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News from the Friends of the Blue
Hills MWRA to Quincy: Resistance is Futile Quincy's representative on the MWRA Board of Directors voted against the award but was disregarded. He cited Quincy Mayor William Phelan's long-standing position that MWRA be required to replace the lost wetlands, which comprise over half the Blue Hills Reservoir, the largest body of clean open water remaining in Quincy. MWRA director Fred Laskey has said that the project is almost exclusively for Quincy's benefit. Evidently MWRA considers itself a better authority on what benefits Quincy than Quincy is. For 20 years every public agency seeking to fill wetlands in Massachusetts has been required to replace them. MWRA's bid to shake off this standard in Quincy means that the tank project will generate the largest net loss of wetlands approved anywhere in the commonwealth since 1985. Mayor Phelan joins a long line of public officials who have spoken plainly to MWRA about the Reservoir project and have learned that speaking plainly is hardly different than saying nothing at all. In 1997 late MDC parks director Brian Broderick told MWRA that the massive buried storage tanks would cause "significant disruption and long-term impact" to the Blue Hills Reservation and that MWRA should find a less harmful location. He did not say what the MWRA said then and has been saying ever since--that $38 million in dirt and concrete will improve the park. It would be helpful if MWRA could point to some elected officials who support the project, since that would indicate it has standing among those who will be obliged to pay for it. The trouble is, there are none such--not a one. The recent election removed from office an administration determined to shield MWRA from wetland protection standards that have been in force for decades. We now have a governor who wants to end inside dealing and bring government back to the people. It has been clear for some time that there is a consensus among the people--namely, that the severe and uncompensated destruction of wetlands, open space, and natural scenery that MWRA demands as its right in the Blue Hills Reservation is a bad idea. We will do our best to persuade the new governor to join this consensus and tell the MWRA that it is part of the government and cannot operate as if there is no authority but its own. The photo at the link below makes obvious the importance of the Blue Hills Reservoir to the Quincy end of the Reservation and the wisdom of those who have preserved this land for over a century: http://www.friendsofthebluehills.org/reservoir/googlearthne.htm Let's protect the Blue Hills Reservation for ourselves and future generations. |
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