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Get YOUR Lawn Ready for Hurricane Season! Vegetation Amnesty Days 2025 · Inside West Palm Beach

10:42:20
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
10:42:22
Jerry Marcello. Hurricane season is here.
10:42:26
What do you need to do to get your home
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and lawn ready? We'll talk about that
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next on the City Center
10:42:31
Podcast from West Palm Beach.
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And joining us today is Leon Pinder, who
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is Director of Public Works here for the
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City of West Palm Beach.
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Leon, thanks for joining us.
10:42:47
Thank you for having me. One of the
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things that everyone says is that the
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proper way to get ready for a hurricane,
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the key thing for getting ready for
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hurricane season is preparation.
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And you guys are working very hard to
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prepare for hurricane season, isn't that
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right? Yes. Right now our whole
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department is working extremely hard. We
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have vegetation
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amnesty days started today.
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Let's go into that. What exactly is that?
10:43:11
Hurricane vegetation amnesty days is
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where we give homeowners and residents
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the opportunity to cut back vegetation at
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their residence, unlimited amount, as
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long as vegetation only, put out in front
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of their residence, and then the city
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will pick it up at no additional charge.
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Okay, so the idea is to basically trim
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down the vegetation that's around your
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house. Why is that
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important during hurricane season?
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So the reason it's so important is so
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that it gives us the ability, it gives
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the residents the ability to try and be
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proactive before hurricane season come
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and cut down and cut back as much
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vegetation as they can so that if we have
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a hurricane, then
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perhaps we won't have as much.
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And if we do have some, it still would be
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less than we would have had. And also,
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hopefully, to prevent tearing down power
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lines and stuff like that.
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Right, so the idea is to get rid of stuff
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that can get airborne, that can knock
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into power lines, take out windows, do
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that kind of surge of damage, limit it
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now, take it out now
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before we get towards a storm.
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I would assume the case is that if we've
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got a storm coming,
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that's not the time to do this.
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No, you know, once a hurricane or a storm
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is named out there, then you have to
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cease and desist from cutting out any
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debris and putting out to the curb
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because we may not be able to get to it
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in a timely manner and then it becomes
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like missiles or projectiles going to
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someone's residence
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and doing some damage.
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Now, just to make a point of caution
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here, if you have a beautiful tree, you
10:44:44
don't want to necessarily cut everything
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off the tree, right? You just want to
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trim just the heavy stuff.
10:44:49
Correct. You just want to prune the tree
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back. You don't want to hack-rack the
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tree or whatever like that because you
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could then damage the tree and could
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cause it to die. So you just
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want to trim the tree back.
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If you have a program where you're
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trimming the trees back year-round or a
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yearly basis, that's what we're just
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asking you to do right now.
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Okay, so the idea is as I'm cleaning up,
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I'm going to create a single pile. Okay,
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so get a pile together. I'm going to bag.
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Am I bagging all the grass clippings? How
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exactly do I prepare this
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for you guys to take it away?
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So as much as the grass clippings as you
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can, you want to bag those up to make it
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easier so it's not going down the storm
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drain. Any leaves and large trees, then
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you cannot bag, then you
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just put them out to the curb.
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One of the things I tell people is that,
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hey, if you have bags, put the bags on
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the bottom and put the larger branches on
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top so that if there's a rainy event or
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whatever, you're not washing down all the
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leaves down the storm drains.
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And that's the whole point. One of the
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things you're trying to do is to keep
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those storm drains clear of a lot of
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extra material that would normally wash
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into it during a storm.
10:45:55
Yes, correct.
10:45:56
Exactly. Okay, so when I do trim my big
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trees, I'm cutting down some of these
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trees. Do I just leave the big 10 foot
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long tree branches out
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there for you or what?
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No, you want to cut it into four by four
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sizes and no more than two inches in
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diameter so that it's manageable for us
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to pick up. If you leave it in 10 foot
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long sections, yes, we
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could probably pick it up.
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But then while we're picking it up, we
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could cause some damage or it may fall
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out of the bucket or something like that.
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So we actually put it in manageable
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sizes. So when the grapple truck comes to
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pick it up, we're able to pick it up
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really quickly
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without causing any damage.
