This letter, written by Newton resident Al Leisinger, was presented to the City Council at the recent meeting of the Council’s Committee on Program and Services. It expresses widespread sentiment that the city ordinance governing the use of leafblowers has in practice fallen far short of expectations for the following reasons: the police department has enforced it inadequately and responded haphazardly to citizens’ complaints; many landscapers have ignored the ordinance altogether; and even when enforced, the ordinance does little to lessen the health risks inherent to leafblowers, both gas and battery-powered.
11/18/2020
To: the Newton City Council
Subject: Leafblowers
I write to you today to strongly support action in support of Councillor Lisle Baker’s proposals on leafblowers. For me, there are three main issues: (1) compliance with the current leafblower ordinance, (2) dangers of leafblowers, and (3) strengthening this ordinance.
(1) Compliance: In my walks with a mask around Newton this Spring, Summer, and Fall, I have been impressed with the amount of out-of-compliance use of leafblowers. Use of too-powerful gas blowers; use of multiple leafblowers at the same time on the same residential property; blowers used to blow garden debris into streets; failure to stop blowing when someone walks by on the sidewalk; and, occasionally, failure of the Newton Police to respond effectively to calls about these matters.
I have abandoned calling the police, because of the failure of the police to effectively respond.
(2) Dangers of leafblowers: I’m not citing too many technical articles here, just listing the dangers.
2.1: Leafblower noise interrupting people working from home. (note: today I just spent 2 hours trying to work at my home with extremely loud multiple leafblowers running across the street.) Some people are medically affected strongly by leafblower noise.
2.2: Gas leafblower gas combustion emissions.
Scientific studies show that running one gas leafblower emits much more combustion emissions than running a gas automobile. I note that (e.g.) UK has just passed a law banning gas- and diesel–powered autos after 2030 (see BBC, 11/18/2020, “’New cars and vans powered wholly by petrol and diesel will not be sold in the UK from 2030,’ Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.”) out of environmental concerns. But despite this, gas leafblowers are used widely in the USA, creating a large amount of global-warming gasses. These gasses can also be toxic to persons who breathe them.
2.3: (THE WORST DANGER) Small-particulate matter, disease, early death, and COVID-19:
The small particles known as “PM2.5” are an invisible and very nasty form of pollutant. Particles of under PM2.5 remain in the air for up to several hours after discharge. They are breathable, and pass the lung-blood barrier going directly into the blood of the circulatory system. PM2.5 particles are those with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm in ambient air.
It has been estimated that PM2.5 pollution in China leads at least 1 million people per year to die early. Studies on other countries give similar statistics. Fine particulates in air are associated with increased risks of lung cancer, COPD, ischemic heart disease, allergic reactions. Further, higher atmospheric PM2.5 can create lung inflammation, and is strongly associated with increased risk of susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 patient symptoms.
(a) https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-5844-4#Sec11
- b) www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanplh/PIIS2542-5196(18)30277-8.pdf
- c) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7345938/
- d) Pope, C.A., Thun, M.J. Namboodiri, M.M., Dockery, D.W., Evans, J.S., Speizer, F.E., and Heath, C.W. (1995) Particulate air pollution as a predictor of mortality in a prospective study of U.S. adults, Am J. Respir. Crit. Care Med, 151: 669-674.)
2.4: Even electric leafblowers create PM2.5: Though electric leafblowers do not emit combustion products, they do kick up PM2.5 debris. So they are a bit safer, but not safe.
2.5: Composition of PM2.5 particles thrown up by leafblowers: Although not everything is known about the composition of leafblower emitted PM2.5, here are some known constituents of the particle: fecal material, fertilizers, fungal spores, pesticides, herbicides, pollen, and other biological substances including pollens and pollen fragments, animal dander, and molds. Other possible constituents are small amounts of toxic metals arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury, found in road dust.
(chasesantacruz.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CARB-Health-and-Environmental-Impacts-of-Leaf-Blowers.pdf , page 25)
2.6: Risk to the health of lawncare workers: Lawncare workers themselves are the people most likely exposed to gas and particulate Leafblower detritus. And although owners of leafblower-using lawncare companies have sometimes testified in favor of using leafblowers, significantly the actual workers using the leafblowers are exposed to the dangers. Many of these worker employees are people of color, immigrants, and also face increased risk of getting COVID-19, so that their exposure to particulate and gas leafblower releases complicates their healthcare situation.
I think we should be extremely sensitive to their health risks.
- Strengthening the leafblower ordinance: I believe that, in view of the health risks mentioned in section (2) above, we should move for a total ban on the use of leafblowers. But even if we can’t enact a total ban, the current ordinance is weak because it doesn’t stop the release of particulates by electric blowers, and it allows too much use of leafblowers.
