Two weeks ago, I dragged 26 bags of leaves, branches, twigs and other debris out to the berm for the regular Tuesday yard waste pickup. The trucks never showed up that Tuesday or the following day. I wasn’t about to haul all these bags to the back of my house. I was just dialing City Hall on Thursday morning when the crews finally showed up. Unfortunately, every other neighbor on the street pulled their yard waste off the street before the trucks arrived.
We’ve been going through the same routine for the past two weeks. Pickup day on Tuesday, but yard waste not picked up until well into Thursday. Same thing today. My bags are still out there, but all my neighbors have pulled their barrels and bags off the street.
I finally called 311 this morning and learned the City has a good excuse for these delays. Just a lot of yard waste from the harsh winter and even harsher early spring. My 26 bags followed by 19 the following week attest to that. The nice woman on the 311 line told me that everyone should leave their yard waste in place and the City will get to it in good order. The City has posted all his on the City’s website. Unfortunately, not many homeowners browse this regularly. I do suggest they tap the City’s “robocall” alert system for things like this in the future.
I only found out from a Facebook post and I can’t even remember who it was from. It was confusing, too, because they said that they were behind by 1 1/2 days, but it was over a week before they came to our street…and only after a 311 request was put in! Yes, communication definitely could have been better and we have a lot of yard waste now.
Twenty-six bags followed by another 19 one week later?
Bob Burke is clearly the Charles Atlas of Newton Highlands!
@Greg. Thanks, but I went to Home Depot to pick up 10 bags of mulch and started loading them on one of their large dollies. A young woman approached and said very nicely that I was “too frail and elderly” to be lifting things like that. I was actually feeling pretty good until then.
Relax, Bob! You don’t look frail to me!
My yard waste got picked up this morning (Friday) just after 7; our normal day is Tuesday.
Hi Isabelle. They got mine around 9:00 am. I actually got a chuckle out of that woman’s concern.
We experienced the same delays- only later did I just happen to see a mention in the Mayor’s newsletter that the city was aware of the delays and that we all should simply leave them out on trash day with the understanding they may be picked up later.
I agree that a robo-call would be a much better way of getting the word out.
Sounds to me that the number of workers has been intentionally cut back, probably to save money. The city side budget is much smaller now that the schools are spending so much more of the budget. What a nuisance. My yard waste has been sitting for a week on the curb. I have no idea when to bring it in.
Very poor communication from public works
Now they’re saying it won’t be resolved until the 25th. Color me skeptical about their excuse about backup.