I’m generally sympathetic to the Newton landscapers’ concerns about the impact of a leaf blower ban on their livelihood. But I really did not understand the signs they displayed at City Hall Monday evening. Can someone explain?
Opponents of #newtonma leafblower restrictions holding signs saying rules will cost them $, “immigrant lives matter” pic.twitter.com/ADeywKzVTG
— Jonathan Dame (@DameReports) November 22, 2016
There were a variety of signs, as I saw clicking through to the Twitter conversation. I’m guessing that the “Immigrant one” refers to the fear (whether founded or not, who knows) that loss of leaf blowers means loss of jobs that generally go to immigrants? I don’t really know of course.
Also, I’m trying my absolute hardest not to comment on the sign-maker’s use of Comic Sans font (oops, failed at that).
Attempt to get Newton liberals in a tither about immigrants supposedly losing their jobs. In other words a Red Herring.
This is only one person but if he is representative of the business: one of my husband’s good friends owns a landscaping business and every morning in the fall, he picks up a group of illegal/undocumented immigrants (not sure what the proper nomenclature is these days) and they work for him. I’m guessing this is a job that is good for people who have not become citizens yet, it is a way for immigrants to make money and support their families while going through the citizenship process.
@Rachel – undocumented immigrants aren’t going through the citizenship process. They can’t. One has to have entered the country legally and first gone through the process to get a green card.
There would be more — not less — work for these people, if it does, in fact, take longer to do the job without leaf blowers. And it would a lot healthier work for them, and healthier for the rest of us, too.
Thanks, MGWA. This isn’t really my area of expertise. So, what happened is my cleaner came over on a visitor visa and overstayed his visa. One day he was cleaning my house and the landscapers were here, and my cleaner went outside and was talking to the workers in Spanish. After the conversation, he told me they were all here illegally, which is what he was hoping for. He needed to work more and make more money, so he was looking for a job where it was OK to not have papers. He asked me if I could talk to the owner for him. I don’t know how the process works, but he did have an immigration attorney (I went with him a few times) and he had a brother who was a citizen, who could “petition” for him, a process that takes about 12-15 years. So, he was here illegally but was working to become a citizen. Anyway, my guess is there are a lot of illegal/undocumented immigrants doing this type of job.
Greg the majority of workers that landscaping crews have are not americans that were born here.Americans dont want to do this type of hard work. Therefore immigrants will be affected by the use or not of blowers.It is a hard job made more time consuming and difficult without the use of the proper equipment.That is why the Landscapers were holding up signs that talked about immigrants .And by the way all of the Landscapers there that night are children or grandchildren of you guessed it Immigrants. Remember this is a country started by immigrants.The only real true americans were the American Indians. Hopefully now you are clear about the signs
Then protect their lungs from the toxic fumes they are breathing.
the toxic fumes are nonsense.If indeed there were toxic fumes I with my asthma and alot of others would have been dead by now and as far as I know we have nt lost any one yet to illness or death by leaf blower.
Asthma is an illness.
Protecting undocumented workers from longer work hours (and presumably more pay) also seems suspect.
Adam I dont have a problem giving my workers more pay and more work and more hours on the job but there is a problem.I have yet to meet a client that says take all the time you need ,double the work force and here is a blank check when you are done just fill in the numbers.I have been associated with this business for over 50 years and I have come to a conclusion that our clients are not dumb and they watch every penny.They will change you for another Landscaper in a New York second to save five dollars.So we need to use all of the EPA approved tools at our disposal to get the job done as cheaply as possible to be competitive .
I just walked through a cloud of diesel fumes from a landscaping crew on Centre St. Most looked like immigrants, none had ear protection, though there were 3 leaf blowers simultaneously blaring.
Most interesting – a new looking leaf blower beside the truck that was not being used with ‘Cambridge Brookline’ written on it.
lucia my crew has hearing protection given to them to use some chose not to use it.I constantly wear mine to set a good example though and I warn them of the health consequences for not using them. if they were using three blowers we have done that too when the leaves are wet and thick and hard to move,like today after a rain storm.I also have blowers for Brookline on the trailer ,only I dont label them ,but my men know where they are to be used.
@JC – why do you have separate blowers for Brookline?
MGWA – Brookline and Cambridge both take enforcement of their noise ordinance (67 dBA & 65dBA) more seriously than we do in Newton. They are not very tolerant of the 77 plus dBA equipment commonly used by commercial landscapers.
@Alison – thanks. Too bad we don’t enforce it here. 🙁
@mgwa – that will change. I am not a fan of ordinances that don’t get enforced. The requirement to label the blowers 65dBA will make enforcement easier.
Decibels are hard to measure. The measuring equipment requires calibration. And enforcers dislike using that equipment. So as soon as you attach decibels to regulations it complicates the enforcement considerably. Thus, the issue that should have been the easiest to find a compromise solution to years ago, has now been turned into an endless debate, driven by personal agenda. A leaf blower ordinance should be focused on the transition from older gasoline blowers to newer electric blowers. At least for now, leave decibels out of the equation…
Start with a seasonal ban on gasoline powered leaf blowers. Give homeowners, landscapers, institutions and city workers the ability to use blowers, while incentivizing a move toward electric blowers. Then incrementally expand the ban on gasoline blowers, until they go extinct.