Leaf pickup around the valley: when the trucks hit your street

Every fall there's a week when the street in front of my house stops being a street and becomes a long brown pile with parked cars sunk into it. That week is now. Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton all started their curbside leaf programs this week, and the trucks with the giant vacuum hoses are already working their way through the neighborhoods. The trick is knowing when they're coming to your block, because if you rake out the day after they pass, your pile sits in the gutter until the next round.

Here's how each city is running it this week and next. All three call their schedules tentative and say weather and broken equipment can push things back, so treat every date below as a plan, and check your city's page if a day goes sideways.

Bethlehem: gutter first, cars out of the way

Bethlehem works by numbered district, and the city's schedule names the streets that bound each one. There's no leaf collection today, Tuesday, Nov 3, because it's Election Day. Then it goes like this:

• Wednesday, Nov 4: Districts 6 through 9 on the West Side, roughly the blocks between Union Boulevard, the Monocacy Creek, 8th Avenue, Prospect Avenue and the Lehigh River.
• Thursday, Nov 5: Districts 10 through 13 on the North Side, around Linden Street, Broad Street, Elm Street, Pembroke Road and Stefko Boulevard.
• Friday, Nov 6: District 14 on the North Side, the area around Main Street, Broad Street, Market Street and the river.
• Starting Monday, Nov 9: Districts 15 through 21 get a three-day stretch, covering more of the North Side around Jennings Street, Walters Street and Easton Avenue plus a big piece of the West Side between 8th Avenue, Broad Street and the river.

The exact boundaries are on the city's schedule PDF, and the city's maps site has the leaf collection zones if you'd rather find your house on a map.

Bethlehem's rules are short and strict. Leaves go in the street in front of your own property, in the gutter, before the crew gets to your street. The city says it can't come back for leaves put out after the trucks pass. Move your car off the street if you can, because the crews won't dig leaves out from under it. Don't mix branches or garbage into the pile, and know that branches can go to the city's Compost Center instead. Leaves in alleys don't get picked up. If it rains, that day's districts get done on the next possible day. You can use paper leaf bags if you call Public Works at 610-865-7053, and the city is blunt about plastic: no plastic bags.

Allentown: a foot off the curb, two passes

Allentown also runs by district, and each district gets two passes with loaders and leaf vacuums, then a final sweep later in the season. This week the crews are in Districts 4 through 8, through Friday, Nov 6. As of Tuesday, the city's page showed District 4's first round finished Monday and District 5's first round finished Tuesday. Starting Monday, Nov 9, the crews move to Districts 10, 11 and 12.

The city asks for piles about a foot away from the curb, and it wants the storm inlet in front of your house kept clear if you have one. No branches or rocks in the pile, since that stuff can damage the equipment and slow everyone down. Same rule as Bethlehem on timing: if you rake out after the crew has been by, you wait for the next time they're scheduled in your district. Once your district's final sweep is done, no more leaves go in the street, and you switch to the city's year-round curbside yard waste collection.

One more Allentown note: the core districts (1, 2, 3 and 9) stay on the regular street sweeping schedule, and the city says ticketing there happens rain or shine. If you have a leaf question, the street cleaning hotline is 610-437-7636.

Easton: by ward, and yes to clear bags

Easton's schedule also started this week, and it runs by ward, with each part of the city getting its own days on a color-coded calendar in the city's leaf letter. Downtown gets checked and cleaned as needed. The city says its crews may work more than one ward on a given day, and that its leaf machines can't start in an area until paving there is finished. So if your ward's day comes and goes with no truck, that's probably why.

Easton gives you two other options, and they're handy if you don't want a pile out front. You can drop leaves off yourself at the Recycling Center at 500 Bushkill Drive, open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Or you can bag them and set up a pickup by appointment by calling Public Works at 610-250-6680 or emailing publicworks@easton-pa.gov with your address and how many bags you have. Here's the part that made me laugh: Bethlehem says no plastic bags, and Easton asks for leaves in clear plastic bags. The city even gives out clear bags for free while supplies last, up to five a week per property, at the Recycling Center during its hours or at City Hall from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Same as everywhere else, keep sticks, branches, grass clippings and stones out, because the city says the machines can't handle them.

How I'd handle it this week

Find your district or ward first, before you touch a rake. Then put the leaves out the night before your day and keep the pile clean. In Bethlehem, get the car off the street too. If you're in Easton and your street isn't up yet, the Bushkill Drive drop-off is open this weekend. And if you live in one city and grew up in another, don't trust your muscle memory on the bags.

Raking is still the worst part. At least now you know which day the trucks will take it off your hands.