The city of Akron wants residents to stop raking leaves into the streets outside of their designated pick up dates. Service Director John Valle says you can keep them on the devil strip, just not on the street.
John Valle - leaves by Akron NewsNow
"We're having people raking them out early and once we go through neighborhoods, people gather more leaves and they rake them out in the street," said Valle.
That's a problem because they're clogging storm sewer inlets, leaving city workers overwhelmed.
"They just cannot clean the storm sewer inlets quick enough with all the leaves out there," said Valle. "It's just been a manpower nightmare for us this past week."
Specifically, crews filled six 15-cubic yard filled with leaves from a water pollution and control plant.
Valle says the city can usually conduct a second round of leaf pick ups if the weather remains decent in December. Residents can also bag remaining leaves and call 3-1-1 to schedule one a special pick up.
