Leaf Blowers (ban) Issue Moves Forward — Barely

[The Straight Story]

Leaf Blowers Issue Moves Forward — Barely


A ban on leaf blowers in Newport Beach died briefly Tuesday night when a motion failed 4-3, but a few seconds later, Council voted to move forward with a proposal to ban only gas blowers.

The Council in November asked staff to create an ordinance that would ban both gas and electric blowers, except in commercial and city-owned areas. Those areas have grounds crews who can be directed to use modern, quiet blowers at set times, said Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Gardner, so noise issues can be monitored and controlled.

The ordinance on Tuesday was presented as a ban only on gas blowers, but Gardner moved to include electric versions, with exceptions for seniors who do their own yard work. The ordinance also would have had a six-month phase-in window, and it would have let formal homeowners associations groups opt out if they could show CC&Rs that proved they had the right to make such decisions.

A handful of members of the public testified at the meeting, including Corona del Mar Residents Association President Karen Tringali, who reminded Council of the anti-blower stance of that group.

http://www.coronadelmartoday.com/18797/home/leaf-blowers-issue-moves-forward-barely/

[stubtoe]

1. Good, I hate those things. What the heck is wrong with a broom?

Or a rake? They use only elbow grease and emit no noxious fumes.

[here_is_to_hope]

3. For commercial landscapers, a broom

is not an option.
How often are you disturbed by these blowers?


I use mine about twice a month in Winter, for maybe 20 minutes a pop. Summer is twice again.
Yeah, I can see where daily use might bug some one but who is around one daily?
Oh, the person running it.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. I do this for a living, and to tell you the truth

although blowers are necessary for us to help keep the man hours of a job down, we do use them to much. Customers want their leaves taken away so we provide the service they want.

If we could sell people on simply mulching the leaves down so that the particles are to small to be seen we would not need to use the blowers (much) and it would be much better for their lawns. They would then need less fertilizer applied to provide the nutrients already available in the leaves which we remove. This would save them some money too.

It doesn't make any sense, but it is what it is.

[KittyWampus]

11. AH, you said the same thing. Mulching leaves down into turf is best option.

With perhaps the exception with one week where a huge amount of leaves fall at once.

[here_is_to_hope]

18. I never bag anything

and always mulch. I even mow my friends yard just for his clippings!

[KittyWampus]

9. I landscaped for a living, always used a broom for dirt, rake for leaves. A mower also gets leaves

by mulching them into the ground.

[Aerows]

29. When I was a kid...

...I was sent outside with a rake when the leaves got bad.

[KittyWampus]

2. The lawn maintenance guys here will literally blow one freaking leaf around and some dirt.

It is insane.

[devils chaplain]

23. Same here.

Around apartment complexes they make their rounds with the leaf-blowers according to a weekly schedule, not because of an overaccumulation of leaves.

[AsahinaKimi]

4. Banned in Santa Barbara

I know, cause at the time, everyone I knew, who lived there hated the things. The main concern was that they blew around bird droppings, and other small animal feces. They kicked up dust and pollen, and the worst part, was at 6am the gardeners would come out, turn them on, and wake everyone up.

[snappyturtle]

5. What do they mow with? This topic seems almost ridiculous to me

this morning in light of all that's happening on the planet. imho

[Snoutport]

6. gas mowers and blowers are huge pulluters

you gotta multi-task...just because we have war and atomic emergencies...still gotta keep everything else going. Or else, everytime we start to make changes they'd start a war to distract us. Oh.... they kinda do that already.

[snappyturtle]

14. Yep...but...I thought the problem was noise; that's why I asked about

mowing. Mowers are noisy too.

I got a chuckle out of your reply...thanks Snoutport! It's the ol' Canadian Bacon thingie!

[Saturday]

12. It's not ridiculous when all of your neighbors....

have lanscapers coming at all different times of the day and you get to hear the roar of the blowers. People are just trying to control the little area of the world they might have some control over. Noise is pollution too.

[Le Taz Hot]

35. To those with breathing problems

it makes a great deal of difference. As an asthmatic I can tell you the fumes and debris that they kick up sends me reaching for my inhaler.

[MineralMan]

8. Now, all they need in Minnesota is a ban on snowblowers, and

my heavily snowy day in March will be complete. After all, we can use shovels, right? Except for old 65-year-old farts like me with long driveways.

I don't expect that to happen here, though. This is more a thing for fat cats in lovely homes who don't like the sound of gasoline engines spoiling their meditation. In Minnesota, a guy's gotta get rid of the snow.

[KittyWampus]

20. Do you rev up your snowblower for a light dusting? The way lawn crews are instructed

to blow dirt and a couple of leaves off someone's lawn?

