Dear Highland Park neighbors: it is illegal to put piles of leaves in the street. It is a violation of Title 4, Article 1, Chapter 411, paragraph 419.08. I confirmed this with the Mayor’s Office about three weeks ago. Many people and/or their landscapers who don’t know this, or don’t care, or both, rake or blow their leaves into the street. The resulting piles of leaves clog the gutters and impede storm drainage, they make parking more difficult by eliminating spaces, and they make it nearly impossible for the street cleaners to do their job.

These piles are also a hazard for children. More than once over the years, I have warned children who were playing in the piles, hiding themselves under the leaves. A driver pulling up to the curb would have difficulty spotting a child playing in this way. It’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

Every year, the City sends around trucks to pick up leaves in the streets - because it has to. If it didn’t, the piles of leaves would just stay there indefinitely. It is a waste of our tax dollars.

Please, please bag your leaves properly and put them out for the garbage truck to pick up. Better yet, take your bags of leaves to the City recycling center off Hamilton Avenue. Or add them to your own or a neighbor’s  compost heap.  ( have a neighbor who wants all my leaves for his composting). If you employ a landscaper to do your fall clean-up, please instruct them to obey the law.

Janna Eversmeyer

North Euclid Avenue, where there are huge piles of leaves in the street