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All right. So the entire idea behind
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Vegetation Amnesty Days, which runs from
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the 28th of April through May 9th this
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year, is a time for people to sort of
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prep their lawn, start
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preparing for the hurricane season.
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What is the city doing to
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prepare for hurricane season?
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Well, you know, we're getting ready to do
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our annual hurricane event drill on May
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15th, where it's multiple city
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departments working together.
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And we have different scenarios each year
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just to make sure that we're
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prepared for hurricane season.
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This year we plan to go all out to make
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sure that our teams are ready, our
10:47:15
equipment is ready, so that we should
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have an event that we're ready to take it
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on head on and get the city cleaned up as
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quickly as possible.
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Now, I've been to a couple of these.
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They're pretty amazing. If I recall, I
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would assume this year would be the same.
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That's some areas up near Northwood where
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you do the event. Is
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that happening this year?
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Yes, same location this year.
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The amount of realism is amazing to the
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point that we have wrecked cars, we have
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materials strewn all over the roads,
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really mimicking what would it look like
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if there is a full-on
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major storm in the area.
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And that actually includes
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play acting. Is that the case?
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So, you know, each year we, like I said,
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we do different things. So this year
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we're looking to have a like a re-enact
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of sewer spill where we're going to use
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the utility vac truck where we're going
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to act as power lines are down.
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There's going to be some cars that could
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have gotten thrown out. We're going to
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have some actors. We're going to have as
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if there are people trapped in cars.
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So there is going to be a real event that
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really looks real and we're going to have
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fire coming and do a extrication of
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individuals that could be trapped in
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cars. So we're looking
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forward to this year.
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So really, this is an opportunity for
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your staff to really take on like they've
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been, they've done this before, even
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though they may not have.
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They will be able to sort of live through
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all the stress, all the damage, all the
10:48:45
worried residents that they would
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normally see during hurricane. They'll be
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able to experience a little
10:48:51
taste of that during this event.
10:48:53
Yes. And, you know, you can never be too
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prepared, right? So we have new people
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that are on the team. So some people,
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it'll be their first time. Right after
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this event take place, we give them real
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time feedback and things that we could do
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better, things we can improve on, things we can do better.
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And prove on things that they seen that
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they didn't think that was going to
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happen and how they
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reacted to them as well.
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Public Works is one of those departments
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where, if I may speak so obviously here,
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that when you guys do your
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job, guys are almost invisible.
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When you guys are working hard and doing
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the job that the city needs you to do,
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you're not a high profile. You don't have
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flashing lights on your equipment. You're
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not like police or fire.
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But what you do during a hurricane is as
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important to keep the city running to get
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those streets clear to make it so that
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first responders can get to where they're
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going. You're right out there along with
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them during a hurricane response.
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Yes, you know, what I always tell people
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is that, you know, we're all one family
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at the City of West Palm Beach. And the
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biggest thing of it is, is that fire
10:50:00
can't do their job if we don't do our
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job. Police can't do their
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job if we don't do our job.
10:50:05
So we have to work hand to hand to be
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able to clear the streets, open the roads
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back up, make it safe so fire rescue, the
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police can get in the streets to be able
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to do their job, to answer calls, to
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assist the residents, our customers of
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the City of West Palm Beach.
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So it's very important that we work
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together. It's important that we work
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with our parks department, our utilities
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department. At that point, we're all one
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big family and we're working
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together for the same effort.
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And you guys don't go home and lock up
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during a hurricane. You're
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on call. You're on the job.
10:50:38
Yes. So, you know, during hurricane
10:50:40
season, a lot of our teams, we have
10:50:42
different cut teams. And so some of those
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individuals will ride the storm out here
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at a city facility or
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other locations during that.
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So we're not home hunkered down with our
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families. Many of us are before the
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hurricane, during the hurricane and after
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the hurricane are still here at a city
10:50:59
facility somewhere, just working from sun
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up to sun down to get the job done and
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get the city back in operation.
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So it's really clear that you guys are
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completely focused on the seriousness of
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any tropical storm in the area. So what
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message would you have for residents to
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make sure that they're
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ready and prepared for a storm?
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Well, you know, right now, I would just
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tell people, hey, make sure you have a
10:51:21
hurricane plan first, right? Make sure
10:51:24
your hurricane plan is updated. Make sure
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your family know what
10:51:26
your hurricane plan is.
