15 minutes while they searched for the person who was supposed to meet them there on the matter of the walkway.
Security consists of a closed gate and lock, when the plant’s owners remember to do that. Otherwise the thing is wide open.
Kathy Podgers asked a question about harborage and habitat for urban wildlife, and only Rizzo had any clue what she was talking about. Petrucelli told her after the meeting his family had had skunks under the porch, that they had had them removed, and now they have problems with squirrels.
Kathy pointed out the skunks would keep the squirrels away, but she says he still didn't understand. He seems part of the leadership, she said, and look where we are on protecting the environment.
Nevertheless I'll follow up with him on Magazine Beach and the DCR.
In the forum and afterwards Petrucelli pointed with pride to his help getting more money for the DCR. I told him I didn’t think giving the DCR more money would help anything. They use it not for maintenance of what they have but to keep Plans and its design-development constituents happy, at public expense.
He seemed aware of the DCR’s history of neglecting its assets, so as to be able to replace them at greater cost than what ordinary maintenance would cost. I pointed this is how the DCR services its design-development constituents, and also mobilizes public support for the survival of its own Planning group.
On reflection now I see DCR Plans works to identify itself in the public mind as the “good” DCR and is happy to let Maintenance, which Plans consistently underfunds so it can have its major development projects, be the “bad” DCR
Marilyn Wellons
Destroyer Advocates Volunteers Planting Flowers on Magazine Beach
Bob La Trémouille Reports:
1. Bad Guy Gushes.
2. Reality.
3. Response of the Cambridgeport Listserve.
1. Bad Guy Gushes.
To: cport
From: Bad Guy [Anonymous name omitted to protect the guilty.]
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 20:48:53 -0400
Subject: [cportneighbors] Park Serve Day, Magazine Beach, Sat., May 12, 9 a.m.
This Saturday, May 12, is Park Serve Day in Massachusetts. I thought many of you would be interested in a project taking place nearby and might like to participate:
Magazine Beach - 719 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_listing# magazine
Park Description: Magazine Beach is a well-used active and passive recreation area along the Charles River in Cambridge. The parkland includes a small boat dock, a picnic area, two baseball fields, a swimming pool and a wading pool. This area is connected to the Cambridge neighborhoods by a footbridge over busy Memorial Dr.
Directions: Memorial Dr. is Rte. 3. Magazine Beach is located between Riverside Rd. and Magazine St.
MBTA bus #47.
Event Specifications:
Project: Plant flowers
Time: 9am-noon
Meeting location: Pool
Appropriate ages: 10 years and above
Partner: Cambridge Little League
Register Now
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_registrati on
There are also numerous other parks that are participating. The full list is here:
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_listing
Please don't harangue me about how planting flowers is code word for some insidious DCR goose destruction plan or how Magazine Beach is state-sanctioned historical inaccuracy.
__._,_.___
2. Reality.
[Ed: Limited edits made below to the response I sent to the censoring ListServe. I blind copied to the Free Cambridgeport List and to all Cambridge City Councilors.]
Sounds sort of like the "swim in" conducted a year after 9 city councilors started starving the Charles River White Geese. The "swim in" claimed that the heartless behavior of nine city councilors was justified by making swimming possible off Magazine Beach.
So the nine city councilors installed a wall of designer bushes which they called "native" and which had so little business on the Charles River that they kept dying. Finally the outrageously non-native "native" bushes took hold and created a wall BLOCKING SWIMMING.
Now a Little League "leader" is fighting for destruction of the balance of the animal habitat and even more outrageous and heartless starvation.
Why?
They want Little Leaguers to have the right to roll in poisons in a location which has been historically free of poisons. They want to starve animals that much more in an area which has been shared by animals until a really destructive city council and a bunch of blatant liars from the DCR behaved exactly the opposite of their propanda.
But the nine destructive city councilors are joining forces with proven liars at the DCR. The DCR says it wants "historical" uses on Memorial Drive, and in the opinion of the DCR, POISONS are historical in a location which has never seen poisons.
So don't look at the poisons to come. Don't look at the heartless behavior of nine hypocrites. Don't look at the fake downzoning of Memorial Drive which was, in reality, exactly the opposite of downzoning.
Don't look at the outrageous censoring of the Cambridgeport list to keep, as much as possible, people from knowing just how outrageously destructive nine city councilors and their friends are. Don't look at the suppression of negative comments about the friends of the censors, no matter how true the negative comments are. Don't look at the suppression of positive comments by the Cambridgeport list about those who live in reality, no matter how true the positive comments are.
Look at the lovely flowers. Look at the beautiful hypocrisies from very destructive people.
Look at the lovely words which so often are exactly the opposite of reality.
Look at a "Green" organization whose founders could give a damn less about aggressive destruction of the Green, but who love their fancy light bulbs.
Pass me a handkerchief.
3. Response of the Cambridgeport Listserve.
Last I heard, reality was censored.
1. Bad Guy Gushes.
2. Reality.
3. Response of the Cambridgeport Listserve.
1. Bad Guy Gushes.
To: cport
From: Bad Guy [Anonymous name omitted to protect the guilty.]
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 20:48:53 -0400
Subject: [cportneighbors] Park Serve Day, Magazine Beach, Sat., May 12, 9 a.m.
This Saturday, May 12, is Park Serve Day in Massachusetts. I thought many of you would be interested in a project taking place nearby and might like to participate:
Magazine Beach - 719 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_listing# magazine
Park Description: Magazine Beach is a well-used active and passive recreation area along the Charles River in Cambridge. The parkland includes a small boat dock, a picnic area, two baseball fields, a swimming pool and a wading pool. This area is connected to the Cambridge neighborhoods by a footbridge over busy Memorial Dr.
Directions: Memorial Dr. is Rte. 3. Magazine Beach is located between Riverside Rd. and Magazine St.
MBTA bus #47.
Event Specifications:
Project: Plant flowers
Time: 9am-noon
Meeting location: Pool
Appropriate ages: 10 years and above
Partner: Cambridge Little League
Register Now
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_registrati on
There are also numerous other parks that are participating. The full list is here:
http://www.mass. gov/?pageID= gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_park_ serve_listing
Please don't harangue me about how planting flowers is code word for some insidious DCR goose destruction plan or how Magazine Beach is state-sanctioned historical inaccuracy.
__._,_.___
2. Reality.
[Ed: Limited edits made below to the response I sent to the censoring ListServe. I blind copied to the Free Cambridgeport List and to all Cambridge City Councilors.]
Sounds sort of like the "swim in" conducted a year after 9 city councilors started starving the Charles River White Geese. The "swim in" claimed that the heartless behavior of nine city councilors was justified by making swimming possible off Magazine Beach.
So the nine city councilors installed a wall of designer bushes which they called "native" and which had so little business on the Charles River that they kept dying. Finally the outrageously non-native "native" bushes took hold and created a wall BLOCKING SWIMMING.
Now a Little League "leader" is fighting for destruction of the balance of the animal habitat and even more outrageous and heartless starvation.
Why?
They want Little Leaguers to have the right to roll in poisons in a location which has been historically free of poisons. They want to starve animals that much more in an area which has been shared by animals until a really destructive city council and a bunch of blatant liars from the DCR behaved exactly the opposite of their propanda.
But the nine destructive city councilors are joining forces with proven liars at the DCR. The DCR says it wants "historical" uses on Memorial Drive, and in the opinion of the DCR, POISONS are historical in a location which has never seen poisons.
So don't look at the poisons to come. Don't look at the heartless behavior of nine hypocrites. Don't look at the fake downzoning of Memorial Drive which was, in reality, exactly the opposite of downzoning.
Don't look at the outrageous censoring of the Cambridgeport list to keep, as much as possible, people from knowing just how outrageously destructive nine city councilors and their friends are. Don't look at the suppression of negative comments about the friends of the censors, no matter how true the negative comments are. Don't look at the suppression of positive comments by the Cambridgeport list about those who live in reality, no matter how true the positive comments are.
Look at the lovely flowers. Look at the beautiful hypocrisies from very destructive people.
Look at the lovely words which so often are exactly the opposite of reality.
Look at a "Green" organization whose founders could give a damn less about aggressive destruction of the Green, but who love their fancy light bulbs.
Pass me a handkerchief.
3. Response of the Cambridgeport Listserve.
Last I heard, reality was censored.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Analyses of Urban Ring - Phase III
Bob La Trémouille reports.
1. Introduction.
2. General Analysis of the Urban Ring.
A. Introduction.
B. The transportation goals are all on the side of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
(1) Get people off the downtown subway.
(2) Provide clean connections with other transit lines and meaningful support for the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
(3) Support Fenway Park.
C. The environmental and financial goals are all in favor of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
3. Cambridge Chronicle letters.
A. Marilyn - Urban Ring Finances.
B. Your Editor.
(1) Introduction to the Chronicle editor - Issue in context.
(2) Environmental Harm to Cambridge - the neighborhood and the Charles River.
(3) Harvard Allston.
(4) Summary.
1. Introduction.
I have been actively defending the Charles River in Boston for nearly ten years now.
It has been distressingly amazing to learn the many, many attacks ongoing. It has also been surprising to see how many items are matters I have worked on even longer.
One of those attacks is the option for the Urban Ring transportation proposal supported by, of course, the City of Cambridge and its buddies in the state bureaucracy.
Yesterday, I gave you the MBTA maps for the Charles River crossings of the Urban Ring subway. Those maps date back to 2001.
I deliberately presented the maps in as neutral a manner as possible.
2. General Analysis of the Urban Ring.
A. Introduction.
Currently the state is proposing a massive highway build for a phase 2 of the Urban Ring, to precede phase 3 full scale subway.
Interestingly, some of the options certainly look like their expense pushes the cost of subway construction, and particular proposals would very much ensure that the inferior of the two Charles River crossings, the BU Bridge crossing, would be the one to go.
I support the Kenmore Crossing. My general reasons for supporting it were stated with the maps. From a transportation point of view, the Kenmore crossing is by far the better alternative.
B. The transportation goals are all on the side of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
(1) Get people off the downtown subway.
The main purpose of the subway system is to get people off the downtown subway.
Full scale Orange Line construction (Kenmore crossing) can do that.
Green line construction (BU Bridge crossing) cannot possibly get people off the downtown subway in any meaningful scale.
There is no comparison.
(2) Provide clean connections with other transit lines and meaningful support for the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
With regard to connections, there are major differences in the connections to the three green line branches and to the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
The proposal is intended to integrate the Worcester/Framingham commuter rail into the subway system.
This train could very easily drop hundreds of passengers onto the Green Line during rush hour.
The Green Line / BU Bridge crossing would drop those hundreds of passengers all on the already overloaded Commonwealth Avenue / Boston College / B branch. The transfer would include walking across Commonwealth Avenue even in the worst of weather.
The Orange Line / Kenmore crossing would provide covered transfers to all three Green Line branches.
There is no comparison.
(3) Support Fenway Park.
The Green Line / BU Bridge crossing would move Fenway Park's commuter rail station away from Fenway Park by a couple of blocks. The Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing would provide excellent, close connection.
There is no comparison.
C. The environmental and financial goals are all in favor of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
These are discussed below.
There is no comparison.
3. Cambridge Chronicle letters.
On April 19, 2007, the Cambridge Chronicle published a letter signed by among other people, Marilyn Wellons. She did not write it. It had major problems.
The following letters were published in the April 26, 2007 Cambridge Chronicle. Marilyn’s was published in full. Mine omitted the Harvard Allston analysis.
Subdivisioning is added.
A. Marilyn - Urban Ring Finances.
Editor, Cambridge Chronicle
To the Editor:
Thank you for the letter about the Urban Ring signed by me, among others. However, although it accurately states many objections to the buses (Phase 2) and properly endorses going directly to the rail part of the project (Phase 3), it seems to have a typographical error about rail that somehow slipped by.
Simply put, a light rail system is NOT a “smart choice.” According to the Urban Ring Major Investment Study, light rail’s capital costs, operating and maintenance costs, costs of mitigating vibration and electromagnetic interference with instruments at MIT and Longwood Medical Area, all are higher than for heavy rail. (The MBTA Green Line is light rail. The Orange and Red Lines are heavy rail.)