Sincerely,
Al Leisinger
1002 Beacon Street
Newton Centre, MA
Another argument in favor of a ban in Newton. Won’t anyone think of the children? Next, let’s ban lawn mowers since the arguments above apply equally to lawn mowers. Then we can ban grass within the city too.
As a general matter, ordinances that are not enforced undermine the public’s confidence in city government. The current one is problematic in many ways.
IMHO, there is no way to stop the release of particulates by blowers. Heck, they blow the leaves into the air, breaking them apart in the process. I doubt, though, that the dispersion of small particles goes very far or causes much of a general health hazard, except for those doing the work. Beyond advising that users of the machines wear masks, there is unlikely to be an enforceable approach to that problem.
I think the big issue is noise, and there is no way that most leaf blowers around town comply with the current standards. Nor is there a way for a citizen to document that fact when they hear loud machines in their neighborhood. Very few of us have recording decibel meters at hand that could time-stamp and document a violation, even law enforcement personnel were allowed to rely on those measurements. If the landscapers have already left by the time enforcement people show up, there is no proof of a violation.
It is interesting that we banned plastic bags because of their relationship to the environment (“to protect the marine environment, advance solid waste reduction and protect waterways”), but we allow the much more immediate impact of painful noise levels to characterize our neighborhoods.
If we banned the machines, the same workers would still have employment–using rakes. Maybe they’d even have more hours of work. So what actually is the argument against banning them? That we want to be able to see the green grass under the leaves a bit more quickly?
@George, From your comment, it appears, to me anyway, that you are likely a landscaper who is worried you won’t be able to support your children, if you can’t use your gas leaf blowers and eventually maybe not even your big gas lawnmowers, especially if your customers decide to convert their lawns into flower beds, or plant ground cover or other less-polluting and healthier alternatives to grass. But, think of it like this: if they do decide to replace their grass with much less polluting, more healthy, environmentally-sound, beautiful gardens, won’t they be happy to pay you to design, plant and maintain them, and won’t that even be much healthier and more satisfying for you, and for your employees, too?
The egregious use of leaf blowers in Newton fills me with disgust. Our next door neighbors have NO yard and one tree growing out of their driveway. The landlord has a landscaping crew come over weekly where they have two men with leaf blowers blowing leaves around for an hour. It’s useless, it’s disruptive, and for a city that prides itself on progressiveness, it’s environmentally unfriendly. I’ve never called the cops, but I’ve spoken to the landscapers but they don’t care because there are no repercussions. When we are working from home and doing virtual learning it is loud to the point where we cannot have functional Zoom calls.
What’s wrong with using a rake in this City? Why do so few people do it? We do our own raking and live to tell the tale.
We have always done our own raking, too, and use the leaves for mulch. Raking is good exercise. We enjoy it. And I really don’t understand why Newton doesn’t enforce its leaf blower law. Actually, I really don’t understand at all why “The Garden City” actually permits, and itself even uses our tax money to pay for, such an outrageous attack on our health and the environment for no purpose whatsoever!
technically, can the city create an app for the iphone (the hardware is standardized) to measure the sound + video clip.
If app determines violation then it issues a fine and allows the homeowner to contest the video proof
Otherwise, there is no way I’m wasting police resources….
We pay our landscapers to rake. It costs a lot more because it takes them longer, and Einstein showed that time equals money. Offer to pay the landscapers to rake. But don’t be surprised how much more it costs.
Btw, I saw landscapers blowing dust and leaves off the parking lot in Newton center. Presumably these are people contracted by the city. Blowing leaves off the parking lot? Crazy.
Of course the abundance of landscapers in Newton is a reflection of the affluence of the community- most people rake their own leaves.
Sound dB-level meter apps are available for free for the iPhone, etc. to measure the noise level. A screen-shot of the reading, with a video of the offense, including the landscape company name and license plate of the truck, a photo of the nearest cross-street sign and/or house number, or a screen shot of the Maps app location should document the offense, date, time and location.
This post is the epitome of NIMBY.
I’ve attended two Zoom meetings of the Newton Police Reform Task force where residents can share their experiences with NPD. Most vocal, were curmudgeonly people complaining about lack of police inaction of leaf blower complaints.
When did telling people what do and how to live their lives become the official pastime of Newton?
@Al Leisinger-
Newton residents have been saying loudly and clearly for months that they want the NPD to be defunded and reimagined.
I’d give up waiting for the NPD to effectively respond to leaf blower noise calls.
Matt, sorry but I don’t get your point. NIMBY is not the correct characterization if someone is engaged in an activity that actually harms the environment of others (as opposed to a frivolous complaint.). Perhaps you are saying that the level of harm in this instance doesn’t warrant any municipal regulation. In that case, we would be wise to remove the current ordinance altogether. If, however, the noise pollution is of sufficient harm, let’s have an ordinance that is more effective than the current one.
Rick, affluence that creates jobs for others is no crime, right?
