Leaf Blower Rules for Sonoma County

Leaf Blower Rules for Sonoma County

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Help Make Sonoma and Sebastopol Quieter and Healthier

By Shepherd Bliss

The March 1, Tuesday, regular Sebastopol City Council now has various options for a leaf blower ban on its agenda. The meeting is open to the public and comments are invited.

One of the Sonoma City Council’s first New Year’s decisions was to preserve the quietness and enhance the health of its residents by prohibiting leaf blowers to operate above 70 decibels. The average new blowers officially operate at 69 decibels. This means that Sonoma citizens can report most leaf blower activity as violating the new ordinance.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the county in Sebastopol, by September sounds above 55 decibels were prohibited, with some exceptions. These two Sonoma County towns have now joined the more than two-dozen California municipalities that have restricted blowers, including Carmel in l975, Los Angeles in l998, and various Marin County cities.

Sonoma Mayor Laurie Gallian reports that she is “actively looking at further reducing decibel levels in the noise ordinance.”

Sonoma has banned blowers on Sundays and on all city-wide holidays, plus Christmas Eve, and the days after New Years and Thanksgiving. Blowers can only be operated during certain hours on other days and cannot be used to blow debris into the streets or onto neighboring properties.

Sebastopol residents requested in 2009 that then Vice-Mayor Guy Wilson ban blowers, which he brought before the City Council. Leaf blowers have been discussed at various council meeting since then and in the media, with most people opposing them because of their documented threats to human and animal health, their rampant contamination of the air, and their noise pollution.

The multiple dangers of the blowers are obvious when one reads their manufacturers’ warnings and recommendations for the protection needed to eyes, ears, the head, feet, and with appropriate clothing. Yet even with all that protection, the blowers’ primary victims are their users. Unprotected by-standers are also at risk.

Former Sonoma Councilmember Larry Barnett, now a columnist for the “Sonoma Valley Sun,” writes the following: “It is long past overdue that these devices of a gas-wasting era were retired.” He points to alternatives—“the humble rake” and “the venerable broom.” Barnett describes leaves as being in “the nature of living with trees.” Some treat leaves as mere nuisances to be blown away. I gather hundreds of bags of leaves every year to serve as life-giving mulch on my small farm.

“A landscape not allowed to nourish itself through natural decomposition,” a landscaper observed, “will grow ever dependent on chemical fertilizers and increasing amounts of water. A leaf blower is not a substitute for a rake … a broom is appropriate for ‘noise sensitive’ areas like hospitals.” He contends that the issue is the improper misuse of the blowers, which do “not always need to be operated at ‘full throttle’ to be effective.”

“I hate leaf blowers,” former Sonoma resident Daedalus Howell commented. “No object exemplifies the worst of civilization (more) than blowers. They seem harmless until one considers all the noise and air pollution and the use of fossil fuels. The blower proves useful only as an instrument of amplifying our ability to waste and ruin. The leaf blower began its repugnant life as an agricultural chemical sprayer.”

The No Blow Movement is growing in the North Bay, Northern California, and beyond. An Internet search for leaf blower bans reveals that a growing number of cities have banned them or are considering banning them. Sonoma County towns would be wise to join this growing movement sooner rather than later.

Among the websites with information are Zero Air Pollution at www.zapla.org and the Quiet Orinda group at www.quietorinda.com.

Sebastopol resident Jonathan Greenberg has also created a video blog at https://www.tv1.com/vlogs/167/posts/246. Videos there contain health facts, and/or show how these machines are over-used and mis-used.

People do not have the right to blow cigarette smoke in our faces nor loud noises into our ears, nor toxic particles into our lungs, all of which damage our health.

The Sebastopol City Council will consider a new ordinance at the March 1st meeting. Click here for more info.

Shepherd Bliss teaches at Sonoma State University, has operated a small farm outside Sebastopol since l992, and can be reached at [email protected].

This is a welcome bit of news, these devices never made any sense, perhaps a vacuum and a bag might have shown some logic.
Yet armies of these descend op on hapless victims and clean cars, even our livestock or animals in the name of lawn care. Happy to sign on this one where is the pen?
:') BJ

this is but another example of unnecessary government intrusion in our lives.can we not hope that people will use common sense in using blowers or shall we again rely on police to make more criminals of us all because someone doesnt like blowers, why not make cars, chainsaws illegal in sebastopol too. .

well i guess we could all sit home and grow pot or be on the government dole.Why bother owning a car for that matter.Government is not your daddy.If government thinks for you and decides everything for you you will lose your liberty.Perhaps a dose of respect for ones fellow man would be more in order.I am sure people will pay gardeners the same mony for less work.Then again we could all shop at Whole Foods and pay their inflated prices, now where will we get the money if we eliminate ones job because cars and chainsaws are illegal.Vote libertarian and less money for code enforcement and law enforcement.

