Noise-Free Summer?

Robert_Casotto said:

while the populist strain against those who have the wherewithal to farm out their landscaping is evidently ripening, how about going after the DIYers who blow their gas-powered mowers every Saturday or Sunday morning?  

That will never happen. No way, no how.

Be careful what you wish for.  Folks will need to be ready for less-finished looks on their property, or higher prices if they want a finished look and the companies need to move to using rakes and brooms.  

I would not support banning personal equipment, particularly electric leaf blowers.

The proposed regulation excludes property owners. 

mjh said:

Woot said:

I wish I was home all day to enjoy it,  

Not if the noise wakes the baby every other day,  interrupts your international conference calls on a regular basis, or wakes you after working night shift.

I don't think there are too many people sipping lemonade and twiddling their thumbs all day.

Ok   It didn't come out as intended, but I always think of noise ordinances around leaf blowers as a bit of over regulation .  I've lived in Maplewood for 20+ years and raised 2 children.  Landscapers are a fixture at many homes in town.  Our town always looks lovely.  I'm not sure I want to make it even more expensive to hire landscapers and then have even more people forced to do their own landscaping on weekends Or Makng our town less attractive.  

Commercial landscaping benefits not only the property owner but also the neighbors, who get the benefit of nearby beautiful commercially landscaped properties.  The DIY landscaping is universally atrocious.

This is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil.

Robert_Casotto said:

Commercial landscaping benefits not only the property owner but also the neighbors, who get the benefit of nearby beautiful commercially landscaped properties.  The DIY landscaping is universally atrocious.

Maybe you're drawing a distinction between "commercial landscaping" and a garden.  None of the spectacular gardens on my block use commercial landscapers.  The homeowners / gardeners out there on the regular caring for their personal creations and delighting the community.  

There is nothing atrocious about these gardens.  

Now, a bland square of lawn with a few nondescript shrubs being cut and blown once a week by hired landscapers....that's a different story. 

Woot said:

mjh said:

Woot said:

I wish I was home all day to enjoy it,  

Not if the noise wakes the baby every other day,  interrupts your international conference calls on a regular basis, or wakes you after working night shift.

I don't think there are too many people sipping lemonade and twiddling their thumbs all day.

Ok   It didn't come out as intended, but I always think of noise ordinances around leaf blowers as a bit of over regulation .  I've lived in Maplewood for 20+ years and raised 2 children.  Landscapers are a fixture at many homes in town.  Our town always looks lovely.  I'm not sure I want to make it even more expensive to hire landscapers and then have even more people forced to do their own landscaping on weekends Or Makng our town less attractive.  

The fact that you are not home during the time these blowers are howling is a pretty good indication that you do not comprehend the true magnitude of the problem. I am sorry if the well being of my children is a hinderance to your finely tuned sense of aesthetics but you might want to ponder the fact that the same leaf blowers that are poisoning my children's air were poisoning YOUR children's air while you were maintaining your blissful ignorance in Manhattan.  Life in Maplewood South Orange does not stop the second you board your commuter train.

I would add that a town doesn't have to look like a golf course to be "attractive". 

mbaldwin said:

Robert_Casotto said:

Commercial landscaping benefits not only the property owner but also the neighbors, who get the benefit of nearby beautiful commercially landscaped properties.  The DIY landscaping is universally atrocious.

Maybe you're drawing a distinction between "commercial landscaping" and a garden.  None of the spectacular gardens on my block use commercial landscapers.  The homeowners / gardeners out there on the regular caring for their personal creations and delighting the community.  

There is nothing atrocious about these gardens.  

Now, a bland square of lawn with a few nondescript shrubs being cut and blown once a week by hired landscapers....that's a different story. 

Well put.

Klinker said:

Woot said:

mjh said:

Woot said:

I wish I was home all day to enjoy it,  

Not if the noise wakes the baby every other day,  interrupts your international conference calls on a regular basis, or wakes you after working night shift.