@Paul, my reference to NIMBY is in the most literal sense of the term – not in my backyard – or specifically the intolerance of one, for the goings on in their immediate surroundings.
I get it, leaf blowers can be loud and annoying. But let’s not pretended, it’s a 24/7 occurrence, causing irreparable emotional and psychological damage.
Am surprised to see such a trivial matter pop up here and on NextDoor.com when we are deep in a Global pandemic when people are getting sick; losing loved ones and their livelihood. Landscapers use this tool to feed their families (not literally of course).
As for the environmental, it is said that more damage to the environment is caused by producing electric vehicles and what the vehicle recoups in its lifetime. And how many of these leaf blower complainers have themselves converted to solar in their homes? Not many according to the eye test. Calling the leaf blower the Armageddon of the environment is a bit of a stretch.
What we have is a community that professes the need for housing, diversity and density, then wants to control the manner in which people live. So if not NIMBY, then perhaps LIMBYAIWYT (live in in my backyard as I want you to). 🙂
Lastly we moved to Newton around 2010. Not sure when the ordinance passed, and why I had my head up my arse, but would have put up a campaign against it on sheer principle alone. Yes, the drone of a leaf blower can be a drag, but we live 10 miles from Boston. Tolerance is a requirement of density. Want total peace and quite? New Hampshire and Vermont is a short drive away. Or for some, perhaps they prefer to bike there.
What Matt said, mostly.
Until one can show that emissions and particulate matter specifically **from leaf blowers** are proximal causes of death or illness, that line of reasoning is completely specious.
As for noise, get over yourselves. For those who want the quiet life, I find the Berkshires quite nice.
I suppose for those who seek to have their neighbors control the minutiae of their existence, Newton is far preferable.
Matt,
I find your arguments persuasive and I enjoy the spirit in which they were made. But leaf blowers are so unbelievably stupid, their harms supersede the infringement on liberty.
As soon as we get the kids back in school, let’s get back to banning blowers 🙂
I don’t understand why name-calling has to be a part of the debate on leafblowers. Rather than satirizing the kind of person who opposes their use or impugning their motives, why not defend the use of leafblowers? Is there evidence out there that refutes the rather serious findings of the studies cited by Mr. Leisinger? Do you believe that, on balance, the convenience offered by leafblowers more than compensates for the risks attendant upon their use? Or do you think that complaints about the levels of noise or fears of the health risks for landscapers are unfounded or overblown? Then say so without ad hominem attacks on fellow residents.
I’m so glad to read this. In the past, most people on this blog have seemed dismissive of attempts to regulate leaf-blowers. I always wondered if it was because many Newton residents commuted out of the city during the work day and were not around to experience the din.
Leaf blowers are not comparable to lawn mowers. The noise (of the high-decibel gas blowers) is measurably far louder and higher-pitched. When several are used together, as is routine three times a week on our street, the noise is absolutely deafening. It’s impossible to take a phone call outdoors, converse with a walking partner, etc.
Moreover, while lawn mowers simply . . . mow the lawn, leaf blowers are expressly designed to blow particulates off one property and onto another. I was working in my own backyard recently when two landscapers with leaf blowers suddenly appeared and began blasting their blowers not two yards from me, directly on the other side of the fence. It’s incredible to me that this is permissible ever, but especially during a pandemic!
Of course it is silly for police to have to enforce this ordinance, but until/unless we assign the task to someone else (analogous to parking inspectors), they are all we have. I’ve given up calling them, too, though, because if they show up at all, it’s not for 45 minutes.
It’s way past time for Newton to move forward on ridding us of these dreadful machines, which are so destructive of our quality of life.
So Matt, I think we are vigorously agreeing: “Perhaps you are saying that the level of harm in this instance doesn’t warrant any municipal regulation. In that case, we would be wise to remove the current ordinance altogether. If, however, the noise pollution is of sufficient harm, let’s have an ordinance that is more effective than the current one.”
By the way, we have other ordinances designed to protect people from noise, e.g., the one that says that construction projects can’t start until 7am, the one that limits the noise of your neighbor’s air conditioning compressor, etc. Here’s the list: https://www.nonoise.org/regulation/ordinance/Newton,%20Massachusetts.pdf.
A response to your question about how this could come up during a pandemic is that perhaps people are more sensitive to the issue now because they are staying home more, perhaps trying to work or engage in remote learning.
I’m in Matt Lai’s corner on this one. I hear left blowers and lawn mowers all day. Guess what, it’s fine. I’ll take the intermittent noise over putting hard working landscapers out of work. Nor do I want to see homeowners or landscapers fined by the city. Police and city employees have more important work to do. I also get the sense that the venn diagram of folks who support “ban leaf blowers” and “defund the police” is just one big circle.
