South End residents are expected to “pack the room” at a long-anticipated public hearing that the Boston City Council plans to hold on the city’s open-air drug market at Mass and Cass, which has spilled over into surrounding neighborhoods.

Councilor John FitzGerald has scheduled an off-site Council hearing at the Hampton Inn and Suites at 811 Massachusetts Ave. It will be held on Sept. 4 at 6 p.m.

The hearing is focused on a resolution put forward by Councilor Ed Flynn that seeks to declare a public health and safety emergency at and around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, an area that’s become known as Mass and Cass or Methadone Mile.

“We plan to pack the room,” said Brian McCarter, a resident of the South End, which has been hit particularly hard by

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