By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

Oct. 16, 2024: As I mentioned last week, the Village is beginning its annual leaf removal process which regularly tops  $100,000 per season in tax dollars and this does not include the additional cost of repairing clogged drains as rainstorms routinely send leaves left in the road directly to our  storm sewers.

Embrace Love 'Em and Leave 'Em With Leaves

In a positive initiative, both on the financial and ecological front, we ask that you either bag your leaves, or if not possible, keep them on your property and off the Village streets.

It is so important, especially in the large complexes, that you share this with your gardening companies as just this week we found the leaves from an entire complex in the road covering one of our main drainage basins.  A message to your gardening companies will save money on so many levels.

Not only do leaves left in the public right of way affect our water conveyance system, but as they decay on the streets, harmful phosphates and nitrates end up in the sewers and eventually in the Bronx River, further polluting that waterway.

We ask you to consider embracing our “love ‘em and leave ‘em” program of mulching leaves in place, which is being practiced with increased frequency in all of our neighboring communities.

Mulching in place provides a whole range of benefits: it is the low cost way to naturally fertilize lawn and landscape beds and mulched leaves actually increase the water retention capacity of soil and add nutrients as well as beneficial organisms such as earthworms and microbes.

Natural mulch is so much safer than any commercial products as most commercial mulch is actually a byproduct of dead trees which have often died from diseases.

In 2024, most all of the gardening companies now own the mulching blade for their mowers as the cost is now relatively low and they can retrofit their mowers easily.

Even current residential grade mowers now routinely come with a mulching blade for home gardeners at a nominal additional cost.

Mulching in place also greatly eliminates the need for the dreaded leaf blowers which now as a result of our more stringent regulations are only allowed from October 15^th to December 15^th of this year, but sadly, you will be hearing them in the coming months.

Not only do leaf blowers, as you know, create significant noise but the incredibly powerful engines in those blowers systematically remove layers of soil, leaving yards pristine but completely unhealthy.

According to the EPA, a new gas powered leaf blower produces as much air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 new cars when they are each driven for one hour.

Use Organic Lawn Care Products

Now is also a good time of year to discuss your landscape plans in general and decide on the care of your property. We urge you, as the Village has done, to opt for organic lawn care products as their costs are now very competitive and landscapers have the capability with lead time to order the proper materials.

As an important side note, many of the lawn chemicals used by landscapers were first popularized in the 1960s as byproducts of chemicals used in war and stockpiled and are now only being tested for their true toxicity and duration of potency.

Also a little known fact, pesticides remain on lawns long after the little yellow flags are removed as the “toxic “period on those signs is simply a legislative compromise among the state legislatures, regulatory agencies and the chemical companies and is not based on scientific studies of the life of the particular chemicals .

Plant Native Species and Water Absorption of Trees

Also, please think about planting native species and also look into the water absorption of trees as they vary so greatly and your choice could positively affect mitigation of flooding problems in the village. Just small tweaks in your normal plans can really make a difference.

Please Repair Sidewalks and Trim Foliage

Now that school is back in full swing, the issue of walkability is paramount. As background, the Village has a certain number of feet of right of way on each street which varies greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood based on the topography.

To construct sidewalks where they currently do not exist may require the Village, frankly, in many cases just reclaiming Village property, resulting in the removal of lawns and shrubbery and even retaining walls as many properties are landscaped on Village land.

Without the cooperation and partnership with the homeowner, this is something that we are obviously very reluctant to do.

However, once the sidewalk is in front of property, even if constructed by the Village, the ownership reverts to the homeowner and with it all maintenance responsibility and any consequential liability.

We ask that while the weather is still above freezing to please repair any sidewalks abutting your home and trim the shrubbery so that the sidewalk is 100% passible so pedestrians do not have to step in the roadway .

Foliage must be trimmed for visibility reasons as well and properties on corners need to be especially vigilant to maintain sight lines.

With modest modifications on both the part of the Village and homeowners, we can increase walkability, one of our most precious assets.