Comparing the cost effectiveness of bus, light rail, and heavy rail, the Study found that “the cost per passenger mile [of] the bus mode is the highest, followed closely by light rail and the heavy rail has the lowest cost.” Compared to Phase 2 buses and Phase 3 heavy rail, “Light Rail is the most expensive in both costs per vehicle revenue mile and per vehicle revenue hour by a large margin.” (MIS , 7-4.)
Given effective transportation’s critical importance to our region’s jobs and cost of living, we cannot afford to squander funds on Urban Ring buses or light rail. Short-sighted decisions, lack of strategic thinking, and lack of investment in transportation have contributed to the loss of population and businesses here, placing us at a tremendous disadvantage relative to other regions. Officials and the attentive public are well aware of these very real problems.
In this context, light rail, like the buses, would continue the errors of the past.
I hope this clarifies the situation regarding the Urban Ring, a very complicated subject.
B. Your Editor.
(1) Introduction to the Chronicle editor - Issue in context.
Editor: I realize this is a bit long for a letter. That is why I suggest, as an option, an op ed. Another possibility is to cut out the Harvard Allston analysis.
I am uncomfortable with the timing of this initiative, especially since an op-ed was printed at the same time from Stosh Horowitz concerning the North Point project. My discomfort comes from the fact that the project concerning the Hotel near Trader Joe's is perhaps the major current issue in this part of the city.
The problem with that hotel is a fake downzoning which legalized (with fake reviews) the Hotel's initiatives. Horowitz led that fake downzoning, and there has been distressingly aggressive censorship of issues relating to the hotel in the Cambridgeport listserve. See my blog for a sample of the censorship.
Kelley voted for that fake and very destructive fake downzoning. Is the Urban Ring noise a red herring? Nevertheless, correction is needed for incorrect statements.
(2) Environmental Harm to Cambridge - the neighborhood and the Charles River.
Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
In your 4/19/07 edition, you printed an extended discussion of the state’s Urban Ring plans. While the letter seems well intended, there were enough errors in it that people could be confused.
First of all, the letter supported amendment of a motion by Councilor Kelley. I understand Councilor Kelley does not seem to support amendment of his motion and amendment does not seem feasible.
Kelley’s motion seems to support a new state highway on top of the Grand Junction railway tracks in East Cambridge / Cambridgeport. This new highway could be another Inner Belt.
Secondly, the letter supported certain elements of “Phase III” of the Urban Ring plans but does not seem to understand Phase III.
Phase III is a proposal for a new subway line connecting Charlestown to Lechmere to MIT to the Harvard Medical Area to Ruggles.
The key differences are in the way the subway would cross the Charles River and in the type of vehicle used.
I proposed one option which is now a formal state option for crossing the Charles River. This is the Kenmore crossing.
I proposed the Kenmore crossing because the other crossing, the BU Bridge crossing, is so destructive to Cambridgeport.
The BU Bridge crossing would put a subway stop at the end of Putnam Avenue with obvious destructive impact on Cambridgeport. The BU Bridge crossing would also be highly destructive to a sensitive part of the Charles River in Cambridge.
That two pronged destructive impact on Cambridgeport is the reason I proposed the Kenmore crossing instead of the BU Bridge crossing in 1986. The state picked up the Kenmore crossing as a formal alternative in 1991.
The two different types of vehicle are: full scale subway in the manner of the Orange Line, and street cars in the manner of the Green Line. The Kenmore crossing is Orange Line technology. The BU Bridge crossing, with its very destructive Putnam Avenue and Charles River impacts, is Green Line technology.
The letter you printed included language favorable to the Green Line technology while opposing the destructiveness of Councilor Kelley’s highway. The difference in damage to Cambridgeport between the Green Line Phase III crossing and Kelley’s highway is only a matter of degree.
If you oppose Kelley’s highway, you should oppose the Green Line BU Bridge Phase III and you should support the Orange Line Kenmore Phase III.
(3) Harvard Allston.
Similarly, Councilor Kelley in 2005 gave people the impression that the Green Line BU Bridge crossing would support Harvard’s Allston project from the east. I went so far as to bring in the project managers to disprove this statement, but Councilor Kelley has never withdrawn this statement.
Currently, the state’s consultants have proposed four different ways to support Harvard Allston.
Every one of the current state options support Harvard Allston from the east with connections from Boston, Brookline and the Harvard Medical Area and on the west with connection to Harvard Square.
There would be a much better way to do the eastern connection with a new Green Line branch from the Boston end of the BU Bridge, but there is no meaningful eastern proposal (except for Councilor Kelley’s 2005 statement) from Cambridge.
(4) Summary.
I hope this analysis if of assistance. I have lived the Urban Ring since the mid-80's. It can be very distressing to see people fighting for items they might not support if they had full information.
Thank you.
1. Introduction.
2. General Analysis of the Urban Ring.
A. Introduction.
B. The transportation goals are all on the side of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
(1) Get people off the downtown subway.
(2) Provide clean connections with other transit lines and meaningful support for the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
(3) Support Fenway Park.
C. The environmental and financial goals are all in favor of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
3. Cambridge Chronicle letters.
A. Marilyn - Urban Ring Finances.
B. Your Editor.
(1) Introduction to the Chronicle editor - Issue in context.
(2) Environmental Harm to Cambridge - the neighborhood and the Charles River.
(3) Harvard Allston.
(4) Summary.
1. Introduction.
I have been actively defending the Charles River in Boston for nearly ten years now.
It has been distressingly amazing to learn the many, many attacks ongoing. It has also been surprising to see how many items are matters I have worked on even longer.
One of those attacks is the option for the Urban Ring transportation proposal supported by, of course, the City of Cambridge and its buddies in the state bureaucracy.
Yesterday, I gave you the MBTA maps for the Charles River crossings of the Urban Ring subway. Those maps date back to 2001.
I deliberately presented the maps in as neutral a manner as possible.
2. General Analysis of the Urban Ring.
A. Introduction.
Currently the state is proposing a massive highway build for a phase 2 of the Urban Ring, to precede phase 3 full scale subway.
Interestingly, some of the options certainly look like their expense pushes the cost of subway construction, and particular proposals would very much ensure that the inferior of the two Charles River crossings, the BU Bridge crossing, would be the one to go.
I support the Kenmore Crossing. My general reasons for supporting it were stated with the maps. From a transportation point of view, the Kenmore crossing is by far the better alternative.
B. The transportation goals are all on the side of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
(1) Get people off the downtown subway.
The main purpose of the subway system is to get people off the downtown subway.
Full scale Orange Line construction (Kenmore crossing) can do that.
Green line construction (BU Bridge crossing) cannot possibly get people off the downtown subway in any meaningful scale.
There is no comparison.
(2) Provide clean connections with other transit lines and meaningful support for the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
With regard to connections, there are major differences in the connections to the three green line branches and to the Worcester / Framingham commuter rail.
The proposal is intended to integrate the Worcester/Framingham commuter rail into the subway system.
This train could very easily drop hundreds of passengers onto the Green Line during rush hour.
The Green Line / BU Bridge crossing would drop those hundreds of passengers all on the already overloaded Commonwealth Avenue / Boston College / B branch. The transfer would include walking across Commonwealth Avenue even in the worst of weather.
The Orange Line / Kenmore crossing would provide covered transfers to all three Green Line branches.
There is no comparison.
(3) Support Fenway Park.
The Green Line / BU Bridge crossing would move Fenway Park's commuter rail station away from Fenway Park by a couple of blocks. The Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing would provide excellent, close connection.
There is no comparison.
C. The environmental and financial goals are all in favor of the Orange Line / Kenmore Crossing.
These are discussed below.
There is no comparison.
3. Cambridge Chronicle letters.
On April 19, 2007, the Cambridge Chronicle published a letter signed by among other people, Marilyn Wellons. She did not write it. It had major problems.
The following letters were published in the April 26, 2007 Cambridge Chronicle. Marilyn’s was published in full. Mine omitted the Harvard Allston analysis.
Subdivisioning is added.
A. Marilyn - Urban Ring Finances.
Editor, Cambridge Chronicle
To the Editor:
Thank you for the letter about the Urban Ring signed by me, among others. However, although it accurately states many objections to the buses (Phase 2) and properly endorses going directly to the rail part of the project (Phase 3), it seems to have a typographical error about rail that somehow slipped by.
Simply put, a light rail system is NOT a “smart choice.” According to the Urban Ring Major Investment Study, light rail’s capital costs, operating and maintenance costs, costs of mitigating vibration and electromagnetic interference with instruments at MIT and Longwood Medical Area, all are higher than for heavy rail. (The MBTA Green Line is light rail. The Orange and Red Lines are heavy rail.)
Comparing the cost effectiveness of bus, light rail, and heavy rail, the Study found that “the cost per passenger mile [of] the bus mode is the highest, followed closely by light rail and the heavy rail has the lowest cost.” Compared to Phase 2 buses and Phase 3 heavy rail, “Light Rail is the most expensive in both costs per vehicle revenue mile and per vehicle revenue hour by a large margin.” (MIS , 7-4.)
Given effective transportation’s critical importance to our region’s jobs and cost of living, we cannot afford to squander funds on Urban Ring buses or light rail. Short-sighted decisions, lack of strategic thinking, and lack of investment in transportation have contributed to the loss of population and businesses here, placing us at a tremendous disadvantage relative to other regions. Officials and the attentive public are well aware of these very real problems.
In this context, light rail, like the buses, would continue the errors of the past.
I hope this clarifies the situation regarding the Urban Ring, a very complicated subject.
B. Your Editor.
(1) Introduction to the Chronicle editor - Issue in context.
Editor: I realize this is a bit long for a letter. That is why I suggest, as an option, an op ed. Another possibility is to cut out the Harvard Allston analysis.
I am uncomfortable with the timing of this initiative, especially since an op-ed was printed at the same time from Stosh Horowitz concerning the North Point project. My discomfort comes from the fact that the project concerning the Hotel near Trader Joe's is perhaps the major current issue in this part of the city.
The problem with that hotel is a fake downzoning which legalized (with fake reviews) the Hotel's initiatives. Horowitz led that fake downzoning, and there has been distressingly aggressive censorship of issues relating to the hotel in the Cambridgeport listserve. See my blog for a sample of the censorship.
Kelley voted for that fake and very destructive fake downzoning. Is the Urban Ring noise a red herring? Nevertheless, correction is needed for incorrect statements.
(2) Environmental Harm to Cambridge - the neighborhood and the Charles River.
Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
In your 4/19/07 edition, you printed an extended discussion of the state’s Urban Ring plans. While the letter seems well intended, there were enough errors in it that people could be confused.
First of all, the letter supported amendment of a motion by Councilor Kelley. I understand Councilor Kelley does not seem to support amendment of his motion and amendment does not seem feasible.
Kelley’s motion seems to support a new state highway on top of the Grand Junction railway tracks in East Cambridge / Cambridgeport. This new highway could be another Inner Belt.
Secondly, the letter supported certain elements of “Phase III” of the Urban Ring plans but does not seem to understand Phase III.
Phase III is a proposal for a new subway line connecting Charlestown to Lechmere to MIT to the Harvard Medical Area to Ruggles.
The key differences are in the way the subway would cross the Charles River and in the type of vehicle used.
I proposed one option which is now a formal state option for crossing the Charles River. This is the Kenmore crossing.
I proposed the Kenmore crossing because the other crossing, the BU Bridge crossing, is so destructive to Cambridgeport.
The BU Bridge crossing would put a subway stop at the end of Putnam Avenue with obvious destructive impact on Cambridgeport. The BU Bridge crossing would also be highly destructive to a sensitive part of the Charles River in Cambridge.
That two pronged destructive impact on Cambridgeport is the reason I proposed the Kenmore crossing instead of the BU Bridge crossing in 1986. The state picked up the Kenmore crossing as a formal alternative in 1991.
The two different types of vehicle are: full scale subway in the manner of the Orange Line, and street cars in the manner of the Green Line. The Kenmore crossing is Orange Line technology. The BU Bridge crossing, with its very destructive Putnam Avenue and Charles River impacts, is Green Line technology.
The letter you printed included language favorable to the Green Line technology while opposing the destructiveness of Councilor Kelley’s highway. The difference in damage to Cambridgeport between the Green Line Phase III crossing and Kelley’s highway is only a matter of degree.
