The Town of Chapel Hill recently revised its leaf collection policy to require leaves to be put in containers to be picked up (no more vacuuming – the one truck for this is at the end of its useful life, which prompted the change). Starting next year, the town will only pick up leaves in the official brown yard bins. 

The change triggered some passionate emails to town council. We assembled our favorite quotes below.

Grab yourself a pumpkin spiced latte and enjoy.

The pinestraw is overwhelming.
Chapel Hill has a tree removal ordinance, which encourages the community members to keep and maintain trees. But now the Town isn’t offering help to remove leaves. The irony of this is not lost on me.
As you know we have a leaf blizzard every year in Nov/Dec!!.
I write to warn against and protest the new policy of leaf removal. It is dangerous and reckless in an environment of poisonous snakes.
We and many others feel blindsided.
Am writing to share how incredibly disappointing it was to learn that your group changed the leaf pickup policy shortly after increasing our local taxes. And that you did so in secret. To also infer we should leave then where they fall implies an arrogance on your part directing how tax payers should mange their (esthetically pleasing) properties.
Our streets will appear unsightly and after winter rains will be a rotting mess if the street leaves are not picked up.
While "leave your leaves" would be great in a perfect world, it would have an unreasonable negative impact on property value (and imo appearance). Ours would be the obvious sore thumb of our neighborhood if we went that route.
I am mad, so mad.
The services in my neighborhood don’t seem to be improving—in fact, we’re losing services. I understand that funds may be allocated to projects like affordable housing, but that doesn’t benefit every homeowner or me.
Ticks need leaf litter to survive.
What's next??? Garbage collection used to be twice a week with the men getting the cart from its permanent location. Now it's once a week with us hauling it out. Are you going to ask us to pack it in a lunch box and take it to the dump?
Large accumulations lower curb appeal and property values.
The fall leaf drop is overwhelming.
If I do nothing and somebody slips on wet leaves (which are hazardous), I don't think I have any risk of being held liable. If I move the leaves and don't do a good enough job, I may be liable. The obvious choice is to do nothing.
The amount of mold and mildew that would generate would be a year-round issue.
THIS SPEAKS TO A BIGGER PROBLEM OF BALANCING BUDGETS USING PROPERTY TAXES INSTEAD OF REDUCING SPENDING ON EXPENSIVE CONSULTANTS AND DEVELOPMENT TO KEEP BUILDING APARTMENTS THAT GO EMPTY.
If you ask everyone in my neighborhood if they want art or leaf pickup, we choose leaf pickup.
I can't imagine the effort of bagging them in small batches over the course of weeks or months.
An unkempt yard invites thieves. If you want a bunch of overgrown yards in the town you will have higher crime rates and then you will have to hire more police.
I have some issues.

Stephen Whitlow lives in Chapel Hill. Trained as an urban planner at DCRP, he works for a research, evaluation, and technical assistance firm and focuses on the areas of housing affordability, fair housing,...