Wanted: Your yard waste
In this week’s weekly memo from City Manager Tom Aspell, we got the lowdown on spring yard waste collection.

Here are the details: The spring yard waste collection program has officially begun and will run through May 28. Concordians who partake in the curbside trash collection program are eligible to participate. Just be sure to get your materials out on the curb by 7 a.m. on the same day your regular trash is collected.
Yard waste can be placed in either paper yard waste bags or in 30-gallon barrels, weighing less than 50 pounds. If you chose the latter option, you must clearly mark “yard waste” on the barrel.

“NO PLASTIC BAGS CONTAINING YARD WASTE WILL BE COLLECTED,” Tom wrote in all caps. Sheesh, you don’t need to yell at us.

And just so we’re all on the same page, acceptable materials include leaves, grass, hedge trimmings, weeds, fruit tree droppings, mulch and garden plant waste. Brush, branches and limbs must measure three inches or less in diameter and be cut three feet or less in length and be bundled.

Unacceptable materials include sand, dirt, rocks, root ball, bricks, concrete blocks or other masonry items, anything plastic or metal, plywood, kitty litter and animal waste. Painted, stained or pressure-treated woods will also make Tom angry. And you don’t want to see Tom when he’s angry.

For more information, call the General Services Department at 228-2737.

Traffic news
According to Tom, work will continue on the installation of a new storm sewer infrastructure from Knight Street to Lake Street. Expect to see one-lane traffic conditions and delays.
The good news is that clean-up efforts from Sewalls Falls Road to Hutchins Street should be completed by this week. Yay!

However, expect slow going in another part of town. “National Grid and their contractor, R.H. White, have begun to re-lay gas services in anticipation of the phase III work on North State Street,” Tom wrote. “They will be working on North State Street, from Lake Street to McGuire Street, and will be laying new main and services on the following side streets: Lake, Clarke, Fisher, Edgemont, Engel, Peabody, View, K and Hillcrest Avenue.”

We take back our previous yay, Tom.