Alders Norton and Hess-Mahan tell the TAB they’re seeking public input on the topic and drafting language for a proposal later this year.
For those who forget what leaves are (and after this winter that’s possible) here’s a video TAB editor Andy Levin shot last year…
;
So go ahead public, provide some input…
Ban them, end of story.
Some homeowners say that it will increase the amount of $$ they have to pay landscapers, who cares? If you cant handle your own lawn, be prepared to pay to have it done without leaf-blowers. the landscapers will have no problem increasing the rates. Leaf blowers are terrible for the environment.
This should have been done years ago. I am really disappointed Newton didn’t lead the way on this issue, but there is still time to get it done.
P.S.
“Norton said informing people about the harmful effects of leaf blowers is a good first step.”
Really impressed with Emily Norton. She is doing a great job and a quote like this just reinforces my prediction that she will be the next mayor. Just hope she does not get lost in politics and gets things like the leaf blower ban moving.
It won’t increase the cost of landscaping. Did anyone notice a huge decrease in landscaping fees when they started using leafblowers? I doubt it. Look around at the workers who use leafblowers, often 3 or 4 guys will be standing around blowing one pile of leaves. There are also plenty of landscapers who do not use leafblowers and who tout that.
How about, instead of an outright ban, imposing a noise and air pollution abatement fee of $25 per job on operators of gasoline blowers? Revenues could be used to promote use of electric blowers, directly mitigating the noise and pollution problems and providing the price signal to affect change in the landscaping business.
I think there should be an absolute ban on the use and possession of leaf blowers within the Aldermanic Chambers -with stiff fines and jail time for subsequent offenses. In fact, if I were king, I’d make it retroactive.
Where’s the “like” button for Jim Morrison’s comment?
The electric leaf blower / vacuums that shred leaves are a real labor (and leaf-bag) saver for those of us homeowners who deal with our own leaves in the fall. The resulting shredded leaves also compost much quicker in my compost bin — and I can fit more leaves before having to resort to bags.
I know that with the quantity of maples on & surrounding my property, this task would be much harder if done entirely by hand.
Personally, I would love a full ban. But if there were a compromise to be made, I’d recommended banning or severely limiting their use in the spring and summer, and allowing more use in the fall. I can see the value of leaf blowers when dealing with huge volumes of fallen leaves. But when I see the landscapers blowing the sidewalks and streets all spring and summer long, just to clean up a few errant blades of grass from mowing, that drives me NUTS. The spring and summer usage seems totally unnecessary.
I’m not sure I understand this….When I hear someone using a leaf blower I hear the sound of SOMEONE ELSE working. That is beautiful music to me. Why ban that?
Gee, Nathan, are you personally going to issue the citations and collect the fines from violators and do the bookkeeping to keep track of it all? True public spirit, since you’ll be doing this for free so the taxpayer gets the whole $25, right? Are you going to enforce Newton’s noise ordinance, too? Neither the Inspectional Services Department nor the Police Department have been able to. Thank you so much for your willingness to do all this for the sake of our health, and well-being in Newton, without the Board of Aldermen even needing to enact a simple, inexpensive-to-enforce, total ban on the use of these polluting, obnoxious, health-hazards in our ‘Garden City. A $25 fine! Why didn’t i think of that? Heck, even the landscapers should go for it, since they’ll very likely figure they’ll pass it on to their customers, with a mark-up of course, and everybody wins!
Actually, the Newton police do an excellent job enforcing the noise ordinance. If a resident (or more often, the teenage children when the parents are away for the weekend) has a party that is outside the bounds of the noise ordinance, the police are very responsive to a call from a neighbor. I’ve made the call a number of times and the situation is dealt with efficiently.
Dear Folks,
Please, join our group: http://www.meetup.com/newtonsafeandsound/
We are working hard to get some regulations on leaf blowers. Our group is alive and well and working hard. The Newton Aldermen are currently considering a total ban of leaf blowers. We do not want to put any landscapers out of business: we know a number of Landscaping Companies in Newton who will offer an option of raking.
We’d like to recommend: CleanAirLawnCareBoston.com (contact person Jason Durgin 978-853-3983) or M.V. Enterprises and Sons (contact person Jose Mendez 781-502-2197).
