City Council is again pushing back against one of Mayor Nutter’s budget cuts that they say impacts quality of life.
Councilman Frank Rizzo tomorrow plans to introduce a resolution asking Nutter to restore mechanical leaf collection throughout the city. That service was halted last year as part of the administration’s initial round of budget cuts in November.
“There are certain things you can’t put a price tag on,” said Rizzo, who said piles of uncollected leaves are both messy and dangerous.
The resolution is co-sponsored by Council members Anna Verna, Jannie Blackwell, Curtis Jones, Joan Krajewski, Donna Reed Miller, Marian Tasco and Brian O’Neill.
This year, instead of moving leaves to the street for mechanical collection, residents are being asked to put them out in brown paper biodegradable leaf bags or take them to one of three drop-off centers.
Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 12:51 PM
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12 comments
Is it truly that difficult to bag your leaves and put them on the curb? I did it all the time growing up, it's truly not the end of the world. Council ought to spend time on improving things that matter.
Maybe we can get the money from cutting Ciry council paid aids. Better yet, let's cut some city council seats to better reflect the population of the city.
Till then, I'll bag my leaves for pickup.
You don't even have to bag them. Just compost them or just leave them on the ground. They will disappear on their own. Why waste time raking leaves?
funny, the school district is underfunded but there's money to pick up leaves that disappear on their own. someone's priorities are screwed up.
This just shows that Council is unwilling to make any difficult decisions in this budget crisis. If they want to add any additional costs to the budget, they should have to pony up the money from their own budget to pay for it.
Leave the leaves right where they fall. Plant wheat instead of lawns, that way you only cut it once a year.
Um, suburbanites, who has these sprawling lawns *in the city*?
To A girl and a fan - The city neighborhoods of East Mt.Airy, West Mt.Airy, Germantown, East Oak Lane, Chestnut Hill, Busleton, Olney, East Falls, etc. all have 100 year old or older trees that drop more than 10 bags of leaves on the property owners. If it were 10-20 bags I could handle it. Typically, we are talking a pile of leaves 90 feet long by 3 feet high for my property. In the old days, the city had three rounds of mechanical leaf collection. Last year it was one. As the owner of a multi-treed property who pays more taxes than most of the new center city condo and apartment dwellers; I applaud Councilman Rizzo because it IS a quality of life issue. We need to slay the "Dragon Lady" we have as managing director. Just because other cities don't do it is not a reason for Philadelphia not do it. We all know there are plenty of quality of life improvements other cites do for their residents that Philadelphia does not perform for us.
UST51- you misunderstand me. We need leaf collection because we can't let leaves lie around and rot in our yards like some here are suggesting. They rot on the sidewalk and in storm drains and on the streets. Then they cause flooding and get slippery to cars and bikes.
A girl and a fan is absolutely correct. In neighborhoods where there are lots of trees, mechanical leaf collection is essential. It is a basic service that must continue. Otherwise, the gutters and sewers get clogged and substantial flooding follows. For me its just the last straw that leads me to wonder why I still live in the City. I am fortunate to live in a beautiful house, but a significant tax bill goes along with that privilege. I'm happy to pay, but I want something in return. Instead I end up with the latest indignity and service cut -- no leaf collection. Add in that the schools are poor, my street doesn't get plowed when it snows, property taxes are sure to rise as part of the reform of the BRT, and that the police are so undermanned that non-violent crimes get absolutely no attention (yep -- house was broken into along with dozens of others in my neighborhood over the summer) and I start asking is it worth it to live in the City? The logical answer is NO. Nutter just doesn't get it. Taxpayers expect and demand basic services. So Michael, lead and figure it out. Stop throwing up your hands or analyzing issues to death. You are a HUGE disappointment. Also, Bill Green, where is your endorsement of the resolution? Your neighbors would really appreciate it if leaf collection would continue. Since you rent your house and lawn care is provided by your landlord I guess you don't care.
These neighborhoods should form a special taxing district. Call it a leaf and snow removal district. Collect the fee, hire a manager and contract out the removal.
Let's all take a moment to applaud a rational conversation occuring on philly.com.
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