This surely doesn’t apply in every case, but I get a feeling that some people that are strongly opposing all leaf blowers, hire companies to clean their yards. Personally I clean my own yard and having a legal electric leaf blower is a great tool to save time and effort. For me the thing that would be helpful to minimize the time I need to use it would be to have permission to cut down the city trees down by the road. Although from what I understand it’s not easy to get approval to do so.
True leaf blower observation: As a marathon runner, I spend a lot of time on the carriage road in Newton. It is a very common occurrence to see a landscaping company working for House A using leaf blowers to blow all the leaves onto the road and to the neighbors’ lawns (Houses B & C on either side). Then, on the way back, I often see the neighbors (Houses B & C) with their landscaping companies, blowing the same leaves onto another part of the street, back onto House A’s lawn, and also to a new house on their other side. As an aside, I do have a landscaper but one who rakes (and does the privets by hand!)
I don’t have a big opinion on the leaf blowers debate and I agree with Matt that we have bigger issues to tackle right now, but from the mouth of a my high school student, who has diagnosed hearing loss, and who is in remote school, she asked the other day why leaf blowers were allowed as it is super hard to do Zoom school with them. She proposed that leaf blowers are only used during non-school hours. She continued and said that since all the high school kids are at their homes for school and so many adults are also working from home that the city should do a temporary ban until kids go back to school and the pandemic is over. Since the city probably won’t do a real ban anytime soon, we invested in some decent headphones. And I go back to advocating to get kids back in school safely rather than engage in a leaf blower debate.
Here’s a list of landscaping companies who do obey our laws:
https://www.greennewton.org/gn-recommended-lawn-care-provider-info/
(PDF download at the bottom for printing & handing out)
@J Thank you. It obviously goes without saying, but, anyway, doing business with people who obey the law is sure a heck of a lot wiser, smarter, safer (and legal) than doing business with scofflaws.
Thank you Bob for putting this out there. I live in a neighborhood with many homes that have landscaping services and I find the noise and dirt flying around annoying and disruptive to my quality of life. That said we had a funny occurrence two weeks ago. On Sunday one of the homeowners had their landscaper show up but in his personal car likely because leaf blowers are banned on Sundays except use by residents. He seemed to be trying to be very low key. He used the blower on the lowest setting and quickly worked to get the yard done. He finished relatively quickly and the noise was really ok and there was no cloud of dust in the air like there was when he did the house across the street 2 days prior. I believe if leaf blowers were used like this more regularly we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Quality of life? Really? That argument was poo-poo’ed when many argued that slapping 822 units of Northland on Needham Street would impact the quality of life of the tiny 1,200 household village of Upper Falls. Where was your support for quality of life then, Councilor Bowman?
First, to echo Paul’s point, trying to advance a ban based on health concerns, particularly invoking COVID-19, seems a like an unsupported and unproven argument. Even the cited report from the California EPA about the health effects of leaf blowers states: “Banning or restricting the use of leaf blowers would reduce fugitive dust emissions, but there are no data on fugitive dust emissions from alternatives, such as vacuums, brooms, and rakes. In addition, without a more complete analysis of potential health impacts, costs and benefits of leaf blower use, and potential health impacts of alternatives, such a recommendation is not warranted.”
Second, bundling electric leaf blowers in with gas leaf blowers similarly weakens the argument. Local exhaust emissions for electric tools are zero. Noise levels are in general significantly lower since the noise comes from just the fan itself, not an engine. The newest generation of residential blowers perform as well or better than gas versions and have running times of around an hour. They are pushing into the commercial world as well. The machines last longer and are cheaper to maintain.
Third, a secret underlying this entire discussion is that most leaf and grass clipping collection is unnecessary. Mulching is an effective way to turn the huge bulk of yard “waste” into nutrients for the soil from which they came, while avoiding the labor and environmental costs of collecting and moving leaves. Remarkably, this is true even during the autumn leaf fall, and even with oak trees that have somewhat acidic leaves. Michigan State University Extension has done decades of research on this topic: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/its_not_too_late_to_mulch_fallen_leaves_into_lawns
I have used mulching extensively in our yard. I never bag grass clippings. In the fall, I mulch the leaves in place. Alternatively, I collect them, mulch them with an ordinary lawn mower, and blow them into planting beds, reducing or eliminating the need for commercial mulch). This process reduces our need for professional leaf collection to usually one visit, sometimes none. Mulch leaves have about one tenth the volume of fallen leaves and decompose rapidly. It is miraculous to see so many leaves simply vanish into the yard.
This year, I moved to they latest cordless electric lawnmower and a cordless leaf blower to augment my trusty manually-powered rake.They are quiet and efficient. They save me time and effort and allow me to maintain a traditional lawn and garden in a relatively low impact and sustainable way. I also have the occasional lawn care visit from a company that uses the same type of electric and manual tools.
Frankly, a wholesale leaf blower ban would cost me time I simply don’t have. I am pretty sure that other residents who do their own lawn care would be in the same boat.
