Guest commentary: Should the Charles be a private cooling pond for power plant?
By Mark Jaquith
Wed May 07, 2008, 07:51 AM EDT
Cambridge -

Cambridge - There are some nice changes on the horizon for the Broad Canal. That is the name of the inlet, which branches off the Charles River just downstream of the salt and pepper (Longfellow) bridge. For decades, it has been a rarely visited remnant of East Cambridge’s industrial past. It only extends about 600 or so feet from the river now, but in the 1800s it went all the way to where the train tracks now lie. For a time it connected with the North Canal, which ran to the Millers River, making East Cambridge an island. In its day, it was the delivery route for industries located on its banks. It has been filled to its present terminus east of Third Street. read more...

Boardwalk!

To the surprise of some ECPT members, Mirant has once again agreed to the building of a boardwalk along the Broad Canal. Mirant is asking the community to approve a new boardwalk design. The new design is said to be similar to the original design, with some portion of the boardwalk now extending over the canal, and away from areas of security concern. This new design will need to be approved by the DCR and EPA. How this will affect the original timeline for boardwalk completion remains to be seen. I will be uploading a new blueprint as soon as I get my hands on it.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who showed up at the BZA meeting!

Hello everyone, on this beautiful day I'm extremely happy to announce that last night's BZA hearings were quite amazing in many ways...
First and foremost, the Mirant case regarding the boardwalk was approved. Second, their application for a variance to install a 2nd Jet Engine was declined. In both cases a tremendous success for the community.
I'm sure, by now, you're asking but... but... what happened... Well here it is... Mirant came to the BZA with an alternative plan to build the walkway in the Broadway Canal... The new plan, a revision of the original, was to finish the last 3rd, maybe a little more, of the boardwalk 15 feet away from their bank. This would alleviate their "security" concerns and abide to the requirement for a boardwalk, included as mitigation, in their 2000 variance. The residents voiced their concerns and support and the board approved it. So, hopefully within the next year there will be a beautiful boardwalk on Broadway...Canal. It's wicked cool... read more...

Well work has kept me busy and I wasn't able to do as much as I anticipated on Mirant over the last few days...
But let me update you on the latest development. Mirant came to the ECPT (East Cambridge Planing Team) on the 24th of October to present their latest plan, in a long string of proposals, not to build the boardwalk...Here it is... They went to DCR to get help finding a alternative proposal to the boardwalk... the outcome of the search was a bridge crossing from the end of the walkway, along Cambridge Parkway, across the river to the Museum of Science. Although the project was very beautiful it had a couple of serious shortcomings: it didn't serve the East Cambridge resident and it wasn't financed. Once more Mirant had completely ignored the community. The community soundly rejected the proposal.

It's hard to understand the motivation and thought process of Mirant. The main reason they invoke not to build the boardwalk is security. And, as one resident powerfully remarked, if security is the real issue then having a power plant in the middle of the city is obviously a security risk and Mirant should therefore close! read more...

Here we are at the beginning, end, of an interesting story. The Mirant Corporation a good neighbor?
As my friend and fellow blogger Will has pointed out in his blog,
(http://cctvcambridge.org/node/2043) Mirant will be coming to the BZA for the last time on Nov 8. For details of the issue again please read his blog.
Over the next few weeks we will cover the story from a neighborhood perspective... getting the point of views of all concerned parties. But before I start I will have to acknowledge that I'm a biased party. I believe the boardwalk that was a mitigation for East Cambridge, in order for Mirant to expand, should be build. I believe Mirant has not offered any compeling reasons why it shouldn't. I believe either Mirant wants to evades its responsibilities or a deeper darker problem is the reason why they do not want to build the boardwalk.
Over the course of the story, i'll try to give all voices equal opportunities ... i'll truly try to be 'fair and balance'... but you'll have to excuse me if at time, i'm not... read more...