It’s better for your lawn and better for your neighbors and better for the workers’ lungs to NOT use leaf blowers.
Go to our website to read about the very serious air pollution and the very serious noise pollution problem caused by leaf blowers. Elders aging at home? Yeah, right with leaf blowers around them daily 8 months of the year? People in hospice?
Yeah, right. New parents enjoying their new babies at home? People who work at home? It’s awful: the kitchen smells like an outboard motor on nice days. People who work at home: I can’t think, read, or talk on the phone with these blowers all around me.
Join us!
http://www.meetup.com/newtonsafeandsound/
I approve of this! Though Nathan’s idea might be worth investigation as part of this. I am always a bit more of a fan of a semi-market approach vs outright ban if it makes sense. My family uses an electric leaf blower/mulcher in NH and it works great to provide a cover for the garden and brown matter to the compost! Anything to encourage those types of tools would be useful…Can we also work with City employees on this? I am fairly certain I see them using these unnecessarily as well…Seriously the sand on the sidewalk is fine, as are the grass clippings…
Stuff like this makes me not want to move back. How about mind your own business? Let people clean up there yards as they please. Quiet hours are one thing, this is another.
Mike
Dear Newton Neighbors,
Thank you for expressing an interest in changing regulations around leaf blowers in Newton. We are on a campaign to raise awareness about the hazards of leaf blowers.
We are at an exciting, crucial moment: Currently, our Newton Aldermen are considering two ordinances:
1. An ordinance calling for a TOTAL BAN of leaf blowers.
2. An ordinance calling for a SEASONAL BAN of leaf blowers.
In the next few months there will be a public hearing, at which time we will be asked to voice our opinions. We will notify you when this hearing is scheduled. We will need a huge showing.
In order for one of these ordinances to pass, it needs to be voted on by a majority of the Aldermen, thus, we need your help now:
Please contact ALL 24 Aldermen and tell them what you feel about leaf blower regulation. Call them asap!
Please, CONTACT YOUR NEIGHBORS who hire leaf blower crews and ask them to request that their workers rake rather than blow. Otherwise, here is a list of landscaping companies who offer raking as an option.
M.V. and Sons Enterprises: contact Jose Mendez-781-502-2197
Simon Lawn Care – 617-213-0052
Christopher Landscaping- 781-572-1039
Clean Air Lawn Care: contact Jason Durgin 978-835-3983
We can do this!
Please, join us at http://www.meetup.com/newtonsafeandsound/
Sincerely,
Karen Bray,
Newton Safe and Sound: reforming regulations on Leaf Blowers
Yes – those of you who hire landscapers should call those that rake – once you hear the price you will fill the BOA chambers. And maybe the BOA of should look at how many Local Landscapers LIVE in Newton and also pay taxes to the City and VOTE in the City Elections.
And Thank you Mike not Striar – at least someone gets it.
Enforce a noise ordinance and move on.
Some people need to feel important. I wonder how many who want to “save the planet” by banning leaf blowers have multiple houses, or houses way larger than they need. Better yet, I wonder how many put solar panels on their roofs, a lot of companies will do that for free now in exchange for you buying power from them at a lower than local rate. Its the same concept as the celebrity who drives their prius to their private jet, except now they are trying to impose it on everyone else. Next up will be lawn mowers and eventually the evil snow blowers. Lawn mowers afterall use bigger engines and kick up plenty of dust. And by that I mean have been safely used for 100 or so years.
Mike
What Terry said.
My snowblower is just as loud as my leafblower and nobody was complaining about it running day in and day out over the last month.
@Doug C: Except we tend to keep our windows closed on days when snowblowers are necessary.
Polluters of the atmosphere, or those who pay for services that pollute the environment, should pay to pollute, so the public can use the revenues to mitigate the pollution being imposed upon us without our consent, in part by stimulating the market for clean lawncare.
Doug, other than a shovel (what I use), I don’t think there is a viable non-polluting alternative to a snowblower, right?
