Banning leaf blowers permanently

I was in Kings in the Maplewood village and I overheard a couple of people talking about a meeting coming up at the Township of Maplewood on Tuesday October 18th, 2016. On the agenda are the Leaf/Back Pack Blowers again, I feel that this is getting ridiculous. The conversation i heard was that the Township was going to ban the Blowers indefinitely. If this is actually true, I feel as well as many others that These landscapers are being singled out and discriminated upon. We need to keep in mind thatThese Landscapers have families to feed, kids in College, Health care to pay, which we all know is not cheap. I as well as many others feel that they are affecting their livelihood and making it difficult to survive. Lets all think about it for one minute if this situation effected your livelihood and the means of supporting your families, what would you do??. Could you imagine if you woke up one day and they told you that you could not continue to do your everyday job, a job that you take pride in and is your whole life, that you would have to find other means to make a living? What whould you do? I think the ones for this ban, would then look different upon it and what the township is trying to achieve. We are taking Money out of these landscapers, and their families mouths, because they are loosing customers do ti the fact that they cannot do their job efficiently and effectively without the proper equipment.

I do not know if all of you Maplewood residents noticed that the ban that they passed form June 1st thru Sept 1st really made a difference. I have to say that I personally and my neighbors all agree that the noise level under this ban, was WORSE then before the ban was started. It was taking my landscaper much more time to complete his job, because they had to run their big machines over the walkways and driveways just to get them clean causing more noise which was much louder then the actual backpack blowers. As a Maplewood tax payer along with my neighbors, lets all please attend this meeting on Tuesday October 18th to stop this ridiculous ban, and let these Landscapers continue to work and provide for there families. Maplewood is considered one of the most Beautiful towns in NJ, and we all know in part being because of their hard working landscapers and the pride they take in the work that they do.

Leaves were collected prior to the invention of the leaf blower.

Just sayin...

People who have landscapers now will pay a little more for hand-raked leaves.

I will let others draw their own conclusions, but this is Blue32's third-ever post on MOL, and the other two posts were to recommend a landscaping company.

MemberBlue32 said:

I do not know if all of you Maplewood residents noticed that the ban that they passed form June 1st thru Sept 1st really made a difference.

I'm on the record as saying I noticed a real difference, and not in the negative way that you and your neighbors detected.

Maybe Blue can let us know how much revenue he/she lost this summer due to the temporary ban.

sprout said:

I will let others draw their own conclusions, but this is Blue32's third-ever post on MOL, and the other two posts were to recommend a landscaping company.

DaveSchmidt said:

MemberBlue32 said:

I do not know if all of you Maplewood residents noticed that the ban that they passed form June 1st thru Sept 1st really made a difference.

I'm on the record as saying I noticed a real difference, and not in the negative way that you and your neighbors detected.

Definitely agree with Dave Schmidt. This summer was measurably quieter because of the ban.

I would even support a year round ban based on my experience this week when I went out to rake our lawn. Shortly after gathering my rake and broom from the garage I was driven back into the house by the simultaneous start of two leaf blowers and a mower next door as well as a similar start at my neighbor's across the street. There may have been a third crew, too, but it was too painful to stay and look.

Can they ban ugly lawn signs while they're at it? makes the place look like Rte 10.

I'll take that trade-off. I'll still blow my own leaves happily.

What about snow blowers?

And gas-powered generators?

civis said:

What .... gas-powered generators?

Generators are only used in emergencies. I have yet to see an emergency that required the use of a grass cannon.

I doubt they are instituting a year round ban on leaf blowers. But maybe they will ban the cosmetic use of non organic lawn chemicals!!

Klinker said:

civis said:

What .... gas-powered generators?

Generators are only used in emergencies. I have yet to see an emergency that required the use of a grass cannon.

My neighbor has been running one daily for about three months now. Long story, but the house is being flipped, and it is taking much longer than they expected. I suspect they ran out of dough to pay PSE&G and had the electricity cut off which is why they are now running the generator every day that they work on the house.

MemberBlue32 said:

I was in Kings in the Maplewood village and I overheard a couple of people talking about a meeting coming up at the Township of Maplewood on Tuesday October 18th, 2016. On the agenda are the Leaf/Back Pack Blowers again, I feel that this is getting ridiculous. The conversation i heard was that the Township was going to ban the Blowers indefinitely. If this is actually true, I feel as well as many others that These landscapers are being singled out and discriminated upon. We need to keep in mind thatThese Landscapers have families to feed, kids in College, Health care to pay, which we all know is not cheap. I as well as many others feel that they are affecting their livelihood and making it difficult to survive. Lets all think about it for one minute if this situation effected your livelihood and the means of supporting your families, what would you do??. Could you imagine if you woke up one day and they told you that you could not continue to do your everyday job, a job that you take pride in and is your whole life, that you would have to find other means to make a living? What whould you do? I think the ones for this ban, would then look different upon it and what the township is trying to achieve. We are taking Money out of these landscapers, and their families mouths, because they are loosing customers do ti the fact that they cannot do their job efficiently and effectively without the proper equipment.

