Lower Merion Township To Collect Tree Branches Felled By Winter Weather
By Jim Melwert and Jan Carabeo
LOWER MERION, Pa. (CBS) -- It's another sign of spring, as Lower Merion Township schedules special bulk pickups of branches and twigs that fell with all the snow and ice this winter.
This isn't the first time Lower Merion has done a special pick-up of tree debris.
"We actually did this in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and it was successful," says Lower Merion Township spokesman Tom Walsh, "but this storm –- for Lower Merion Township, anyway -- was much worse than Sandy."
Walsh says they had more than twice the number of power outages here after the March 5th ice storm than they did after Sandy, and more than 100 road closures (see related stories).
The Public Works Director Don Cannon says, "I've been doing this for 23-24 years and this has by far been the hardest winter I've had as director of The Public Works."
But now that almost all the snow has melted, over the next three weeks the township will pick up branches under ten feet long and 15 inches in diameter. Walsh says they don't need to be bundled, just dragged to the street or curbside.
Resident Jerry Levitt says, "I'm glad the township is doing it so we don't have to get private contractors."
The pick-up schedule goes according to a resident's day of trash pick-up: if your trash is picked up Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays, they'll come sometime this week (not necessarily on your trash day). If your trash day is Thursdays, tree debris pick-ups for you will start next Monday. And anyone with trash pick-ups on Fridays will have branches picked starting April 7th.
