Leaf Cleanup Recap

As the City of Minneapolis finishes up their fall street clean up, the LHENA Environmental Committee organized a leaf clean up on Sunday, November 14 to prevent all the remaining leaves and other debris from flowing into our lakes, creeks and rivers and fertilizing the algae blooms and weed growth next summer. Volunteers collected and bagged the leaves in the street around the entire block of Mueller Park on both sides of the street. Words from one of the wonderful volunteers, Mary Hartnett:

"Block Power. Every year city public works comes by to sweep leaves off the streets long before they fall off the trees. And every year leaves fill the street, the rains come, the leaves fill the storm sewers and cause toxic algae and weeds to bloom in our lakes and streams. Public Works won't budge on their timeline. This year my Master Water Steward husband Joe Knaeble organized with our neighborhood association environmental committee to do it ourselves. They reused campaign signs, painted them white and asked neighbors to volunteer to not park their cars so we could sweep the streets. I sent out a group text to everyone on our block and it was wonderful. When we woke up neighbors had voluntarily complied and didn’t park. And one by one almost all of our block showed up to sweep despite the snowy mess. A new renter walked by and joined us. We ended up with 45 bags of wet soggy leaves. I love my community and our block! But the system needs to change. Call 311 and ask Public Works and the Mayor to delay street sweeping by a few weeks so our waters stay clear. Thanks to Andrew, Maria, Susan, Doug, Cate, Dan, Debbie, Charles, Dan, Greg, Molly, Josh, Chloe, Landis, Clark and Arlene. Unity in Community."

What else can you do to protect our lakes and rivers?

 Organize your block or street for a leaf clean up. The LHENA Environmental
Committee will help you! For more info contact Joe Knaeble at 612-644-9412, [email protected] or Mariah Weitzenkamp at 507-319-1699.

 Next week is the last week for yard waste. If you still have leaves that need to be collected after the 19th, call 311 and request a special leaf pick up.