Hillsborough-Wade CAC Meeting

Hi CAC neighbors,

We have several agenda updates for our Hillsborough-Wade CAC meeting which is this coming Tuesday, April 22 at 7:00 PM. Our meeting location is the Pullen Community Center at 408 Ashe Avenue. (This meeting is in-person only, not a hybrid meeting.)

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  UPDATE #1:
  City Councilor Christina Jones will be joining us for the second half of our meeting when we talk about the future options for the City’s annual Loose Leaf Collection Program. Councilor Jones can give us additional information and insights after we watch the presentation “Loose Leaf Collection Program: review and Recommendations”.

  City Councilor Christina Jones

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  UPDATE #2:
  A presentation by Leaf & Limb titled “From Wasteland to Wonder – Easy Ways We Can Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape”. See attached PDF for more information.
• ••••••••
  AGENDA
  • Presentation about a new development on Oberlin Road between Bedford Ave. and Roberts St.
  • Brief update about the rezoning case at the corner of N West St. and W Peace St.
  • From Wasteland to Wonder – Easy Ways We Can Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape.
  • Loose Leaf Collection Program: review and Recommendations.
  • Q&A with Councilor Jones, followed by vote on loose leaf collection options.

As you may have heard, Raleigh is now considering future options for the City’s annual Loose Leaf Collection Program. We’ll have a presentation about the program and its future options. Followed by a group discussion, and then vote on the current 4 options being considered by the City. We will relay this vote to our City Councilors and City staff. (I’m guessing this meeting might be the first public opportunity for Raleigh residents to offer educated feedback to the City.)

Click here to read an article in today’s N&O about the Loose Leaf Collection Program. If you can’t get past their paywall, the article’s text is repeated at the bottom of this email.

See you Monday evening,
Mike

Michael Lindsay
Chair of the Hillsborough-Wade CAC
Mobile: 919-429-0177
inform@nc.rr.com

Please remember our meeting place is at the Pullen Community Center at 408 Ashe Avenue. (Not the Pullen Art Center on Pullen Road.)

‘We think they’re mad now?’ Raleigh could end its loose leaf collection program
By Anna Roman
Updated April 9, 2025 8:15 PM

Raleigh homeowners may have to stop raking their leaves to the curb for the city to pick up.

City officials are considering ending the program in which homeowners rake their leaves to the curb to be vacuumed up twice a year each fall and winter.

Instead, residents could dispose of leaves in biodegradable bags or in the city’s bright green yard-waste carts.

The Raleigh City Council met Tuesday afternoon to address complaints about how long leaves remain at the curb.

“There is a well-documented frustration within the last 15 years,” said Steve Halsey, assistant transportation director. “I’ve been with the city 12 years and I have heard it loud and clear, and researching back to the ‘80s and ‘90s and seeing some of the same topics come up. … As the city gets bigger, it becomes more and more challenging if you don’t add additional resources.”

How could Raleigh’s loose leaf pickup program change? 

City leaders will weigh several options:

No change: No new resources would be dedicated to the program, and the status quo would be maintained.

Staff up: Add staff and trucks to get leaves collected sooner, with the first round before Christmas. In 2022, this was estimated to cost $7.5 million the first year and another $2.1 million in ongoing costs. But those numbers have likely gone up, Halsey said.

Privatize: Hire a private contractor for residents to call and schedule their pickup. This is done in Henrico County, the home of Richmond, Va.

Cut the program: Instead, homeowners would bag leaves or put them in the yard waste carts and they would be collected weekly or every other week, like trash and recycling. This would move the program to Solid Waste Services from Transportation, and would require 15 new staff members to bulk up the yard waste work already done by Solid Waste Services. The change would go into effect in the fall of 2026.

What did Raleigh leaders say? 

Most city leaders wanted more information about moving to using bags or carts.

City leaders have deferred making changes “for a generation,” council member Mitchell Silver said.

“I think we’re all concerned about the cost, but that decision has been deferred because of cost, and I think we just have to figure out how to, over time, integrate it into our normal operations,” he said. “But to me, this is something that is quite important. We’re a city that values trees, and this is one of the implications of having a heavy canopy of trees, is that those leaves fall.”

Complaints about leaf pickup are one of the things people email council member Jonathan Lambert-Melton about the most.

“I think a lot about our Bringing Neighbors Home project that we just funded, for example, and how much of the direct immediate impact on working to eliminate homelessness we were able to make with a relatively small amount of money, and then the ongoing cost of this program and the cost that would be needed to continue to expand it,” he said.

Mayor Janet Cowell referred to her first time on the City Council 20 years ago and said there are still people mad at her for changing when their garbage was collected.

“We think they’re mad now? I mean, just wait” she said. “There is going to be massive blowback. And that’s not to say I don’t agree we need to make a change, but I would be very careful about what else we change in the city, if we decide to move on this. Because it will take a lot of oxygen out of the room.”

How are loose leaves collected in Raleigh now? 

Raleigh divides the city into 12 zones and aims for two sweeps a year. The goal is to complete the first round by Christmas and the second by the end of February. The season begins Nov. 12 and ends March 20.

Homeowners are notified when their zones are next on the schedule and asked to get their leaves on the curb, but not block storm drains, parking spots, sidewalks or bike lanes.

Loose leaf pick-up is only for single family homes and not for businesses, schools or churches. Landscapers are also prohibited from dumping their leaves on the curb.

Details about the city’s current program can be found online at raleighnc.gov/leaf.

On the city staffing side, 48 transportation workers who normally maintain sidewalks, repair pavement, sweet streets, mulch and landscape city roads are redirected to the loose leaf program during the fall and winter months.

If the city ends pickup, the city would see a 25% to 35% increase in sidewalk repair and replacement and 15% to 20% increase in street pavement patching, according to the city presentation.

Why are there delays? 

Ice or snow or even rainy weather can delay leaves getting picked up during their scheduled times.

Pickup is also taking longer because Raleigh has grown without adding much staff to the program.

The city hasn’t added significant resources to its leaf collection program since 2011. Since then, the city has gained more than 14,000 single-family homes and 124 miles of streets to serve, Halsey said.