The commercial lawnmowers used by landscapers in my neighborhood are louder than any leafblower. I swear, if they ran the blades in reverse they’d be hovercraft. Are we going to ban those too? (Full disclosure: I mow my own grass using an electric lawnmower.)
I think you found the solution @Greg. Close window when the noise bothers you.
And then what @Doug C a cone of silence for the back yard deck?
I don’t think snowblowing is a relevant comparison here. Even in a crazy winter like this one, we’ve had what… 15 snowblowing days over the course of 3 months?
Lawn/mulch/leaf-blowing on the other hand goes on for (conservatively) 150 days a year (26 weeks x 6 days a week).
How many days when leaf blowing occurs , when temperatures are in excess of 70 degrees and windows are likely to be open are there likely to be?
What is the proportion of homes in the city that are air conditioned and windows are likely to be closed during leaf blowing season?
Given the 6 demolitions and reconstruction of homes abutting my property in the last 4 years, an occasional leaf blowers relative acoustic violation of my sensibilities would’ve been almost a pleasant relief.
The environmental derogation resultant from leaf blowing in comparison with the excesses of the housing development industry are almost negligible ! Let’s get this issue into perspective !
If I remember correctly, when this issue was discussed in the Tab a few years ago, it was discovered that the biggest users of leaf blowers in Newton is the City of Newton – DPW, Parks, etc. If that is indeed true, are all taxpayers prepared to bear the increased cost of switching to rakes?
I like my windows open and I enjoy sitting on my porch. Impossible to do with all of the leafblowers. Also, some people leafblow daily because they don’t want even a few leaves on their lawn. Often, when I go for a walk, I see landscapers blowing the leaves onto other peoples’ property and out into the streets. Depending on where you live, you might hear leafblowing all day long, every day, for months.
There are alternatives to switching to rakes. There are benefits to using a mulching attachment to a lawn mower, mow over the leaves and let them stay there to fertilize the ground.
This is reminiscent of the second hand smoke issue. Some people thought it just wasn’t that significant enough of a health and quality of life issue and that flight attendants, like today’s lawn care workers, should just get over it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/business/what-airlines-were-like-before-the-smoke-cleared.html?_r=0
I am not a fan of leaf-blowers, period. I think they are noisy, smelly, and often used when they are comically not needed (like blowing dirt off a sidewalk- I’ll never understand that depth of laziness).
However, I do not think I would be in favor of a ban- there are times when they simply do a better job, and until equally powerful electric (presumably quieter) blowers are available at a comparable price (are they?), then these little gas-powered monsters are more practical for a lot of bigger jobs.
However, I am in favor of more stringently-enforced time and noise constraints. Is better enforcement a matter of the city waiting for people to drop a dime on their neighbors? Perhaps a more proactive enforcement (with warnings) early in the season would work? I’m riffing here.
As for snowblowers, I get that they are also noisy and not great for the environment, but as for the “comparable nuisance” argument, aside from the open windows response I would also say that snow blowers tend to be out when everybody is struggling to clear their walks and drives- which is why we hear fewer complaints about them. I suppose if 18 inches of leaves were to fall on our driveways more of us would get leaf blowers. 😉
I rather like Brookline’s approach — ban the use of leafblowers between 15 May and 15 September, and forbid starting before 9 am on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
I hate gas powered leaf blowers. In season, I have to listen to them non-stop, hour after hour, day after day. I work from home and most people in my area use landscapers. In the past I have been a vocal proponent of either banning or curtailing the use of gas powered leaf blowers.
Now I see a much larger problem. The Board of Aldermen is “ban” crazy. They’ve banned everything from plastic bags, to e-cigs, to medical marijuana dispensaries. I’m sick of their poor choices and their intrusions on personal freedom. So even though I think gas powered leaf blowers should be banned, I’m not going to lend any support to this effort. I will however consider any effort to ban the BoA from banning anything else.
@Mike Striar: The aldermen have not banned medical marijuana clinics.
The other difference between snow blowers and leaf blowers is that snow blowers don’t fill the air with leaf mold and dirt and grass clippings. Those of us with asthma and allergies can have severe breathing problems during and in the aftermath of leaf blowing.
