WATCH THOSE LEAVES

I spent last Sunday in my yard, running the mower for what will likely be the last time of the season and generally tidying up the flower beds and garden. So far not many leaves have fallen, but it won't be long now, and I have a rather large yard with quite a few large trees so pretty soon my lawn will be a covered in leaves.

When I lived in Toronto there was a local bylaw that as a property owner you were responsible for raking and bagging (in craft paper bags) leaves that fell on your yard. Bags were to be disposed of by leaving them on the curb to be picked up by a special truck on a schedule similar to garbage pickup. Raking your leaves out into the street could result in a fine. Similar bylaws exist in many communities as municipalities attempt to cut back on budgets and have decided that fall leaf cleanup should be 100% property owner cost. Thankfully where I currently live is not one of those places and there are no laws about raking and bagging your leaves. You are actually encouraged to simply sweep the leaves out into the street the day before the "giant leaf-sucking truck" (a tractor with a huge trailer mounted vacuum) makes the rounds.

Clearly they don't have a cool tractor like that in the city of Boston, where a man has been charged with attempted murder after he shot his neighbour over an argument over leaf disposal.