INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!

Thu Dec 7 09:30:35 EST 2006

My informal survey, from driving around my neighborhood on pickup day,
shows around 25% - 35% participation in the yard waste program in my
neighborhood. (Every year i tell Claire not to renew our yard waste
subscription, and every year she goes ahead and does it anyway.)

A couple of years back, i did another informal survey of municipal
policies throughout the state of North Carolina. There were a bunch of
cities that did not have separate fees for collecting yard waste. There
were some cities that charged a fee for a yard waste cart, but not a
subscription fee. There were a few that gave the cart away for free, but
charged a subscription fee. There was one other city (can't recall
which, may have been Winston or Greenville) which charged for both.
Durham was the only one, however, which charged both an initial fee and
a subscription fee which did not have a policy of picking up all leaves
in the city during the fall season regardless of participation in the
program.

The city does an absolutely terrible job of informing new residents of
the policy that leaves in plastic bags will not be picked up. Why should
we jump directly to fining people for gathering their leaves in plastic
bags when they are at least attempting to keep their yards, and the
streets, free of leaves?

Addtionally, many of our neighborhoods have large curbside trees
dropping leaves directly into the streets. In my neighborhood, if you
were to have seen the piles of leaves at Knox Circle deposited there by
nature last week, you'd realize there is nobody to whom a fine can be
given for this.

Charging citizens extra for leaf pickup in Durham is like charging
citizens extra for clearing the roadways of snow in Buffalo. It's a fact
of life, and should be budgeted for out of general revenues.

That said, i'm still glad to see that the city is at least thinking
ahead by (apparently) purchasing some hardware and actually putting it
to use.  

----- Original Message -----
From: Ken Gasch <ken.gasch at hldproductions.com>
Date: Thursday, December 7, 2006 9:15 am
Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
To: bragin at nc.rr.com, RW Pickle <randy at 27beverly.com>
Cc: council at ci.durham.nc.us, inc-list at durhaminc.org,
patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov, donald.long at durhamnc.gov

> Barry,
> 
> It was my understanding that Solid Waste has changed our ordinances 
> so that 
> fines can be levied for folks who put out leaves in plastic bags or 
> rake 
> them into storm drains.  I also think that they are in the process 
> of hiring 
> an enforcement person to assess these fines.  When that enforcement 
> person 
> gets hired, I plan to become fast friends with him or her.
> 
> Also, I would like to see a way for everyone to participate in the 
> yard 
> waste program.  What I see today is that neighborhoods with higher 
> income 
> folks stay leaf free while the leaves in other neighborhoods pile 
> up.  Our 
> city's budget number crunchers certainly have their work cut out 
> for them.
> 
> Ken Gasch
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <bragin at nc.rr.com>
> To: "RW Pickle" <randy at 27beverly.com>
> Cc: <council at ci.durham.nc.us>; <inc-list at durhaminc.org>; 
> <patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov>; <donald.long at durhamnc.gov>
> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 8:53 AM
> Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
> 
> 
> > The rumor in our neighborhood is that a leaf vacuum truck, not an
> > ordinary curb sweeper, was seen cleaning the streets. Give some 
> of the
> > piles of leaves that had accumulated, i believe it. Even after 6 
> or so
> > years of the current yard waste program, many of our residents 
> have no
> > idea that leaves are supposed to be bagged in paper, and even 
> then, you
> > need to be a subscriber to the yard waste program to have them 
> picked up.
> >
> > Or maybe they do know this, and that's why they get raked or 
> blown into
> > the street anyway.
> >
> > Regardless, if the city has decided that keeping the streets 
> clean of
> > leaves is something that needs to be done, i heartily approve.
> >
> > Next step? Either picking up all of the leaves that are curbside in
> > black plastic bags, or requiring the residents to dispose of them
> > themselves. Otherwise, they'll be out there through the winter 
> and spring.
> >
> > Barry Ragin
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: RW Pickle <randy at 27beverly.com>
> > Date: Thursday, December 7, 2006 3:37 am
> > Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
> > To: Barry Ragin <bragin at nc.rr.com>
> > Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org, donald.long at durhamnc.gov,
> > council at ci.durham.nc.us, patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov,
> > dukepark at yahoogroups.com
> >
> >> Somehow we didn't make that list. At least not yet. But then 
> again, we
> >> rarely see a street sweeper.
> >>
> >> RWP
> >> 27 Beverly
> >>
> >>
> >> > I'm not sure who to thank for this, but i want to make sure folks
> >> at the
> >> > city level know how appreciative i am that the streets in the
> >> Duke Park
> >> > neighborhood have been vacuumed clean of leaves this season.
> >> >
> >> > I get tired of seeing so many people rake or blow their leaves
> >> into the
> >> > street, or bag their leaves improperly every year, with the
> >> result being
> >> > that our streets and storm drains are completely blocked and
> >> clogged.> Not only does this look bad, but it creates hazardous
> >> conditions.>
> >> > This year Duke Park looks great, and we don't have to worry about
> >> storm> water backing up and flooding our streets. I hope this is
> >> going on
> >> > throughout the city as well.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks to whoever is responsible for stepping up to the plate and
> >> taking> care of this.
> >> >
> >> > Barry Ragin
> >> > 1706 Shawnee St.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> > INC-list at rtpnet.org
> >> > http://lists.deltaforce.net/mailman/listinfo/inc-list
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> 
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