Leaf beef: Rizzo wants city to resume collections

Philadelphia councilman says loose leaves create potentially dangerous situations in city’s neighborhoods.

A Philadelphia Councilman is calling on the city to resume leaf collection. The city stopped removing leaf piles from the curb last year.

Councilman Frank Rizzo said Friday that since the city stopped collecting leaves from the streets, it has created potentially dangerous situations in the Northeast, Mount Airy and other neighborhoods.

“What happens, it’s one of these deals ‘pay now pay later.’ If you remember during the winter months, the leaves accumulated in the street got swept into the inlets, inlets were clogged, intersections were flooded,” said Rizzo. “The water department had to spend a lot of time clearing those inlets because of the leaves were left on the street.”

The non-binding resolution calls on the city to resume mechanical bulk leaf collections instead of leaving it in the hands of residents to collect and bag up the fall colors. The Nutter Administration won’t comment until the resolution comes before City Council.