Oregon Public Broadcasting

The city of Portland is opening up sites at parks and schools this weekend where people can take leaves that have fallen in their yards. 

As Pete Springer reports, the city hopes these sites will discourage people from raking their leaves onto city streets.

City officials say raking leaves into the street can be hazardous to drivers.  The leaves can also clog storm water drains, leading to flooded streets. 

The city does run street sweepers this time of year in certain areas, but those are not designed to clear large piles of leaves, says Cheryl Kuck with the Portland Office of Transportation. 

Kuck says the best place for leaves is in the yard debris roll carts.

Cheryl Kuck: “But we also understand that a lot of residents in the city have a lot of leaves and the extra cost for yard debris collection can make that difficult -- so we have leaf depot sites that are open from now until early December.”

Prices at the leaf depots start at $1 a carload.

Another option for homeowners up to their ears in leaves is to compost them by running over them with a lawnmower.

More information – including locations of leaf depot sites-- can be found on Portland’s transportation website.