Council bill provides free trash cans for one- and two-family houses

As most NYC building owners are aware, since Nov. 12 all trash cans must have a secured lid. Otherwise, effective Jan. 2 of this year you may be subject to a summons. The penalties are $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second and $200 for further offenses.

However, the city has also decreed that starting in June 2026 you must purchase an official NYC trash bin. Those “official” bins sell for $53 for a 45-gallon container and $45.87 for a 35-gallon bin. There are similar prices for recycling bins: blue for metal/glass/plastic items and green for cardboard and paper.

Formerly, the city distributed free brown colored compost bins, but now they are charging $43.97. All the official city bins are designed with metal bars so they can be raised with automated lifting equipment on newly purchased sanitation trucks.  

The City Council, in a good effort to provide some relief to seniors and owners of one- and two-family houses, recently passed a measure offering the official NYC trash bins free. Part of the council bill even includes a proviso to reimburse owners in this category who have already purchased  them. The caveat is that the building owners must be enrolled in the New York State STAR or Enhanced STAR tax benefit program.

Forty-two members of the 51-member body voted in favor of bill No. 1126. The only stumbling block, as we went to press, was the mayor hasn’t signed it yet.

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Prior to the start of Bay Ridge’s 30th anniversary St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 23, and after a mass at St. Patrick’s Church, members of the Parade Committee will once again assemble on the front lawn of the church to commemorate the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising (a/k/a Easter Rebellion) in Ireland. They will memorialize the historic event that took place during Easter Week, where men, women and children died for Irish freedom from British rule.

Every year since 2016, when a granite stone was installed here, the Parade Committee has placed a memorial wreath at the base of the stone and a member of the St. Patrick’s parish clergy has blessed it. The monument has a large Celtic cross and a string of shamrocks engraved on it, with an  inscription that reads, “We commemorate and honor the 100th Anniversary of the men, women and children who gave their lives for the Republic of Ireland in the 1916 Easter Rising.”

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If you know a young lady of Norwegian descent who you think might be interested in competing in the 2025 Miss Norway of Greater New York Contest, tell her to contact pageant director Arlene Rutuelo for an application at [email protected].

The contest takes place on Saturday, April 12 at 12 p.m. in the Arthur Nilsen Banquet Hall at the Norwegian-Christian Home, 1250 67th St., Brooklyn. But hurry, applications must be submitted by March 21.

Last year’s winner was Amanda Luzniak from Roxbury, N.J.