The meeting was convened on short notice without explanation. The likely explanation was that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation conducted its community liaison meeting on the Massachusetts Turnpike rearrangement later that evening. I will report on that meeting later.
As usual, the real reasons were kept as secret as possible, and the real reasons are the problems with the Grand Junction Highway proposal.
The really destructive aspect of this proposal is its attack on the Charles River and on the Charles River White Geese.
Here is the map of this end of the proposal. The route would destroy the undestroyed part of the Destroyed Nesting Area, and go straight through the most delicate part of the area. Note the U at the bottom.
The reason for the rush in the meeting scheduling is that Cambridge Machine is dreaming of extending their destruction to the Boston side. That, in turn would be targeted at getting Harvard a very expensive subway connection to their planned relocation of the Harvard Medical School to the south side of the Charles River in Allston.
A major part of the game is that a much less expensive and more sensible rapid transit connection to the relocated Harvard Medical School could be prevented by overloading the area at the far end of the Grand Junction railroad bridge. So the Cambridge Machine and its accomplices are working at overloading that area.
The Cambridge City Clerk’s on line posting of the September 20, 2012 letter which I physically attached to the below letter is at http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/LaTremouille%20com.pdf.
The letter which I delivered on Wednesday was addressed to the City Council and to Carlone’s committee. It was filed with a detailed letter on H4009 which would destroy hundreds of trees on Memorial Drive between the BU Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge plus, to no great surprise, massive animal habitat. I will post that shortly.
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RE: Grand Junction Highway Proposal
To The Honorable, the Cambridge City Council:
Enclosed herewith and made a part of this letter is my communication of September 19, 2012 on this subject, minus appendix 4 which was disorganized, confusing and a bad idea.
Nothing has changed on this proposal. The portion south of Memorial Drive is irresponsibly long and expensive. It has no value except to the contractors paid to do the work, and to Harvard as possible real beneficiary of the environmental destruction and increased heartless animal abuse involved. Additionally, however, since the Department of Conservation and Recreation, in its Charles River Master Plan, aims to kill off or drive away all resident animals, this sick goal and sick agency would be benefitted.
Responsible planning would connect the bike highway to the Paul Dudley White Bike Path by connecting to Vassar Street at the point where it turns one small property width from the Grand Junction and behind one building facing on Memorial Drive. The ultimate goal really is to move the bike highway to this location for reuse by Harvard for an off ramp from the Mass. Pike to Cambridge, and to use the bike highway as a stalking horse in the meantime.
Here are photographs from the Grand Junction side and the Vassar Street side of the responsible connection location. The bike highway would be routed from the Grand Junction on the near side of the white building in what is currently a parking lot. This location is readily visible from the Paul Dudley White bike path looking up the final leg of Vassar Street.
The Development Department, in contrast to the rest of the Grand Junction route, has kept the location south of Memorial Drive as secret as possible.
Here is a map of the area to which the Charles River White Geese are confined without food. It is taken from the DCR’s massive destruction proposal for the highway package buried in House Bill H4009 to which I have given an extended analysis in a letter being submitted to the City Council with this letter.
Memorial Drive extends from right to left with the Ghetto to which the Charles River White Geese have been confined to the bottom left. Additional heartless cruelty has been inflicted on them there after Cambridge and the DCR started heartlessly starving them as a result of secret provisions in the destructive project at Magazine Beach. Details as to the outrage at Magazine Beach are in the attachment.
The Grand Junction railroad runs from bottom to top and left to right. The responsible connection for the bike highway is slightly above this plan and would connect to Memorial Drive close to the BU Boathouse which, in turn, is to the right of this plan.
To the left is the BU Bridge. The black marking in the middle left is yet another tree proposed to be stupidly destroyed. On the right is the wooded area which is currently part of the animal habitat but which would be separated by a new fence in this proposal. Interestingly, the tree destruction plan shows no trees in this wooded area, apparently more planned destruction kept secret.
Following [On the next page] is a photo of two residents being heartlessly attacked.
The Charles River is straight ahead.
A fence would be constructed on the near side of the railroad track which, with care, can be seen beyond the two geese. This would bar access by resident animals through this area to the wild area between the railroad track and the BU Boathouse.
Vegetation destruction has been massive by the falsely named Charles River “Conservancy” working for the DCR and by irresponsible rail workers with the support of the DCR.
The temporary bike highway would be built where the resident animals are standing and would be run down the side of the supporting hill, behind the camera. Then it would run through an area solely used by free animals, most visibly by the Charles River White Geese. This area has been repeatedly attacked by irresponsible action by the DCR and its friends. “Mitigation” of the BU Bridge project has been an insult in part and an overload to the extent it has done anything, exactly what is expected from a reprehensible agency whose goal is to kill off or drive away resident animals.
The sanctified “Charles River Master Plan” is obeyed most importantly as is convenient for environmental destruction.
The promise of a lawn to the river at Magazine Beach was turned into the ONLY area bordering on the Charles in which introduced vegetation has been allowed to grow and grow and grow rather than being chopped down every year. The lawn has been turned into a wall barring access to an from the Charles River. This satisfies the goals of a reprehensible agency: starve the Charles River White Geese.
The ONLY mention in the Grand Junction Highway report of this active, 33 year resident, gaggle is one never identified goose head in the continuation sheet.
Here is a photo of the gaggle under the large tree which is also behind the camera in the above picture. The ground vegetation was destroyed promptly after the falsely named Charles River “Conservancy” started destroying the environment for the DCR. Since the ground vegetation has not come back, poison must have been used.
