The Jan. 7 Wednesday Journal article cited below provides evidence that on March 12, 2024, Village President Vicki Scaman declared that leaf street-sweeping is “not working,” that bagging “is the way we’re going to go,” and pursued “educating” residents on the benefits of leaf bagging.
This in lieu of hearing their concerns. With the village’s Jan. 28 Fall Leaf Collection Metrics and Insights Report for 2024, it is clear ignoring citizens is still a huge problem.
Page 4 of the report presents data on leaf tonnage collected. In 2023, it was 2,196 tons, and in 2024, it dropped to 379 plus a 201 ton increase in compost bin tonnage attributable to the change in leaf policy, for a total of 580 tons.
There was extensive discussion of the cost savings associated with this large decrease, from village labor to diesel fuel, but there was zero discussion of the direct implication of that 1,616-ton, 73% drop. Unless those 1,616 tons have mysteriously vaporized, 73% of leaf disposal in 2024 was left to residents.
There was no attempt to mention, let alone estimate, the resulting labor and dollar cost to Oak Parkers. And that is even when we ignore additional labor or dollars required to bag the 580 tons that were collected. Unless we believe that 73% of total annual Oak Park leaf fall is now in our flower beds, residents had to also personally pay for removal of whatever isn’t. For all this, each homeowner was compensated with a one-time $29.04 credit on their water bill.
In 2024, we didn’t save a dime on LRS disposal services to remove 27% of the leaves disposed in 2023. But even armed with this new knowledge, the report states that there will be no change in LRS charges for 2025! What a sweet deal for LRS, lousy deal for the village, and worst of all for residents bearing the brunt of this change.
Sources:
- Wednesday Journal Article, Jan 7, 2025
- Fall Leaf Collection Metrics and Insights Report, Jan. 28,
Robert Parks
Oak Park