A seasonal ban makes sense. Use leaf blowers to blow leaves in autumn, not gravel, grass clippings, dust, garbage, nuts and twigs, or to blow dry your lawn or sidewalk after a rainstorm (all of which I’ve seen done).
I’ll put up with the noise if the *leaf* blowers are being used for their intended purpose.
I bet if lawn crews went around running snow blowers in residential neighborhoods in July, people would have a thing or two to say about that, too.
We have used a mulching attachment to a (riding mostly) lawn mower since they have been available and they work well even in very large lawns. We use ear phones, but that is a personal decision. We only use the leafblower when we let them pile up instead of cleaning up more often. We use rakes in the islands and gardens. I and a few others in my family have outdoor allergies and have to keep windows closed because of those, but can wear masks if we are the ones cutting.
I don’t like bans but understand how loud they are. I agree though that if there is a place in your lawn where dust will get blown about, a lawn mower will kick it up too.
I think regulating the use of leaf blowers to limit their use to September through April makes sense if the lawn is close to another home. I would only request this restriction for the first few seasons so people have time to adjust. I would also rely on neighbors who are being bothered by them to let whomever it would be know (how else will they know if the blower is bothering someone) and then I would want them to just tell them to stop. After of course trying to solve it between themselves.
If they are being used in places where no one is around they should be left alone. This would include city parks, etc.
I believe in finding solutions to problems with the least bother to either party because limiting one person’s behavior to make another person satisfied can lead to other infringements. Who is to determine who gets their way? Like it or not one person’s desire for less noise shouldn’t necessarily trump another person’s need to get a job done in the cheapest, most efficient way. There are valid reasons for both. Being self righteous about how your opinion for a solution is the only right one says more about you than about the person who you are preaching to.
First I advocate communication between parties and not just a “you are wrong, I am right” scenerio, but an honest assessment of a way both parties get some of what they want. And moving on from there. Different times of day, different days of the week, number of times a month, part blown and part raked, lawn mower mulching and other solutions are also possibilities of solving the problem among neighbors.
I might be able to communicate with my neighbors who do the work themselves, but there’s no way the lawn service guys are going to listen to me. I have enough trouble dealing with them blocking my driveway – and when I call to complain, having the owner of the service call me a liar.
Pushing the start time ahead from 7 AM to at least 8 AM would be a good beginning, with 10 AM on Saturday and Sunday.
mgwa, have you tried talking to your neighbors about your problems with their lawn care service? I hope it works out.
@Marti – I will if it recurs this summer, thanks.
The fumes are highly dangerous for all of us. We are breathing poisons.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-05-dangerous-chemicals-linked-breast-cancer.html
This is really simple. If you don’t like the sound of other people doing things on their own property, like blowing leaves, move somewhere where the yards are farther away from you or close your windows. You chose to live a stones throw from your neighbor in the CITY of Newton.
Also, strangely I have never had an issue with my neighbors using leaf blowers. Ever. In fact, my family raked growing up, but half the neighbors have leaf blowers, and it never bothered any of us.
I do love the arrogance of thinking passing a law to make your neighbors life more expensive or more inconvenient to appease you is ok. Using the guise that you give a crap about the health of the lawn care workers is hilarious, and makes me think you have never so much as used a lawn mower, which is essentially a leaf blower on steroids that blows the crap into a bag where the dust passes right through, or back onto the ground where it gets kicked right back up. But… you still want your grass cut.
Mike
@Greg– I suspect our disagreement will revolve around your use of the words “have not.” The Board of Aldermen did in fact pass a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. It is no longer in effect. Unfortunately, the moratorium did its damage, and it is the principle reason we don’t have an operating clinic in Newton today.
@Mike Striar: Your comment is entirely unfair to our aldermen. There isn’t a clinic open in the state, the delays (which in my view are unforgivable given that voters overwhelmingly approved this while patients continue to suffer) cannot be blamed on Newton.
as much as i despise the use of them for anything other than big spring/fall cleanups, i’m not sure i support any outright bans. I would absolutely welcome and support later start times, especially on weekends.
Agreed with what Greg wrote. Newton approved a special permit for the medical marijuana months ago. Now the delay is on the State’s side.
