Darnell Moore heads down a cul de sac lined with piles of maple and oak leaves waiting for the first leaf collection of the year in Alexandria’s Zone 1 Photo by Shirley Ruhe
The gray vacuum hose weaves back and forth across the pile of leaves like an elephant trunk searching for a peanut. Darnell Moore is beginning the first pass of the leaf season in "red" Zone 1 on Morgan Street, "a heavy section of Alexandria with more trees." Jeffrey Duval, acting deputy director of operations for the City Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, says Alexandria is divided into five zones, and Old Town is divided again into four subdivisions. Duval says the city puts the collection dates online as well as tips for how to make collection more efficient for the workers such as raking the leaves from under the car and avoid placing leaves in front of storm sewers.
"Old Town is harder because there are a lot more cars and tighter streets, and you have to watch both sides,” Moore added. “I operate using mirrors — it is so tight. It will take 3-4 days to finish Zone 1, then in a couple of weeks when more leaves have fallen, we will make a second pass. It's not bad here, but come back in a couple of weeks and see the difference. Some piles are higher than the cars." The crews work from the end of October to the end of December. It is difficult to know exactly how long a run will take because the volume of leaves is unpredictable, wet leaves can clog up equipment and occasionally trucks need repair.
"Now the leaf collection workers are on a 7 a.m.-3:30 p..m schedule," Moore said. But about next week they will begin the 10-hour, six-day a week schedule including holidays except Christmas. Some of the trucks have work lights so they can keep going when it gets dark. As Moore works his way down a cul de sac, a resident rushes her last plastic sheet of leaves out to the curb just in time to watch them disappear. A lot of the residents rake the leaves to the curb, but they can also use brown bags provided by the city to recycle the leaves and bag together.
Moore is driving one of two special leaf collection trucks, new last year. They have a separate engine and can be operated completely from inside the truck. Moore is one of a few people who currently can drive them. They are a lot faster and take fewer people with just a rake man and the driver who operates the hose with a joy stick inside. Moore drives on the passenger side of the large, white truck. He steers the oversized wheel with his left arm and works the joy stick up and down with his right hand to move the hose back and forth until he sees a clean curb. "Hear that? The hose is starting to work slower. We have a separate PLT unit system with a pack blade that pushes the leaves to the rear." He pushes a button and waits for the orange light to flash on. "That means we are ready to go again.”
At the beginning of the leaf season, he removes about 2-3 truckfuls a day and takes them to the recycling center to grind up for mulch. Moore is wearing a gray cap and keeps the windows closed to keep out the swirls of dust stirred up by the leaves grinding.
As the truck rumbles down the red maple- lined street, Moore points ahead. "There is Felix Bouknight. He has just been dropped off to meet me. Felix is a seasonal worker who will help me by raking leaves in tight places where the hose won't reach. We're a crew of two. On the other trucks you need a crew of three because someone has to manually work the hose from outside. It is heavy and takes a while to learn, a lot of skill."
He started this kind of work right out of high school, operating heavy equipment in Arlington, then owning a truck business and now three years in Alexandria. But he says, he really started as a youth where he got a lot of practice when his father used to have him back up big boats with trailers. The truck rumbles down the street, growing louder as the grinder gears up. The "one-armed bandit" is headed for another pile of leaves.