First published in the Oct. 6 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
Both Mayor Eich and Jason Ware (Letter to the Editor, last week) are making some erroneous assumptions and errors regarding the proposal to ban gas leaf blowers:
- Electric leaf blowers are nearly as noisy as gas — Gas leaf blowers make about 80-90 decibels of noise; electric blowers make a lot less — electric leaf blowers are typically about 70 decibels, which is logarithmically two to four times less noisy than the gas models. You don’t even need ear protection while operating an electric blower. At 85 decibels over some time, you can have permanent hearing loss.
- It will be confusing since the State of California will soon ban gas blowers — While it may be a little confusing, California is only banning the sale of new gas blowers. Our proposed ordinance would ban their use, in order to immediately reduce nuisance noise and air pollution within the city. Already more than 20 cities in California have banned the use of this heavily polluting equipment, including Los Angeles, and such comparable cities to LCF as Mill Valley and South Pasadena.
- Enforcement will turn neighbor against neighbor — Actually many existing local ordinances depend upon reporting by neighbors for enforcement, such as overzealous tree trimming and noisy parties. This is nothing new. The ordinance will need public education and perhaps a subsidy program to help defray costs, but those aren’t good reasons not to move ahead to improve local health and quality of life. A jaw-dropping statistic: according to the California Air Resources Board, using a commercial gas leaf blower for one hour creates as much air pollution as driving a new passenger car 1,100 miles.
- Gardeners will simply drop their customers in our city, instead of switching out equipment — Here’s my experience: We bought an electric leaf blower and asked our gardener to use it instead of his gas model. Within a few months he had purchased his own. Why? Because enough cities in the surrounding area had banned gas-powered blowers that he had to switch — it was good business.
Finally, banning gas leaf blowers is the right thing to do for the health of these workers we employ who keep our yards tidy.
Judith Trumbo
La Cañada Flintridge
I believe gas-powered blowers should eventually be banned in our city. Not only do they create noise, but they create pollution. Perhaps technology is not in place now to replace them all with batteries or solar power, but I believe we have the brain power to figure it out.
It’s dangerous to settle for the status quo — what we have always done. Our world is changing — we’re drying up — our forests are burning, our water sources are depleting, and it’s not just the natural cycle of things. Scientists are blaming our reliance on fossil fuels for this problem.
We are paying a terrible price to our planet. We need to look to future solutions, and not spend our time resisting change. We have to change. The animals, insects and plants that are part of our home are in danger. We have to let go of the old way of doing things and start using cleaner energy, and that includes the tools our gardeners use. Why not start by providing your gardener with battery-powered tools? I’m sure you can figure out the logistics. The trees, animals and birds will thank you!
Also, if you work with “big oil,” why can’t your corporation lead the way for alternative energies? I know it’s not that simplistic but it is necessary for our planet’s survival! Change is hard, but we have to face what’s going on with our environment and do something about it.
I hope someday La Cañada Flintridge will become not only a Tree City, but a Green City!
Joy Chung
La Cañada Flintridge
