It's always been a struggle for me when I bring my bike to Yosemite or any other national park.  Because of the difficulty of siting any kind of mountain bike trail, you're stuck on the paved roads with the Winnebagos and tour buses.  Frankly, that scares the snot out of me.  I wind up riding in places I shouldn't be, and that's bad too.  The International Mountain Bike Association has been working for years to improve off-pavement bicycle access in National Parks and many other places.  The Park Service has finally come up with a proposed new policy which will make it a little easier to site some trails in national parks.  There is one week left for you to get your comments in on the new

This article is long on emotion and unsubstantiated allegations, and short on fact. The part about asthma sufferers is laughable. Putting greenwaste into a covered bin is bad for asthma, but sweeping it into a pile which blows in in the wind and gets run over by vehicles is not? You got any scientific evidence for that??? The author's response to comments indicates he is not any more interested in contradicting opinions than the people he has criticized in his "article" There are many strong arguments in favor of bins. Very few good ones, in my opinion, for keeping the claw. I'm with Gabriel and Beerzie, let's have the election and let the chips... er the leaves, twigs and branches... fall where they may.

I don't know what they did before the claw. But I suspect homeowners were more intimately involved. Good question! City archives or historians might be in the know. The claw is effective, but inefficient. By the time these materials make it to their final destination, I'll bet they have been handled by 5 different people and five different machines! Not sustainable! In the future, the large-scale compost facilities which are the best-case final destination for these materials will be more heavily regulated for air and water emissions. That means tipping fees have nowhere to go but UP. So, local, small scale solutions are needed. The less the city has to haul away, the better for taxpayers and the environment.

I think Oracle has made some good points here, but I also agree that during certain times of the year, like this Saturday when high winds blew down a ton of leaves and branches, there can be an overwhelming amount of materials on the ground. I, for one, would be in favor of a city ordinance mandating property owners keep their street frontage clean and storm drains clear! Since I have a corner lot with 120' total of frontage, this is not something I say lightly. We need neighborhood-level solutions to these issues which keep the resources in the neighborhood. Maybe community block leaders or councils which help organize and compost leaves, branches and other materials so they stay out of the streets and out of the storm drains. Stop asking for city-level solutions to neighborhood-level problems. More backyard composting, more neighborhood composting, more street sweeping by homeowners, less gas-powered leaf blowers, less hauling away of valuable organics to distant landfills and compost facilities. What better way to meet your neighbors than a block party of sweeping, chipping and composting!

I am going to have to disagree here, and I don't think the tone of this article is helpful. You make this sound like a capricious whim of unelected bureacrats, but in fact the city staff who are responsible for implementing these programs serve any number of masters, some of whom are elected, and others who have the ability to fine the city large amounts of $$$. While I certainly agree that massive fall leaf drops in the central city will overwhelm any bin, I don't think they city is unaware of that or would completely cease fall leaf-pickup efforts. While it may have some merits, the claw system is archaic and inefficient. It means running extra diesel engines, it damages city streets, and it requires a clean-up crew of broom-wielding workers. This is all very expensive, and results in significant emissions and noise. The bin loading trucks are faster, quieter and cleaner. Furthermore, the leaf piles are a hazard to cyclists and sometimes motorists. Few city residents take the time to properly sweep their portion of the street and keep their leaf piles out of the rights of way. Then there is the issue of attractive nuisance; street piles are a magnet for trash, little bags of dog poop, and other contaminants to the greenwaste stream. Then there is the most important issue of all, water quality and flooding. The street piles inveitably find their way into the city's antiquated storm drain system, inrtroducing nutrients, pathogens and other nasties. Sometimes the unwanted debris simply clogs the drain completely, resulting in flooding and much overtime for city staff unclogging them during a storm. Otherwise the stuff is just carried to the river. Street piles were eliminated in Woodland for that very reason. If there is a mosquito issue, and I have not heard that one before, it is because the street piles clog the storm drains and water pools there. Sacramento, like many city's, hires a pest control company to regularly treat the storm drains to eliminate mosquitoes. While there are some city reaidents who do a great job sweeping their gutters and keeping their piles out of the way, the majority do not. Bins are the way to go. I am certain that the city will continue to deal with the leaf issue; but it would be better for all if residents composted that themselves and used it on their yards. Barring that, get used to another bin.

What a mess. Agree with Rock Star, the big buyout was the straw that is now breaking that camel. Now the employees and the readers will pay. I have to say that, overall, I like the new design, and that i think the story selections are a lot better than they used to be, even if the editorial hole is a bit smaller. Sadly, this improvement probably is not sustainable, and certainly will not be enough to fix the problems caused by Pruitt and his corporate clowns. Media consolidation is a bad deal for everybody!