photo by Boyd Loving
No single leaf left behind, but massive piles to dodge at night are
November 13,2014
Boyd A. Loving
6:57 PM
Was it absolutely necessary to create this piles knowing that they would likely be left in place overnight?
As you may have heard in our continuing efforts to improve services, a new leaf removal program will begin with the upcoming leaf season. The preponderant portion of Area B will be outsourced to a private contractor for the removal of leaves. This change is being implemented so that our resources can be better utilized by providing more manpower and extending collection times in all areas to achieve the services that Ridgewood residents deserve.
Residents in Area B will remain the same with the exception of the following streets which will now be considered “Area D” for leaf season only.
N. Monroe St. (house #108 to #412)
Valley View Ave.
Elm Court
Wastena Terr.
Beechwood Road
Waiku Road
Unadilla Rd.
Palmer Court
Kemah Rd.
Woodland Ave. (house #116 – #223)
Carlton Terr.
Sheridan Terr.
Windsor Terr.
NEW dates for collection are as follows:
Area A: Oct. 20 – 23, Nov. 6 – 13, Dec. 1-5
Area B: Oct. 22 – 28, Nov. 6 – 12, Nov. 24 – 28, Dec. 11 – 17
Area C: Oct. 24 – 29, Nov. 14 – 19, Dec. 8 – 12
Area D: Oct. 30 – Nov. 5, Nov. 20 – 26, Dec. 15 – 19
Leaves must be placed directly in the street no more than 7 days prior to your scheduled pick up date. Please have your leaves in the street on the first day scheduled for collection. No brush will be collected during leaf season. You may continue to bring leaves as well as brush to the Recycling Center. The hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Leaves can also be placed in paper biodegradable bags. Bags are available at the Recycling Center on a first come, first serve basis. When using bags please place them on the curb area and they will be collected separately. As weather is a key component to this operation if changes become necessary it will be posted on the Village of Ridgewood website. In addition you are encouraged to sign up for e-mail notifications via the Village website. As a reminder, please use caution when our leaf removal crews are on your block. When possible please take an alternate route to ensure the safety of all. Should you have any questions, please call the Street Division (201) 670-5585.
Our new motto is – “Leave” no leaf behind!
Thank you for your continued cooperation.
Its good that you have sidewalk.
What is needed is “Glow in the Dark” leaves. to protect drivers at night.
These pick up schedules should be made available to the contract home landscapers — not the home owners —
They are concerned with sidewalk safety — parking bldg. downtown — paying the next quarterly tax payment — etc.
Best not to leave very large piles at night almost had an accident more than once.
I’m in Area B – first pickup dates = nothing , 2nd pickup dates : on Tues 11/11/14, 9:28 AM, the ” outsourcer” Downes Tree Service swiftly moved up Morningside across N Monroe towards MP with: 2 bucket loaders, backpack blowers, pickup trk w/pusher and driver who hand raked as necessary and a dumptruck. They went back down Mornigside towards Willard and disappeared. Haven’t seen them since. North Monroe is a mess and Rain/snow forecasted overnight. Here we go again ! should be one experience project manager (project) in charge with supervisors for each area in daily (AM/PM) communication and real time updates . Why is this so difficult . Give it to the hight school. BCC or Ramapo C business ed class(es) to run for extra credit.
I’m in Area C. Our pickup is supposed to start this Friday (tomorrow). They came through this past Tuesday when few people had leaves out. The neighborhood landscapers wereare out in force yesterday and today. Piles everywhere . . . . will they be back?
What is everyone complaining about? Roberta told us that everything is fine. Everything is fine. It is all going smoothly. Keep saying that over and over like she does and eventually you will believe it. Everything is fine. No leaf left behind.
I see the union guys are pretty active here today.
Our first week of pickup came and went – no pickup.
Our second week of pickup happened on schedule. This was the Village personnel and they did their normal job with the bucket loader. As usual, they left plenty of leaves on the street and didn’t even try to rake the leaves left behind on the curb/grass/sidewalk.
I’m sure the third pickup will be the same as the second and my neighbors and I will be raking and picking up leaves left behind during the winter months and/or this spring when they’re blown all over our yards.
Not sure about the complaints but i think from what i have seen this year is a marked improvement over last year. Keep up the good work!
I haven’t seen a single raker in my area since they started. Leaves left on property between sidewalk and curb all along the street. The no leaf leave behind slogan is pure smoke and mirrors.
It’s high time for Village officials to realize that the collection process needs to be significantly changed. What worked in the past isn’t working today. Massive piles of leaves left in the street are creating serious traffic conditions and hazards. Someone is going to be seriously hurt soon.
