Report on Charles River outrages, transmittal to Cambridge City Manager.
1. Introduction
2. City Manager letter, part 1.
3. Background.
4. City Manager letter, part 2.
5. Harvard University’s Coming Allston Village Campus.
1. Introduction
For my last report, I gave the index to our detailed letter to a whole bunch of government entities including outrages upon outrages which the Cambridge and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation have inflicted on the Charles River because the outrages have been so massive that the letter itself was a large compilation of the unforgivable.
The complete publication of the communication is on line at https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=3903&Inline=True, pages 2654 to 2713. Our report did provide the index. The index is posted at https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/charles-river-report-published-index.html.
I did, however, did provide a good transmittal to the new Cambridge City Manager. It may be of value, but I still recommend looking at the original. The graphics are so massive that I broke the file into many word processing files to address my application getting overloaded in my computer.
Here are a few key photos about the area under attack.
The Eastern area under attack, From “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw, minute 09:28. The drone photos are centered on Magazine Beach.
From minute 5:38 cropped, Cambridge running from the BU Bridge to the Mass. Ave / Harvard Bridge. This cropped still includes a different view a lot of the area in the prior photo. All of the drone photos are before the January 2016 outrages. Running from the very left is the extremely responsible Massachusetts Water Resource Agency facility, the BU Bridge, the Destroyed Nesting Area of the 42 year resident Charles River White Geese, the Grand Junction railroad and Bridge, the Wild Area also containing free animals, the BU Boathouse, the hotel area, and then a portion of the Charles River which was deliberately denuded of trees over the prior decade without replacement so Cambridge and the DCR could lie of “improvements. In spite of the vast number of photos in the report, I omitted this artificially created wasteland. Definitely an error on my part.
Then follows the bend which is the outrage that was inflicted on the Cherry Grove. The above photo has a better view from there from the bend.
The review I have submitted has so much in it that ALL the outrages could not be included, but it is really distressing to look back at this part of this still. A very major part of this “pre-existing wasteland was created by Cambridge in a “sewer project.” The outrage was left for years so that the DCR and CAMBRIDGE could LIE about all the “tree planting”after January 2016. An outrage was created and left to rot. This sort of lying got Cambridge designated as a “Tree City USA” over repeated years because “Tree City USA” and Cambridge and the DCR do not count the trees they OUTRAGEOUSLY destroy. Our report only shows the part done in and since January 2016. We tried to communicate this by showing tree destruction in the right hand part of this still in our report. We omitted the wasteland created by the sewer project.
From minute 1.59 of the drone stills, the Core Habitat of the Charles River White Geese for most of the last 42 years is shown in context. The bottom right is I90, the Massachusetts Turnpike, currently being studied for major improvements, of which Cambridge entities are fighting for major destruction in Cambridge. Plus Soldiers Field Road, the Boston correlative of Memorial Drive, which follows the river in Cambridge, running from the left to the top near the right.
In this clip, running from the left is the DCR Swimming Pool (white area), then the Magazine Street park under attack now along with the excellent grove to the left of the swimming pool, and the playing fields which have been their good weather habitat for most of the last 42 years. This is followed by the MWRA plant. There is a building under that open space, beautifully done. Then the area in the prior still.
And here is the DCR swimming pool and the excellent Micro Center grove currently under attack by the environmentally reprehensible Cambridge City Council and DC R, minute 2.33 cropped. The doomed grove is at the bottom right.
Following is the transmittal to the Cambridge City Manager, with graphics added to assist the reader. Remember, this letter transmits 55 pages of outrages plus four pages of attachments. The CM letter is interrupted for more context.
2. City Manager letter, part 1.
City Manager Yi-An Huang
City of Cambridge
795 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Mr. City Manager:
RE: More detailed comments on the DCR PARTIALLY presented to Stewardship Council at its public meeting of May 25, 2023.
Welcome. I, personally, have been active in the City of Cambridge for four previous City Managers. Your immediate predecessor was a clear improvement over the three interlocked City Managers who preceded him. There, however, was only so much he could do.
Enclosed for your information and action is a copy of our communication to the CEO of the Department of Conservation and Recreation detailing the situation on the Charles River, with recommendations for correction. A copy is also being provided to the City Council.
You have almost certainly been given an incorrect impression of the situation on the Charles River, both in your current position and, previously, as a resident of Cambridge subject to the tiny but extremely loud Machine created with the assistance of the three interlocked City Managers.
We hope that you, directly or through your staff, will evaluate this communication including the recommendations therein in order to give you an accurate awareness of the situation and our proposed responses to the situation.
As noted in the communication, the legislature has attempted to correct extremely irresponsible management on the Charles River. The legislature took action, but unfortunately, the guilty parties migrated from the Metropolitan District Commission, which the legislature destroyed, to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which received part of the MDC’s responsibilities. The guilty parties, with the assistance of the Cambridge bureaucracy, have since continued with their irresponsible behavior. They have done a great deal of harm and are proceeding to make the outrage even worse.
One excellent example of the outrageous situation in Cambridge government has been the handing of the subway proposal known as the Urban Ring. I have two years experience employed in a management level position in one of the nation’s largest railways. I started working on the Urban Ring proposal in 1986, and, realizing the destructiveness of the then existing proposal supported by the Cambridge bureaucracy, proposed an alternate route to the one supported by the Cambridge bureaucracy.
My proposal became known as the Kenmore Crossing. It was adopted by the MBTA as an alternative to the Cambridge bureaucracy’s favored proposal in 1991 or 1992. For A MINIMUM OF 20 YEARS thereafter, the Cambridge bureaucracy and the Machine lied that the only Urban Ring proposal under consideration was the irresponsible alternative supported by the Cambridge bureaucracy.