The constant drone of leaf blowers in the neighborhood annoys me, as does flaunting of the existing ordinance. But I don’t yet see an effective solution to actually making things better through legislative action.
I hope there’s some common ground, something in between “this annoys me”, “make it illegal”, and “get over it”.
For a start, I personally think we should be doing all we can to encourage more sustainable and money-saving practices through education and cooperative efforts with residents and commercial companies. Same is true for noise impacts of leaf blowers and other lawn care tools. Perhaps there’s an opportunity for carrots and not just sticks to improve the current state of acrimony.
I agree wholeheartedly that education, carrot not stick is the way to go. Landscapers (mow and blow) do not feed their families with gas powered leaf blowers—they feed their families with hard work. As employers, cities and homeowners need to say don’t use a blower. Settle for tidy, not sterile. In California leaf blowers go 52 weeks a year, rain or shine. Most of the year “landscapers” trot around behind their man-toys blowing nothing but dust here. Pull a weed, prune a rose bush HA! Pay a decent wage and don’t expect them to have a degree in horticulture— tell them what you want done. And I guess it is too 20th century to have one’s kids rake leaves. I’ll stop the rant. Good luck Newton.
With love from Walnut Creek, CA
Why is the messaging from Councilors such as Emily Norton, Alicia Bowman, Brenda Noel, and Bill Humphrey so inconsistent? They’re all for the working class, except when it bothers them at their wonderful homes that they have the luxury of working from.
I think it’s obvious that not everyone has the money to hire, or time to rake their own leaves.
They’re all for diversity, except don’t mention that the city Council is all
White people.
They’re all for working people, except when it disrupts them.
Dear Commoner, Well, you have a point, but I still feel sorry for you guys in the landscape business today. I’m just grateful that, way, way back when I was in it, I didn’t have a boss who made us strap those damn things on our backs, breathe that crap, wreak our spines with the vibrations and ruin our hearing. Raking and sweeping day -after-day weren’t great, but sure were a whole lot better. But, then, I guess, that was then and now is now.
Newton has a very good leaf blower ordinance. The problem is enforcement. The solution should focus on better enforcement rather than passing another ordinance.
As always, Mike Halle cuts through the Gordian Knot of this discussion, leading us from zero-sum haggling to a value-added solution for the residents and the community. Thanks!
By the way, if anyone would like a gasoline powered mower, free, I’m trying to give mine away. Really. It’s just too loud . . . . (Fuel tank included.)
Dear Commoner, I believe I understand where you are coming from. A blanket “let them use rakes” viewpoint doesn’t take into account residents who don’t and/or can’t hire commercial lawn care and who have pressing life demands on their time. I don’t agree this needs to be mapped to lack of racial or socioeconomic diversity. I think we all need to be reminded to look around more and have deeper empathy for other people’s situations.
It is important to better separate commercial leaf clearance from residents maintaining their own yard. The existing ordinance does that, but the discussion often doesn’t. There’s a big difference in neighborhood impact between a resident clearing their own lawn with consumer-grade equipment and lawn care companies using, say, three backpack style two-stroke gas blowers at the same time (which I saw out my window this morning).
The one thing that is categorically different now is that more people, including many more school aged kids, are working from home during the pandemic. Noise is an issue for concentration, or even for effective communication during video calls. For school kids, this challenge cuts across all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. None of us asked for this situation, and it can’t be dismissed as simply as “you chose to live in a city, now deal with it”. Things are different now, and for schools the problem has a finite duration.
I don’t know what the answer is to the problem of loud leaf blowers during school hours. School hours are most of daylight. A ban during that time, implemented for the spring for example, would have a serious and sudden impact on lawn care companies that are employing a significant workforce.
Fortunately, the end of the fall leaf clearance season is almost here. Let’s use the upcoming lull to come up with effective solutions to the problem (the short term one at least). I hope some of the Newton-based landscaping companies chime in constructively. I know that many based in my neighborhood have kids in the schools. We all do have a stake in this.
How about wood-burning firepits. For very good reasons there is an ordinance against this but neighbors ignore or are unaware of the ordinance. It has been reported that emissions from a typical wood-burning fire pit equal that of a diesel truck running 564 miles. Where wood stoves burn 500-1000 more toxic than oil, you can imagine the harm of an outdoor wood-burning firepit in a dense residential neighborhood. One firepit spoils the air for an entire neighborhood and leaks into our homes. We should be very focused on limiting/eliminating their use as they threaten our health health and the air and there is a substitute in propane/gas fire pits or electric heaters.
Enforcement…let’s take Police out of the equation (thanks to the defund movement). I question how fair it is to force landscapers working in Newton to register – sounds like discrimination. Fully support that those who are hiring and these leaf blowing crews are the ones who should be fined. This group have both the means and the authority to force compliance. Anything less is protecting the privileged, and causing undue burden on everyone else.
