Public Works employees Douglas Howard, left, and Angelo Cleffie Jr. remove leaves on Madison Avenue this morning.
Leaf season was short and sweet this year. The little skitterers held fast to the trees until late in the season and then came down in whoosh, aided by the onset of frosts early this month.
Then came last weekend’s wind storm, which pretty much scoured the deciduous trees of their last leaves.
It made life easier for the Red Bank Public Works department, which is wrapping up its leaf collection efforts this week.
But more than the weather, acting director Gary Watson is giving kudos to borough residents, who he says “really stepped up” to new rules governing what can be put out on the curb.
“They’re not contaminating leaves with brush and branches, they’re not putting the leaves out in bags,” Watson marvels. “Change isn’t always easy, but the residents have been great.”
Watson tells us that once the leaves are up, the department will do one final pickup of brush and branches next week before giving the streets a final sweep the following week.
With luck, he says, that will happen before the first significant snowfall of the season. “I’m doing the ‘no snow’ dance,” Watson says.
Christmas tree pickups start Jan. 2 and continue though the second week of February. Yesterday, department employees started filling frost-related potholes, he says. To report a pothole, call 732.530.2691.
