Council candidate pushes fake news around leaf vacuuming program

10/11 CORRECTION: The Council actually cancelled the leaf vacuuming program today.

10/10 CORRECTION: According to a source at the City of Lexington’s 311, 11th District Council candidate Rock Daniels was lying in his recent campaign video where he claimed the City’s leaf vacuuming program was cancelled for the year.

“We haven’t received a concrete schedule yet,” the source said, but they confirmed the program id “definitely” on for 2022. Look for the trucks to come around in November, when the program usually starts!

Daniels shot his fake video upside down, so perhaps it was opposite day? The intent of the video isn’t completely clear, but some have suggested he is becoming desperate in his campaign to unseat popular incumbent Jennifer Reynolds–in another recent campaign video, Daniels, who owns a construction company, nearly melted down over the idea that FCPS may not use 100% local contractors in their upcoming projects. He was also recently accused of racism and xenophobia by the Herald-Leader for leading a smear campaign against a Chinese-American immigrant. As the FOP endorsed Daniels’ electoral prospects, and future profits by extension, continue to fade, will he unleash more antics?

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Original Story: Many Lexington dads, including 11th District Council candidate Rock Daniels, are upset after learning Lexington’s previously once-a-year vacuum leaf collection program will be cancelled in 2022.  The vacuum pickup was previously offered to single-family homes that receive city waste collection service and was a supplement to the weekly yard cart and bag collection. Last year, the city reported staffing shortages within the program, and Daniels also told us they faced equipment issues that were not addressed.

The Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee saw a presentation on September 13 around the challenges and options the leaf removal program faced this year:

Daniels says that many elderly residents rely on the service and that alternatives could be too physically demanding and pricey. As someone who hates raking and bagging leaves myself, I completely agree!

So what did the Council do? Don’t worry, they’ve got it under control, they voted to spend an extra $10,000 with the Mackey Group for “public outreach.” That contract was previously for 50 Grand, but she’s gettin’ thick now–up to $60,000.

“Our phone is going to be ringing off the hook when people find out about this,” said at-large Council Member Richard Moloney, the only Council Member to vote against the move. Moloney said he doesn’t think the plan was very well thought out, “we should have started letting people know in January, not three weeks before they are expecting to have their leaves picked up!”

Check out what Daniels had to say about it:
[Rock claims he meant to shoot this upside down, because, he says, so is our local government. Plausible?]