With my assistance and the assistance of responsible people in Government, plus one key developer, it now is clear that the Kenmore Crossing, probably terminating at Kenmore / Lansdowne Station, is the Urban Ring alternative which will go forward. Since the Harvard / Longwood Medical Center badly needs this transportation, it is highly likely it will go forward. The Cambridge government together with MIT have shot itself in the foot, once again, with massive MIT dormitory construction making the Urban Ring Kenmore Crossing much more expensive in Cambridge by being in the obvious path of the Kenmore Crossing. As a result, it is highly likely that the Urban Ring will terminate at Kenmore / Lansdowne Station.
3. Background.
The project pushed by the Cambridge bureaucracy to destroy the Wild Area required that Lansdowne Station near Fenway Park and Kenmore Station be moved maybe half a mile to the west (straight ahead in this photo) to a location a block from the core of Boston University, Marsh Chapel. Shown here is the current situation of Landsdowne Station, under the first of a four building project which has also completed a second building and has approvals for two more behind the camera. Lansdowne Station is at the bottom left, with the Worcester Line of the Boston Commuter Rail system to its right and then I90, the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Here is a very telling cropping of Minute 8.12 of “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw.
The bridge straight ahead is the Beacon Street bridge connecting Kenmore Square to Brookline. Behind the camera is the Brookline Avenue bridge between Kenmore Square and Fenway Park, with the Longwood / Harvard Medical Center perhaps a mile beyond on Brookline Avenue, to the left rear. The coming buildings will quite certainly include allowances for the new subway, including links to combine Landsdowne Station to Kenmore Station as one big superstation which will also include ready transfers to three Green Line subway lines out of Kenmore, and one Green line subway line inbound.
This is from minute 8:12 of the drone stills
The bridge is the Mass. Ave. / Harvard Bridge crossing the Charles River. The Boston end to the right is about one block from Kenmore Square, further to the right outside the photo. The state was considering, and still is considering an “Urban Ring” subway line which would provide very much needed public transportation for the Harvard / Longwood Medical Area, one of the biggest attractions for money in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The original plans proposed that the line run under the Grand Junction railroad, which is visible as the grey area running at perhaps a 30 degree angle at the bottom left. This is the alternative that the Cambridge bureaucrats and the Cambridge machine supported and lied for more than 20 years was the only route under consideration.
The big green area is the playing fields of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Kenmore Crossing as proposed by me and adopted as an alternative by the state in 1991 or 1992, would have turned off the Grand Junction and run under the playing fields, followed by running under the Charles River and connecting to Kenmore Station under Kenmore Square.
The three truly massive buildings just on the other side of the Grand Junction are a dormitory complex constructed by MIT in the direct path of the Kenmore Crossing with the assistance of very major zoning games by the Cambridge City Council. Another apparently dormitory project to the right of this massive project is in planning or construction to the right of this building with further assistance of exchanges of property rights with the Cambridge City Council.
The tripartite building blocks the Kenmore Crossing. The next construction will apparently block an alternate route for a bike highway which is another dirty trick, but beyond the scope of this report.
Here is the Green Line A proposal described below. Section 5 presents the drone still view of the highway area going to the left. The road shown under it is Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. The BU Bridge is a little above the bottom right corner.
4. City Manager letter, part 2.
As part of my fruitful participation in the I90 Rebuild Project I have submitted the alternate Green Line A proposal included as Attachment 2. This will assist medical students and others to travel between the Medical Area and the relocated Harvard Medical School and related facilities being created ancillary to the I90 rebuild project. I have been highly beneficial to the City of Cambridge in my activities on the I90 Rebuild, IN SPITE OF MORE ERRORS BY THE BUREAUCRACY, THIS TIME THROUGH ITS APPOINTEES.
As stated in less detail in the attached communication, I persuaded MassDOT to move ALL of the Boston / area traffic from the River Street bridge / off ramp of Soldiers Field Road to my proposed direct Soldiers Field Road connection to and from the project area. Unfortunately, while my intent was to free up Cambridge traffic on that off ramp by relocating Boston / area traffic, the Cambridge appointees and their compatriots persuaded MassDOT to move Cambridge traffic to the new Harvard campus IN BOSTON / ALLSTON as well, and destroy the River Street off ramp. Fortunately, I and others persuaded MassDOT to do what I originally proposed, continue the River Street off ramp for the undisturbed benefit of Cambridge.
Prior to and overlapping with these environmental activities, I used zoning as a very effective environmental tool, assisting people throughout the City of Cambridge. I carefully kept these activities separate from The Machine because of the destructiveness of The Machine. Almost all of our victories constituted defeat of the bureaucracy and The Machine by vote of the Cambridge City Council. I, as a result, have had more impact on Cambridge zoning than any other individual not employed by the City of Cambridge. I would be pleased to follow up by providing you my partial résumé should you wish, but this package is pretty large without it.
We hope that you will take action appropriate to give the Commonwealth and the City of Cambridge the situation on the Charles River which the Commonwealth and City of Cambridge deserve and which the legislature attempted to provide, IN SPITE OF THE CONTINUING AND VERY BAD ACTIONS of the bureaucracy and The Machine.
Thank you in advance for your kind consideration and appropriate action.
5. Harvard University’s Coming Allston Village Campus.
From the drone stills, minute 10:02. At the bottom right is the narrow river front area west of Magazine Beach and, to the left of this strip, a small portion of the area behind the excellent Micro Center grove which is doomed by the Cambridge City Council and the DCR..
The point at the top is about a block from Boston’s Allston Village area. This area’s planning would move the highway next to the BU West Campus and Allston neighborhood shown on the left. The balance of this area, a railroad yard, has been moved to Worcester, MA. The tall buildings on the right will not be directly affected.