If you oppose Kelley’s highway, you should oppose the Green Line BU Bridge Phase III and you should support the Orange Line Kenmore Phase III.
(3) Harvard Allston.
Similarly, Councilor Kelley in 2005 gave people the impression that the Green Line BU Bridge crossing would support Harvard’s Allston project from the east. I went so far as to bring in the project managers to disprove this statement, but Councilor Kelley has never withdrawn this statement.
Currently, the state’s consultants have proposed four different ways to support Harvard Allston.
Every one of the current state options support Harvard Allston from the east with connections from Boston, Brookline and the Harvard Medical Area and on the west with connection to Harvard Square.
There would be a much better way to do the eastern connection with a new Green Line branch from the Boston end of the BU Bridge, but there is no meaningful eastern proposal (except for Councilor Kelley’s 2005 statement) from Cambridge.
(4) Summary.
I hope this analysis if of assistance. I have lived the Urban Ring since the mid-80's. It can be very distressing to see people fighting for items they might not support if they had full information.
Thank you.
Representative Walz supports environmental destruction at Magazine Beach
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Introduction.
2. Bob La Trémouille Response.
3. Marilyn Wellons Response, Letter to Representative Walz.
1. Introduction.
Several weeks ago, a former Cambridge School Committee member published a letter in the Cambridge Chronicle supporting destruction of Magazine Beach without saying he was supporting destruction of Magazine Beach. He said he was "improving" an unidentified Little League field. A week later, the Cambridge Chronicle published an anonymous supporting comment also not identifying the place being destroyed.
About three weeks after the anonymous communication, the original signer, Marc McGovern cosigned with State Representative Marty Walz a letter bragging about the destruction and identifying Magazine Beach.
The following are my and Marilyn Wellons' response to the more recent communication.
2. Bob La Trémouille Response.
It is always interesting to see the bad guys at work in Cambridge.
In November 1999, nine members of the Cambridge City Council voted for environmental irresponsibility at Magazine Beach, being fully aware of the harm to wildlife.
Since then nine members of the Cambridge City Council, with individual incumbents varying from time to time, have done their best not to know what they were doing.
When heartless killers targeted the Charles River White Geese, nine Cambridge City Councilors were "neutral" with what amounted to the usual complicant wink and a nod.
When the leader of the gaggle was brutally killed and the Cambridge Chronicle headlined our memorial ceremony, the Cambridge City Council was neutral with what amounted to the usual complicant wink and a nod.
When a young woman was murdered in what seemed to be clearly a graduation from killing geese, the Cambridge City Council spent an extended period discussing the killing. They just did not want to know where she was killed. Another wink and a nod.
The killer was sentenced to life and clearly looked like the goose killer.
The DCR took a poll. A majority thought that the Charles River was fine without "improvements."
Over a period of seven years, nobody could see any value in the most reprehensible part of the "improvements," the destruction of Magazine Beach.
Walling off Magazine Beach from the Charles River with designer bushes in place of wetlands was heralded with a swim-in that claimed that walling off the Charles River was a way to assist swimming in the Charles.
The starvation attacks involved in that bizarre walling off with vegetation which had no business on the Charles River was described by the DCR as doing "no harm" to the Charles River White Geese who were being starved by the project.
The DCR defined starvation as "no harm."
Finally, about a month ago, a former school committee member, Marc McGovern, supported in the Cambridge Chronicle a little league improvement at a location which that former school committee member did not identify.
One week later an anonymous message in the Chronicle agreed on the "improvement" at the unidentified location.
This looked to me like the sort of underhanded game that goes on.
Normal people consider the Magazine Beach playing fields perfectly adequate. The plans are dig up all the dirt, cart it away and replace it with dirt and poisons.
The DCR claims to want only water related activities on the banks of the Charles. They starve water birds, poison eggs of water birds and instal poisons to support "improvements" which are unnecessary for playing fields which are most definitely not water related.
The last time the DCR applied poisons to one of their water related playing fields was at Ebersol Fields near Mass. General Hospital.
This was last spring. The next day, the Charles was dead from the harbor to the Mass. Ave. bridge.
So Thursday, State Representative Marty Walz bragged about these destructive, environmentally wasteful "improvements" in the Cambridge Chronicle in response to the letter which did not identify the target. Walz identified the target as Magazine Beach.
Business as usual. Starve the animals, poison the environment and do it in response to a letter which identified nothing.
Truly reprehensible.
2. Marilyn Wellons Response, Letter to Representative Walz.
Dear Rep. Walz,
I was disturbed to read that you support the DCR's plan to install
commercial sod on the playing fields at Magazine Beach. Such sod will need
continuing applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
These chemicals are not good for young athletes or for the Charles
River's water quality.
The prototype of this project is the DCR's Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox
Fields at Lederman Park in Boston. In the spring of 2006 the agency
replaced 6 acres of grasses adapted to the water's edge there with commercial
sod. The unprecedented algae bloom in the Charles River just offshore
from these fields followed in August. "We've never seen an algae bloom
like this before," the Boston Globe quoted a Charles River Watershed
Association spokesperson as saying. There had never been runoff from 6
acres of chemically treated sod there before, either.
In fact, the algae bloom followed by days the application of "Tartan,"
a fungicide. The label warning for "Tartan" states it is not to be
used near bodies of water. Nevertheless, the DCR, citing the need for the
"quality of turf our players deserve," applied it to the stressed
grass. I attended the Boston Conservation Commission hearing at the DCR
representative made this statement.
In a part of the river that had been safe enough for swimming, the
algae bloom created a public health hazard, dangerous to humans and
wildlife. The DCR has never denied that runoff from the newly installed,
heavily fertilized, and chemically treated sod, including the use of
"Tartan," led to the algae bloom and cancellation of the second Charles River
swim.
The DCR now proposes to repeat the blunder at Magazine Beach's 7 acres.
Organized, regulation baseball at "Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at
Lederman Park" is not a "water-dependent activity" supposedly privileged
on Charles River parkland. Casual riverside ball playing, cited as
suitable by the Charles River Reservation's original designers a century
ago, bears no resemblance to the klieg lights on 60' high poles,
extensive fences, and chemically treated sod there or what is planned for
Magazine Beach.
Please also note that childrens' soccer leagues have backed off from
their endorsements of chemical lawn-care companies when they discovered
what exposure to the chemicals meant for the children. I do not know if
Little League teams have similar agreements or are aware of the
dangers.
Please reconsider your support for the duplication of this disastrous
project at Magazine Beach.
1. Introduction.
2. Bob La Trémouille Response.
3. Marilyn Wellons Response, Letter to Representative Walz.
1. Introduction.
Several weeks ago, a former Cambridge School Committee member published a letter in the Cambridge Chronicle supporting destruction of Magazine Beach without saying he was supporting destruction of Magazine Beach. He said he was "improving" an unidentified Little League field. A week later, the Cambridge Chronicle published an anonymous supporting comment also not identifying the place being destroyed.
About three weeks after the anonymous communication, the original signer, Marc McGovern cosigned with State Representative Marty Walz a letter bragging about the destruction and identifying Magazine Beach.
The following are my and Marilyn Wellons' response to the more recent communication.
2. Bob La Trémouille Response.
It is always interesting to see the bad guys at work in Cambridge.
In November 1999, nine members of the Cambridge City Council voted for environmental irresponsibility at Magazine Beach, being fully aware of the harm to wildlife.
Since then nine members of the Cambridge City Council, with individual incumbents varying from time to time, have done their best not to know what they were doing.
When heartless killers targeted the Charles River White Geese, nine Cambridge City Councilors were "neutral" with what amounted to the usual complicant wink and a nod.
When the leader of the gaggle was brutally killed and the Cambridge Chronicle headlined our memorial ceremony, the Cambridge City Council was neutral with what amounted to the usual complicant wink and a nod.
When a young woman was murdered in what seemed to be clearly a graduation from killing geese, the Cambridge City Council spent an extended period discussing the killing. They just did not want to know where she was killed. Another wink and a nod.
The killer was sentenced to life and clearly looked like the goose killer.
The DCR took a poll. A majority thought that the Charles River was fine without "improvements."
Over a period of seven years, nobody could see any value in the most reprehensible part of the "improvements," the destruction of Magazine Beach.
Walling off Magazine Beach from the Charles River with designer bushes in place of wetlands was heralded with a swim-in that claimed that walling off the Charles River was a way to assist swimming in the Charles.
The starvation attacks involved in that bizarre walling off with vegetation which had no business on the Charles River was described by the DCR as doing "no harm" to the Charles River White Geese who were being starved by the project.
The DCR defined starvation as "no harm."
Finally, about a month ago, a former school committee member, Marc McGovern, supported in the Cambridge Chronicle a little league improvement at a location which that former school committee member did not identify.
One week later an anonymous message in the Chronicle agreed on the "improvement" at the unidentified location.
This looked to me like the sort of underhanded game that goes on.
Normal people consider the Magazine Beach playing fields perfectly adequate. The plans are dig up all the dirt, cart it away and replace it with dirt and poisons.
The DCR claims to want only water related activities on the banks of the Charles. They starve water birds, poison eggs of water birds and instal poisons to support "improvements" which are unnecessary for playing fields which are most definitely not water related.
The last time the DCR applied poisons to one of their water related playing fields was at Ebersol Fields near Mass. General Hospital.
This was last spring. The next day, the Charles was dead from the harbor to the Mass. Ave. bridge.
So Thursday, State Representative Marty Walz bragged about these destructive, environmentally wasteful "improvements" in the Cambridge Chronicle in response to the letter which did not identify the target. Walz identified the target as Magazine Beach.
Business as usual. Starve the animals, poison the environment and do it in response to a letter which identified nothing.
Truly reprehensible.
2. Marilyn Wellons Response, Letter to Representative Walz.
Dear Rep. Walz,
I was disturbed to read that you support the DCR's plan to install
commercial sod on the playing fields at Magazine Beach. Such sod will need
continuing applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
These chemicals are not good for young athletes or for the Charles
River's water quality.
The prototype of this project is the DCR's Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox
Fields at Lederman Park in Boston. In the spring of 2006 the agency
replaced 6 acres of grasses adapted to the water's edge there with commercial
sod. The unprecedented algae bloom in the Charles River just offshore
from these fields followed in August. "We've never seen an algae bloom
like this before," the Boston Globe quoted a Charles River Watershed
Association spokesperson as saying. There had never been runoff from 6
acres of chemically treated sod there before, either.
In fact, the algae bloom followed by days the application of "Tartan,"
a fungicide. The label warning for "Tartan" states it is not to be
used near bodies of water. Nevertheless, the DCR, citing the need for the
"quality of turf our players deserve," applied it to the stressed
grass. I attended the Boston Conservation Commission hearing at the DCR
representative made this statement.
In a part of the river that had been safe enough for swimming, the
algae bloom created a public health hazard, dangerous to humans and
wildlife. The DCR has never denied that runoff from the newly installed,
heavily fertilized, and chemically treated sod, including the use of
"Tartan," led to the algae bloom and cancellation of the second Charles River
swim.
The DCR now proposes to repeat the blunder at Magazine Beach's 7 acres.
Organized, regulation baseball at "Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at
Lederman Park" is not a "water-dependent activity" supposedly privileged
on Charles River parkland. Casual riverside ball playing, cited as
suitable by the Charles River Reservation's original designers a century
ago, bears no resemblance to the klieg lights on 60' high poles,
extensive fences, and chemically treated sod there or what is planned for
Magazine Beach.
Please also note that childrens' soccer leagues have backed off from
their endorsements of chemical lawn-care companies when they discovered
what exposure to the chemicals meant for the children. I do not know if
Little League teams have similar agreements or are aware of the
dangers.
Please reconsider your support for the duplication of this disastrous
project at Magazine Beach.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Urban Ring Options - Detailed Maps
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. Introduction.
2. BU Bridge / Green Line option in Cambridge.
3. Kenmore / Orange Line Option in Cambridge.
4. Boston Side.
a. General.
b. BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing.
c. Kenmore / Orange Line Crossing.
d. Need for Green Line Technology on BU Bridge / Green Line Option.
