Council asks Nutter to restore leaf pickup

City Council found an issue it could jump into yesterday: whether residents of the city's leafy neighborhoods should have to bag their fallen foliage.

With one budget crisis behind it and another looming next year, Council yesterday passed a resolution urging Mayor Nutter to restore the mechanical leaf pickup that about 10 percent of the city enjoyed.

Mechanical pickup allows residents - mostly in Northwest, Northeast, and West Philadelphia - to rake their leaves to the curb instead of bagging them.

Nutter cut the service this year in one of many austerity measures due to plummeting tax revenue during the recession. Council ratified the decision by approving the 2010 budget in June, saving the city $400,000, according to the administration.

Most resolutions, which are not binding, usually coast unanimously through Council. But this one, offered by Councilman Frank Rizzo, struck a nerve. Many city departments were cut 10 percent or more last year, and Budget Director Stephen Agostini this week will ask departments to cut an additional 7.5 percent for the 2011 budget.

"I'm a little bit taken aback today about the importance of picking up leaves for the citizens of this city," said Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district in South Philadelphia and Center City does not have leaf problems. "We have a budget crisis going on. We have some issues. . . . I just think we have a lot more important issues to be dealing with."

Rizzo said uncollected leaves were a hazard, choking sewers and causing flooding, or forming dry piles that a hot car muffler can ignite.

"We're either going to have to pay now or pay later," he said. "We just cannot leave this debris that will clog our inlets and make our city a very unsafe place to walk and to drive."

Ten of the 17 Council members weighed in on the topic. Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco, whose Northwest district is directly affected, said she was "mindful" of budget issues, but was concerned about seniors who could not bag their leaves.

Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller said residents, including herself, had not received proper notification about the new policy.

Councilman Bill Green proposed offering Nutter savings elsewhere in the budget to pay for leaf collection.

"Governing is choosing between competing ideas for good, with limited resources," Green said. "If we are going to ask for a new service to be provided that's not in the budget, we should say what it is that we are willing to give up for that service to take place."

There were no takers other than Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who laughingly offered to sacrifice the Phillies' world championship parade.

The administration will not restore mechanical pickup this year, Nutter's spokeswoman Maura Kennedy said. While residents are encouraged to stuff their leaves into recyclable paper lawn bags, they will not be fined if they use plastic bags, she said.

Those who leave leaves piled at the curb will be notified that bagging is required, Kennedy said. After that, "we will consider enforcement."

Rizzo, who lives on nearly an acre of leafy land in Chestnut Hill, said unscrupulous landscapers in his neighborhood had been dumping leaves under a railroad trestle, creating a fire hazard.

The resolution passed, 15-2. DiCicco and Green voted against it.