Leaves are falling and the Department of Public Works is ready to deploy more than 200 employees Monday, November 7, 2011 to start collecting them.  Leaf collection season runs through January 14, 2012, and every neighborhood in the District will have its leaves collected.

“Leaf collection is our most labor-intensive program,” said DPW Director William O. Howland, Jr. “For two and a half months, our crews work six days a week, including Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day, across the District.  We give each neighborhood two, two-week collection cycles, so please check the leaf collection brochure, which was mailed to households receiving DPW trash/recycling collection services, or go online to http://leaf.dcgis.dc.gov/ learn your collection weeks.

Somewhat relatedly, I just signed up for Alert DC, which provides DPW and public safety alerts. It's good to get notices like this, but I may have to tweak the settings because the multiple text messages—especially about local crimes—are poorly designed. They're hard to read and each text comes from a different phone number, even if it's part of a series of messages, so they show up as separate conversations (which are a pain to read). Yeah, yeah, first world problems.

Anyway, full DPW leaf-collection release after the jump:

DPW TO BEGIN COLLECTING LEAVES MON., NOV. 7
Residents are asked to place bagged or loose leaves in treebox the weekend
before their collection cycles.

(Washington, DC)  Leaves are falling and the Department of Public Works is ready to deploy more than 200 employees Monday, November 7, 2011 to start collecting them.  Leaf collection season runs through January 14, 2012, and every neighborhood in the District will have its leaves collected.

“Leaf collection is our most labor-intensive program,” said DPW Director William O. Howland, Jr.  “For two and a half months, our crews work six days a week, including Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day, across the District.  We give each neighborhood two, two-week collection cycles, so please check the leaf collection brochure, which was mailed to households receiving DPW trash/recycling collection services, or go online to http://leaf.dcgis.dc.gov/ learn your collection weeks.

“The program works best when residents rake their leaves into the treebox the weekend before the first day of their neighborhood’s collection cycles,” he said.  “The crews move fairly quickly, especially in the opening weeks because there are fewer leaves.  So to make sure your leaves are collected, the weekend before the collection cycle begins, put loose or bagged leaves in the treebox or place bagged leaves where you put your trash/recycling.”  Mr. Howland also said this year DPW will compost bagged leaves as well as the loose leaves vacuumed from the treeboxes.

Here are some tips for a smooth-running leaf collection season:
•Look up your street’s collection schedule in the leaf collection brochure or athttp://leaf.dcgis.dc.gov/.
•Rake leaves into the treebox the weekend before your street’s collection cycles.
•Please – leaves only! Tree limbs, bricks, dirt, rocks, etc., will damage the equipment and delay collections.
•Prevent fires, parking problems and possible flooding by placing leaves in the treebox, not in the street.  When it rains, leaves will block the storm drains and cause flooding.  Please remove any leaves you see blocking the storm drains.
•If you choose to bag your leaves, please use paper bags.  Plastic bags will be accepted but paper bags are preferred.  You may place bagged leaves in the treebox or next to the trash/recycling container(s).
•Protect the safety of our crews by driving slowly around their work area or change your route and avoid them altogether.

Leaf collection season coincides with the beginning of snow season.  Mr. Howland said, “I want to remind residents that the leaf collection crews are the backbone of the snow removal program.  When snow and/or ice are predicted, we stop collecting leaves to convert our leaf equipment to snow plows.   No leaves are collected until after the snow event ends.  Sometimes predictions don’t result in snow, but we must have our snow equipment on the street regardless.”

Sent by DC HSEMA to e-mail....powered by Cooper Notification RSAN

Dear Mayor Adrian Fenty,

You caved?! You closed the D.C. government? We had so much more faith in you than that.

Yes, the federal government is closed. City and county governments in Arlington, Alexandria, Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, and everywhere else are closed. The D.C. public school system, and every other school system in the area, is closed (some until next week!). There's no Metrorail service above ground and no Metrobus. There's no Circulator. No MARC. No VRE.

But what does all of that mean? Must the District's employees stay home just because everyone else is doing it? What is this, third grade?

What's the saying—"What doesn't make us stronger kills us"? Or something like that. You are so much better than that, Mr. Mayor.

Things were looking so good for a while there last night; it was well after dinner time and you were holding strong, just like you have been the last few days. Around 8 p.m., your Department of Public Works was even sending out email messages to neighborhood listservs urging residents to put their trash out for collection today, even despite forecasts calling for more snow and increasingly gusty winds ("near blizzard conditions"!): "Mayor Fenty is committed to providing trash collection if at all possible," wrote Kevin Twine, staff assistant at DPW. "If DC Government is open tomorrow, we are asking those with Wednesday collection to place their trash bags or supercans in the front. We will make every effort to collect them. We regret your frustration and appreciate your patience."

Never mind that 25 percent of the D.C. snowplow fleet is reported to be out of service. Trash pickup will go on!

We could picture you this morning, walking down your nicely shoveled walkway, getting into your Smart Car, hitting the gym for a workout, then reporting for duty. And all your public servants would be right there behind you.

Then, at 10:53 last night, came the news. It arrived in our inbox, a message from Alert DC with the subject line: "Government Offices Closing." We took a breath and opened it. Inside were the saddest, most disappointing 19 words imaginable: "On Wednesday, February 10, 2010, DC Government will be closed, with only emergency and essential personnel reporting for duty."

Seriously, Mr. Mayor, next Snowmageddon let's do better.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

UPDATED: 3:08 p.m.

The victim was a male, there was no age available at the time, and the preliminary investigation indicates it was intentional, according to a WMATA spokesman. There were several witnesses and authorities will be reviewing surveillance footage from the station.

UPDATED 3:05 p.m.

A person was struck and killed by blue line train at the McPherson Square Station, according to Cathy Asato of WMATA's Office of Media Relations.

The event happened at about 1:15 p.m.

There is currently no blue or orange line service between Foggy Bottom and Federal Triangle, and passengers should expect delays throughout the afternoon, said Asato.

From Alert D.C. -

Blue and Orange line riders face delays after person hit by a train

Buses called in to shuttle passengers around incident

Blue and Orange line riders are facing delays this afternoon after a person was hit by a train at the McPherson Square station around 1:15 p.m. The Blue Line train was headed to the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station at the time of the incident.

There is no train service to the McPherson Square station while emergency crews respond. Metro is setting up free shuttle bus service from the Foggy Bottom Metrorail station to the Federal Triangle Metrorail station to help passengers around the incident area. The buses will stop at Foggy Bottom, Farragut West, McPherson Square, Metro Center and Federal Triangle.

Passengers can expect delays throughout the afternoon as Metro continues to investigate.