5. Summary.
6. Application to my suggestion that Harvard Allston be serviced by a Green Line Branch.
1. Introduction.
We have done a lot of discussing of the various Urban Ring options for the subway, third phase.
To clarify things, I am providing the official MBTA maps of the two crossings. First are two maps showing Cambridge impact. Alternatives 1 / 3 is the BU Bridge / Green Line technology option. Alternative 2 is the Kenmore / Orange Line technology option.
The semi-solid line on both Cambridge maps is the proposed subway alignment. Both routes have a stop under Mass. Ave. at the Grand Junction Railroad tracks. Also shown are other stops in the east part of Cambridge. Both alternatives, after the variation in crossings and related stops, have stops in the Harvard Medical Area.
The third map is a very detailed map showing the alternatives on the Boston side. It is complicated and is not ideally presented.
The maps are best viewed if you double click on them for blow-ups.
2. BU Bridge / Green Line option in Cambridge.
The BU Bridge / Green Line option continues under the Grand Junction after the MIT stop. It apparently cuts left after going under Memorial Drive, destroying the woods and then in Boston traveling under the small connector from Soldiers Field Road / Storrow Drive.
3. Kenmore / Orange Line Option in Cambridge.
The Kenmore / Orange Line technology crossing continues a little bit under the Grand Junction after the MIT stop. It then travels under the MIT playing fields and under the Charles River. It would apparently enter Kenmore Square under the eastern of the two north south side streets.
4. Boston Side.
a. General.
The dark area at the top of the map is the Charles River. Very careful viewing will identify broken lines starting at the Charles River in the left and right top areas. The two lines come together sort of in the lower left. The combined line then curves and goes to the right.
The left line is the BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing. The right line is the Kenmore / Orange Line crossing. The combined line starts on Brookline Avenue near the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and curves under Longwood Avenue for the Longwood Medical Area service.
b. BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing.
The left, BU Crossing / Green Line technology, line has two oblong areas along its route.
The higher of these is a proposed station under Mountfort Street at St. Mary's Street (St. Mary's is marked above the station). The proposal calls for the Yawkey Commuter Rail stop to be moved away from Fenway Park and be located just east of this station.
Connection between the Urban Ring subway and Commonwealth Avenue's B line would be accomplished by a tunnel under St. Mary's which would let people off on the southern Commonwealth Avenue sidewalk. Travellers would then cross Comm. Ave. traffic to BU Central station.
Commuter Rail travelers from Worcester, Framingham, etc. would walk through the Urban Ring station and tunnel to the B Line for Green Line connections.
The second oblong is under Park Drive for a new Urban Ring station to be located between the current D line Fenway Park station and Beacon Street. A new C line station would be built under Beacon Street to make that connection.
c. Kenmore / Orange Line Crossing.
The right line has only one oblong / station. That station would be located under the Brookline Avenue bridge over the Mass. Pike. It would directly connect to Kenmore station on one end and Yawkey Station on the other.
In contrast to the BU Bridge crossing, this station would provide excellent connection to Fenway Park and ready transfers for hundreds of commuter rail travelers to all three green lines.
d. Need for Green Line Technology on BU Bridge / Green Line Option.
The BU Bridge crossing has to use Green Line technology. It cannot use Orange Line technology because of a sharp right turn where Mountfort Street turns to Park Drive. This turn is slightly to the right of the Mountfort station.
5. Summary.
I hope these maps are of value.
6. Application to my suggestion that Harvard Allston be serviced by a Green Line Branch.
On the first of these maps, if you look at the bottom of the map, you are looking at Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. There are a lot of T’s on Comm. Avenue, denoting Green Line B stops.
Just to the left of the crossing is a solid north-south line indicating the BU Bridge.
Just to the left of the BU Bridge can be seen the Mass. Pike and just below the Mass. Pike is another solid line.
That last solid line is the Commuter Rail line from Worcester / Framingham to Boston.
Harvard owns pretty much everything from that line going up the left side of the map.
The Green Line B branch goes up the middle of Commonwealth Avenue.
My proposal would have a branch created by putting in switches on the Green line rails just west of the BU Bridge. Tracks would be laid ABOVE the commuter rail first on Commonwealth Avenue, then on a bridge directly above the commuter rail.
The bridge would extend above the rail yard which you see on the left and then drop so that a stop for Harvard Allston could be created between Cambridge Street and Western Avenue under a street which currently connects the two. Harvard wants this street to be made a major boulevard running to North Harvard Street just south of Harvard Stadium.
The Harvard Allston spur would continue under this boulevard, under the Charles River and under JFK Park at JFK Street and Memorial Drive.
Just north of JFK park is a tunnel which has never been removed by the MBTA which connected a temporary station at the JFK School to the Harvard Station. That tunnel could create a terminus for the Harvard Allston connector which would directly connect to the underground bus tunnels at Harvard Station.
1. Introduction.
2. BU Bridge / Green Line option in Cambridge.
3. Kenmore / Orange Line Option in Cambridge.
4. Boston Side.
a. General.
b. BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing.
c. Kenmore / Orange Line Crossing.
d. Need for Green Line Technology on BU Bridge / Green Line Option.
5. Summary.
6. Application to my suggestion that Harvard Allston be serviced by a Green Line Branch.
1. Introduction.
We have done a lot of discussing of the various Urban Ring options for the subway, third phase.
To clarify things, I am providing the official MBTA maps of the two crossings. First are two maps showing Cambridge impact. Alternatives 1 / 3 is the BU Bridge / Green Line technology option. Alternative 2 is the Kenmore / Orange Line technology option.
The semi-solid line on both Cambridge maps is the proposed subway alignment. Both routes have a stop under Mass. Ave. at the Grand Junction Railroad tracks. Also shown are other stops in the east part of Cambridge. Both alternatives, after the variation in crossings and related stops, have stops in the Harvard Medical Area.
The third map is a very detailed map showing the alternatives on the Boston side. It is complicated and is not ideally presented.
The maps are best viewed if you double click on them for blow-ups.
2. BU Bridge / Green Line option in Cambridge.
The BU Bridge / Green Line option continues under the Grand Junction after the MIT stop. It apparently cuts left after going under Memorial Drive, destroying the woods and then in Boston traveling under the small connector from Soldiers Field Road / Storrow Drive.
3. Kenmore / Orange Line Option in Cambridge.
The Kenmore / Orange Line technology crossing continues a little bit under the Grand Junction after the MIT stop. It then travels under the MIT playing fields and under the Charles River. It would apparently enter Kenmore Square under the eastern of the two north south side streets.
4. Boston Side.
a. General.
The dark area at the top of the map is the Charles River. Very careful viewing will identify broken lines starting at the Charles River in the left and right top areas. The two lines come together sort of in the lower left. The combined line then curves and goes to the right.
The left line is the BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing. The right line is the Kenmore / Orange Line crossing. The combined line starts on Brookline Avenue near the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and curves under Longwood Avenue for the Longwood Medical Area service.
b. BU Bridge / Green Line Crossing.
The left, BU Crossing / Green Line technology, line has two oblong areas along its route.
The higher of these is a proposed station under Mountfort Street at St. Mary's Street (St. Mary's is marked above the station). The proposal calls for the Yawkey Commuter Rail stop to be moved away from Fenway Park and be located just east of this station.
Connection between the Urban Ring subway and Commonwealth Avenue's B line would be accomplished by a tunnel under St. Mary's which would let people off on the southern Commonwealth Avenue sidewalk. Travellers would then cross Comm. Ave. traffic to BU Central station.
Commuter Rail travelers from Worcester, Framingham, etc. would walk through the Urban Ring station and tunnel to the B Line for Green Line connections.
The second oblong is under Park Drive for a new Urban Ring station to be located between the current D line Fenway Park station and Beacon Street. A new C line station would be built under Beacon Street to make that connection.
c. Kenmore / Orange Line Crossing.
The right line has only one oblong / station. That station would be located under the Brookline Avenue bridge over the Mass. Pike. It would directly connect to Kenmore station on one end and Yawkey Station on the other.
In contrast to the BU Bridge crossing, this station would provide excellent connection to Fenway Park and ready transfers for hundreds of commuter rail travelers to all three green lines.
d. Need for Green Line Technology on BU Bridge / Green Line Option.
The BU Bridge crossing has to use Green Line technology. It cannot use Orange Line technology because of a sharp right turn where Mountfort Street turns to Park Drive. This turn is slightly to the right of the Mountfort station.
5. Summary.
I hope these maps are of value.
6. Application to my suggestion that Harvard Allston be serviced by a Green Line Branch.
On the first of these maps, if you look at the bottom of the map, you are looking at Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. There are a lot of T’s on Comm. Avenue, denoting Green Line B stops.
Just to the left of the crossing is a solid north-south line indicating the BU Bridge.
Just to the left of the BU Bridge can be seen the Mass. Pike and just below the Mass. Pike is another solid line.
That last solid line is the Commuter Rail line from Worcester / Framingham to Boston.
Harvard owns pretty much everything from that line going up the left side of the map.
The Green Line B branch goes up the middle of Commonwealth Avenue.
My proposal would have a branch created by putting in switches on the Green line rails just west of the BU Bridge. Tracks would be laid ABOVE the commuter rail first on Commonwealth Avenue, then on a bridge directly above the commuter rail.
The bridge would extend above the rail yard which you see on the left and then drop so that a stop for Harvard Allston could be created between Cambridge Street and Western Avenue under a street which currently connects the two. Harvard wants this street to be made a major boulevard running to North Harvard Street just south of Harvard Stadium.
The Harvard Allston spur would continue under this boulevard, under the Charles River and under JFK Park at JFK Street and Memorial Drive.
Just north of JFK park is a tunnel which has never been removed by the MBTA which connected a temporary station at the JFK School to the Harvard Station. That tunnel could create a terminus for the Harvard Allston connector which would directly connect to the underground bus tunnels at Harvard Station.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
State Senator Travellini to be Replaced
Bob La Trémouille reports:
1. General.
2. Evaluation of Senator Travellini.
3. Evaluation of Senator Barrios.
4. Announcement of Senate Candidates Debate.
1. General.
I have received an announcement of a debate by the potential replacements for Senator Robert Travellini, the State Senator representing the Charles River White Geese.
The announcement is below in part 4.
2. Evaluation of Senator Travellini.
The situation with regard to Travellini was as follows:
The earliest clear, unambiguous understanding we had of the pending destruction of the goose habitat was when the goose meadow was destroyed by Boston University acting on behalf of the DCR (then MDC) in October 1999.
As part of the destruction, the former solid fence at the sidewalk was opened up. This, of course, encouraged the geese to wander out and bad guys to wander in. Marilyn went to Travellini's office to complain about the opening.
The minute Travellini heard that the fence had been opened up and the pieces left to one side, he said he would take care of it. He got on the phone in front of her to show her his sincerity.
The next day, the pieces which had been taken out of the fence had been removed.
3. Evaluation of Senator Barrios.
Barrios, of course, has been one of the worst. Barrios was the State Representative representing the Charles River White Geese. He timed the announcement of his candidacy for State Senate in such a manner that he encouraged the destruction of his district as part of a general redistricting.
Barrios's lead action was a letter in the Cambridge Chronicle in the beginning of August 2000, cosigned by the MSPCA. Barrios and the MSPCA proposed "humane treatment" for the Charles River White Geese.
I posted sarcastic fliers reporting his initiative and proposing "humane treatment" for Barrios. Barrios then went on Cambridge Community Television objecting to what he called my inciting his assassination.
4. Announcement of Senate Candidates Debate.
RNA Moderator wrote:
Ward 5 Democratic Committee and the Cambridge City Democratic Committee are jointly sponsoring a forum for the two Democratic candidates, Anthony Petroccelli and Dan Rizzo, who are running for election to the recently vacated Senate seat of Robert Travaligni. I believe it is the First Middlesex and Suffolk District, but don't quote me on that.
The forum will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 7:00 - 8:30 P.M., at LBJ Apartments, 150 Erie Street, between Brookline and Pearl. It's important that we get as many people there as possible so the new Senator understands that Cambridge is part of the district.
