The leaf collection in town is not only sloppy and messy but a safety hazard as well. Sidewalks are blocked and clogged forcing pedestrians onto dangerous roadways with no room for error. There is no parking due to piles of leaves sitting on the curb for weeks on end.
It’s a danger to park on the leaves as it can burn up and ruin the car as well.
The kids play in the piles left on the roadways putting themselves and drivers in great danger for they can not be seen.
The solution should be to either let the leaves stay were they fall and not blow them out to the roadway or have them bagged in biodegradable bags they can be recycled in the landfills and yes, we can also avoid traffic all over town by the leaf pick up crews and save some tax money too, by only collecting the bags.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected]).
This is an incredibly dangerous situation, where piles of leaves are in the roadway. A drive around the Raintree development last night found every street a danger to motorist and pedestrians alike.
I have seen no notice from Lakewood Officials that a leaf pick-up is planned. Therefore, TLS is correct. Bag the leaves and take them to the Recycling facility on New Hampshire Ave, or let them stay where they fall.
the mayor can have volunteers going out and collecting each leaf in town 🙂
i say just lave it the way it is now, your ideas are not practical.
try riding a motorcycle!!!! was a nice weekend i was on my motorcycle , was like riding on ice all over
joe , how can u say bagging is not practical ??? i bagged 30 bags with my family saturday.. they are stacked neatly at the curb awating pickup. no danger to anyone. that should be a township ordance .
Just as an aside, I have seen quite a few dogs leaving their droppings in piles of leaves. I dont let my kids play in them anymore.
Perhaps if people parked in their driveways and schools had proper parking areas there would not be a problem. Tell your children not to play in the leaf piles as there may be “doggy doo” in it. Lakewood has been picking up leaves like this for years, long before most of the residents moved here.
The writer says to leave the leaves where they fall. That’s an idea. However, after a couple of years your property starts to look like a dump.
The writer also says to bag them and they can go to the landfill. That’s an idea also but your taxes will go up as there will be landfill charges for dumping them there. Presently the county accepts the leaves for free and turns them into mulch, which you can get to put around your flower beds, etc.
Leaves break down over the winter and help enrich the soil. just leave them on the lawn over the winter like I do and save youself the trouble.
The township is working as hard as they can to pick up all the leaves..If you put them on the curb in bags you the kids will still play in them..and if you expect the township to pick up your leaves they will not take the bags..they will take them out of the bags and leave the bags at your curbline..like they did to me. So you do what you want..its that time of year when leaves are picked up..give DPW a break..they are doing the best they can with the staffing they have. You all complain about their trucks and taxes..now they have cut back and you still complain. Who wins
I agree completely with #7… Leaf pickup has been a staple in Lakewood for the almost 30 years that I have been here and has always worked well. There are signs posted in town when pick up will be or you can call to find out. Train your kids to play in the yard or supervise them if they wish to play in the leaf pile as my kids did when they were young. This is one of the few valuable programs that I get from all my tax dollars and I for one would like to see it stay.
thanks to DPW for picking up the leaves
homeowers should try to make the piles as close to the curb as possible
try driving on Gudz between all the leaves and cars parked on road the is barely room for 2 cars to drive at same time
this is what occurred. the day that was supposed to be bulk pickup for october turned out to be veterans day so there turned out not to be bulk pickup for the whole month of november (don’t know why?) people had already put out items and trees and leaves expecting bulk pickup as they should. then on top of not giving us bulk pickup for 2 months the dept. drove around giving violation notices to those that put out stuff. now how can you take all that brush back onto your property after it is in a pile in the street? and where should you put it all if not in the street. bad job by the sanitation dept.
What about the fact that the leaves blow all round and come back all over your lawn. I don’t understand why it isn’t better to have them bagged and they can pick them up easily (without the current complicated process) then they can simply empty the bags if nessacery
To “Wow”:
If the township checks your bags and/or if you place them in the trash-bins, they can ticket you. I once bagged my leaves and was told by the township to empty them out at the curb.
What can I say…Leaf me alone…
Cut down the trees and build more housing, that will solve the leaf issue.
why isn’t the township picking up the leaves ??
Mold gets formed on the bottom of the leaves during the rainy days and those allergy sufferers like myself suffer tremendously.
I watched as my leaves were picked up.
They did an incredibly sloppy job, leaving numerous mini piles blocking my driveway.
I should have taken a video. It was done (or undone) horribly, lazily, and ridiculously.
They are leaves, get over it. To #18: Yes take a video. They will probably put on the evening news.
#18-I also watched as they picked up the leaves on my block 2 weeks ago. They did a great job. Did you watch them till the end? It’s a multi-step process. They clear them with a bulldozer and them come by with a street cleaning machine to pick up the last bits that were still on the street. Awesome job!
It was great having plenty of parking spots on the block again. Of course, by the next day, the neighbors raked again, and there went the parking till next month! (sigh…)
it should be… if the homeowner hires people to clean up leaves they must have the means to take the leaves with them to the recycling center. if the homeowner does it and wants the twp to pick them up they must pile leaves on the edge of thier property.
Quote “The kids play in the piles left on the roadways putting themselves and drivers in great danger for they can not be seen.”
Not a smart move letting your kids play in the street especiaslly in a pile of leaves where they are not in plain sight of cars , thats a disaster waiting to happen !
people should get a schedule as to when they will be on the block and leaves should not be put curbside until a day or two in advance
I do my own leaves and I don’t have a yard service, so bagging all those leaves is a lot more work than raking them to the curb. (Also bags cost money, In Monsey the township gives out paper bags for free for leaves which I guess break down into compost) I think the system is fine for neighborhoods that still have room for parking and not a lot of traffic like 14th st, but, other neighborhoods where cars need to park, I think bags are the way to go.
DPW and not hired in years people get fired or quit , go to the military and retired and did not get replaced . most have a second job because the pay is not enough to support a family most of the time it’s a hard job physically worked outside in the cold or sun.
I grew up in a large city and it was unheard of to have piles of leaves! The city would ONLY pickup leaves that were bagged! When I drive at night on MILLER and NEW CENTRAL, I only see the leaves at the last minute at it is pretty dangerous to dodge them!!! What a driving hazard!!! Try driving and then seeing a large pile in front of you all of a sudden.
to loose leaves- move back to the city then. this is the way lakewoods been doing it for years and there was never a problem before. some people just need something to complain about…
Keep building and this little town WILL be Brooklyn South. Then you won’t have a leaf problem, there will be no trees left! Happy Building.