Options include:
1) Prohibiting commercial landscapers from depositing materials on the street. Enable them to dump at the compost center for free. This would provide immediate relief as most of the larger piles are left by contractors. Not sure if this would fly legally though.
2) No materials left on the street by contractors AND property owners. All materials to be taken to compost center or bagged and left at curb. Certain to result in a huge uproar from voters. A potentially suicidal move politically, unless the State or County could be blamed.
I say start with option 1 and see what happens. If conditions do not improve, move to Option 2.
“Option 2” is NOT an option unless you’re in the lawns with no trees.
Bagging the leaves on my property would take 100 bags per week.
Why don’t you just leaf me alone.
The reason it worked in the past was because people were part of a collective community, and made sure their leaves were raked and left in kerb-side piles ready for the day(s) of collection. We now live in different times, where homeowners have absolutely no idea when collections are, and just now that they should get the leaves into the road whenever they (or their landscapers) get around to it. It also doesn’t help that collection dates that have been established aren’t kept to due to weather conditions or because collections turned out to take longer than thought.
Here we go again…snow predicted for the weekend.
Trace amounts of course but still it speaks to the fact that the bad weather is coming….
There are many articles posted on line about the benefits of mulching leaves and leaving them in place. Here is one of them:
https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/why-you-should-mulch-leaves-not-rake-them
Landscapers using power equipment deposit more leaves on the street than did homeowners decades in the past who used rakes. Getting the landscapers in check would help big time.
they don,t care every one is blowing out.
you know what the landscapers are putting out piles bigger at times then the town makes so who cares. so go blow your lawn.
#14 and #17. We’ve had this conversation about a hundred times. Mulching is an excellent idea, but not if there are too many leaves so there’s a limit to that solution. I pull 40 6×9 tarp-fulls of leaves off my half acre every year. I can’t conceive of putting them in bags.
The solution is for the town to spend the tax money we send them wisely and do a decent job clearing the leaf piles
That’s #14 and #16 — too many comments flying past
The truth is mulching with a lawn mower or a lawn mower that is a mulcher works. The mulched leaves can be put in flower beds and they decompose and leave nutrients for plants to grow. Plants even grow through them, they are mulched leaves, not whole leaves. Or as I do, 90 percent of mulched leaves, small pieces, are left on grass, and decompose as fertilizer. If someone has tons of leaves, they still can mulch a large amount and then put rest out at curb. The amount at curb would be greatly reduced.
So what’s your game plan if the Village decides to follow the lead of Montclair, a town our leaders seem to be so enamored of, and stop picking up leaves unless they’re bagged? The cost savings are enormous.
I’ve got 1/3 acre which isn’t big but it’s loaded with leaves as are the adjacent properties. I bag them and bring them over to recycle center and then reuse the bags (they’ll give you bags at the recycle center). I’m not a young women and I work full time but I manage and I think leaf collectionis good exercise. I probably collected well well over 35 bags so far.
In a perfect world mulching is a nice idea.
When you have these massive oaks that deposit the huge amounts of leaves on the property, its impossible.
My leaf blower cannot manage to blow all the leaves 40 feet if I don’t clean the leaves every 2 days.
The lawn mower could not mulch 3 feet without getting clogged up.
Since I have a job, I cant spend 3 days a week bagging 60 bags a day of leaves.
Since I dont’ have a pickup truck, I would be unable to bring the bags anywhere.
If you expect the Village to pick up bagged leaves from every home you must be high on drugs.
All of the commenters suggesting mulching or bagging must live in the parts of town with no trees that look like Arizona… the lawns??
Cost savings enormous? Horse hockey
From the FAQ on the Montclair site:
“Won’t the Township save money with the new system?<
A. The Township does expect to generate some savings with the new system. The Township will, however, still have to collect all of the leaves now in bags, sweep the street of all leaves from street trees, and incur additional logistical and administrative costs for accommodating leaf disposal by landscapers and for other items. "
And given the history of (lack) of efficiency in Village leaf collection, I'm sure we'll see no savings at all.
“All of the commenters suggesting mulching or bagging must live in the parts of town with no trees that look like Arizona… the lawns??”
I LIVE NEAR THE HIGH SCHOOL AND HAVE BEEN MULCHING FOR YEARS. GET OVER YOURSELF. IT CAN BE DONE.
Bottom line is: “The Township does expect to generate some savings with the new system.” Additionally, Montclair was able to reclaim land previously used to store loose leaves and use it for another purpose (park). A new park could be built on Lakeview if there were fewer leaves to process.
people it,s leaves , every town has leaves. the town crew cleaned my block yesterday and they did a great job on stevens
thank you for a great job.
I think it’s funny to see a 30 post thread over leaf collection, it’s leaves not toxic waste.