Ban on leaf blowers worth consideration
|
Falling leaves, once the inspiration of poets and songwriters, now mark the death of peace and quiet. As soon as they drop, homeowners and landscapers attack them maniacally with leaf blowers. The din from the screeching machines bores into the brain. The crisp fall air fills with exhaust fumes and dust.
More than 200 cities and towns have declared gas-powered leaf blowers a nuisance and public health hazard and banned them. Other communities have restricted the hours they may be used and banned blowing dust and litter onto the property of others or onto public property. Some have prohibited use of the machines where population density is high.
In the Live Free or Die state, a ban would bring wails of protest. And, if courtesy and common sense were common, a ban would be unnecessary. Unfortunately, at least in the most densely settled parts of Concord, it's worth considering. Enact one, and the growing number of people who work from home or work nights would be eternally grateful.
Noise isn't the only problem with leaf blowers, which tend to be run longer and more often than string trimmers, lawn mowers and other gas-powered tools. New Hampshire, on many days, has unhealthy air.
According to the Asthma Regional Council of New England, the Granite State has the highest rate of adult asthma in the nation. New Hampshire places third in childhood asthma rates behind Maine and Massachusetts.
Leaf blowers are a small part of the problem, but they contribute to it in dangerous ways. Like other two-cycle gasoline engines, they generate a remarkable amount of pollution for their size – the equivalent in one hour of driving a car 100 miles, the Los Angeles chapter of the American Lung Association says.
Worse perhaps, they make airborne stuff that should stay on the ground: lead dust from the paint used on older homes, asbestos dust from car brake linings, mold, pollen, herbicide residue and tiny particles of dog feces.
Many people who use leaf blowers blast the dust into the road – the modern equivalent of emptying chamber pots in the gutter – where each passing car or truck makes it airborne again.
Children and people with breathing problems are advised to go indoors or leave the area when the machines are in use.
Concord has ordinances to control noise and make it illegal to create "fugitive dust," but they're inadequate and rarely enforced. The noise ordinance prohibits the operation of lawnmowers or "an internal combustion engine blowers or power fan" between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., which most of the year, means when it's dark. Those laws need to be toughened and, when prompted by complaints, enforced, first with warnings then with fines.
Landscapers will argue that requiring the use of rakes or brooms or even less powerful electric blowers will take more time and drive up prices. But what price should be put on the ability to breathe decent air, hear the church bells and birds on Sunday morning, or hold a conversation in one's own yard?
– Concord Monitor
