ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE
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To learn more about the environmental issues your local Sierra Club group is working on, please contact the Greater Boston Group at gbg2008@sierraclubmass.org. Information on the group pages is submitted and maintained by the group leaders.
The
Greater Boston Group of the Massachusetts Sierra Club serves Sierra Club
members in the Greater Boston metropolitan area.
We are environmental activists who focus on a issues that affect the quality of life in our region including urban sprawl, air quality, transportation, and the preservation of open space. We also address regional issues such as wetlands preservation, pollution and runoff, and the disruption of sea life.
Our transportation subcommittee is active on a number of fronts. We strongly support high-speed rail development and the North/South Rail Link.
We are advocates of increased and improved mass transit solutions, more intermodal traffic usage, and improved bicycle access. Our activities deal not only with how transportation problems affect the greater Boston area, but how the traffic systems impact visitors and the regional economies.
MeetingsMonthly meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of every month at the chapter office. All Sierra Club members are welcome! If you have something that you wish to bring to the group's attention please send it to the Sierra Club's Boston office one week ahead of time; address correspondence to the attention of the Greater Boston Group.
Greater Boston Group Current Issues:
Belmont Uplands
Belmont Uplands is a small parcel in Belmont - home to a rare Silver Maple forest as well as many species of wildlife. It's small (only 15 acres) but it has enormous value as a wildlife habitat and watershed. The Sierra Club and other organizations believe that the land's unique qualities and importance in the ecosystem outweigh the need for development on this site. Unfortunately, the land is privately owned, and the owner is planning an extensive development for this property. He has already received Town approval for a 245,000 square-foot commercial development - and is now seeking a zoning variance to increase the development to 400,000 square feet. Due to growing opposition, the Town of Belmont and the Mass Dept of Conservation and Recreation have proposed an alternate MDC-owned site for a land swap. The Massachusetts Sierra Club's Greater Boston Group is partnering with the Friends of Alewife Reservation to protect this site from development.
Destruction of Urban Parkland
As evidenced by the recent taking of a downtown park in Everett, local municipalities often see parkland only for its development potential, often as a new school. But once open space is taken from a community, it can never be replaced. Densely populated urban communities that already are lacking in open space are particularly vulnerable to this legislative abuse and we are working on ways to alter the process to protect these urban parks.
Airport Expansion
Airports at Logan International, Hanscom, and New
Bedford, are presently attempting to expand both their flights and
facilities. These initiatives are at odds with local residents many of
whom object to the prospect of increased flights and higher volumes of
vehicular traffic. We are working to provide more rational solutions and
considered alternatives to such one-dimensional approaches.
Suffolk Downs
The state law that protects our waterways, wetlands, and tidal areas
(Chapter 91) is threatened. In an unexpected ruling that threatens projects
across the state, MEPA reversed an earlier determination, recently deciding
that the Suffolk Downs property is "landlocked". There are three
active streams running through the property from Chelsea Creek to Belle
Isle Marsh. This new determination enables Suffolk Downs certain development
rights on their property, bypassing all the wetlands regulations that
should apply.
Mass Transit
We have been working on environmental and legal issues concerning
the extension of the Old Colony Line, Greenbush Line, Arborway Line and
the replacement of the light rail along Washington Street to Dudley Station.
Arborway Service Restoration Process Warrants Close Attention and Community
Involvement!
Franklyn Slimbene from the Arborway Committee gave a presentation at the
Greater Boston Group Executive Committee meeting about the restoration
of Green Line Arborway service to Forest Hills. This service, which was
suspended in 1985, was part of the Heath St line. At the time service
was suspended, daily ridership on this line was tied with that of the
BU Line at 50,000. Franklyn talked about the regulatory process and distributed
a chronology of events covering the period from 1985 to 2003 when Executive
Office of Environmental Affairs Secretary Ellen Herzfelder issued an EENF
Certificate for the project to proceed. Franklyn pointed out that the
chronology would lead one to think the project is on track, but that it
is now critically important that affected neighborhoods and Sierra Club
leaders be aware of the regulatory process and the potential for chicanery
-- since neighborhood needs often take a back seat to big business interests.
Up-to-date information about this issue, including meeting notices, can
be found at http://www.arborway.org/.
If you live in the Greater Boston area and would like to get involved, please e-mail us at gbg2008@sierraclubmass.org.
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