PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) free Leaf Day service is currently in full swing, sweeping 52 pre-determined leaf districts with the highest concentration of trees and leaves, amounting to about a third of the city.

“Even if you don’t live or work in a leaf district, you benefit from the service,” said PBOT spokesman Dylan Rivera. “Because odds are, at some point, you might travel through the area, and you need some clean streets, some streets that are safe to travel on, where slick leaves are not disrupting your travel and not causing street flooding that could affect you as you’re passing through the area.”

Leaf Day service for this year started on November 11. But towing starts Monday and ends December 8 in 10 of the districts located in:

  • Northwest Portland (Districts NW 2, NW 3, NW 4, NW 6, NW 7, NW 8 and NW 9)
  • Goose Hollow (Districts SW 1 and SW 2)
  • Sullivan’s Gulch (District NE 14)

These are neighborhoods that have specifically requested PBOT tow in order to provide a clean sweep and prevent street flooding during rainstorms.

PBOT says you are required to move your vehicle off the street if you are parked in any of these districts. Otherwise, you could receive an $85 citation and a $241 towing fee.

“We do not want to tow anyone, and we take a lot of effort to try to notify everyone about Leaf Day towing in those districts,” emphasized Rivera. “We’ve got advertisements on social media, we have email and text alerts that you can sign up for to give you a reminder, we send out tens of thousands of leaf day brochures to residents and businesses in those areas. We also have been putting little postcards with reminders on windshields of vehicles in those districts a few days in advance of Leaf Day. So everyone has a chance to avoid getting towed.”

In the past, the amount of leaves was determined to be too much to handle for regular street cleaning equipment. So PBOT’s aim here is to provide cleaner, safer streets, keep storm drains clear, and prevent flooding of intersections with this method.

Leaf Day service continues, covering a few neighborhoods each day through December 22, with a break for the Thanksgiving holiday November 23 and 24.

Click here to view an interactive map of the leaf districts.

For general Leaf Day information, you can call 311 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. You can also email leafday@portlandoregon.gov.