The City of Naperville began the third and final two-week cycle of picking up leaves last Monday November 16. Residents were diligently and hastily raking and blowing their leaves into the street at curbside, frantically trying to beat the leaf-eating truck that’s is supposed to make the leaves disappear.
They don’t really vanish, they more accurately get evenly re-distributed along the street. Naperville city officials spend a lot of money, well actually tax-payers do, to have this service. While the Naperville city council is trying to figure out where to cut services, part of the answer might just be blowing around in the streets. Most communities don’t spend money to provide this service, and when spring rolls around, their yards and streets seem to look just as good as ours.
The leaf-vanishing trucks are scheduled to be completed with this final cycle by next week; Thanksgiving week. That’s no easy task, considering a couple of days are lost to the Holiday, and especially this year as I look out my window and can’t see the leaves since they are covered with snow, and it’s still snowing. The good news is that the snow will stop this evening, and then a gradual thaw will occur exposing piles of wet leaves.
This year it looks like the City got caught with some unexpected bad weather about two weeks early. It typically seems to happen on the first Saturday of December. I know this because for the last 20 years on the last Saturday of November I’m in either in Champaign or DeKalb watching four state championship football games in the elements; wind, rain, cold, but no snow.
This year may be the same, however if those piles of wet leaves are unable to be picked-up, it’s going to make a mess, with sewers being blocked, and ultimately snow plows pushing everything around. No doubt it would be better to have no leaves in the street, than to have a mess with water back-up and spending tax dollars for that result.
There must be a better answer; maybe even one that would save the taxpayers of Naperville money, and have our community look just as good in spring, as other towns that don’t spend tax dollars to push leaves around.
The last collection just hit our neighborhood – one of the most heavily treed in Naperville – and the crews did an excellent job. This is a great service to the Naperville citizens/taxpayers. Thanks to all in the City of Naperville who make this happen.