Sacramento is the "City of Trees". For better or worse that also means city of leaves. While suburban areas put their green waste in bins, the denser central neighborhoods have leaf piles picked off the street regularly and seasonally by the "leaf claw". This is how it's been done for years, and how many other cities do it. However, recently a few local bureaucrats have been pushing to move the entire central city to containerized bin pickup.

In the suburbs, containerized green waste bins make sense. Big bins are wheeled into big backyards for weekend yard work year-round. It also makes pickup more efficient since suburban homes are sprawled out. However, in the city containerized bins are impractical. Since few downtown homes have lawns, most of the yard work downtown is raking leaves in the fall. You have no green waste most of the year, then a lot of leaves for a month or two... more leaves than will fit in a bin. Living downtown, bins are also a nuisance. City residences have driveways barely wide enough to fit a car, let alone another 90-gallon plastic bin. Have you ever tried raking leaves into 4-foot tall bins? It's a much more awkward task than emptying that lawnmower bag. For these reasons, bins will inconvenience downtown residents while not eliminating leaf piles downtown in the fall.

Unelected city officials have recently started bullying green waste containers upon downtown residents. In Southside Park neighborhood, this has been done with a so-called "opt-out" container program. There was no ballot done, only a mysterious mailer with a phone number to call. Some residents caught this and  "opted out", but were still delivered a green waste bin. When I requested that they retrieve my bin, it took follow-up calls and several weeks for them to take it back.

After the container program began, leaf piles have been a more common sight in Southside Park. The City has drastically reduced the "claw" pickup frequency. After receiving little to no leaf pickup service, I noticed I am still being billed for "green waste service" on my monthly utility bill. When I called to ask for a refund, I was refused. In a recent neighborhood association meeting, there were many complaints of leaves not being picked up, and bins being unworkable in the city.

One of the over hyped reasons the supporters of bins have used is that leaf piles are a "mosquito vector". For one, leaf piles have become a worse problem since the bin program started. Secondly,mosquitoes are a seasonal nuisance - so why force residents to change to intrusive bins year round, when they will still need leaf pickup service in the fall? Thirdly, no amount of bins will eliminate the hundreds of places available for mosquitoes breed. Outside of city bureaucrats, there are some residents who support bins. Personally, I've noticed most of these people have no trees to deal with and/or live in an alley that doesn't provide pickup.

Reportedly, there will be a city ballot measure in 2010 to move everyone to green waste bins. In the meantime, the city plans to continue snowballing bins on downtown residents and raising prices for anyone who "opts out". My reply to the city: your bin or my tree. If I am forced to store another bin in my narrow driveway which I only use for leaves a few weeks out of the year, the most practical solution for me would seem to be cutting down my tree. Goodbye "City of Trees". Hello "City of Plastic Bins".