Some folks in Winston-Salem are frustrated that leaves are still sitting on curbs, waiting to be collected by the city months after they were put out. The city addressed the delay at its city council meeting last week, blaming weather and equipment issues. However, people are still wondering when their leaves will be collected.Some homeowners say they've begun to grow concerned with the number of leaves that are on the road, and they decided if the city wasn't going to pick them up, they'd do it themselves.Ken Neher has lived in a neighborhood off of Yadkinville Road for 10 years. He put his leaves on the curb in October and then again right before Christmas. They stayed there until recently. He says the city usually collects leaves three times a year in his neighborhood, but last year they only went through once. Eventually, he and his neighbors decided to collect the leaves in the neighborhood themselves. "So it's a curious thing," he says. "I went outside and saw my neighbors. I asked him, 'What are you doing?' He replies, 'I'm picking up the leaves. What do you think I'm doing?' I ask him, 'Why are you doing that?' 'Because nobody else is doing it.'"The city is saying this leaf collection cycle came with plenty of challenges that delayed service.However, Neher isn't satisfied with that answer. "It didn't happen for various reasons," he says. "Some I'm sure were legitimate and all this, but where were you? What was the next step if you couldn't do this? What were you going to do? And I think there was just, basically, there wasn't a fallback step at all."Assistant City Manager Johnnie Taylor says the biggest challenge that impacted leaf collection was the weather. "You don't want to prolong the collection," he says. "But when you get involved with collecting on days where the water is really heavy, it does cause some potential problems with our equipment"He says the city will collect Residents' leaves up to three times, and they have plans to improve the process. he says they plan to operate automated equipment in all 4 quadrants, request more collection time flexibility from the city council, redesign the leave map, and provide pickup time estimates for residents. "We are looking to explore even more options," says Taylor, "as we're preparing for this next upcoming season."He says he's heard the complaints and concerns of residents, and he assures them the city will collect their leaves even after January.Trending Stories