The Observation Deck

After living in LKWD for about 10 years....7 of them as a homeowner---one of the city services that strick me as soooooo inefficent is leaf collection.

Lets see here in Lakewood it takes 2 front loaders, a garbage truck, 2 or three guys with blowers, at least 2 more guys trailing in a pick-up and lets not forgot the street sweeper. So thats about at LEAST 8 employees to pay. AND they don't even do a good job, the streets are littered with leaves, clogging up stom sewers. I can't imagine that dragging the bucket of a heavy loader is good for already damaged roads and streets.

Now when I drive through another local surburb I see a garbage truck fitted with a sweeper. 1 guys drives the truck, 2 guys operate the sweeper.

Now I'm no Bill Call...but the leaf season seems a pretty sweet way to get $$$$$$.

On Lake Ave, residents have to pile their leaves 4-5 feet high, sometimes the entire width of their property. 2 guys and a sweeper would not work. It would take days just to get one side of Lake done. That would be a way to rack up overtime

Robert Bobik wrote:On Lake Ave, residents have to pile their leaves 4-5 feet high, sometimes the entire width of their property. 2 guys and a sweeper would not work. It would take days just to get one side of Lake done. That would be a way to rack up overtime

I have seen the sucker truck doing lake ave.so it works.
I brought this up 4 years ago when I moved to Lakewood. The amount of diesel fuel and man hours needed to pick up leaves seems ineffecient especially with fuel prices these days. Like I said 4 years ago, even Euclid has had sucker trucks since the 1970s.

I lived on Lake for 3 years. I've watched the city remove leaves with a combination of equipment and crew. Suckers would work, yes, it would just be very inefficient. Depends what you want to pay for, 2 guys for a week, or a full crew for a couple of days

Anne this is one of my pet peeves. A friend of mine tells me that this isn't good for the front loading trucks either. I thought most cities used sucker trucks and they seem very efficient. But Mr. Bobik says they aren't and he has experience with them.

Since we have a new administration maybe and a year before leaf season comes again - they may have a chance to look at what other cities are doing and see what is most efficient and cost effective. I can't believe the way we do it is efficient - but it would be interesting to see if it is.

Stephen, Perfect!

Burning leaves is a great idea.

A current trend at Lowe's is to sell metal or clay fire pits/bowls. They are between 40 and 100 dollars. They are enough to keep flaming leaves from hurling into the wind.

Burning dead wood and leaves in cold weather is a healthy natural pasttime. It builds character.

ryan costa wrote:Burning leaves is a great idea.

A current trend at Lowe's is to sell metal or clay fire pits/bowls. They are between 40 and 100 dollars. They are enough to keep flaming leaves from hurling into the wind.

Burning dead wood and leaves in cold weather is a healthy natural pasttime. It builds character.

Agreed! I love burning wood in my little fire pit..

...well it does smell good.....

The vacuum leaf trucks have done a great job on our street, Edgewater, and it seems very efficient.

ryan costa wrote:Burning leaves is a great idea.

A current trend at Lowe's is to sell metal or clay fire pits/bowls. They are between 40 and 100 dollars. They are enough to keep flaming leaves from hurling into the wind.

Burning dead wood and leaves in cold weather is a healthy natural pasttime. It builds character.

Not only is leaf burning illegal in most areas, it is not an environmentally sound way to dispose of leaves. The smoke can cause health problems. Leaf smoke also contains hazardous chemicals like carbon monoxide and benzopyrene, which is known to cause cancer in animals and is thought to also be a factor in causing lung cancer in smokers. Both cause breathing problems for people and can be very dangerous, especially to children and the elderly.

We compost ours as much as we can...what we cant goes to the curb for leaf pick up and then Lakewood makes it into the humus we can purchase right? It is great for plants and flower beds. Ive got some questionable neighbors that I wouldnt trust to have the smarts to burn things in their yard anyway.

Burning would be the worst thing ever to do to leaves. I thought people were joking when it was first brought up. Guess not.

But otherwise it's OK to burn them?

burn them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!