NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter. Send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to have them published here.
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Dear Editor,
Some have raised concerns about the cost for landscaping companies to transition away from gas-powered leaf blowers. While that concern deserves consideration, it should also be viewed in context.
Landscaping equipment is replaced regularly as part of normal business operations. Tools wear out, technology changes, and companies upgrade their equipment over time. My understanding is that on average, commercial gas leaf blowers last only two years. Equipment must be replaced anyway.
And all businesses must change and adapt to new technologies and new demands, while keeping costs down. Landscaping companies are not the exception.
Technologies will improve with the increased demand, as towns continue switching to electric. The more demand there is for improved electric blowers, the more quickly change will happen.
Landscape companies have expressed that there is a lot of midsummer blowing of grass clippings that needs to be done. In fact, grass clippings are valuable fertilizer and lead to a healthier lawn if left in place.
Most importantly, the broader costs to the community should also be considered. Residents bear the daily burden of excessive noise, exhaust fumes, and dust.
Finding a balance between business operations and community well-being is a normal function of local government. Reasonable restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers would reflect that balance.
One New Canaan resident asked Tiger Mann at a public meeting whether a cost study had been undertaken. Such a study is unnecessary and would be an added cost itself, as New Canaan Town is exempt from the ordinance.
Those who are in favor of curbing the greatest cause of noise and exhaust during our summer months, should contact Town Council at tcdistribution@newcanaanct.gov and encourage them to vote in favor of the leaf blower ordinance.
Sincerely,
Jill LaGattuta
Thank you for stepping up expressing this extremely important issue for the environment & human health. My hometown needs to change its limited ignorant mentality for all residents as other surrounding towns.
Great points!
I agree 100%. We are not here to support landscaping companies. They are hurting their own employees, along with our environment. Let’s protect those landscaping employees and our environment. Leaves and grass clippings are not evil — they are nature’s fertilizer. Use a mulching mower — most mowers can be adapted to mulch, and the leaves and clippings become fertilizer, the best fertilizer. Stop using chemical fertilizers and herbicides and you’ll have more birds and bees and butterflies. Shrink your lawn and have some meadow which invites birds, bees, butterflies and fireflies. Lawn grass is not native here; it comes from Britain, which is cooler, wetter and has less acidic soil. Do what is right for nature and for us.
Agree 100%
You guys are a bunch of whiners. It lasts for 15 minutes and then it is over. Talking about the environment and people’s health. Worry about yourself. These guys are trying to make a living while you sit on your porch and drink your iced tea. What a joke.
Jeff, your comment is wrong on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to start.
1) “It lasts for 15 minutes”: Not true. If you live in town you know that leaf blower noise often continues all afternoon as landscapers move from one property to another. Made worse because gas leaf blower noise carries so far and penetrates walls so easily.
2) “talking about the environment and people’s health”. Yes, gas leaf blowers are bad for both. The supporters of this ordinance have shared lots of scientific evidence about how harmful gas leaf blowers are. Do you have any evidence to deny it?
3) “Worry about yourself”: That’s exactly what we are doing. We are worried about the health of our families and our children who are exposed to carcinogenic fumes and damaging noise all summer long.
4) “These guys are trying to make a living”: Landscaping workers are the main victims of gas leaf blower noise and toxins, since they carry these blowers all day. They are often recent immigrants with little ability to object to their dangerous working conditions. This ordinance would protect them. And there has been no evidence anywhere that gas leaf blower restrictions have caused landscaping job losses.
5) “while you sit on your porch”: What’s wrong with that? New Canaan residents have a right to enjoy our properties in peace and quiet. That’s why most of us moved here. Our right to peaceful enjoyment of our homes is being infringed every day by excessive and unnecessary use of leaf blowers.
6) Finally, your insulting tone is unhelpful and unnecessary. Proponents of the ordinance have explained their case with facts, reason, and respect. You replied without facts or reasons, but with insults. This does not contribute to a constructive discussion or a healthy community.