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NYC Mayor Criticized for Closed-Door Trash Collection Meetings
Mayor Bill de Blasio is suspected to be proposing zoned commercial collection without public hearings.
1 Min Read
Photo courtesy LAAC.
Many businesses in New York City are demanding that Mayor Bill de Blasio hold public hearings on a proposal to shift to a zoned commercial collection system. The demand is in response to a private meeting of the New York Department of Sanitation’s Commercial Waste Zones Advisory Board.
The proposal would essentially set up zones for private trash hauling across the citywide, doling out each zone to only one hauler. Proponents of the plan say it will reduce nighttime traffic and increase safety, since trucks currently can be operating on similar routes simultaneously. Critics of the plan say it will incentivize corruption since competition for collection services will be erased.
Private trash collection in NYC has been the subject of harsh criticism for its track record of deaths and safety concerns.
The New York Post has more information:
The Sanitation Department’s Commercial Waste Zones Advisory Board is to meet Monday in private. That makes it easier to advance the plan to set up “mini-monopoly” zones for private trash hauling citywide — mainly by allowing Team de Blasio to ignore the scheme’s serious flaws.
Giving one hauler exclusivity in each zone would cost restaurants and other businesses the right to choose their garbage carter — and so end the benefits of competition.
Los Angeles made a similar switchover six months back, and it’s been an abysmal failure. Costs have soared and complaints already number in the thousands. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LA City Council are considering rolling back the change.
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