Yesterday I observed a man with a leaf blower in front of the South Park restaurant, pushing the leaves from the sidewalk into the street. The situation reminded me of the Roman cloaca maxima, or common sewer, into which the Romans could throw whatever (and sometimes whomever) they wished. Originally an open drain, it was eventually covered over and extended with branches to other parts of Rome.
The leaf-blowing man (or, more likely, his employer) viewed Salmon Street as a common sewer - the problem of the leaves on the sidewalk will go away if he pushes them, both physically and metaphorically, onto the government. It occurred to me that the city, instead of looking for ineffective ways to charge homeowners to remove leaves from street trees, could simply engage a vehicle with a powerful fan to drive along our fair streets and blow the leaves back.