The City Council’s decision to permit electric leaf blowers is a reasonably fair compromise in the leaf blower regulation debate. But there are other approaches which those of us who object to the noise and pollution of the devices might take.
Set an example by raking your own leaves. Pay landscapers more so their employees can use rakes. Help your older neighbors by offering to rake their yards, just as one might shovel their snow.
Simply accept that fall leaves are a fact of life — and ask your landscaper to mow your lawn with the leaves still there. (Good for composting.) The high school might organize student leaf-raking brigades!
It’s tone-deaf on the part of regulation advocates to ignore the economic pressures on landscapers and their employees. Let’s minimize the use of leaf-blowers through means other than regulation.
- Howard Husock
