Seattle, relative to most big cities, is clean. There wasn’t a lot of trash on the sidewalks when we lived downtown in Belltown beyond the occasional empty Corona bottle and discarded club flyers.

But Fall — and the intense rain that has come with it — has left our part of Capitol Hill’s sidewalks quite a mess. The thick coat of leaves that was mostly very beautiful before the rain has turned into a slush of pulpy, yellow-brown slime. It looks a bit like the bottom of a bowl of Raisin Bran.

As a homeowner with leave-flinging trees, I feel responsible. But I really hate the idea of raking public sidewalks. Or, really, I hate raking. So I’ll turn it over to you. Next year (I’m not raking that mess now.), how do we need to handle this? Rake? Or leave it to Mother Nature? It’s in your hands.

–j