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Bagging leaves in PJ seen as cost-saving, green experiment
Mayor invites feedback
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Port Jefferson Village will no longer pick up loose leaves on the roadways in front of residents' homes.
According to Mayor Margot Garant, the village has enacted a new leaf program that's sure to incur savings. Previously, residents raked the leaves from their property onto the streets for the village to collect, Garant said, but they must now place the leaves in biodegradable leaf bags, which are available at no charge from the Village Highway Department.
The inventory of leaf bags was quickly dwindling yesterday, as highway employee Matt Wilson distributed the free bags from the "last pallet" to residents, most of whom, he said, were coming for their second helping — the village hands out 30 bags at a time. Wilson estimated the village would be all out of bags by noon. After that, residents who need them would have to purchase additional biodegradable bags from area stores, he said.
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| | | Port Jefferson Village Highway employee Matt Wilson loads free leaf bags into the vehicle of resident Dennis Walsh. Walsh said he liked using bags because raking leaves all the way to the curb is ‘a pain in the neck’ and the wind blows them back into his yard. But Walsh also expected to need more leaf bags, ‘I think they’re small bags,’ he said. Photo by D. Willinger. (click for larger version) | |
The mayor said the new leaf bag program supports the "effort to be green and cut down on the use of fuel and manpower" because the biodegradable bags will be disposed of at the village landfill, and the heavy equipment used to collect the loose leaves will no longer be necessary. That will "help us maintain our infrastructure," Garant said, because that heavy equipment was damaging the roads.
In addition, loose leaves on the streets clog the drainage system, according to Garant. Port Jefferson is awaiting a $3 million grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to clean out its drains.
Acknowledging that community members "hate to see their taxes increase and their services cut back," the mayor pointed out that the new program reduces the highway budget and eliminates disrepair of village roads.
The mayor, who took office in July and "inherited" the current village budget, said she received a recommendation from Village Highway Superintendent Steve Gallagher to consider the leaf bag program, which she said costs "significantly less" than the previous policy. Garant said village officials are trying to be "respectful" of the superintendent's concerns while remaining "mindful" of residents and the upcoming budget.
"Residents are welcome to contact Village Hall to give us feedback on the program so we can revisit it for next year," the mayor said. Calls to Gallagher requesting information about costs and savings were not returned.
In Port Jefferson's sister village of Patchogue, leaves must be placed in paper bags and brought to the curb except from Oct. 15 to Dec. 21, according to the village website. During that period, the village picks up unbagged leaves brought out to the curb.
Further east in Southampton Village, residents may, but are not required to, collect leaves in recyclable bags, Deputy Registrar Mimi Guerra said. The policy in place for at least the past two years, she said, has been for the village to vacuum the leaves residents rake to the curb. Guerra added that no budgetary or road damage concerns have been raised by village officials.
Northport Village Superintendent of Public Works Joseph Correia said residents in Northport must bag their own leaves for pick up. While the village clears leaves naturally blown onto the roads, Correia said there is "no manpower and equipment to collect leaves swept onto streets by homeowners." "The more the residents do," he said, "the less we have to."
D. Willinger contributed reporting.
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