The autumn leaves can be a lot of fun to walk through and play in. But no one is jumping in these leaf piles unless they hear a car approaching.
These leaves were piled along the 2800 block of Davenport, waiting for the District’s leaf collection crew, when I walked through here last Tuesday. And pedestrians were back in the roadway.
I guess no one factored in the leaves when the new sidewalk was designed and installed on this block earlier this year.
The only other option for street pickup of the leaves appears to be raking them into the roadway. That’s not a great option either. Does anyone have a good solution? – Marlene Berlin
Hermine Dreyfuss says
I brought this up many, many times in a number of meetings and in writing. No one listened so plugging through the leaves will be a feature of autumn and probably spring on Davenport Street. Sidewalk belongs on the other side of the street where there is a sightline and fewer leaves. They don’t collect the piles on the inside edge of the sidewalk like they used to so expect more leaves for this week’s scheduled pick-up. Sorry but this is a park road…..
Hermine Dreyfuss says
Caught the DC leaf guys this morning and asked them to rake down the hillsides when collecting leaves on this block. They did a beautiful job on the yards where lawn services blow leaves and then leave them for DC to collect. I did my yard and the one pictured which is next door to me so the sidewalk should stay clear for a while. I think people who pay lawn services should insist that they take away the collection, not just leave them piled and hope DC does the job. We only have one more scheduled collection in January and the block is filled with beech trees which shed in the spring so it is important to get as many leaves as possible collected now. Also some services blow the leaves to the north side of the street which is the sidewalk side and leave the south side looking manicured. Some cooperation is needed here. Enjoy your walks Marlene!