Civic group backs petition for regulation of commercial trash collection

Fearing night-time disruptions from trash pick-ups, the civic group for the Ashmont Hill neighborhood is backing a push to regulate the timing of commercial trash collection.

The Ashmont Hill Association last week sent a letter of support to the City Council for a petition put together by City Councillor At-Large Felix Arroyo and District 8 City Councillor Michael Ross. Councillors took testimony on the measure, which sits in the Government Operations Committee, during a Monday night hearing at City Hall. While the city can regulate the timing of residential trash collection, commercial trash collection remains unregulated, according to Arroyo’s office.

State Reps. Marty Walz (D-Back Bay) and Aaron Michlewitz (D-North End) have signed onto the home rule petition, which must pass the Legislature if passed by the 13-member City Council and signed by the mayor.

The Ashmont Hill Associate wrote the “welcome increase in vitality and commercial activity in nearby Peabody Square and the St. Mark’s Area Main Street district, along with the existence of uses within the neighborhood that currently or in the future may use commercial trash collection services, including several large apartment buildings and a daycare center, hold the potential for future disruption to the quality of life in Ashmont Hill if collection times cannot be regulated.”

They added: “We are also aware that other Boston neighborhoods experience serious negative impacts from nighttime commercial trash collections. Therefore, we believe that it is important that the City of Boston be able to regulate commercial collection times, just as it is able to regulate residential collection times, to help improve the quality of life in all of Boston’s neighborhoods.”

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