1. General.
2. Evaluation of Senator Travellini.
3. Evaluation of Senator Barrios.
4. Announcement of Senate Candidates Debate.
1. General.
I have received an announcement of a debate by the potential replacements for Senator Robert Travellini, the State Senator representing the Charles River White Geese.
The announcement is below in part 4.
2. Evaluation of Senator Travellini.
The situation with regard to Travellini was as follows:
The earliest clear, unambiguous understanding we had of the pending destruction of the goose habitat was when the goose meadow was destroyed by Boston University acting on behalf of the DCR (then MDC) in October 1999.
As part of the destruction, the former solid fence at the sidewalk was opened up. This, of course, encouraged the geese to wander out and bad guys to wander in. Marilyn went to Travellini's office to complain about the opening.
The minute Travellini heard that the fence had been opened up and the pieces left to one side, he said he would take care of it. He got on the phone in front of her to show her his sincerity.
The next day, the pieces which had been taken out of the fence had been removed.
3. Evaluation of Senator Barrios.
Barrios, of course, has been one of the worst. Barrios was the State Representative representing the Charles River White Geese. He timed the announcement of his candidacy for State Senate in such a manner that he encouraged the destruction of his district as part of a general redistricting.
Barrios's lead action was a letter in the Cambridge Chronicle in the beginning of August 2000, cosigned by the MSPCA. Barrios and the MSPCA proposed "humane treatment" for the Charles River White Geese.
I posted sarcastic fliers reporting his initiative and proposing "humane treatment" for Barrios. Barrios then went on Cambridge Community Television objecting to what he called my inciting his assassination.
4. Announcement of Senate Candidates Debate.
RNA Moderator
Ward 5 Democratic Committee and the Cambridge City Democratic Committee are jointly sponsoring a forum for the two Democratic candidates, Anthony Petroccelli and Dan Rizzo, who are running for election to the recently vacated Senate seat of Robert Travaligni. I believe it is the First Middlesex and Suffolk District, but don't quote me on that.
The forum will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 7:00 - 8:30 P.M., at LBJ Apartments, 150 Erie Street, between Brookline and Pearl. It's important that we get as many people there as possible so the new Senator understands that Cambridge is part of the district.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Censorship in Cambridge, MA
Bob La Trémouille Reports:
1. Introduction.
2. The leader of the core group’s communication.
3. Your editor’s censored response.
4. Censorship Notice.
5. Your editor’s response.
6. Yahoo! Groups Notification wrote.
7. Roy Bercaw Responds.
1. Introduction.
I have mentioned the problems with “grass roots organizations” in Cambridge which have nebulous connections to the City of Cambridge.
One of these groups, the so-called Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association used to have a rather vibrant listserve, until it started censoring things.
What follows is a series of emails and censorships with names deleted to protect the guilty.
“Derogatory stereotyping of a group" is given as the reason to censor disagreement with statements of the leader of the CNA core group concerning the CNA and its record.
Outrageous, yes!!!
I understand the leader of the CNA core group earns a living in a municipal field.
The guy doing the actual censoring leads a related and just formed “Green” group. I had an extended discussion with him about the fact that the group's organizers could give a damn less about destruction of the Green ongoing by the powers that be in Cambridge. He did not see any problem with that.
Censored document is in section 3. “Reasons” for censorship are in section 4.
2. The leader of the core group’s communication.
[Ed. This series of communications, in typical email fashion, led with section 6 and continued in reverse order. There was doubling of communications. I have deleted the doubling and structured chronologically.
[Additionally, I do not remember the letter in this section as the communication to which I (section 3) was responding. My response was intended to specifically respond to particular comments. This document does not track. Could it have been substituted in the process or could I have responded to the wrong email?
[If I find the one I remember, I will substitute. I am confused, but there is key stuff here in sections 3, 4 and 5 which are of value.]
Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association letter opposing setback reduction in front of Radisson Hotel site attached. Letter urges that open space and parkland uses along the river are cherished, unique, used by thousands from neighborhood and region and setback reduction along a river would be very bad precedent. Other reasons included. Letter follows vote by general membership at last meeting of Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. Letter was hand-delivered to Planning Board today to meet March 13th deadline for inclusion in package sent to Board members.
FYI, next Planning Board meeting on Radisson setback and Radisson zoning is March 20th. Notice of meeting was previously forwarded to group.
Signed: The leader of the Core Group.
3. Your editor’s censored response.
Bob LaTrémouille wrote:
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:40:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bob "LaTrémouille"
Subject: Re: [cportneighbors] Letter re Radisson Hotel zoning from Neighborhood Association
To: Cambridgeport Neighbors
The one thing you are doing a terrific job on is patting yourself on the back. This undeserved self-praise gives the false impression that you are on the side you claim to be on.
I would have responded to this yesterday, but we seem to have an Animal Farm situation here. I am quite certain this is not the ONLY communication from you on Monday. All animals are created equally, but some are more equal than others. [Ed: The Core Group previously limited posts to one per day. The Core Group's leader had two posts on this particular day. His self-praising was the second of the day.]
On Blessed Sacrament, you did a great job yelling about it being too large. So you made it LARGER.
We are faced with massive and highly irresponsible destruction of the green on Memorial Drive, 449 to 660 trees, all wetlands, all animal habitat. So you created a "green" organization which has no business calling itself "green." "Look at our fancy light bulbs. Don't look at the massive destruction of the green."
And now you are falsely calling yourself on the neighborhood side with regard to the outrageous zoning destruction between Putnam Avenue and Memorial Drive and between the MicroCenter and Riverside Press. You have destroyed yard requirements at the WHIM of appointees of your buddy, the City of Cambridge. You have massively increased the retail district.
Now, with crocodile tears, you claim to be concerned about yard requirements after you have thrown out the yard requirements. You have trashed meaningful protections for the right to near meaningless objections. So, with crocodile tears, when it has almost no value because of your destructive zoning, you are objecting.
You are as much on the neighborhood side on zoning as you are on the neighborhood side on destruction of the green.
But you love fancy light bulbs and you love next to meaningless objections.
4. Censorship Notice.
The head of the “green group” which could care less about destruction of the Green wrote:
This posting was deleted because it did not conform with a rule of the list:
"...language that is defamatory, libelous, personally insulting, profane, threatening, obscene, or indecent --including but not limited to name-calling, vulgarity, and derogatory stereotyping of groups--is inappropriate, is not allowed, and/or should be avoided on Cportneighbors." [Ed.: Bolding in original]
click below to read the full "Cportneighbors Rules and Procedures":
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/UKD2RS4TR1A8eY4qI78M3zoppyUa7xwTMZ_3Olv-vZHqDtm9y_CGEoLz1emXSlge_5_COb1CBNSNjhYtpcXBew/CportneighborsRulesandProcedures5.24.pdf
Thank you.
5. Your editor’s response.
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:51:54 -0700 (PDT)
To: Cambridgeport Neighbors
From: Bob "LaTréémouille"
Subject: RE: Re: [cportneighbors] Letter re Radisson Hotel zoning from Neighborhood Association
How dare anybody talk reality.
Something might get done that people CLAIM to stand for.
You have a group which is lying about itself to the great damage of the cause for which it claims to stand.
It is prohibited to say that your group is lying about itself because that is "stereotyping of a group."
So what is allowed is the sort of nonsense that the CNA and YOU pat yourself on the back for screwing the causes you claim to stand for.
I would call that shameless.
6. Yahoo! Groups Notification wrote:
Date: 17 Apr 2007 07:37:47 -0000
From: Yahoo! Groups Notification
To: boblat@yahoo.com
Subject: Message to cportneighbors group not approved
Hello,
Your message to the cportneighbors group was not approved. The owner of the group controls the content posted to it and has the right to approve or reject messages accordingly.
In this case, your message was automatically rejected because the moderator didn't approve it within 14 days. We dothis to provide a high quality of service for our users. A complete copy of your message has been attached for your
convenience.
Thank you for choosing Yahoo! Groups
Regards,
Yahoo! Groups Customer Care
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
7. Roy Bercaw Responds.
What I find amazing is the great difference in standards between the CNA list and the City's standards. The City violated laws unless there is a high likelihood of being sued. At CNA it is what if someone does not like what is posted?
[Ed: I see the censorship as part of a pattern of Core Groups with nebulous relationships to the City of Cambridge doing whatever it takes to achieve the environmentally destructive goals of the City of Cambridge and taking advantage of well-intentioned people in th process.]
1. Introduction.
2. The leader of the core group’s communication.
3. Your editor’s censored response.
4. Censorship Notice.
5. Your editor’s response.
6. Yahoo! Groups Notification
7. Roy Bercaw Responds.
1. Introduction.
I have mentioned the problems with “grass roots organizations” in Cambridge which have nebulous connections to the City of Cambridge.
One of these groups, the so-called Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association used to have a rather vibrant listserve, until it started censoring things.
What follows is a series of emails and censorships with names deleted to protect the guilty.
“Derogatory stereotyping of a group" is given as the reason to censor disagreement with statements of the leader of the CNA core group concerning the CNA and its record.
Outrageous, yes!!!
I understand the leader of the CNA core group earns a living in a municipal field.
The guy doing the actual censoring leads a related and just formed “Green” group. I had an extended discussion with him about the fact that the group's organizers could give a damn less about destruction of the Green ongoing by the powers that be in Cambridge. He did not see any problem with that.
Censored document is in section 3. “Reasons” for censorship are in section 4.
2. The leader of the core group’s communication.
[Ed. This series of communications, in typical email fashion, led with section 6 and continued in reverse order. There was doubling of communications. I have deleted the doubling and structured chronologically.
[Additionally, I do not remember the letter in this section as the communication to which I (section 3) was responding. My response was intended to specifically respond to particular comments. This document does not track. Could it have been substituted in the process or could I have responded to the wrong email?
[If I find the one I remember, I will substitute. I am confused, but there is key stuff here in sections 3, 4 and 5 which are of value.]
Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association letter opposing setback reduction in front of Radisson Hotel site attached. Letter urges that open space and parkland uses along the river are cherished, unique, used by thousands from neighborhood and region and setback reduction along a river would be very bad precedent. Other reasons included. Letter follows vote by general membership at last meeting of Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. Letter was hand-delivered to Planning Board today to meet March 13th deadline for inclusion in package sent to Board members.
FYI, next Planning Board meeting on Radisson setback and Radisson zoning is March 20th. Notice of meeting was previously forwarded to group.
Signed: The leader of the Core Group.
3. Your editor’s censored response.
Bob LaTrémouille
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:40:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bob "LaTrémouille"
Subject: Re: [cportneighbors] Letter re Radisson Hotel zoning from Neighborhood Association
To: Cambridgeport Neighbors
The one thing you are doing a terrific job on is patting yourself on the back. This undeserved self-praise gives the false impression that you are on the side you claim to be on.
I would have responded to this yesterday, but we seem to have an Animal Farm situation here. I am quite certain this is not the ONLY communication from you on Monday. All animals are created equally, but some are more equal than others. [Ed: The Core Group previously limited posts to one per day. The Core Group's leader had two posts on this particular day. His self-praising was the second of the day.]
On Blessed Sacrament, you did a great job yelling about it being too large. So you made it LARGER.
We are faced with massive and highly irresponsible destruction of the green on Memorial Drive, 449 to 660 trees, all wetlands, all animal habitat. So you created a "green" organization which has no business calling itself "green." "Look at our fancy light bulbs. Don't look at the massive destruction of the green."
And now you are falsely calling yourself on the neighborhood side with regard to the outrageous zoning destruction between Putnam Avenue and Memorial Drive and between the MicroCenter and Riverside Press. You have destroyed yard requirements at the WHIM of appointees of your buddy, the City of Cambridge. You have massively increased the retail district.
Now, with crocodile tears, you claim to be concerned about yard requirements after you have thrown out the yard requirements. You have trashed meaningful protections for the right to near meaningless objections. So, with crocodile tears, when it has almost no value because of your destructive zoning, you are objecting.
You are as much on the neighborhood side on zoning as you are on the neighborhood side on destruction of the green.
But you love fancy light bulbs and you love next to meaningless objections.
