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Trashy Beacon Hill

Ross Levanto, who lives on Beacon Hill, reports that having the city pick up trash three times a week isn't all it's cut out to be:

The problem is three days of trash pick up means crap is on the side of the street for 42 hours a week. That is one fourth of the week. No joke. Trash is on the street curbs roughly one-quarter of every week on tony Beacon Hill. We have tried to address this issue as a community by shortening the amount of time one can place trash on the curb (what's called same-day pick-up). The problem is this really doesn't give much time for residents to put trash out. The Beacon Hill Civic Association, of which I am a board member, supports same-day pick-up, but we are also trying to move the start of trash pick-up on the hill to 9 a.m. in the morning to give residents two more hours.

His proposal? Cut pickup to just twice a week. He adds he'd also like to give Councilor Linehan a whatfor for his proposal to stop towing cars on street-sweeping days. On Beacon Hill, the threat of towing is the only thing that gets the street cleared for the sweepers.

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Comments

Every neighborhood I've lived had pickup at most once per week per residential location.

The service might do pickup in different parts of the municipality on multiple days per week.

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The city uses tiny trucks to grab garbage on Beacon Hill. If they picked up only once a week, they would need bigger trucks and, well, they don't make the grades or fit down the narrow streets.

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If increasing the number of small trucks operated is not cost-effective, a different attack ould be to reduce the rate of trash production.

If cutting down on food packaging were feasible, that would help.

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Can't they make a second pass with the trucks in the same day, rather than going on a separate day? The hauling capacity of the trucks is the same whether it's twice in one day or two days a week.

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Ive noticed that whenever Im in that area, and parts of the back bay. There is always garbage, never in barrels jut sitting on the sidewalks at 10pm , everywhere. I wouldnt be happy if I dropped that much money on my house if thats what I saw 4 times a week.

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I think the problem is lessened by having fewer pickups, but that still leaves trash bags, many of which get blown open spilling trash all over the neighborhood.

What I believe would really solve this issue, and I believe a city councilor proposed this years ago (not Menino, so he dismissed it) would be city issued trash bins for every residence in the city. similar to the single stream recycling barrels, they keep trash in the barrel until it is emptied. This is one of the few times the mayor or city council will listen, since the election is coming up and there are actually somewhat competitive races. We should push now to keep our city cleaner, because they wont listen later.

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I noticed that the trashmen don't care at all if stuff comes out of the bags that they are hoisting into the truck. Then, that rubbish goes under the cars that don't move for weeks and it all just makes a big ugly mess.
But, I guess it is still better than Roxbury where I see kids walk out of stores and just chuck their candy wrapping paper on the sidewalk next to a barrel.

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Boston is just plum full of lazy-ass slobs, even in, gasp, West Roxbury.

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Thats hardly exclusive of Boston. This country is full of lazy-ass slobs.

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That's hardly exclusive of the USA. The world, my friend, is full of lazy-ass slobs.

I've heard amazement from some that we have mail drop-off boxes on the street - in certain other countries people would just dump their trash there. Ditto for charity clothes bins and book bins.

The human condition is what it is.

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...so much as brushing up against a mailbox for reasons other than mailing things is a federal offense punishable by heavy fines and years in prison, and any suspected offenses are going to be investigated by thousands of dollars worth of surveillance equipment.

(Not that I think it should be legal to mess with mail, but it seems a bit excessive that the government will spend more time and money investigating theft of junk mail than investigating violent crimes.)

http://1smootshort.blogspot.com

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They must be headed to their second homes in Hingham in Cohasset when they throw so much trash out along Route 3 that the state spends obscene amounts of money to pick it all up.

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What I love is seeing fast food wrappers from fast food places that are 10 miles away. It amazes me that the person lugged the bag and contents all the way to this street 10 miles from the Restaurant only to dump the bag when they finished eating, well it must have been in a nearby parking lot?

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You gotta walk 10 miles to burn off a Big Mac? :)

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I've heard that there are rat problems in Beacon Hill, but was never sure if people were talking about the residents or the rodents.

You'd think leaving trash out 3 days a week would exacerbate a rodent problem.

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