JJ said: “How about wood-burning firepits.”
Please, no, not in this comment thread. Let’s try to maintain a limit of one topic of potentially heated discussion per post, if possible.
As if leaf-blowers and their related ordinance weren’t controversial enough. 🙂
I live on “the Carriage Lane” a/k/a Commonwealth Avenue. The biggest offender from my perch is the City which sends large teams of landscapers equipped with multiple heavy duty leaf blowers to clear the median. I deal with it by ignoring the noise. I could let it bother me especially since I have tinnitus. I prefer not to as on the scale of things that bother me, this doesn’t get a ranking – especially since the City itself is exempt from the ordinance (do as I say not as I do).
As for relying on an iPhone app to evaluate whether a machine exceeds permissible noise levels, that may be fine for personal curiosity but if used as evidence to support a violation, the proponent of the evidence still has to establish the reliability of the technical or scientific process for measuring the sound. In other words, I wouldn’t bet on the reliability of a phone app as an enforcement tool.
Well, Lisp, it’s good to know you don’t let your tinnitus get in the way of enjoying those wonderful leaf blower choruses. Myself, well, while I wish I could enjoy them, I have to admit that i turn off my hearing aids. The tinnitus is still there, but what the heck, even the leaf blowers can’t dampen that, darn, Just don’t get too close for too long, or they’ll very likely make it even worse. As for the accuracies of dB apps., you can double-check them by measuring the levels of a sample of computer-generated, known -frequency and dB-level tones. And, if you do file a complaint, the enforcement official can require the violator to present the subject leaf blower(s), which are required to have legal dB labels. And the official can verify the accuracy of those, and the blowers’ noise outputs (and of your app) by using an officially validated meter.
Well, Lisp, it’s good to know you don’t let your tinnitus get in the way of enjoying those wonderful leaf blower choruses. Myself, well, while I wish I could enjoy them, too, I have to admit that i turn off my hearing aids when they’re around. From what you wrote about it, maybe there are lots of folks in your neighborhood who wish they could do the same. But, then, my tinnitus is still there, anyway. Even the leaf blowers can’t dampen that, darn, Just don’t get too close, or they’ll very likely make it even worse. As for the accuracies of dB apps., you can double-check them by measuring the levels of a sample of computer-generated, known -frequency and dB-level tones. And, if you do file a complaint, the enforcement official can require the violator to present the subject leaf blower(s), which are required to have legal dB labels. And the official can verify the accuracy of those, and the blowers’ noise outputs (and of your app) by using an officially validated meter.
Sorry, Lisap, I misspelled your name. Also, don’t know why that comment was posted twice. Suggest just reading the second one, if the moderator can’t delete the first. Thank you.
@Alex Blumensteil,
I don’t “enjoy” the leaf blowers. I choose not to perseverate over the noxious, but temporary sound. You see, I make a conscious choice whether I will be irritated or do take some temporary action which will alleviate my distress during a short period of angst.
As for the accuracies of apps, you misapprehend the burden of proof and persuasion. It is not the obligation of either the accused or the hearing officer to establish the accuracy of the app Re: the reliability of an iPhone app recording the decibels of a leaf blower. Rather, it is the proponent of the evidence who has that burden. Having litigated complex scientific and technological evidence I have a bit of insight as to the evidentiary requirements of scientific and technical evidence. An Average user downloading an app is not going to pass muster IMHO. But I’m a mere expert in the admissibility of GPS, telematics and cellular evidence- so what do I know about scientific evidence?
Temporary is subjective. If leaf blowers were an hour once a week, I wouldn’t complain, but where I live, before the summer restrictions, the leaf blower teams move from house to house and last from 2 to 4 hours several times a week all summer long.
The seasonal limitations have made summer enjoyable again.
lisap,
If the leaf ordinance cannot be enforced without police being involved it requires adjustment (or re-haul).
Wasting police time because of a ‘loud noise’ is the pettiest/wasteful use of resources.
If it MUST be enforced, then requiring landscapers to require a NO-FEE permit which simply requires the owner to legally sign a document to agree to a $1000 per occurrence fine for violation. Home owners who hire non-registered landscapers will be fined $50 per occurrence after 3 warnings
no fee + no violation = no problem
@bugek, great idea. It’s fair and puts the onus on the (truly) responsible party.
I like the idea of putting the onus on the home owners: they hire the transgressors, they are fined. However, does it solve the problem of identifying the transgression at the time it occurs? Unlike a non-plowed sidewalk than can be visible for hours or days, leaf-blowers are only there for one hour or less. Who is responsible for signaling the transgression?
