Emily Hays Photos
Temple Plaza: Wake-up noises start before dawn.
Local plans to crack down on noisy 4 a.m. trash and recycling trucks have caught the industry’s attention — and New Haven companies are seeking a compromise.
Steven Changaris, who handles the northeast for the National Waste & Recycling Association, requested this compromise Tuesday night during a Board of Alders Legislation Committee hearing.
The request prompted the committee to postpone their vote on a proposed new rule.
“What can we do to ameliorate the level of concern? Can we reroute or do some things organizationally?” Changaris said. “I’ve had success in this area before. … No one’s been punished, and there is no more noise.”
Downtown neighbors have buried their alders in complaints about nighttime and pre-dawn beeps and banging from garbage and recycling trucks in recent years. Downtown Alders Abigail Roth and Eli Sabin presented a solution on Tuesday from a working group on the issue: require private companies to use GPS devices in their trucks to check whether collectors are starting earlier than they are supposed to.
The city already has a local law that prohibits private companies from collecting trash and recycling before 5 a.m. downtown and before 6 a.m. in the rest of the city. In 2007, when alders adopted the ordinance, downtown neighbors stayed silent next to East Rock advocacy.
The swell of new apartment dwellers downtown has led to new conflicts with the haulers picking up trash and recycling from the restaurants and stores surrounding them.
Miriam Grossman has lived downtown for over a decade. She pointed out that there are more sleepers per block of her neighborhood than in Westville.
“I grew up in New York, so I’m used to ambient noise. This is not ambient noise. It’s going on for 15 to 20 minutes,” Grossman said.
The banging from the dumpsters by Temple Plaza has woken her up at hours when she knows the collectors are not supposed to be there. But filing a report is an arduous process for neighbors who just want to go back to sleep, she said.
Currently, city officials have to witness haulers picking up trash too early to enforce the city ordinance, Roth said.
Roth said that she has gotten complaints from Temple Street and Crown Street all the way up to Humphrey Street. She said that she has seen three violations herself within the last month during her early-morning exercise.
Changaris posed concerns about how a GPS could malfunction and incriminate a hauler following the rules, or how it would require some haulers to get a GPS device that they don’t yet have.
His main argument, though, was focused on the consequences of sticking to the 5 a.m. start time too strictly.
“Trash trucks are big and cumbersome. The last thing we want to do is harm a pedestrian or a school child. We want to impress that it is important that we have access early in day to do this,” Changaris said.
Tuesday night’s Legislation hearing.
Nearly all of the Legislation Committee members said that they are in favor of the GPS amendment. However, they decided to wait a month or two on their vote. In the meantime, they asked Changaris to make good on his offer to bring hauling companies to the table with the city to work out another solution.
Public Works Director Jeff Pescosolido said that he has reached out multiple times to local haulers but he has not seen any change in behavior.
“The city has the attention of the operators. Let’s take advantage of that,” said Alder Adam Marchand.
The alder most reluctant to vote yes on the amendment was Dixwell Alder Jeanette L. Morrison.
“I’m a big proponent against Big Brother watching us. When I think of enforcement by watching a GPS, that kind of stuff makes me nervous. That rule can be used against certain groups. Me personally, I don’t like that,” Morrison said.
We need to do this here with this kind of trash at city hall and the BOA.
Ukrainian politician 'thrown' into a rubbish bin.
https://youtu.be/A8q-Zx8gIbg