[MineralMan]

24. Of course not. I don't even disturb light dustings. They go away

on their own. I don't know what others do with leaves. I do nothing but run over them with my lawnmower and mulch them. Those I miss rot over the winter. I do not rake leaves...ever. They're completely biodegradable and harmless. Snow, on the other hand, prevents me from driving safely, so I remove any accumulation over 1 inch.

I don't really care if people blow leaves. The sound doesn't really bother me and the amount of pollution emitted is tiny. Let them blow as much as they want. If it bothers your ears, listen to your iPad with ear buds until it's over. With all the serious issues we face today, this seems completely ridiculous.

[Peregrine]

10. Residential lawn care

All gas powered residential garden and lawn care equipment should be banned, switch to electric or CNG. With commercial to follow in a few years, switch to CNG for commercial equipment. States should override HOAs and push for xeriscaping to replace lawns.

[here_is_to_hope]

17. I hope you forgot a tag or two.

Because what you propose makes zero sense.
What's an HOA?

But I agree on the native/xeriscaping option, my front yard is all native and requires no work at all to look its best.



Nanny state run amok.

[tammywammy]

21. HOA - Home Owners Association n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

22. "What's an HOA?"

A neo-fascist group (that some people willingly join) that can do things like fine you because you have the wrong color drapes. You think a man's (or woman's) house is their castle? Not when you belong to a home owners association.

[Botany]

13. As a landscaper this is a terrible idea

I wonder how many people have ever swept a long driveway @ the end of a 8 hour day?

have these people stick their hands into a barberry and pull leaves from it.

[MineralMan]

25. Many of the people who complain about this stuff haven't done

a lick of physical work in years. Some who complain the loudest live in apartments or condos and never lift a finger to do yard maintenance. But....the noise....the pollution! Oh, my! The horror!

[Botany]

30. Sure I would like them to be greener and more quite but the ....

... hand held units I have had from LESCO now John Deere kick ass They do a better job then
any broom or rake in some situations .... all that fine dust and dirt .... gone.



People have no clue about what it is like to do real labor and not having to stoop over to pull
litter, leaves, and junk from under bushes .... that stuff sucks,

[MineralMan]

31. Well, as a homeowner, I just use a wired Black & Decker blower.

It works just fine, and a 100' extension cord reaches my entire property from an outdoor outlet. I use it a couple of times a year. It also converts into a mulching vacuum. That part works poorly, so I threw away the bag and pickup. Cheap and effective tool. I like tools.

[TahitiNut]

15. Hell... they don't even have any leaves to speak of.

Try coming to the North Central region, where deciduous trees crap on us all year long ... seeds, seed pods, leaves ... sheesh!!

I think that I shall never see a poem lovelier than a tree ... (if someone else does all the work).

[NV Whino]

16. I manage several high end houses

I finally have a gardener who doesn't use a blower unless he needs to get leaves out of ivy or something. He rakes or sweeps them up and, because two of the houses are in a city environment, he puts them in the yard recycling bin. In the more rural sites, he puts them in an area where they will decompose.

[WatsonT]

19. Maybe they could just require environmentally friendly, low impact

wind-powered blowers.

[99th_Monkey]

26. Leaf blowers are a living nightmare for people with allergies, & they ought to be illegal

I am often simply dumbfounded by the idiocy of these blowers and the people that use them. All it takes is one of them to utterly ruin an otherwise perfectly good walk, to the point where I'm hacking my guts out, tearing up, etc. NO ONE should be able to impose that on someone randomly in public as they currently do. It's one of the most outrageous infringements on my personal space and sense of well being I can imagine; I'd almost rather be water-boarded. BAN THE MOTHER-FUCKING BLOWERS!!!!

[WatsonT]

32. So is "nature"

[MilesColtrane]

27. I'm down with that.

Heck, most of the crews I saw my neighbors using in my old neighborhood just blew the leaves into the street.

[snooper2]

28. Ad for a Stihl Blower cracks me up

:rofl:

Wish I had one, all I got is my poulon :(

[MineralMan]

33. Just out of curiosity, I wonder if you could get more air out of

one of those with a little expansion chamber exhaust, like the ones you can buy for those little Chinese mini-bikes. There are a bunch of those at garage sales with aftermarket expansion chambers, cheap, since the engine on the mini-bike died two weeks afterwards.

It would make the little blower a lot louder, though. That might be a drawback. :rofl:

[snooper2]

34. not sure, I did modify the exhaust on it already though..

My buddy and I made up a little straight pipe for it..

no increase in power that we can tell, but it sounds badass... :)