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Posted in reply to the post by tacitus:

I signed the petition after watching the video and experiencing every Saturday morning the two Spanish-speaking guys with earplugs leaf blowing through the complex where I'm staying in Santa Rosa. Matter of fact, I kinda like your suggestion that we make cars & chainsaws illegal too!

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I also support the petition. Leaf-blowers are an unnecessary intrusion into my life, and those of lots of other critters. The problem with common sense is that it's often cited but rarely demonstrated. I would also suggest that an ordinance could call for a "phase-out" period, giving businesses and homeowneres some time to make the switch, to (horrors!) push-brooms and rakes, to greatly reduce the chances for any third-strike convictions for blowing leaves. Yeah, why not make chainsaws and cars illegal in Sebastopol? Might turn out to be really sensible, and if we're lucky, even common.

I am a Sebastopol resident and am woken up 2 mornings a week by leaf blowers. I have requested many times to the building owner and the blower operators themselves to come up with alternatives but they do not care about the neighbors they are disturbing. Because of the lack of common sense and consideration, we the people of Sebastopol must now get our local government involved. I don't like having to make new laws or ordinances but if business does not consider the environment, including humans too, then we have no other options. Sad, but true.
As a note, I am not opposed to electric powered blowers. They are lighter and much quieter.

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Posted in reply to the post by phloem:

I also support the petition. Leaf-blowers are an unnecessary intrusion into my life, and those of lots of other critters. The problem with common sense is that it's often cited but rarely demonstrated. I would also suggest that an ordinance could call for a "phase-out" period, giving businesses and homeowneres some time to make the switch, to (horrors!) push-brooms and rakes, to greatly reduce the chances for any third-strike convictions for blowing leaves. Yeah, why not make chainsaws and cars illegal in Sebastopol? Might turn out to be really sensible, and if we're lucky, even common.

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lets ban cars and chainsaws in Sebastopol are you out of your mind too?Lets ban mowers computers inorganic produce,there is a much larger issue here and you refuse to see it, we are letting govenment do everything for us,we have lost the ability to communicate and rely on a third party to do our work for us, you want more new criminals, more jails, more cops, more regulations, i i dont unless it is absolutely necesssary and this is not sorry, oh if you wish to speak with me feel free to call mark 541 660 1505

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Posted in reply to the post by tacitus:

I signed the petition after watching the video and experiencing every Saturday morning the two Spanish-speaking guys with earplugs leaf blowing through the complex where I'm staying in Santa Rosa. Matter of fact, I kinda like your suggestion that we make cars & chainsaws illegal too!

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Leafblowers in Sebastopol OH NO!!!!! I am embarrassed by this thread to say the least. Many many people are starving in Haiti, and elswhere, and here in Sebastopol you are all worried about LEAFBLOWERS. Get a Life please. People it is real- there are so many starving humans in Haiti alone. After this submission, I am leaving Waccob for good. Just go ahead and embarrass yourselves with your leafblower issues. Hasta la vista baby

For your amusement or consideration:

Inconsiderate, noisy, littering, truly lazy, misinformed people blasting crap into our open windows, or litter from a neighbor into the yard and all over, is perhaps best delt with by;

PICK ONE:

A.) Grin and bear it, another nuisance we must all cope with so someone can make 7 dollars an hour.

B.) These so called leaf blower operators, can make more money raking and sweeping while actually picking up debris and doing a better job.

D.) Simply issue \ sell, seasonal hunting tags allowing people to hunt down the allowed number of leaf blower operatives.... :hmmm:

E.) Stop planting lawns or get a goat to maintain the lawn instead.:idea: ..."Ban lawn mowers \ buy goats"

F.) Limit their use to commercial facilities who never like to pick up garbage or pollution they produce anyway.

G.) Retrofit all leaf blowers with mufflers and bags to collect debris and collect registration tax on all permitted leaf blowers.

H.) Initiate mandatory consideration and safe use classes, licensing and permits for the motorized devices, and place large deterrent fines for issues and complaints that will continue.

I.) Pass an ordinance allowing citizens with paint ball guns to deter invasive or inconsiderate lawn care specialists.

J.) Initiate a "Turn in your leaf blower for a rake,broom and bag, program." or perhaps "Exchange your lawn mower for a goat program." (You get the drift.)

K.) Simply fine operators for littering (If they do,) and add limits to the hours and days of use. Like no Sundays and not before 11 AM.on a Saturday etc.

As to the people worried about cars and chain saws, well I did not realize that was the topic, but I won't complain about trading my cars for horses if we live to see that day come.

Hope both sides got a chuckle here... have a fun day :Yinyangv:

There are 3 or MORE sides to EVERY story, I hope people work this out in a friendly way, remember we are all flawed in some ways, and should listen to all sides.

I never could understand a point of blowing leaves (and dust) from one place to another.

Raking by hand is healthier and quieter by far. Sweeping works well for dust. Probably more satisfying too as it takes some skill.

Sweeping a carpet would be healthier as well, but people use vacuum cleaners. Easy to make this kind of assertion when you are not the one doing the low-wage grunt work.