4. Censorship Notice.
The head of the “green group” which could care less about destruction of the Green wrote:
This posting was deleted because it did not conform with a rule of the list:
"...language that is defamatory, libelous, personally insulting, profane, threatening, obscene, or indecent --including but not limited to name-calling, vulgarity, and derogatory stereotyping of groups--is inappropriate, is not allowed, and/or should be avoided on Cportneighbors." [Ed.: Bolding in original]
click below to read the full "Cportneighbors Rules and Procedures":
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/UKD2RS4TR1A8eY4qI78M3zoppyUa7xwTMZ_3Olv-vZHqDtm9y_CGEoLz1emXSlge_5_COb1CBNSNjhYtpcXBew/CportneighborsRulesandProcedures5.24.pdf
Thank you.
5. Your editor’s response.
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:51:54 -0700 (PDT)
To: Cambridgeport Neighbors
From: Bob "LaTréémouille"
Subject: RE: Re: [cportneighbors] Letter re Radisson Hotel zoning from Neighborhood Association
How dare anybody talk reality.
Something might get done that people CLAIM to stand for.
You have a group which is lying about itself to the great damage of the cause for which it claims to stand.
It is prohibited to say that your group is lying about itself because that is "stereotyping of a group."
So what is allowed is the sort of nonsense that the CNA and YOU pat yourself on the back for screwing the causes you claim to stand for.
I would call that shameless.
6. Yahoo! Groups Notification
Date: 17 Apr 2007 07:37:47 -0000
From: Yahoo! Groups Notification
To: boblat@yahoo.com
Subject: Message to cportneighbors group not approved
Hello,
Your message to the cportneighbors group was not approved. The owner of the group controls the content posted to it and has the right to approve or reject messages accordingly.
In this case, your message was automatically rejected because the moderator didn't approve it within 14 days. We dothis to provide a high quality of service for our users. A complete copy of your message has been attached for your
convenience.
Thank you for choosing Yahoo! Groups
Regards,
Yahoo! Groups Customer Care
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
7. Roy Bercaw Responds.
What I find amazing is the great difference in standards between the CNA list and the City's standards. The City violated laws unless there is a high likelihood of being sued. At CNA it is what if someone does not like what is posted?
[Ed: I see the censorship as part of a pattern of Core Groups with nebulous relationships to the City of Cambridge doing whatever it takes to achieve the environmentally destructive goals of the City of Cambridge and taking advantage of well-intentioned people in th process.]
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Urban Ring Phase 2 Policy Order before the Cambridge City Council Monday, April 23, 2007
Marilyn Wellons sent the following e-mail to two neighborhood associations in Cambridge about three transportation meetings she attended in the week ending April 13, 2007.
Presentations at those meetings bear on a Policy Order about the Urban Ring Phase 2 tabled at the Cambridge City Council session on April 9. On April 23, 2007, the Council will again consider the Order. Although the Order identifies compelling reasons that justify rejection of Phase 2, it nevertheless asks the Council to endorse the project.
In addition to the Order's self-contradiction, Wellons gives other reasons to reject both the Order and the Urban Ring Phase 2.
****************
Dear Neighbors,
The recent transportation meetings I've attended have focused on the costs to
the region of poor transportation planning in the past. Just this morning [April 13, 2007] Secretary Bernard Cohen recited a litany of items in the region's "declining [transportation]infrastructure" that must be addressed. Last night we heard a projected increase of Storrow use in the next 23 years of 3%, which is close to nothing. On Wednesday the RTAC heard a presentation on "How Massachusetts's Neighbors are Responding to 21st Century Transportation Challenges," and the message was, Much Better Than Here.
In New England we're at the end of every supply line, and the costs of living
reflect that. Even so, the state has done little to improve efficiency and reduce
transportation costs. Short-sighted decisions, lack of strategic thinking, and
lack of investment in this sector have contributed to the loss of population and
businesses. They now place us at a tremendous disadvantage relative to other regions.
To take only the example of the Urban Ring Phase 2: while other cities--New York,
San Francisco among them--are building rail for rapid transit, Metro Boston is going
for buses. Phase 2 buses, grade-separated or not, are a false economy that will
only confirm the region's stagnation. Councillor Kelley's proposed Order
itself, while paradoxically endorsing the bus highway, indicates some of Phase 2's
costs: air pollution, asthma, heart and lung disease, diversion of resources from
better projects. And there are additional costs not mentioned in that order, i.e.,
damage to freight capacity at the Beacon freight yards in Allston, corresponding
damage to roads and highways from the resulting increased truck traffic, loss of
public parkland, damage to our neighborhoods.
While other regions--NY-NJ-CT and VA-WVA-OH--are actually building (not just thinking
about or studying) multi-modal freight infrastructure to create jobs at the ports
and from the ports throughout the transportation corridors, Massachusetts is not.
These other states' investments in multi-modal freight reduce the money costs
of fuel, air pollution, and damage to roads and highways, and corresponding costs
to quality of life. They're investments that make things better.
In Massachusetts we have the Turnpike Authority selling the Beacon yards to Harvard
for a pittance. In this deal, all the lawyers for Harvard and the Pike somehow
missed the need for an easement for the freight yards--the closest to the Port of
Boston--and for the Pike itself. Only the intervention of the Attorney General,
at the very last minute, at the Registry of Deeds, prevented the obliteration of
this public interest in the property.
It is simply not true that the universities, bio-tech, and the medical industry
or the like will keep everything ok, or at least ok for those now relatively well-off.
In the past, medical interns and residents competed for who would stay in Boston.
Now they leave, knowing they can't afford to live here. Fidelity is moving
out as quickly as possible, taking thousands of jobs to North Carolina, for example,
where the company's costs are less and their employees will live better for
much less. Here, with the continuing loss of population and businesses, tax revenues
will fall. There will be even less money for ordinary maintenance of public assets,
let alone the improvements necessary for the region's competitiveness.
Officials and attendees at the transportation meetings mentioned are well aware
of these very real problems.
In this context, building another bus route, grade-separated or not, would continue
the errors of the past. It would also squander whatever funds might be available
for real public transportation.
As voters and members of the attentive public, we also bear some responsibility
for our planners' and elected officials' short-sightedness in the past.
The Urban Ring bus highway, grade-separated or not, is planning consistent with
what has brought us to a difficult spot. I believe we and our elected officials
should reject it.
Yours sincerely,
Marilyn Wellons
Presentations at those meetings bear on a Policy Order about the Urban Ring Phase 2 tabled at the Cambridge City Council session on April 9. On April 23, 2007, the Council will again consider the Order. Although the Order identifies compelling reasons that justify rejection of Phase 2, it nevertheless asks the Council to endorse the project.
In addition to the Order's self-contradiction, Wellons gives other reasons to reject both the Order and the Urban Ring Phase 2.
****************
Dear Neighbors,
The recent transportation meetings I've attended have focused on the costs to
the region of poor transportation planning in the past. Just this morning [April 13, 2007] Secretary Bernard Cohen recited a litany of items in the region's "declining [transportation]infrastructure" that must be addressed. Last night we heard a projected increase of Storrow use in the next 23 years of 3%, which is close to nothing. On Wednesday the RTAC heard a presentation on "How Massachusetts's Neighbors are Responding to 21st Century Transportation Challenges," and the message was, Much Better Than Here.
In New England we're at the end of every supply line, and the costs of living
reflect that. Even so, the state has done little to improve efficiency and reduce
transportation costs. Short-sighted decisions, lack of strategic thinking, and
lack of investment in this sector have contributed to the loss of population and
businesses. They now place us at a tremendous disadvantage relative to other regions.
To take only the example of the Urban Ring Phase 2: while other cities--New York,
San Francisco among them--are building rail for rapid transit, Metro Boston is going
for buses. Phase 2 buses, grade-separated or not, are a false economy that will
only confirm the region's stagnation. Councillor Kelley's proposed Order
itself, while paradoxically endorsing the bus highway, indicates some of Phase 2's
costs: air pollution, asthma, heart and lung disease, diversion of resources from
better projects. And there are additional costs not mentioned in that order, i.e.,
damage to freight capacity at the Beacon freight yards in Allston, corresponding
damage to roads and highways from the resulting increased truck traffic, loss of
public parkland, damage to our neighborhoods.
While other regions--NY-NJ-CT and VA-WVA-OH--are actually building (not just thinking
about or studying) multi-modal freight infrastructure to create jobs at the ports
and from the ports throughout the transportation corridors, Massachusetts is not.
These other states' investments in multi-modal freight reduce the money costs
of fuel, air pollution, and damage to roads and highways, and corresponding costs
to quality of life. They're investments that make things better.
In Massachusetts we have the Turnpike Authority selling the Beacon yards to Harvard
for a pittance. In this deal, all the lawyers for Harvard and the Pike somehow
missed the need for an easement for the freight yards--the closest to the Port of
Boston--and for the Pike itself. Only the intervention of the Attorney General,
at the very last minute, at the Registry of Deeds, prevented the obliteration of
this public interest in the property.
It is simply not true that the universities, bio-tech, and the medical industry
or the like will keep everything ok, or at least ok for those now relatively well-off.
In the past, medical interns and residents competed for who would stay in Boston.
Now they leave, knowing they can't afford to live here. Fidelity is moving
out as quickly as possible, taking thousands of jobs to North Carolina, for example,
where the company's costs are less and their employees will live better for
much less. Here, with the continuing loss of population and businesses, tax revenues
will fall. There will be even less money for ordinary maintenance of public assets,
let alone the improvements necessary for the region's competitiveness.
Officials and attendees at the transportation meetings mentioned are well aware
of these very real problems.
In this context, building another bus route, grade-separated or not, would continue
the errors of the past. It would also squander whatever funds might be available
for real public transportation.
As voters and members of the attentive public, we also bear some responsibility
for our planners' and elected officials' short-sightedness in the past.
The Urban Ring bus highway, grade-separated or not, is planning consistent with
what has brought us to a difficult spot. I believe we and our elected officials
should reject it.
Yours sincerely,
Marilyn Wellons
Friday, April 13, 2007
Secretary of Transportation Reaffirms Interest in Grand Junction Railway in Cambridge
Bob La Tremouille Reports:
1. General.
2. The Grand Junction according to Secretary Cohen.
3. The Grand Junction’’s Importance, comments from Port Authority representatives.
A. General.
B. Importance of the Allston Freight Yards.
C. Container Service Drives Moving the Allston Freight Yards.
D. Port Authority Position.
1. General.
At the MOVEMassachusetts monthly meeting this morning, April 13, 2007, the guest was the Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bernard Cohen.
Secretary Cohen gave the packed room an impressive presentation which was both comprehensive and lacking in detail. In the middle of his long list of ongoing efforts was a comment on negotiations with CSX about obtaining rights of way for state transportation use.
2. The Grand Junction according to Secretary Cohen.
Marilyn Wellons was the first member of the audience to be recognized for questions. She did not even blink. She did not ask if he was talking about the Grand Junction. She simply translated his words as the Grand Junction and asked for the details.
Secretary Cohen declined to provide details since negotiations are in process. He did comment that freight transportation is being encouraged through plans for raising bridges to allow double stacked freight cars to be able to pass.
3. The Grand Junction’s Importance, comments from Port Authority representatives.
A. General.
After the meeting, Marilyn was addressed by representatives of the Port Authority who were quite interested in the freight issues. One thing that they were proud of was inserting language into the deed of the freight yards to Harvard in which a tiny portion of the yards could not be taken away from freight use.
There are a whole bunch of things going on, as usual.
Clearly and very visibly, the state is working to put in the inner belt on top of the Grand Junction railway.
In its usual manner, the City Council has a motion on its table claiming to protect Cambridge from this new highway while supporting the initiative if the initiative is done in a manner that the state says it wants to do it. The city council calls this “protection.” I call it being on the wrong side and tossing nonsense at their constituents.
B. Importance of the Allston Freight Yards.
The freight yards in Allston that Harvard has purchased are of major importance.
Harvard is not a charitable institution. Harvard did not buy the Allston freight yards out of a charitable impulse. Harvard bought those freight yards four months after the MBTA proved the Grand Junction bridge capable of taking traffic from the Mass. Pike and moving that traffic to Cambridge.
The rail traffic on the Grand Junction moves cars between the Allston yards and the North Station yards. If there is no meaningful Allston yards, there is no need for the Grand Junction.
If there is no need for meaningful Allston yards, Harvard has that much more room for easy expansion.
