Thirty bucks for nothing
We don't pay the absurd City of Portland leaf pickup tax. We "opt out" and rake up on our own on the days immediately before the street sweepers show up. And it's a good thing. The city workers have come and gone twice now, and they're not coming back, but our neighbor's gum trees have only just begun to drop leaves and other debris:
At $15 a sweep, and coming at the wrong time for our property, the city charge is more than a pain. It's a waste of money. Just another screwed up, nickel-and-dime aspect of a city government that gets more screwed up by the day.
| Posted at 8:44 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (11)
There was laughably little in my neighborhood (Hawthorne) when the first leaf day happened. Tons of leaves fell immediately after, though. And there are few leaves right now, though we've got another "leaf day" on Saturday.
Posted by Dave J. | December 7, 2012 9:13 AM
"Thirty bucks for nothing"
Not exactly... that $30 helps keep the city "p/r" propaganda wizards employed.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | December 7, 2012 9:14 AM
And the city workers can "twitter away" all day at our expense.
Posted by Portland Native | December 7, 2012 9:26 AM
It's not just the thirty bucks, either. In our neighborhood, leaf day unleashes a spitstorm of towing for the hapless folks that didn't notice the low-profile no-parking signs put up a couple days before. A bonanza for the tow operators and, not incidentally, the city. We also opted out; we have no trees, just the leaves of others'.
Posted by Allan L. | December 7, 2012 9:44 AM
Obviously, the City Of Portland hates you.
Posted by Sam T. | December 7, 2012 10:26 AM
The city does not hate anyone. First the mayor, the city council, and all of the minions would have have some interest in the citizens who live in the city of Portland.
I believe they simply do not care one way or the other about the people who pay their salaries and elect them to office.
Why the voters of Portlandia keep voting for all thes schmicks is beyond reason....
Is it something in the water? Maybe Bull Run isn't as pure as the press releases indicate.
Posted by Portland Native | December 7, 2012 11:19 AM
How dare those trees not cooperate with Sam's schedule!
Posted by Michelle | December 7, 2012 1:10 PM
Isn't it illegal to charge for a service not provided ?
Posted by tankfixer | December 7, 2012 7:32 PM
We had no, as in zero, street trees on our block; but, we were all signed up for the leaf service. It's like the City had never been down our block before. Heck, they wouldn't even permit me to plant street trees before all that.
So that (and the slop bucket) is when we decided to leave (no pun intended). Now we can do whatever the hell we want with our leaves, and the municipal authorities can sweep up the leaves on their roads. Almost feels normal.
Posted by Downtown Denizen | December 7, 2012 8:43 PM
With Portland's low vacancy rate, I suppose it is good that the city pushes people out to make more room. We opt out since we clean up our own and our Hawthorne and Birch trees don't follow the cleaning schedule. As a cyclist, street cleaning is a great safety benefit. With only two wheels, anything mucky and slippery on the street, especially near the curb, is dangerous.
Interesting side effect of the slop bucket is our old house ant problem in the kitchen went away.
Posted by Seth Woolley | December 8, 2012 10:57 AM
Sounds like good old Seth is in favor of the city evicting people that don't subscribe to his groupthink...
Posted by tankfixer | December 8, 2012 7:46 PM