City Councilor Sal LaMattina sends out this letter to residents announcing a hearing on the use of trash barrels instead of plastic bags. The hearing is scheduled for October 6, 2011, 2pm at City Hall. All are welcome to attend and offer testimony at the hearing.
Where are people going to store these trash barrels when they are not out on the curb? Many buildings have 5 units and little to no common space. It's a nice thought, but impractical in this neighborhood.
What she said
I agree-there's literally NO physical storage space especially since most buildings are physically connected! And can you imagine the already narrow streets & sidewalks with all those trash barrels rolling and blowing around all day after pick up as most people have left for work? Not at all practical. I can't go to this meeting as I will be at work-can someone please bring up these points?
@prince street resident
Why don't you send Sal an email. Go to the City Council website and send him a message. The more people who tell him this , the better the chances he might actually listen
Absolutely impossible! This is the ultimate in bad ideas. This would mean that trash containers would have to be stored in the front hall of each building. Lovely! Not to mention that the containers would be on the street the entire day until someone from the building would come home to take the container in. At least now, when the trash is picked up-it is gone! And inevitably there would be days when the container could not hold ALL the trash and then excess trash would be on the street. We simply must insist on the use of strong trash bags. It is not ideal, but it is better than the trash can idea.
The main cause of the ripped trash bags is not the rodents. It is the TRASH pickers tearing holes in every bag to get at the cans and bottles for the nickel deposit. If Boston would ask for an exemption from the deposit law, then the trash pickers would not be ripping open bags from 5PM til 7AM. Or put containers in the community centers and branch libraries and make people either take the bottles and cans back for refund or donate them at designated collection spots. Sure, people still put trash out in CVS bags and Trader Joes shopping bags. But most people use white kitchen trash bags or black or green trash bags…and no matter how strong they are, the Trash pickers can rip them open or bring a box cutter to slice them open and set up the rat buffet.