C. Container Service Drives Moving the Allston Freight Yards.
CSX has long been considering moving the freight yards outside I-495.
This is because of container service. Containers are carried on freight cars over long distances and moved to/from truck beds for local delivery. When containers were first used, they were only used one high on the freight cars. In more recent years, two containers high has become the norm. A very, very large number of bridges over railroad tracks inside I-495 were not built high enough above the railroad tracks to allow double container cars to be able to go under them.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, our highways would be subjected to a lot more truck traffic.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, Harvard can build on the yards.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, the need for the Grand Junction railroad disappears.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, the inner belt can be built on the Grand Junction using whatever sales pitch works.
D. Port Authority Position.
The gentleman from the Port Authority rather clearly had no problems with moving the freight yards. He rather clearly thought providing adequate bridge clearance for double container trains to be an impractical use of money.
4. Summary.
But thanks to Marilyn, an excellent question brought out some good information.
1. General.
2. The Grand Junction according to Secretary Cohen.
3. The Grand Junction’’s Importance, comments from Port Authority representatives.
A. General.
B. Importance of the Allston Freight Yards.
C. Container Service Drives Moving the Allston Freight Yards.
D. Port Authority Position.
1. General.
At the MOVEMassachusetts monthly meeting this morning, April 13, 2007, the guest was the Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bernard Cohen.
Secretary Cohen gave the packed room an impressive presentation which was both comprehensive and lacking in detail. In the middle of his long list of ongoing efforts was a comment on negotiations with CSX about obtaining rights of way for state transportation use.
2. The Grand Junction according to Secretary Cohen.
Marilyn Wellons was the first member of the audience to be recognized for questions. She did not even blink. She did not ask if he was talking about the Grand Junction. She simply translated his words as the Grand Junction and asked for the details.
Secretary Cohen declined to provide details since negotiations are in process. He did comment that freight transportation is being encouraged through plans for raising bridges to allow double stacked freight cars to be able to pass.
3. The Grand Junction’s Importance, comments from Port Authority representatives.
A. General.
After the meeting, Marilyn was addressed by representatives of the Port Authority who were quite interested in the freight issues. One thing that they were proud of was inserting language into the deed of the freight yards to Harvard in which a tiny portion of the yards could not be taken away from freight use.
There are a whole bunch of things going on, as usual.
Clearly and very visibly, the state is working to put in the inner belt on top of the Grand Junction railway.
In its usual manner, the City Council has a motion on its table claiming to protect Cambridge from this new highway while supporting the initiative if the initiative is done in a manner that the state says it wants to do it. The city council calls this “protection.” I call it being on the wrong side and tossing nonsense at their constituents.
B. Importance of the Allston Freight Yards.
The freight yards in Allston that Harvard has purchased are of major importance.
Harvard is not a charitable institution. Harvard did not buy the Allston freight yards out of a charitable impulse. Harvard bought those freight yards four months after the MBTA proved the Grand Junction bridge capable of taking traffic from the Mass. Pike and moving that traffic to Cambridge.
The rail traffic on the Grand Junction moves cars between the Allston yards and the North Station yards. If there is no meaningful Allston yards, there is no need for the Grand Junction.
If there is no need for meaningful Allston yards, Harvard has that much more room for easy expansion.
C. Container Service Drives Moving the Allston Freight Yards.
CSX has long been considering moving the freight yards outside I-495.
This is because of container service. Containers are carried on freight cars over long distances and moved to/from truck beds for local delivery. When containers were first used, they were only used one high on the freight cars. In more recent years, two containers high has become the norm. A very, very large number of bridges over railroad tracks inside I-495 were not built high enough above the railroad tracks to allow double container cars to be able to go under them.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, our highways would be subjected to a lot more truck traffic.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, Harvard can build on the yards.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, the need for the Grand Junction railroad disappears.
If the freight yards are moved to I-495, the inner belt can be built on the Grand Junction using whatever sales pitch works.
D. Port Authority Position.
The gentleman from the Port Authority rather clearly had no problems with moving the freight yards. He rather clearly thought providing adequate bridge clearance for double container trains to be an impractical use of money.
4. Summary.
But thanks to Marilyn, an excellent question brought out some good information.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
State Conducts Urban Ring Update in Fenway
1. Introductory.
2. Charles River Crossing.
3. Harvard’s Allston Campus.
4. Summary.
1. Introductory.
Last night, April 9, the state conducted the middle of three urban ring updates in the collegiate arts building behind Fenway Park on Ipswich Street. The last update meeting will be conducted next Tuesday, April 17, 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Somerville High School Auditorium.
The Urban Ring is a massive transportation project supposedly designed to ease public transportation needs for a ring one to two miles outside Downtown Boston. The part which makes sense is rapid transit. The state is talking buses and new highways before doing anything on the rapid transit.
There were significant changes in that part of the proposal which most impacts us. As usual, key comments from the state differed significantly from Cambridge reports.
2. Charles River Crossing.
As an option, the state has proposed conversion of the Grand Junction railroad bridge under the BU Bridge to a two way highway. Contrary to the Cambridge reports, at no time has this highway been proposed to go to Harvard’s Allston campus.
This latest report has changed the point at which this new bridge would connect to Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The DOT consultants are proposing that the traffic lanes go under the BU Bridge on an expanded Grand Junction bridge and then be elevated on a new bridge which would go over the Mass. Pike. The new state highway would connect to Commonwealth Avenue apparently above the Mass. Pike, west of the BU Bridge.
There clearly is plenty of room on Commonwealth Avenue above the Mass. Pike to make this connection. The new connection, however, would greatly complicate what is already a complicated intersection. It would have devastating environmental impacts in Cambridge.
Other alternatives suggested for crossing the Charles River as part of new highway construction include a possible bridge / tunnel to the east of the BU Bridge. I remember the discussion but do not see it on my copy of the slides. The handout differs from what was shown in several aspects.
Archie Mazmanian, a Brookline activist from the Cottage Farm neighborhood spoke against use of the Grand Junction bridge, among other things because of the environmental destruction on the Cambridge side. He tells me that the Citizen’s Advisory Committee has also been informed of a third Charles River construction option, to add two lanes to the BU Bridge.
Archie referred me to the "On Brookline" website, which can be read at www.onbrookline.com.
They clearly present his reports quite visibly. He was modest in communicating the level of visibility. I will add a link to this website for the benefit of people.
3. Harvard’s Allston Campus.
The very big change was the formal addition of proposals for bringing Harvard Allston into the scheme. At no time (contrary to Cambridge nonsense) has the state ever proposed connecting the Grand Junction to Harvard Allson.
I had to drag this information out of the presenter, frequently having to correct him on street names and to dig out exact details. The rest of the audience clearly was closely listening because I was immediately corrected at one point when I made an error in referring to Harvard Avenue / Street in Allston Village.
The straight bus option would be quite simple, just go out Comm. Ave. to Brighton Avenue, turn at Allston Village, to Cambridge Street to North Harvard, to Harvard Square, with grade separation at Harvard Stadium.
As they get fancier, the level of new construction increases dramatically.
The next level of complexity calls for turning off Commonwealth Avenue at Packard’s Corner on the street which hits the Packard's Corner intersection from the north. This would include a bridge over the Harvard owned railroad yard, a left turn, and up Cambridge Street. This proposal uses a new road Harvard is proposing on the major road which goes north from Cambridge Street between North Harvard and the river. Harvard is proposing that this road be upgraded and connect to North Harvard Street, I guess just before Harvard Stadium. This proposal includes a lot of grade separation on Harvard's upgraded street.
The extreme proposal would service Harvard Allston by a tunnel which starts at Mountfort Street. Mountfort Street is just south of the Mass. Pike connecting the BU Bridge spaghetti to Park Drive. The tunnel would start very close to St. Mary’s Street which ends at Marsh Chapel, the current core of the BU Campus. This location is the proposed location for an Urban Ring Rapid Transit stop in phase 3.
4. Summary.
The spaghetti in the BU Bridge - Harvard Medical Area is getting so massive it is silly to call the complicated options anything other than Phase III with the decision made for the worse of the two Charles River crossing options.
I spoke against the spaghetti.
Instead of connecting the Grand Junction Bridge to Commonwealth Avenue just west of BU Bridge, I suggested that area be used to connect to Harvard Allston. My proposal would put switches in the Green Line in this area and run a new street car line off Commonwealth Avenue just south of the Mass. Pike, following the Mass. Pike to the south to Harvard's railroad yards.
Such a green line spur would be far less intrusive than the Grand Junction connection. There is quite a bit of slack in this complicated intersection, and the location where the tracks would cross highway traffic can handle this added activity, particularly since the street cars would be going onto the existing tracks and not be added to the traffic pattern except to cross.
2. Charles River Crossing.
3. Harvard’s Allston Campus.
4. Summary.
1. Introductory.
Last night, April 9, the state conducted the middle of three urban ring updates in the collegiate arts building behind Fenway Park on Ipswich Street. The last update meeting will be conducted next Tuesday, April 17, 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Somerville High School Auditorium.
The Urban Ring is a massive transportation project supposedly designed to ease public transportation needs for a ring one to two miles outside Downtown Boston. The part which makes sense is rapid transit. The state is talking buses and new highways before doing anything on the rapid transit.
There were significant changes in that part of the proposal which most impacts us. As usual, key comments from the state differed significantly from Cambridge reports.
2. Charles River Crossing.
As an option, the state has proposed conversion of the Grand Junction railroad bridge under the BU Bridge to a two way highway. Contrary to the Cambridge reports, at no time has this highway been proposed to go to Harvard’s Allston campus.
This latest report has changed the point at which this new bridge would connect to Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The DOT consultants are proposing that the traffic lanes go under the BU Bridge on an expanded Grand Junction bridge and then be elevated on a new bridge which would go over the Mass. Pike. The new state highway would connect to Commonwealth Avenue apparently above the Mass. Pike, west of the BU Bridge.
There clearly is plenty of room on Commonwealth Avenue above the Mass. Pike to make this connection. The new connection, however, would greatly complicate what is already a complicated intersection. It would have devastating environmental impacts in Cambridge.
Other alternatives suggested for crossing the Charles River as part of new highway construction include a possible bridge / tunnel to the east of the BU Bridge. I remember the discussion but do not see it on my copy of the slides. The handout differs from what was shown in several aspects.
Archie Mazmanian, a Brookline activist from the Cottage Farm neighborhood spoke against use of the Grand Junction bridge, among other things because of the environmental destruction on the Cambridge side. He tells me that the Citizen’s Advisory Committee has also been informed of a third Charles River construction option, to add two lanes to the BU Bridge.
Archie referred me to the "On Brookline" website, which can be read at www.onbrookline.com.
They clearly present his reports quite visibly. He was modest in communicating the level of visibility. I will add a link to this website for the benefit of people.
3. Harvard’s Allston Campus.
The very big change was the formal addition of proposals for bringing Harvard Allston into the scheme. At no time (contrary to Cambridge nonsense) has the state ever proposed connecting the Grand Junction to Harvard Allson.
I had to drag this information out of the presenter, frequently having to correct him on street names and to dig out exact details. The rest of the audience clearly was closely listening because I was immediately corrected at one point when I made an error in referring to Harvard Avenue / Street in Allston Village.
The straight bus option would be quite simple, just go out Comm. Ave. to Brighton Avenue, turn at Allston Village, to Cambridge Street to North Harvard, to Harvard Square, with grade separation at Harvard Stadium.
As they get fancier, the level of new construction increases dramatically.
The next level of complexity calls for turning off Commonwealth Avenue at Packard’s Corner on the street which hits the Packard's Corner intersection from the north. This would include a bridge over the Harvard owned railroad yard, a left turn, and up Cambridge Street. This proposal uses a new road Harvard is proposing on the major road which goes north from Cambridge Street between North Harvard and the river. Harvard is proposing that this road be upgraded and connect to North Harvard Street, I guess just before Harvard Stadium. This proposal includes a lot of grade separation on Harvard's upgraded street.
The extreme proposal would service Harvard Allston by a tunnel which starts at Mountfort Street. Mountfort Street is just south of the Mass. Pike connecting the BU Bridge spaghetti to Park Drive. The tunnel would start very close to St. Mary’s Street which ends at Marsh Chapel, the current core of the BU Campus. This location is the proposed location for an Urban Ring Rapid Transit stop in phase 3.
