MILWAUKEE — Christine LaMarre is finally getting used to a view she hasn't seen clearly in months.
"I haven't seen my street for forever… for months," LaMarre said.
Outside her home on North 89th Street in the Cooper Park neighborhood sat a 150-foot-long leaf pile — frozen under snow and stretching down much of her block.
The massive pile posed safety concerns for elderly neighbors and made it tough for fire trucks and other vehicles to navigate what had essentially become a one-way street.
"It needed to be cleared for them… and my neighbors wanted it cleared also, because it was in front of three, four houses and they couldn't get into park or anything," LaMarre said.
TMJ4 first spoke to Christine last week after a viewer had reached out, sharing their frustration about the lack of cleanup. By Monday, Milwaukee Department of Public Works crews were out clearing that pile and others in the neighborhood.
Previous Coverage: https://www.tmj4.com/news/milwaukee-county/it-looks-terrible-milwaukee-residents-frustrated-as-massive-leaf-piles-block-streets-for-over-a-month
Previous Coverage: https://www.tmj4.com/news/milwaukee-county/milwaukee-residents-frustrated-as-leaf-piles-remain-buried-under-snow-dpw-has-plan-to-address-the-leaves
It was a welcome sight for Andy Butula, who also lives on 89th Street.
"It'll be nice to be able to park in front of my house and just go in," Butula said.
The city says a snowstorm in late November slowed leaf collection — and that both operations use the same crews and equipment. That's why some piles sat for weeks, even months.
"It just seemed like it would have been easier if it would have been taken care of right away before the snow came," Butula said.
Crews weren't able to get to every leaf pile in Cooper Park and around the city on Monday. They plan to clean up remaining piles and are getting help from Mother Nature as warmer conditions are expected to carry on the rest of this week.
Related Coverage: https://www.tmj4.com/news/milwaukee-county/milwaukee-neighbors-frustrated-as-uncollected-leaves-create-hazardous-conditions-after-storm
As crews take advantage of the warmer weather, some neighbors on Milwaukee's west side are thankful to have things back to normal before the holidays.
"I'm very pleased… mostly for my neighbors, because it was a front of their homes, but it was bothering all of us," LaMarre said.
The city says about 90% of city-created piles have been cleared. Next, they'll focus on large resident-created piles.
According to a spokesperson with Milwaukee DPW, the deadline for residents to rake leaves to the curb was Sunday, November 30. After that date, crews begin collecting leaves citywide, a process that typically takes two to three weeks. This year, however, a significant early winter snowstorm on November 29 interrupted operations. As a result, crews expect to continue collecting larger leaf piles into the new year. Smaller piles will be addressed in the spring.
"We are thankful to residents for being patient with us as we navigating snow operations and leaf collection at the same time as both operations use same staff and equipment. We are currently lucky to have better weather conditions that our staff is taking advantage of for leaf collection," the spokesperson said.
Approximately 90% of city-created piles have been collected. Once that work is completed, crews will shift their focus to large resident-created piles. Some of those resident piles have already been collected as part of the city-pile cleanup process.
Residents may report large leaf piles by submitting a request at milwaukee.gov/Click4Action, through the MKE Mobile app, or by calling 414-286-CITY (2489).
This story was reported on-air by Mike Beiermeister and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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