INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!

Thu Dec 7 16:31:38 EST 2006

Yeah.  I occasionally pick up the free mulch/compost when it's offered.  It has quite a large concentration of plastic bags and other non-organic debris, but I guess that's a fair tradeoff, since it's free.  I just contend that people should think about whether disposing of yard waste is the most responsible thing to do.  We don't try to make a forest look nice by getting rid of the leaves, and in fact, we'd be harming the forest if we did that.  Maybe there is a lesson in there somewhere . . .

- Chris Sevick

=====================
From: Melissa Rooney <mmr121570 at yahoo.com>
Date: 2006/12/07 Thu PM 02:57:04 CST
To: inc-list at durhaminc.org
Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!

I was under the impression that the leaves were made
into mulch, much like dead trees and the like. Is this
not the case?

--- Chris Sevick <csevick at verizon.net> wrote:

> I understand the practical concerns regarding leaf
> disposal, but it sure sounds like folks are
> encouraging it.  Do you all really want to encourage
> leaf disposal?  
> 
> Durham's newly-adopted UDO promotes naturalistic
> landscaping.  Books like "The Landscaping
> Revolution" discuss naturalistic landscaping, and
> point out that you should always keep leaves and
> other organic material in your yard.  They can be
> raked and placed in a different part of the yard,
> but never disposed of.
> 
> Based on my reading, I think that responsible
> citizens should keep the leaves in their yards. 
> Yard waste is a waste.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Chris Sevick
> 
> =====================
> From: bragin at nc.rr.com
> Date: 2006/12/07 Thu AM 10:01:58 CST
> To: Nancy Grandjean <nancyg at centralpets.com>
> Cc: council at ci.durham.nc.us, inc-list at durhaminc.org,
> patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov, 
> 	donald.long at durhamnc.gov
> Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
> 
> This is the way it was done in most places i've
> lived prior to moving to
> Durham. The key is to get the leaves picked up on a
> regular basis before
> they enter the drainage system, where they
> negatively impact the system
> both physically and ecologically.
> 
> My understanding is that the vacuum trucks, if they
> do in fact exist (i
> haven't seen them myself) are a relatively new
> investment on the part of
> the city.
> 
> Barry Ragin
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Nancy Grandjean <nancyg at centralpets.com>
> Date: Thursday, December 7, 2006 10:52 am
> Subject: Re:  INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
> To: bragin at nc.rr.com, Ken Gasch
> <ken.gasch at hldproductions.com>
> Cc: council at ci.durham.nc.us, inc-list at durhaminc.org,
> patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov, donald.long at durhamnc.gov
> 
> > (Sorry if this comes through as a duplicate
> message; it didn't go 
> > through the first time I sent it.)
> > 
> > Given that the city already has the leaf vacuum
> trucks, why can't 
> > we rake leaves to the edge of our property and
> have them vacuumed 
> > up, instead of wasting time, money, and
> environmental resources 
> > putting billions of leaves into (relatively small)
> bags? (Plastic 
> > bags would be even worse environmentally.) I'm
> sure there's a 
> > logical reason . . . . (ho ho)
> > 
> > Nancy Grandjean
> > 
> > 
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: bragin at nc.rr.com [mailto:bragin at nc.rr.com]
> > >Sent: Thursday, December 7, 2006 02:30 PM
> > >To: 'Ken Gasch'
> > >Cc: council at ci.durham.nc.us,
> inc-list at durhaminc.org, 
> > patrick.baker at durhamnc.gov, 
> > >donald.long at durhamnc.gov
> > >Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Picking up leaves!
> > >
> > >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.  
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > ---------------------------------------------
> > This e-mail was sent using a CentralPets.com
> WebMail account
> > Get yours at: http://mail.centralpets.com
> > 
> > 
> > 
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