Double agreement here. In fact, Newton is likely to have one of the first operational dispensaries.
To the Board of Alderman of the City of Newton,
Please add my name, with emphasis, to those citizens of Newton who detest the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers
especially, but really also electric leaf blowers. For those of us who work at home (yes, I’m still very much an income-tax-
paying worker) and who, with frequency, also do gardening, the appearance on our street of teams using such machines
is unnerving. No one should be subjected to this much noise and dust. I know there are ample resources among the
lawn-care companies for raking. I fully support stiff regulations for these machines; but, frankly, I’d be happier and less
traumatized by a full ban.
For your attention to this issue, my considerable thanks. James A Bergquist, Newton Centre
@Greg– I don’t think you [and Gail] understand the entire process by which medical marijuana licenses were distributed. If Newton had not passed a moratorium, it would have been seen as a green light by regulators, and we’d have an operating clinic today. That’s why the Mass Patient Alliance, the advocacy group that got the ballot initiative passed, urged the BoA to NOT pass a moratorium. But perhaps you can explain to me how the moratorium helped get a dispensary up and running faster? What year do you think it will finally be open for business?
@Emily– You voted for a moratorium, right? Would you mind telling me how the moratorium helped patients? In my opinion, the BoA put much more effort into banning plastic bags, than it did into assuring patient access to medical marijuana.
@Mike:As the expression goes, you are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. If you’re looking to point fingers, point them at the state.
The state hasn’t approved any clinics yet, although Northampton is reportedly close
As with Northampton, even once a clinic is licensed, “Massachusetts law requires that dispensaries grow their first batch of marijuana from seed, there will be a several-months delay between licensure and the time the Northampton dispensary has any products to sell.”
As I said before, this delay is inexcusable. But you can’t blame Newton’s aldermen for this because it’s JUST NOT TRUE.
Mike Striar – you are wasting your time with the BOA- they banned the plastic bags, they are now on to the leaf blowers, next it will be a Snow Blower Ban, Wood Chippers, and then if we are lucky they will start to focus on the real issues of the city. But probably not because I am sure they will realize that asphalt is dangerous and they will ban filling of Pot Holes too. The moratorium for the Clinic is old news.
Actually what many of us would prefer you do is focus on running for Mayor so we could have a Person in City Hall that understands the issues and wont hide behind his handlers.
@Mike Striar – I did not vote for a moratorium, that vote preceded my election onto the Board. I voted in favor of the special permit for the medical marijuana dispensary.
@Emily– My apologies. Thanks for clearing that up.
We’ve really gone off topic here. But since we have, Alternative Therapies Group received the first certificate at the end of December. They are opening a dispensary in Salem but first will start planting seeds at their growing facility in Amesbury. The plants will take 3 months to be ready to cultivate and have to go through inspections before that but they hope to open the dispensary in April. Hopefully Garden Remedies will find a growing site soon and get its final certificate.
We rake, hate leaf blowers, but feel really uncomfortable with an outright ban that will have a significant impact on the landscapers in the city and on people who are senior citizens or those who not able to take care of their property due to mobility issues. How about an ordinance that limits the times of day that the blowers can be in used?
@Greg– In my opinion, if Newton did not pass a moratorium, there would be an operating clinic in the city today.
The BoA passed a moratorium, and then passed new zoning regulations that [in my opinion] made it considerably more difficult to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Newton, than it would be to open a pharmacy or even a liquor store.
In my opinion, the zoning was created to minimize the possibility of a grow facility being located in Newton.
In my opinion, the BoA unfairly stigmatized medical marijuana patients in the language they used to draft the ordinance, and in the way they handled the permitting process.
In my opinion, when citizens pass an initiative at the ballot box, and that initiative is constitutional, the government’s role [at every level] is to implement the expressed will of the people in an expeditious manner.
Greg, you may want to let the Board of Aldermen off the hook. But I’m not that forgiving. People are needlessly suffering, and I don’t see anyone in our local government doing a damn thing to help them, despite this law having been passed more than two years ago. It’s an appalling lack of leadership… at least that’s my opinion.