Everything else these valuable, popular 33 year residents had has been destroyed to them by the irresponsible, SECRET destruction included in the Magazine Beach outrage. Responsible action by the Cambridge City Council could restore to Magazine Beach the responsible improvements which were promised in the first place.
And these excellent animals should be restored to the major tourist attraction they were before the secret behavior which furthers the DCR animal destructive goals.
Further outrages were authorized by the DCR by irresponsible railroad workers who were too lazy to walk a few hundred feet or so to park next to Memorial Drive. The Cambridge Conservation Commission objected to the irresponsible behavior. DCR told the lazy workers to move beyond the jurisdiction of the CCC, and no further. This tree is beyond the CCC jurisdiction, and DCR has contempt for the environment and its animals, while publicly lying the opposite.
Both this and the preceding photo were taken last Sunday, June 8, 2014.
The vegetation in the background of this photo is native vegetation which the Charles River “Conservancy” acting for the DCR, failed to destroy. Some of the vegetation not destroyed by the CRC was destroyed by the irresponsible railroad workers.
There are words in the report which talk of some sort of bike highway to Boston, no plans, just talk. The DCR and MassDOT have expressed contempt for the idea in their meetings concerning interconnectivity among transportation modes on the Charles River.
The real key can be seen off in the distance of the following photo of the Boston extension of the Boston end of the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge.
The green sign straight ahead and to the right is a sign over the Mass. Pike. Harvard purchased Beacon Yards and the Mass. Pike exit to Allston and Cambridge for the location of its future Medical School, etc. The purchase was made shortly after an MBTA study demonstrated an off ramp can be built to Cambridge over the Grand Junction Bridge.
So we have a fake / temporary bike highway acting as a stalking horse until Harvard needs to use the off ramp, and we have hundreds of trees being destroyed on Memorial Drive in H4009 to straighten out Memorial Drive to take the traffic.
The real game however, is as follows:
The rail yards to the left were purchased by Harvard after the MBTA demonstrated that the Grand Junction Bridge could be used as an off ramp to Cambridge. The bridge in the middle is the BU Bridge. Under it is the Grand Junction railroad bridge.
The MBTA study showed that the room in the Mass. Pike viaduct (under corresponding words) has next to no spare room and that ramp access would take up all that room.
That viaduct is being rebuilt. The key issue is what else will be in the very narrow area where it currently stands.
Harvard has proposed a horribly expensive deep bore Red Line spur to connect from Harvard Station to Harvard’s relocated Medical School to the Harvard / Longwood Medical Area. Harvard’s Red Line spur would wipe out and rebuild the existing passenger access area in Harvard Station.
The responsible alternative to Harvard gold plated proposal is a Green Line A spur (dark green line above) connecting the Medical School to Green Line B on Commonwealth Avenue, and then to Kenmore Square from which access could be accomplished to the Harvard / Longwood Medical Area.
My extended analyses to MassDOT are as follows:
1. Introductory, spelling out the route: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/to-massdot-harvard-is-trying-to-kill.html.
2. The currently available location of the responsible route. Will room continue to be available? http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-green-line-streetcar-light-rail.html.
3. The real record of too many “advocates.” http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/massdot-to-present-in-cambridge-ma.html.
4. Mass Pike rearrangement and Rapid Transit planning: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/mass-pike-rearrangement-and-rapid.html.
I did not attach these communications because the package is pretty big only attaching the 2012 letter and its informative attachments.
Building bike highway / Memorial Drive off ramp, and other additions in the rebuilt viaduct area are of value primarily to prevent a Green Line A and make Harvard’s gold plated Red Line spur the “only possible” rapid trans service to and from Harvard’s relocated Medical School. This is because of the extreme limited space in the viaduct area.
It should be noted that MassDOT has experience with what passes for “public” input in Cambridge in the outrageous “underpasses” proposal and in the dirty tricks by which the Cambridge Machine tried to fool folks into supporting passenger service on the Grand Junction railroad. The pitch on the latter was: You can’t win, but have I got a deal for you!!!
Kindly kill that portion of the Grand Junction highway proposal south of Memorial Drive. It is irresponsible and highly destructive. It is wasteful of natural resources. It inflicts heartless abuse to the resident animal population. It assists in the reprehensible goal of the DCR to kill off / drive away its residents animals. And is a waste of city money.
Plus the Vassar Street route, to which the bike highway should be relocated, is shorter and highly reasonable.
Plus the Vassar Street route would be of value to the tourist related business on Memorial Drive.
And you would refrain from causing more irritation to the responsible Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The nonsense associated with this proposal has already be rejected by MassDOT inasmuch as they have clearly stated that they have no intention to do anything on the Mass. Pike reconstruction which impacts Cambridge.
Sincerely,
Robert J. La Trémouille
Attachment:
My letter of September 19, 2012 to the Cambridge City Council and to Councilor / Representative Timothy Toomey, Chair Committee on Economic Development Training and Employment, with attachments as stated therein, except that appendix 4 is not attached.
Thus three attached photos and appendices 1 through 3 as follows:
Photo 1: Section 1, Charles River to Ft. Washington Park (RWT/ BRT), Option 2: Trail with Bus Rapid Transit.
Photo 2: Recommendation showing fencing.
Photo 3: Developer’s map of Alewife. (Note: Area nearest the marking “Alewife Brook Reservation” has been destroyed by Cambridge and the DCR.
Appendix 1. Reality on the Urban Ring plans.
Appendix 2. Ongoing outrages at Alewife.
Appendix 3. Environmental Nightmare at Magazine Beach / The Destroyed Nesting Area.
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The prior letter is posted at: http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/LaTremouille%20com.pdf.