I do not know if all of you Maplewood residents noticed that the ban that they passed form June 1st thru Sept 1st really made a difference. I have to say that I personally and my neighbors all agree that the noise level under this ban, was WORSE then before the ban was started. It was taking my landscaper much more time to complete his job, because they had to run their big machines over the walkways and driveways just to get them clean causing more noise which was much louder then the actual backpack blowers. As a Maplewood tax payer along with my neighbors, lets all please attend this meeting on Tuesday October 18th to stop this ridiculous ban, and let these Landscapers continue to work and provide for there families. Maplewood is considered one of the most Beautiful towns in NJ, and we all know in part being because of their hard working landscapers and the pride they take in the work that they do.

If it takes much longer to do a job because of a leaf blower ban or some other ban, then you charge more. Tell the you're sorry homeowner but the $50 leaf blowing will now be $120 because raking takes more than twice as long. Or they can do it themselves or try to find someone cheaper.

If other landscapers can still do the job at the leaf blower rates, well, then that's the market. It is what landscapers as a group charge.

People always need landscaping. If Maplewood has become burdensome, then try to get work in adjacent towns.

I wonder if there's a community in the country that has enacted a complete leaf blower ban. When you Google "leaf blower ban" you get Maplewood links.

This list is six years old, but there were a few California towns on it with complete bans:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/september/home-garden/leaf-blower/blower-noise/index.htm

civis said:

What about snow blowers?

Snow has better lobbyists.

Send the problem to Dyson -- they will make one that is quiet (for 5 times the price).

Do these places have seasons like us?

DaveSchmidt said:

This list is six years old, but there were a few California towns on it with complete bans:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/september/home-garden/leaf-blower/blower-noise/index.htm

Bee said:

Do these places have seasons like us?

DaveSchmidt said:

This list is six years old, but there were a few California towns on it with complete bans:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/september/home-garden/leaf-blower/blower-noise/index.htm

Aspen CO, Pelham, NY and Rye NY certainly do have seasons. If you have ever been to the Bay Area in the winter you would know that the trees in Palo Alto and Berkeley also lose their leaves. Folks in these place use a tool crafted from the wisdom of the ancients. Its called a "rake".

back in the day, we all raked our leaves out to the curb -- and set them on fire

Thanks for the history lesson

mtierney said:

back in the day, we all raked our leaves

It is worth noting that the summer ban was not enforced. My landscaper still used a blower. No one called and the police have no interest in policing landscapers.

mtierney said:

back in the day, we all raked our leaves out to the curb -- and set them on fire

When I was growing up in Lancaster in the 1960's, a number of people still used to burn their trash in barrels along the alley - one of many practices from the good old days I don't miss.

Lot of generalities here. There is "no enforcement" because one household has been able to get away with it? Everyone in Palo Alto uses a rake?

Exactly. A full year ban would be silly just based on the reality that it would never be enforced.

Woot said:

Thanks for the history lesson

mtierney said:

back in the day, we all raked our leaves

It is worth noting that the summer ban was not enforced. My landscaper still used a blower. No one called and the police have no interest in policing landscapers.

Seems to me that a lack of enforcement shows that pressure should be put on the town to enforce the law. If money is a problem, increase the fines. There is no excuse for willfully ignoring the law.

A homeowner can use their own (non-commercial) leafblower, correct? Cuz I did, as needed, all summer. And I'll continue to use it, as needed, in combination with my rake as the leaves fall.

There really is no need to ever use a leaf blower. I have about an acre of lawn and never use a blower. A good mulching mower will just chop up the leaves so finely, they disappear into the lawn and provide food for the grass. All this preening and manicuring is a sickness of sorts, maybe related to economic inequality in some way.

This extreme landscaping etiquette is not environmentally sustainable. Nitrate levels in our watersheds have actually gone up over the last 15 years after going down for the previous 20 years. More pesticides are being discharged into streams than ever before in a non-agricultural landscape. Roundup comes down in the rain. There are NO safe pesticides. They are designed to kill things.

Moreover, we are in a drought. Wasting water on lawn watering may impact your drinking water supply. What's more important?

ffof said:

A homeowner can use their own (non-commercial) leafblower, correct? Cuz I did, as needed, all summer. And I'll continue to use it, as needed, in combination with my rake as the leaves fall.

My understanding is if this gets put in the books it would apply to all residents, not just landscapers. I don't think you can apply a law to one group but not another (they got away with it this summer because it was a trial). I think this may be harder to pass since it would mean elderly and disabled persons could not use a leaf blower.

Not sure how much of an impact a ban on blowers would have if you can just ride a mower around and suck up all the leaves as a workaround. We would need a method to differentiate actual mowing vs leaf collection. Maybe set a decibel limit. Then set specs on certified decibel meters. And certified decibel meter operator training.