@Bugek,
I agree that police resources should not be used for leaf blower violations. I think one might perhaps simplify the matter by requiring landscapers to submit documentation relating to their equipment, particularly as to decibel levels to the city in conjunction with the permit you suggested. Presumably inspection services could conduct spot checks to ensure that landscapers are (a) registered with the city and (b) using equipment established as below the offending decibel level.
By bringing the inspection dept into the mix, you would be calling on professionals who already know and understand how to stop work by companies that are not compliant with state or local regulations. Shutting down a business for even part of a day I suspect would be far more effective that trying to collect fines.
And as an added bonus, landscapers might even be able to include in their promotional materials that they are Newton noise compliant.
Just a couple of thoughts.
@Lisap, Thank you. Excellent suggestions! Green Newton has a list of compliant landscapers on their website at https://www.greennewton.org/gn-recommended-lawn-care-provider-info/
@Alex Blumenstiel,
Such a great link!!
Trying to pass the fines to landscapers is simply wrong. If someone can afford regular landscaping, they can afford a fine….or hire one of the recommended landscapers on the Green Newton website. Just don’t understand why it’s *this hard*. We should not be penalizing those who needs the revenue most in a pandemic.
Update. I tried Michael Halle’s suggestion and ran my lawnmower over the leaves in mulch mode. They essentially disappeared into small pieces in the grass! How much easier than bagging and sending to the city . . . and avoiding all that use of petroleum to transport them to be composted somewhere else.
@Paul…I’m torn (literally) about mulching leaves into the lawn. There’s plenty on the topic via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mulch+leaves+into+lawn). Did it last year and found that mulching did not cut the leaves down into small enough pieces, after multiple, multiple, multiple passes. This past Spring, I found myself having to do an extra cleanup, just to pick up the mulched leaves from the prior Fall.
Maybe we simply have WAY too many leaves over the lawn (a huge maple) – a negative leaves to lawn ratio. Or perhaps I was too OCD about the lawn in early Spring and should have let the grass grow more (hiding the mulchings) before removing the million bits of leaves.
Either way, did not want to take the chance next Spring and picked up the leaves this year…. with a battery blower and a plug in blower; a rake and lots of bags….and of course, with Karen’s permission. 🙂
Hope you get better results in the Spring, Paul!
Matt: Basically, the grass will grow fine as long as it can get sunlight. The problem with unmulched leaves is that they block light from underlying grass, pile up on top of each other, and don’t get enough oxygen to decompose. The grass below struggles for light and dies.
Mulching allows the grass to poke past the small pieces of leaves to get the sun it needs. It greatly increases the surface area of the leaves and exposes the edges to oxygen to speed decomposition. And it makes it possible to blow the pieces more easily towards beds and piles. Finally, Michigan State Extension has shown that these leaves help stop weed growth in the spring.
Even if you do pick up the excess, mulching can reduce the volume by huge amount. If you bag with your lawnmower, you can put it in beds of pack it into bags for curbside pickup.
Ultimately, most of the final call comes down to aesthetics. Some people have a ideal of a stereotypical American monoculture grass yard with grass, dirt, and mulched beds. Leaves are a nuisance. Others are more pragmatic or aim for a more natural, sustainable, cheaper-to-maintain compromise. The point, though, is that is is mostly a choice, unlike what lawn care services might imply.
I’m just pleased and surprised that you can actually go pretty far without leaf removal at all and still have a vibrant, healthy, beautiful yard.
Thanks, Matt. Better yet if the grass grows more slowly . . . 🙂
@Paul- the trick to getting it to grow more slowly is to make sure you don’t water, fertilize or seed it … and mow it very rarely. That’s been working for me for years now 😉
I mulched this year and I thought it was great. I use an electric mower that is made for mulching and it shreds the leaves up really fine. I still use an electric blower and rake for the driveway and flower beds but the the mulching cut the bags/time in half. Plus you feel like you are giving your lawn a meal.
Everybody has a different story depending on circumstances involving their yard or whether they or someone they know runs a landscaping business. Our house is located on just shy of a half acre plot with 10 giant oak trees and a handful of smaller Norway Maples.
A few years back I raked and bagged all the leaves myself for the very last time. I filled more than 200 bags in the process and it took me a month to do so. I had just turned 80 and enough was enough. I did look for alternatives to leaf blowing, but the only thing that seemed feasible was to hire a company to leaf blow the leaves, load them onto a huge truck and haul them away to a composting site. At least I knew these were “clean” leaves and debris that wouldn’t get illicitly dumped. I never really knew what happened to all the leaves I used to bag and I was never totally convinced that the bags themselves would degrade as promised. And I also avoided adding to the costs and assaults to the environment from producing and transporting the bags from the manufacturer to the store where they would have been sold to me. There are always tradeoffs. There are other environmental things I lose sleep over, but not this.
