. .And if they don't move their cars, they'll be towed. .

Wow! those towed car fees may be what is really behind all this!

Wait until they designate "captains" from or for each block to watch over us and make sure we stay in compliance with their upcoming agenda! Another avenue of "fees" to collect should we not adhere to each and every little thing they can come up with now, as they definitely want more money from all of us.

Why do they dislike the people?
Why do we put up with this?

Can street sweepers actually collect leaves? Based on personal observation, they mostly appear to simply swirl the detritus around and move it away from the curb. Maybe they have special vacuum trucks for this assignment?

I raked/blew the entire backyard on Friday, and now it looks as if nobody has lived here in weeks. The walnut tree is the worst: the stems are so heavy as to render the blower ineffective when it's wet.

Are you on the twitters, Jack? The mayor is and I can't help but think that some of his strange tweets and what he chooses to address would provide a good amount of material for you.

Looking forward to following your leaf crusade. We recently bought our first home and while we knew what we were getting into, can't help but feel more than a little "violated" by the city in a number of ways. ... and I didn't even get a nice concierge job out of it.

I'm on my way to city hall with my pickup full of leaves. I've put 30 $1 bills mixed in the leaves and that will be the enticement for the street people to yank all the leaves out of the back onto the city hall sidewalk.

Kafka for mayor!

My family moved to Oregon 150 years ago. I can't take Portland anymore and am moving back to Oregon.

Musical interlude ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw843AjJRLg

Larry,
Where is Oregon now?

Aurora? Cascade Locks? Pacific City?

Vancouver!

It is a invisible line that surrounds Multnoma County

Unless the City has changed their schedule; the City of Gresham sweeps the streets every two weeks. No leaf removal fees there...just clean streets without leaves and backed up storm drains...

How do you know when they are coming to sweep? Nothing came in the mail that I saw. We live in Alameda, and apparently the sweepers alreadly went through on Wednesday. Why are they even bothering with a sweep now when the trees still have most of their leaves?

"I raked up all the leaves in front of my house yesterday, to try to avoid the leaf removal tax."
===

I totally disagree with the CoP on this, and agree that it is totalitarian (Kafka-esque). What's next, the Young Comrades Leaf Brigade to insure compliance in all neighborhoods?

But look, they got Jack to adhere to their demands (clean enough to eat off of?). Their mission with the Bog family has been accomplished.

The real Oregon is east of the cascades with the exception of Bend. Seems that is a suburb of CA these days.

Check out the "Spread the fees" letter to the editor in today's (Sunday) Oregonian for an impolitic response and suggestion.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2010/11/letters_supercomputers_portlan.html

Interesting answers to the Real Oregon.

Since the Oregon Trail ended in Oregon City, it would seem that part of the state to be the authentic Oregon, leastwise from the pov of the settlers. OC south.

At least, one has respite from the Iron Heel of Portland in those parts, although OC itself can be a pain, politically.

Maybe Aurora. Has a nice ring especially as many of my relatives live in or near another Aurora.

East of the Cascades, I consider that part of the state to be an extension of the wild west,(except Bend and surrounds) having much in common with landscapes in adjacent states. Yet it is unique especially around Frenchglen.

Years ago, I thought Sisters to be ideal. Several episodes of "Have Gun Will Travel" (an early Roddenberry effort) were shot there. Now, OMG! Gridlock downtown and well to the east of town.

Sigh!

. .Living in Portland really will drive you crazy. The collective nervous breakdown continues.

Might be good business for pharmaceutical companies.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate"

What we have here is a a leaf hiccup not leaf pickup!

This is so not thought out at all!
Obviously, another of Mayor's bright ideas to collect money. They must be desperate down there, ready to roll into bankruptcy and don't want us to know?? Can't raise the water rates anymore?? Needs more money to ship over to TriMet for the light rail??

Who knows what is going on.
Must be unbearable for some of the city workers to go along with the scene!

We need whistle blowers!

Boycott!!

Those of us who don't live in "Leaf Districts" are having trouble digging up sympathy that you now have to pay for a service that the city has provided to only certain neighborhoods, for free, while the rest of us have been raking our own leaves, driving them to disposal locations, and paying to drop them off.

R, I don't live in a Leaf District. I'm not feeling sympathy (or a lack thereof) so much as outrage that the City is forcing people to pay a tax while calling it a fee.

There's a saying, something about "I didn't say anything when they came for this group, or for that group, or for the other group. And then when they came for me, there was nobody left to say anything."

If we don't stick up for the Leaf District people, why would anybody stick up for us when they start a Pothole Fixing Fee, or an Adding Crosswalks fee, or whatever other fee they can dream up?

Like R, I live in an area with lots of trees but no leaf district. I've absorbed the cost of leaf removal / disposal on my own dime for 30 plus years, and have actively resented the "free ride" given certain favored neighborhoods.

Part of me is real glad the "free ride", for certain favored areas,which I subsidized with my property taxes while not receiving similar service, is ending.

BUT... like Michelle, I'm getting just a little suspicious. My Spidey sense is tingling.

I anticipate a city wide leaf pickup / leaf removal / street sweeping fee evolving out of all of this as the "...only way to make it 'fair' to everybody..."

Go by streetsweeper.

the rest of us have been raking our own leaves, driving them to disposal locations, and paying to drop them off.

Even in "leaf districts," if you're a conscientious homeowner you often wind up raking and disposing of leaves. Our neighbor's infernal gum trees don't drop theirs until after the city crews are long gone. I never asked for the city's help, nor do I want it or need it now.

I believe Nonny Mouse is correct. There is more to this than meets the eye. For myself, I won't pay any extra street fees for anything until the city starts ticketing illegally-stored vehicles (that is, vehicles parked in excess of 24 hours). We have vehicles around here that sit in the street for weeks and weeks, sometimes months, without moving. Neighors call, but the city won't ticket or tow. If the city wants more, they're going to have to give more.

Patsy, we have a similar problem, plus we have this landscape, foreclosed home cleanup company that parks it's two dual axle trucks with large utility trailers parking right in front of our property.

They're sometimes parked for over a week if they don't have any jobs. Plus, if they do, their employees park their vehicles out front and drive away in their work trucks. They are always there for weekends and every night, minimally.

We and neighbors have called the police. They eventually responded and said they couldn't do much about it, even after citing Portland's nuisance codes as well as other city statutes. They said they'd like to help but call Sam's office. Like that would help. Your idea makes sense.

lw : Several years ago, I actually had vy good cooperation from the Parking Dept when a similar vehicle (with commercial plates) was parked continually (i.e. not for a job) in front of my house. They responded to my calls, the vehicle got several tickets, and eventually it went away. But maybe things have changed. As for other stored vehicles, I was told once that the reason they don't enforce the law is that they are putting all their money into things like the streetcar. They really do not care that in my neighborhood, your neighborhood, neighborhoods across the city, it takes only one household of a**holes to ruin an entire block and make everyone else's lives a misery, but that with some help from them, enforcing laws that are on the books, the situation could be controlled or even corrected. We have been through hell over here because the city does nothing to help. I sympathize with your situation and wish you the best of luck.

Besides pothole fees, the Tri-Met fee (because you live close to a route), we could also have Police fees (that'll clear out what's left of the African American population so the gentrifies can move in), water usage surtaxes, garden gnome taxes - why, just a plethora of new fees to fund the Monopoly game activities our City Council loves to play!