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An Allston Christmas miracle: Tiny Tim can walk again - and Mr. Scrooge got him a new air-hockey table!
By adamg on Thu, 09/01/2016 - 10:12am
As you might expect, Boston 311 logs are rapidly filling with reports of excessive trash in Allston, Brighton, the North End, Mission Hill and, um, South Boston. One of the more unusual is this detritus on Parsons Street in Brighton.
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Comments
Excessive trash?
You call that excessive trash? There's passable sidewalk in that photo! I was forced into the street for most of my half-mile walk to the bus stop this morning, including the always-fraught stretch of Linden Street between Pratt and Cambridge.
Honestly, for all we like to piss and moan about what the city does wrong (and there is SO much room for improvement) I have to say that they have really improved things in the past few years by collecting trash every day - and sometimes in multiple passes in one day - during the Moving Day stretch. These heaps used to go out during moving and just sit until the regularly scheduled trash collection day.
Oh, you're right, not excessive
At least, not for this most wonderful time of the year. It was the air-hockey table that first grabbed my eye as I sifted through trash-heap complaints (stop that snickering, I can hear you!). Who throws out an air-hockey table, even one that's dented like that (and how does it get dented like that)? Then I noticed the crutches ...
Worst part about waiting for trash day
The worst part about it sitting around waiting was that the rest of the trash would sit around for hours because the trucks would need extra hands to load and have to empty more frequently with all the furniture and everything else they were having to pick up. So the entire trash service would slow down to the point that you'd be coming home to normal house trash still on the curb after baking in the sun all day.
With the mid-day runs to grab up Allston Christmas crap for a week or two around Sep 1, the normal trash days in the neighborhoods progress at a much more mild delay instead which makes the extra runs all week a win-win.
It's regular trash day for
It's regular trash day for some parts of Southie, as is tomorrow.
Trash day
Yep, in Allston too. That used to mean that any moving trash that the regular pickup missed might sit around for a full week - actually, 8 days, because next week's collection will be bumped to Friday because of the holiday.
Why do people pay air hockey
When bubble hockey is so vastly superior?
Two different games, my friend
Air hockey is all about playing the angles and/or a quick serve.
Bubble hockey is more about passing and catching the goalie out of position.
I love them both, but they are very different.
why
Now can you answer me why people play field hockey while ice hockey is far superior? I'll hang up and listen.
Because they like to wear skirts
It feels good to be sexy.
Fenway report...
Last night Symphony Rd. was a trash heap. This morning it was almost normal just in time for the Northeastern move in experience. Allston Christmas elves at work! Thanks Obama!
Selfish and Lazy
Wheelchair users need 36 inches clearance, and dumping shit in the middle of the sidewalk endangers people with low-vision and blindness.
ETA: Try dumping big garbage in the road instead of the sidewalk. No, can't do that, 'cause people traveling inside a car are more deserving of space and freedom of movement, than people traveling on foot, or in a wheelchair.
Agreed
Easy to sit in other neighborhoods snickering about Allston Christmas but treating it like a joke is allowing thousands of people break the law and be extremely selfish simply because they chose (yes, it was a choice) to have this day as their turnover date for their apartments. They've known all year that they are moving out on the 31st/1st and yet treat it like a shock all year. If you're throwing out tons of crap, maybe put it out over a few weeks beforehand on regular trash days? They're parking illegally, littering with large heavy furniture, as well as poorly contained smaller trash, blocking traffic, etc but it's funny and amusing? Every year, I thank god I'm not in a wheelchair this time of year.
p.s. in anticipation of any comments, just because you were an asshole 5-10 years ago is not a sufficient excuse for me for it to be okay for people to be assholes today.
I see your point. However, do
I see your point. However, do you really want a driver to swerve in order to not hit Allston Christmas garbage in the middle of the road and then injure or kill an innocent pedestrian or cyclist? Students and/or slum landlords throwing garbage and abandoned furniture and assorted junk in the middle of the street is NOT the best idea. It is the landlord's responsibility to make sure their previous tenant has removed ALL of their belongings before the new tenants move in. The city needs to start cracking down on these greedy bottom-feeding scummy landlords and greedy universities need to STOP building luxury dorms that students cannot afford.
plan ahead
If you throw stuff out ahead of time, you don't need to put it anywhere since it's already gone! Also, I'm not advocating putting trash in the street (even more illegal!). I'm saying I don't want to be hit by a car or truck (driving by a crazed parent from out of town) in the middle of the street where I"m forced to walk since there's no room for me standing without a wheelchair on the sidewalk.
The landlord AND the tenant should be fined. The city should have patrols handing out tickets - the students are so coddled here. Loud parties at 3 am result in a pretty please be quiet. Trash everywhere with no consequences, illegal parking with no consequences. People won't do it if they're facing expensive fines.
Plus, all these non-students who stay on the Sept 1 cycle are morons. There's 11 more first of the months you could be moving on with much less issues. If more people did this and more students were required to live in dorms until they actually grow up (instead playing house next door), today wouldn't be so horrible.
Glad you have taken your own
Glad you have taken your own advice and planned ahead so you are not throwing your crap on the sidewalk and do not have to accept a Septemember 1st lease. Maybe you should share this with your friends or perhaps participate in help cleaning up after your fellow college students!
not my job
and not a student. and when I move, I don't litter or block traffic. It's part of being a grown up
Does not work that way
Most landlords only offer a September 1 renewal. If you find another date, they usually run the lease such that it renews on September 1.
They know that is when there is the most competition.
allston trash day
labor day weekend!! my grandfather treated it as hazardous waste removal weekend. he would bring me to the basement and give me random cans of paint, turpentine, motor oil whatever it was and I was instructed to "drop it in the college kid's trash piles" we got rid of a lot of stuff back in those days. grampa is long gone so please don't be mean to him.
How can the city afford this?
Not just Allston Christmas -- how can the city afford to haul away bulky waste, completely free of charge? I live in a small town, and the only way to dispose of bulky waste is to find someone who wants it (e.g., scrap metal or something reusable that can be freecycled), pay someone to haul it away, or wait for the semi-annual bulky waste disposal day when you haul it yourself to one of three locations within the county, and then pay for them to take it -- not too much, it's probably say $10-$20 for a futon or mattress. IOW, if you can't find someone who wants it, you have to pay for it, you can't just dump it out on the street. I don't understand how Boston can afford to haul away these volumes of trash.
Well...
What's your property tax percentage?