4. Summary.
The spaghetti in the BU Bridge - Harvard Medical Area is getting so massive it is silly to call the complicated options anything other than Phase III with the decision made for the worse of the two Charles River crossing options.
I spoke against the spaghetti.
Instead of connecting the Grand Junction Bridge to Commonwealth Avenue just west of BU Bridge, I suggested that area be used to connect to Harvard Allston. My proposal would put switches in the Green Line in this area and run a new street car line off Commonwealth Avenue just south of the Mass. Pike, following the Mass. Pike to the south to Harvard's railroad yards.
Such a green line spur would be far less intrusive than the Grand Junction connection. There is quite a bit of slack in this complicated intersection, and the location where the tracks would cross highway traffic can handle this added activity, particularly since the street cars would be going onto the existing tracks and not be added to the traffic pattern except to cross.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Read "From the Port" - On Censorship in the People's Republik
The following blog report is strongly recommended to you: http://fromtheport.blogspot.com/2007/03/veneer-of-civility.html.
It is from Kathy Podgers concerning very severe censorship being practised on the listserve of the "Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association."
I cannot say it better than she did.
It is from Kathy Podgers concerning very severe censorship being practised on the listserve of the "Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association."
I cannot say it better than she did.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
White Goose Song from The Netherlands
Phil Barber reports as follows, Bob La Trémouille passing on with capitalization edits only, and responding as stated at the end:
1. Report from the Netherlands.
2. Phil Barber.
3. Your Editor.
1. Report from the Netherlands.
Hi Phil,
This morning at Dutch time, I published my third song for the album 'songs for fairy tails' called ' White Goose'.
The song is hidden under the word white goose. I have some errors running on my website,and don't know where to look. Some things may not work properly, sorry for that.if you like to hear the song without my voiceyou can listen to it at this location.
Thanx for the image and best regards,
Ferrie (artist name is differentieel)
notitieblogje.nl
ferrie@notitieblogje.nl
2. Phil Barber.
Hi Bob
Hope this finds you well. A fellow in the Netherlands (!) asked me for permission to use a photo of our friends on his Website, so their fame is spreading. Here's a copy of the e-mail he sent me, with address and particulars.
All the best,
Phil
3. Your Editor.
Thank you very much, Phil.
I have checked out the website. The photo is excellent.
I am not in a position to listen, but I will add your communication to the blog, along with a link. I think that would be ok with everybody.
Copying Elizabeth, among others, with a request that she add a link on the website.
Making the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association principal addressee to pass on this news through them. This is a very nice reaction, and a very common reaction in truly Green circles.
1. Report from the Netherlands.
2. Phil Barber.
3. Your Editor.
1. Report from the Netherlands.
Hi Phil,
This morning at Dutch time, I published my third song for the album 'songs for fairy tails' called ' White Goose'.
The song is hidden under the word white goose. I have some errors running on my website,and don't know where to look. Some things may not work properly, sorry for that.if you like to hear the song without my voiceyou can listen to it at this location.
Thanx for the image and best regards,
Ferrie (artist name is differentieel)
notitieblogje.nl
ferrie@notitieblogje.nl
2. Phil Barber.
Hi Bob
Hope this finds you well. A fellow in the Netherlands (!) asked me for permission to use a photo of our friends on his Website, so their fame is spreading. Here's a copy of the e-mail he sent me, with address and particulars.
All the best,
Phil
3. Your Editor.
Thank you very much, Phil.
I have checked out the website. The photo is excellent.
I am not in a position to listen, but I will add your communication to the blog, along with a link. I think that would be ok with everybody.
Copying Elizabeth, among others, with a request that she add a link on the website.
Making the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association principal addressee to pass on this news through them. This is a very nice reaction, and a very common reaction in truly Green circles.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Marilyn's Letter to the Governor
As Bob La Tremouille reported previously here, the governor's proposed budget includes funds for the DCR's destruction of Magazine Beach.
Blog co-editor Marilyn Wellons delivered this letter to Governor Patrick's office by hand on Wednesday, March 14, 2007:
Dear Governor Patrick:
Please review and reject your budget item for the misconceived DCR project at Magazine Beach in Cambridge. It is a poison pill for the river and for your administration.
This boondoggle would destroy a fine public park and deprive us of passive open space and habitat for wildlife. It would substitute 7 acres of gravel, topsoil, an irrigation system, fences, and chemical-drenched sod for the beautiful fields there now. It would involve you in the destruction of parkland for the revival of the Inner Belt, a highway connecting the Mass. Pike and I-95 that Harvard University and others now work to create. These are toxic issues.
Chemical runoff from the project's prototype, "Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at Lederman Park" near Mass. General Hospital in Boston, gave us 2006's unprecedented algae bloom in the immediately adjacent Charles River. In 2005, the water there was clean enough for swimming. However, to maintain the 6 acres of new sod the DCR applied "Tartan" fungicide on August 8, 2006. The algae bloom was detected the next day, August 9, and was at astronomical levels by August 11. "We've never seen an algae bloom like this before," said a Charles River Watershed Association official quoted in the Boston Globe on August 16, 2006. Those 6 acres had never had an application of "Tartan" before, either--it's not approved for use near water.
At Magazine Beach, where proponents hope for swimming, the DCR--having learned nothing--is set, with your help, to replicate the disaster of the 6 acres downriver. The project in Cambridge will require the same fertilizers and herbicides as in Boston.
Further, "native" plants (a prior part of the project you would fund) already introduced at Magazine Beach have failed and will continue to fail, contrary to the hype for such items. The project removed sturdy natives planted by the birds, wind, and water, and has introduced purple loosestrife (never before seen at Magazine Beach), which thrives in disturbed soil. The DCR will work, unsuccessfully to eradicate it with herbicides when physical methods fail, as they will. Magazine Beach will thus get a continuing double dose of herbicides.
The DCR has previously failed to secure the funding you now would grant because the public does not support the destruction of this much-loved, undeveloped bend of the river.
The DCR acknowledges those riverfront acres at Magazine Beach are ordinarily rich wildlife habitat, but claims human activity has so altered them that they are no longer habitat. Any causal visitor to Magazine Beach can see this is a patent lie. Many thousands of people know and cherish their moments of calm here, in the midst of the city. The Mass. Pike, Storrow Drive, commuter rail, and the Boston skyline are in clear sight, but we can also gaze at the river, sky, and waterfowl. The DCR project will destroy this refuge for humans and animals alike.
The project has hidden implications. You may not be aware of plans for the Inner Belt, the highway river crossing to connect the Massachusetts Turnpike to I-95, cancelled in 1972 and now revived as the Urban Ring Phase 2, for the benefit of Harvard University, among other private entities. In 2003 the Pike Authority negotiated the sale of 51 acres (containing the Cambridge-Allston ramps and tolls, 3000' of the Pike, and the Beacon freight yards) to Harvard University. Harvard is working to move the Mass Pike exit from its 51 acres to the Inner Belt's proposed river crossing, i.e., the Magazine Beach-BU Bridge-Grand Junction rail bridge nexus. The move would free Harvard to develop its valuable new riverfront land for its own purposes.
The DCR development of Magazine Beach is part of the infrastructure for this new Pike exit. The 7-acre project will stabilize what the DCR calls a riverfront Magazine Beach "multipurpose path" whose specifications, on file at the Cambridge Department of Public Works, are for a two-lane road suitable for cars and small trucks. The DCR has temporarily shelved plans to connect Magazine Beach to the Grand Junction rail bridge under the BU Bridge via this service road.
Funding the DCR at Magazine Beach will allow it to restore the connection as well, of course, as destroy a unique public asset. The funds you would grant the DCR here is [sic] not for water-dependent activities! The quiet enjoyment of the river and its denizens--now in place, at no expense to the taxpayers, but in grave danger--is very much so.
Please remove this budget item and protect passive open space and wildlife habitat at Magazine Beach. Your administration would thus demonstrate its commitment to protecting the environment--by not destroying a successful public park.
Yours sincerely,
Marilyn Wellons
Blog co-editor Marilyn Wellons delivered this letter to Governor Patrick's office by hand on Wednesday, March 14, 2007:
Dear Governor Patrick:
Please review and reject your budget item for the misconceived DCR project at Magazine Beach in Cambridge. It is a poison pill for the river and for your administration.
This boondoggle would destroy a fine public park and deprive us of passive open space and habitat for wildlife. It would substitute 7 acres of gravel, topsoil, an irrigation system, fences, and chemical-drenched sod for the beautiful fields there now. It would involve you in the destruction of parkland for the revival of the Inner Belt, a highway connecting the Mass. Pike and I-95 that Harvard University and others now work to create. These are toxic issues.
Chemical runoff from the project's prototype, "Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at Lederman Park" near Mass. General Hospital in Boston, gave us 2006's unprecedented algae bloom in the immediately adjacent Charles River. In 2005, the water there was clean enough for swimming. However, to maintain the 6 acres of new sod the DCR applied "Tartan" fungicide on August 8, 2006. The algae bloom was detected the next day, August 9, and was at astronomical levels by August 11. "We've never seen an algae bloom like this before," said a Charles River Watershed Association official quoted in the Boston Globe on August 16, 2006. Those 6 acres had never had an application of "Tartan" before, either--it's not approved for use near water.
At Magazine Beach, where proponents hope for swimming, the DCR--having learned nothing--is set, with your help, to replicate the disaster of the 6 acres downriver. The project in Cambridge will require the same fertilizers and herbicides as in Boston.
Further, "native" plants (a prior part of the project you would fund) already introduced at Magazine Beach have failed and will continue to fail, contrary to the hype for such items. The project removed sturdy natives planted by the birds, wind, and water, and has introduced purple loosestrife (never before seen at Magazine Beach), which thrives in disturbed soil. The DCR will work, unsuccessfully to eradicate it with herbicides when physical methods fail, as they will. Magazine Beach will thus get a continuing double dose of herbicides.
The DCR has previously failed to secure the funding you now would grant because the public does not support the destruction of this much-loved, undeveloped bend of the river.
The DCR acknowledges those riverfront acres at Magazine Beach are ordinarily rich wildlife habitat, but claims human activity has so altered them that they are no longer habitat. Any causal visitor to Magazine Beach can see this is a patent lie. Many thousands of people know and cherish their moments of calm here, in the midst of the city. The Mass. Pike, Storrow Drive, commuter rail, and the Boston skyline are in clear sight, but we can also gaze at the river, sky, and waterfowl. The DCR project will destroy this refuge for humans and animals alike.
The project has hidden implications. You may not be aware of plans for the Inner Belt, the highway river crossing to connect the Massachusetts Turnpike to I-95, cancelled in 1972 and now revived as the Urban Ring Phase 2, for the benefit of Harvard University, among other private entities. In 2003 the Pike Authority negotiated the sale of 51 acres (containing the Cambridge-Allston ramps and tolls, 3000' of the Pike, and the Beacon freight yards) to Harvard University. Harvard is working to move the Mass Pike exit from its 51 acres to the Inner Belt's proposed river crossing, i.e., the Magazine Beach-BU Bridge-Grand Junction rail bridge nexus. The move would free Harvard to develop its valuable new riverfront land for its own purposes.
The DCR development of Magazine Beach is part of the infrastructure for this new Pike exit. The 7-acre project will stabilize what the DCR calls a riverfront Magazine Beach "multipurpose path" whose specifications, on file at the Cambridge Department of Public Works, are for a two-lane road suitable for cars and small trucks. The DCR has temporarily shelved plans to connect Magazine Beach to the Grand Junction rail bridge under the BU Bridge via this service road.
Funding the DCR at Magazine Beach will allow it to restore the connection as well, of course, as destroy a unique public asset. The funds you would grant the DCR here is [sic] not for water-dependent activities! The quiet enjoyment of the river and its denizens--now in place, at no expense to the taxpayers, but in grave danger--is very much so.
Please remove this budget item and protect passive open space and wildlife habitat at Magazine Beach. Your administration would thus demonstrate its commitment to protecting the environment--by not destroying a successful public park.
Yours sincerely,
Marilyn Wellons
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