10:51:28
And then make sure when it's time, if you
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need to execute that plan, you execute it
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as intended. You know, sometimes you may
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plan things, something happened and they
10:51:37
don't always work out
10:51:39
the way you envision them.
10:51:42
But have a backup plan, you know, because
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it's like many of the hurricanes and
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fires that took place. People didn't
10:51:48
realize that they were going to lose
10:51:49
everything. And they had moments notice
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to leave and pack up.
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So, you know, make sure you have your
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things in a safe location. Make sure
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maybe you have a safe or something that
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if it gets burned, if it's start a fire
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or if it's water, that your most
10:52:06
important valuables are protected.
10:52:08
Very good. And beyond that, too, beyond
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just taking care of your of your lawn and
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making sure that it's properly groomed
10:52:15
for hurricane season, you want to make
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sure that if you have any loose items,
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right, like patio furniture and stuff,
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put that someplace where it's not going
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to be affected by those high winds.
10:52:25
Yes, I would say like if you have patio
10:52:27
furniture, you know, the moment that you
10:52:29
think that something is coming, go ahead
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and try and put that in your garage if
10:52:32
you can, stored if you need to put chains
10:52:35
around or whatever you
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can, just to make sure that
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they don't become projectiles.
10:52:40
Leanne, one of the questions that comes
10:52:41
up often as we're approaching the storm
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is how long can I be still putting my
10:52:47
trash out? How long is the service going
10:52:49
to continue as a storm is approaching?
10:52:52
That's really per storm, right?
10:52:54
Right. And, you know, we try and do I
10:52:56
think we do a very good job of
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communicating to customers and residents
10:52:59
in terms of the communication in terms of how long we're going to be out there on the roads.
10:53:04
And you can still put out your regular
10:53:06
garbage or your regular trash. And, you
10:53:08
know, once the winds get to 35 miles
10:53:10
above, we're ceased and desist all
10:53:12
services at that point.
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So but we're well aware of like where
10:53:16
it's at and and to try and make sure that
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we prepare everyone for like, hey, if we
10:53:22
think that's going to hit tomorrow, we're
10:53:24
going to tell you, hey, today will be our
10:53:25
last day picking up until further notice.
10:53:27
Right. And so where can residents find
10:53:30
both preparation information, just
10:53:34
information about amnesty days and about
10:53:36
hurricane preparation?
10:53:37
Where can they go to find it?
10:53:38
They can go to WPB.org
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forward slash hurricane.
10:53:43
Yeah, that's right. OK, so go to
10:53:45
hurricane front slash hurricane WPB dot
10:53:47
org front slash hurricane and you'll be
10:53:50
able to see basically a guide of
10:53:52
information to help you prep.
10:53:53
We'll also be a place where I would
10:53:55
assume that once you guys say, OK, thumbs
10:53:57
up, the winds have receded.
10:53:59
We are going to start returning to
10:54:00
regular service. That information will be
10:54:02
there as well. Yes, it will be.
10:54:04
OK, fantastic. Anything that we need to
10:54:06
cover here as far as hurricane prep, any
10:54:08
message that you have for residents that
10:54:10
you need to think of?
10:54:11
No, just tell people, you know, don't
10:54:12
wait until June 1st to get prepared.
10:54:14
Start right now. If you need water, you
10:54:17
know, I always tell people don't go and
10:54:19
try and buy 10 cases
10:54:21
of water on June 1st.
10:54:22
Go and buy a couple of cases a week right
10:54:24
now. Store it away if you need to buy
10:54:26
food. Buy a little bit now. I understand
10:54:28
with the cost of groceries right now, all
10:54:31
those things are expensive and can be
10:54:33
extremely a stressful time.
10:54:34
So if you can do a little bit every
10:54:36
single week to prepare for hurricane
10:54:38
season now, you'll be in much better
10:54:40
shape come June 1st.
10:54:41
Very good. Leon, thank you so much for
10:54:43
taking the time to be with us and thanks
10:54:45
to all the folks over at Public Works for
10:54:47
everything they do for the city.
10:54:48
Thank you for having me. And thank you
10:54:51
for joining us. The City Center podcast
10:54:53
is a production of the City of West Palm
10:54:55
Beach Communications Department.
10:54:57
I'm Jerry Marcello.
10:54:58
We'll see you next time.