On this short street you can see three trees for four houses, sitting out at least since the snow storm
One New Year’s tradition that the city seems to have forgotten is Christmas tree pickup. Since the first week of January, a number of trees have been waiting, forlornly, on the sidewalks of my neighborhood (Newton Corner) to be picked up and sent to their new permanent homes (they think they are going upstate, I don’t have the heart to tell them they will become mulch). The January 4 storm put a lot of trash pickup schedules into disarray, which is understandable (side note: my favorite story is the person who called the city to pick up a whole street of missed barrels- the city came and took the trash only from the house that made the call), but a full week went by with the trees’ fates unresolved.
The city Web site and Twitter only say that Christmas tree pickups end January 12, which I understand to be the original schedule. I don’t see any subsequent notes about delays or extensions. I have a call in to the city’s customer service number, and will update with any new info.
How is your neighborhood? Did you get Christmas tree pickup, or are your sidewalks littered with the Ghosts of Christmas Past as well?
A “Christmas Tree” only truck came down our street on Saturday and took all the trees that were out.
Which village are you in?
Apparently some people received a robocall saying that Christmas tree pickup was postponed and to secure trees in their yard until further notice, but then pickup came around anyway. I didn’t get that robocall, but it sounds like there was a lot of confusion with tree pickup following the storm. Our tree got picked up on the right day, which was unexpected because our street is often forgotten when it comes to things like this!
@Doug – WN trash day is usually Friday.
I did not get the robocall, and there is nothing on the city Web site (not easily found, at least). If it’s postponed, then that makes sense, but obviously there needs to be a more comprehensive way of getting the word out (I thought I had signed up for robocalls, but apparently not?)
Newton Corner pickup is Thursday (Friday this week).
Adding: judging by the number of trees still out in my neighborhood, it is safe to say the robocall was insufficient
We got the robocall and were sort of amused by the instruction to “put it in your yard” without a clear message of what happens next. I think that was understandable though – i.e. a quick message as the storm was bearing down that they weren’t going to pick up trees that week, while they figured it out.
If there was a communication gap it was that the next week. There was no robocall (as far as I know) to say “OK, we’re caught up so put your tree out with your trash this week”.
We did put our tree out the following week on trash night and it was promptly picked up the next morning.
How does one get added to the robocall list?
That is an excellent question. Newtonma.gov is not at all helpful in that regard.
Robo call list is called “Code Red” (horrible name) and you can sign up here: https://public.coderedweb.com/cne/en-US/E1BAC1D6DE7C which you could navigate to from the city’s website by clicking at the top: Residents -> Emergency Notification List.
Thank you so much! It’ll be very handy to be in the loop especially during these winter months.
Thanks Dan
(You’re GD right I ordered the Code Red…)
I assumed that the 1/12 date was the deadline so I hauled mine out last weekend for a Thurs (one day delay) pickup. If it was extended I would have procrastinated as that is how I roll, but I’m glad mine has gone to Christmas tree heaven
Our tree also has yet to be picked up (Newtonville).
I put a request in via the 311 system – below is the response I got back. Fingers crossed it heads off to mulch land this week.
Dear Resident:
Thank you for submitting a request using the 311 system. We have received your comments regarding your Christmas tree not having been picked up. There was some disruption of regular Christmas tree pickup during the regular collection weeks (the first two weeks of January each year) due to the January 4th snow storm. We apologize for the inconvenience. Christmas trees that were not picked up by January 13 will be picked up by January 26.
This request will now be closed.
Sincerely,
Newton Customer Service
617-796-1000
Finally did get an answer using 311 as phone contact eems to be a dead end (so sorry, people who don’t have internet access):
“Thank you for using Newton’s 311 to inquire about Christmas Tree collection.
Due to the storm causing delays it has caused a ripple effect in the Christmas tree collection. The Christmas trees will be collected at the end of this week.
Please contact us if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Newton Customer Service”
Totally understandable that wetaher was the cause, and good to have an answer that trees are being picked up. So, I guess this means I should cancel my plan to re-decorate the trees on the street the way a mortician might prepare the dearly departed.
And thanks again to Dan for pointing to the Robo-call signup. Clearly that needs to be publicized better (that is, publicized at all) so that people can be better informed.
I look forward to the deforestation of the neighborhood come Friday.