Bob, I’m 80 and, yes, the leaves from all those oaks and maples pile up and it is getting harder to clear them, though I do still enjoy raking them from the lawn, driveway and walks and spreading them under the bushes and in the woods in the back yard, where they’ve pretty much turned to mulch by mid-spring. Also, I grew up in the landscape/gardening business and my first post-high school degree is an A.A.S. in horticulture with a landscaping major. Of course, that was way before somebody (in Japan I think it was) came up with the idea of putting gas motors on what had been manual pesticide blowers and then using them to blow leaves, too. Anyway, as noted a couple of times above, Green Newton has a list of landscapers who are as caring as you are, and who don’t use, or who limit their legal use of, legal leaf blowers. (https://www.greennewton.org/gn-recommended-lawn-care-provider-info/)
Sorry, that final comma in the last sentence should be after the word ‘legal’, not after the ‘of’. Oh well, just another joy of aging! Happy Holliday!
Hey Alex. We’re still both still mobile and I’m thankful for that. Thanks for the tips. I, too, still enjoy working on my lawn and taking care of leaves and debris that pile up over the winter. It’s kind of an active form of meditation and I often find that things that baffle me become crystal clear when I’m puttering around the yard.
And Alex. Isn’t it grand that one of our generation “the forgotten or silent generation” finally made it to the White House. I thought it would never happen when the boomers started to take turns running the White House.
I am with Matt Lai on this one, and don’t really get the “let them use rakes” argument – it is simply not an option for many of us. The part of Newton where I live is basically a forest – I have multiple trees around my backyard and an overwhelming amount of leaves in the fall. One year I did try to rake and had to give up after one hour, completely exhausted, and with no visible progress. And I am able-bodied and relatively young :). What about my senior citizen neighbors in their 80s? It takes my landscaper 30 minutes to clean up my back yard with a blower, and it would take multiple hours with a rake. I am all for coming up with environmentally friendly solutions to this leaf dilemma, but they have to be reasonable and implementable.
P.S. I have been working from home since before the pandemic, and yes, sometimes lawn work is loud and I have to mute myself when on a call. But it’s not a big deal on the grand scheme of things.
Hi Bob, As a retired Fed, I stay away from politics. But, yes, I’m sure with you on this! WHEW!
Irene, please try electric, or a landscaper who’s on Green Newton’s list. Thank you.
What the typical price difference between a “green newton” landscaper vs typical?
In reality, most homeowners are not home when the landscapers are working (homeowners probably ask to certain times when they are not home). So we are asking homeowners to pay a premium so their neighbors are “less” affected (its still noisy unless you are playing for hand raking). And is the neighbor going to return the favor by paying more also???
Are “most” homeowner so selfless when it comes to their pocket book?
Obvious answer: If you’re interested, get a couple and compare to what you’re paying now.
It occurred to me that a lot of folks who aren’t in the business may not realize that the ‘secret” of easy raking with a fan rake is keeping both thumbs up on the handle and using a light sweeping motion, Don’t drag.
@Alex et. al. I’m also a retired Fed, Navy in Europe and Middle East and then EPA in DC. I miss the old McGregor bamboo leaf rakes. They were the best, but I can’t find them anywhere. You are so right about not dragging the rake.
@Bob, Civil Service. Lot of TDY with military here and there. I have a bamboo fan rake got at Schwartz in Nonantum 10 or so years ago. No label, so don’t know if a McGregor but it’s held up fine. I still hear my Dad yelling: “THUMBS UP! Shake your tail!” Yeah, at me, a 10 year old, and at his crew!
I am reminded of 40 years ago, when the city I lived in (Ann Arbor) passed a leash law for dogs. The objections were vociferous and comparable to those I hear now: “But how will older and mobility-impaired people give their pets exercise?” “If you don’t like sharing sidewalks with packs of strange dogs and their droppings, go move to a gated community without dogs.” “Ordinances like these overstep; City Council should let dogs run free and turn their attention to [things I care more about].” But the ordinance was enforced, and somehow, people adjusted.
Whether or not you personally find gas-powered leaf blowers useful or tolerable, Newton does have an ordinance that limits how many of them may be used at a time, and when. (It also calls for the use of the newer, lower-decibel blowers, which do exist.) The problem is that most landscapers flout the ordinance every day without any consequences. I think most of us can agree that putting rules on the books only to let them be ignored altogether is poor policy.
I only use my leaf blower in the winter to blow snow into the street. The nice part about using it in the winter is that everyone’s windows are closed so it doesn’t disturb anyone. I’ve tried calling the police about them in the warmer months but haven’t had any luck…
@W.M.R You might be interested in this from Atlanta. No snow there, not yet anyway.
https://saportareport.com/atlanta-seeking-to-curb-use-of-gas-powered-leaf-blowers/sections/reports/david/?fbclid=IwAR3mHxBLusyRaj8DSRw3rU4Fw19Mhn0gX1BzR3lxnUZjrtuTVJ9DNBvYZLI