Are Bags Of Grass Clippings Messing Mahwah Streets? [POLL]
Council didn't take action on a resident complaint; Patch wants to know your opinion
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Is summer synonymous with sloppy piles of grass clippings lining Mahwah streets? At least one resident thinks it is, according to a discussion at last week’s town council meeting.
The council considered a resident complaint about bags of grass clippings that line Mahwah streets from Saturdays, when many homeowners mow their lawns, through Mondays or later in the week when the bags get picked up.
The council considered the resident’s request that a township ordinance be changed to disallow people from leaving grass bags out days in advance of their pick-up.
Council members decided not to take action on the request, since only one complaint on the matter had been filed with town hall. “Is this a township-wide issue, or just an isolated complaint?” Council Vice President Harry Williams asked.
“I’d like to see more complaints before we change an ordinance,” Council President John Spiech added.
The council also commented that enforcing such an ordinance would be very difficult for an already-stretched township planning and zoning department.
Though Spiech commented that the general consensus was that the council “[didn’t] think it was a big problem [across] town,” Williams suggested council members drive around town on a Sunday to see if there is an unsightly amount of grass bags lining the streets.
Though the council decided not to take action on this request, Patch wants to know: Do you think this is a big problem?
Susan Manziano
3:03 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Based in what I'm reading lately - stabbings, naked lunatics, heroine arrests - grass clippings are the least of our problems.
Ira
7:40 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Let's hire a "Grass clipping" enforcement officer. Give him 60.000$ a year salary, paid holidays, vacation time, sick days top it of with a generous pension and health care insurance.
Regenbogen
7:54 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Melissa,
Not all of the residents of Mahwah have a lawn service and some individuals have one day a week to do their yard!!! Give it a break!!!!!
Denise
8:02 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
I think homeowners should be allowed to put grass clippings in plastic garbage cans or those large green landscaping buckets for pickup. It's difficult to transfer clippings into those brown bags and if it rains the bags break making the streets of Mahwah even more ugly.
LKR
12:09 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
I agree with Denise. Many other communities allow these barrels.
They can then be kept on the side of the house and moved on pick up day to the curb. Bags are often compromised as a result of rain and sprinklers and therefore must be kept at the curb.
Hank
2:11 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
and after a good summer rain who do you expect to lift that overstuffed barrel of grassy slop?
Jonathan N. Marcus, Esq.
2:24 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Perhaps this is the approach that should have been taken when the Council discussed unsubstantiated complaints from "neighbors" about too much "noise" in our parks from personal trainers.
Mike Kupchik
5:53 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Both our Sears mowers have a mulch setting, but if one doesn't go Scotts-crazy, you can bag and use as organic mulch, as we do in our veggie garden. You can compost it all too, and soon be amazed on how much earthworms relish your dark-soil results as well as plants will.
Jonathan N. Marcus, Esq.
6:11 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
I have a compost tumbler that I use to compost clippings, organic scraps, etc. However, I have a large and lush lawn which throws off an incredible volume of clippings (especially with all this rain we had). There is simply no way I can compost all my clippings effectively. While I also like to mulch mow the yard, when the growth is heavy, unless I cut the lawn twice a week, the lawn is too long to effectively mulch mow (unless I do a double or triple cut). Bagging is the last alternative I use, but it is an alternative. I appreciate the service our town provides in picking up the clippings if we so chose to bag them.
I drive all over town and I have yet to see this so-called "problem" of grass clippings laying all over our streets.