@Mike: I appreciate how passionate and compassionate you are about this. And we agree that it is appalling that there still aren’t any clinics open. I propose we just leave it at that.
@Greg– I’m good with that. It’s always a pleasure discussing any issue with you.
From the Washington Post: “a consumer-grade leaf blower emits more pollutants than a 6,200-pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. The company [Edmunds] subjected a truck, a sedan, a four-stroke and a two-stroke leaf blower to automotive emissions tests and found that under normal usage conditions — alternating the blower between high power and idle, for example — the two-stroke engine emitted nearly 299 times the hydrocarbons of the pickup truck and 93 times the hydrocarbons of the sedan. The blower emitted many times as much carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides as well.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-bad-for-the-environment-are-gas-powered-leaf-blowers/2013/09/16/8eed7b9a-18bb-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
Here’s an interesting resource: https://www.quietcommunities.org/
Newton’s proposed leaf-blower ban is the topic of the next episode of “That’s the Law! With Attorney B. J. Krintzman” broadcasting LIVE on NewTV this Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. via Comcast channel 8, RCN channel 15 or Verizon channel 34. Guests will be Alderman Marcia Johnson, Dan Fahey (leaf-blower advocate) and Physical Therapist Karen Bray, MSPT, MFA. The show takes phone calls from viewers: dial 617-795-2540.
I don’t know what disgusts me more:
The fact that the Newton Board of Alders are debating to restrict freedom further or
The fact that the Newton Board of Alders are debating such frivolous issues when Newton owes $1.12 Billion in debt and unfunded retirement benefit obligations.
Today reminded my husband and I why we hate nice weather in our new home town. We get woken up many morning just after 7am each week by a team of industrial strength leaf blowers attacking our neighbors lawns. It is the thing I hate most about living in Newton. I am 100% for a restriction on their use for sound and environmental reasons. It is completely unnecessary and entirely disruptive.
Welcome to the neighborhood Wendy! This morning at the condo complex across the street from me, we were serenaded by five (!) guys using them at 7 AM on the dot. (It was 6:45 last year until I complained). And then another company doing a neighbor’s lawn. They’re still going. This is 90 continuous minutes and counting of high volume screeching.
I’ll have more to say in tomorrow’s TAB.
Update:
2 hours and 15 minutes and counting…
What’s next…generators, snow blowers, power washers, motorcycles etc?
Last summer the city of Newton left me high and dry over the July 4th weekend when a tree took out my power. Nstar fixed it first thing the following morning, and then I had to wait without power for 4 days until the city of Newton could find a convenient time to come out and say, yeah they did it right. You can be sure I had a generator running that whole time day and night regardless of how much noise it made throughout the neighborhood.
I also work from home and when the crews arrive for my neighbors in the summer, I shut my windows for a little if I happen to be on a call. It’s not that difficult to do. I can actually open and close a window in less than 20 seconds.
Leaf blower emissions are highly carcinogenic. We are putting out health at risk. As it is Newtonian women have an unusually high breast cancer rate.
April 14, 2015
To whom it may concern,
As scientists at Silent Spring Institute, we are writing to share our concerns about the health effects of gasoline powered leaf blowers and other gas-powered landscaping equipment. Our 2014 review of likely breast carcinogens (available at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1307455/) identified exposure to benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and many polyaromatic hydrocarbons as particularly high concerns based on their strength as genotoxic carcinogens and the potential for high exposure both from gasoline fumes and from the exhaust of gasoline powered devices such as leafblowers. The Institute of Medicine also recently identified benzene and butadiene as two of the environmental chemicals most likely to increase breast cancer risk (their report is available at http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Breast-Cancer-and-the-Environment-A-Life-Course-Approach.aspx).
In addition to possible links with breast cancer, these chemicals and others in gasoline fumes and exhaust have been linked to asthma and other respiratory problems as well as cancer at multiple sites.
Sincerely,
Ruthann Rudel
Research Director, Silent Spring Institute
Janet Ackerman
Staff Scientist, Silent Spring Institute
We are Newton citizens who are concerned about the harmful health hazards to children and adults, and the harm to our environment caused by the noise, dust and exhaust from leaf blowers
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