I don't think there are too many people sipping lemonade and twiddling their thumbs all day.

Ok   It didn't come out as intended, but I always think of noise ordinances around leaf blowers as a bit of over regulation .  I've lived in Maplewood for 20+ years and raised 2 children.  Landscapers are a fixture at many homes in town.  Our town always looks lovely.  I'm not sure I want to make it even more expensive to hire landscapers and then have even more people forced to do their own landscaping on weekends Or Makng our town less attractive.  

The fact that you are not home during the time these blowers are howling is a pretty good indication that you do not comprehend the true magnitude of the problem. I am sorry if the well being of my children is a hinderance to your finely tuned sense of aesthetics but you might want to ponder the fact that the same leaf blowers that are poisoning my children's air were poisoning YOUR children's air while you were maintaining your blissful ignorance in Manhattan.  Life in Maplewood South Orange does not stop the second you board your commuter train.

I would add that a town doesn't have to look like a golf course to be "attractive". 

Wow.   "Poisoning my children's air".  

I am occasionally home on weekdays and I have survived leaf blowing on my street on weekdays and weekends - and so have my children and family.  It is not a significant problem.  Your children's lives are not in jeopardy.  These are rich people's problems.  

Anything else you'd like to outlaw in our town?  

why are gasoline powered leaf blowers the culprit but gasoline powered lawnmowers, generators and/or automobiles aren't.  it's called low hanging fruit.

I am home during the day and it seems that nearly all of  my neighbors have commercial landscapers.  I am definitely not a fan of the noise, but I have my doubts that banning the commercial leaf blowers during the summer months is really going to make a big impact on the noise level.  In my observation, the use of the leaf blowers in the summer is pretty quick, just to move grass clippings and the odd leaf, in contrast to fall and spring when they are used for longer periods of time when there is much more cleaning to do.  In the summer, it's the lawn mowers and trimmers/edgers which cause the most noise, and it really seems like they are just as loud as the leaf blowers.  Now, the fact that many landscapers simply use the leaf blowers to blow dirt, leaves and grass into the street or onto my lawn is a whole other problem, but not to do with noise.  

"Rich people's problems"?????

I think it is the "Rich people" who are most likely to be hiring these landscapers but not around during the day to have to endure the noise, dust, etc. for an activity that really accomplishes relatively little (in the summertime.)

I'm quite sure that if some restrictions are put into place, the landscapers will figure out how to deal with it.  Maplewood is too ripe a market for them to just pull out.  And the so-called "Rich people" can surely afford to pay a bit more to achieve their golf course lawns, if that's what they want and that's what it takes.

And I still don't understand why people think it is OK for the landscapers to ignore the fall leaf pickup schedule rules that are already in place.

Robert_Casotto said:

why are gasoline powered leaf blowers the culprit but gasoline powered lawnmowers, generators and/or automobiles aren't.  it's called low hanging fruit.

Well actually automobiles were identified as a culprit 50 years ago. And since then they've been progressively forced to become cleaner, quieter, safer and more efficient. 

Lawnmowers aren't as loud as leaf blowers, and they are run for a much shorter time. Nobody takes their lawnmower and goes over the same patch of grass a dozen times, the way they do with blowers. 

Generators run during an emergency. Period. 

I would be fine with banning them year round.  Too much noise, dust and too many people obsessed about having a lawn that looks like a golf course.  

Plus I would be in favor of homeowners be required to bag the leaves or having the landscapers taking them away. (yes, I went there).

mikescott said:
...Plus I would be in favor of homeowners be required to bag the leaves or having the landscapers taking them away. (yes, I went there).

We do need to have a DPW that is large enough to meet year-round demands.  Doesn't leaf removal just utilize a resource that might otherwise be idle?

leaves would still be removed but loose leaves on the street are just dangerous.

Woot said:

 Wow.   "Poisoning my children's air".  

I am occasionally home on weekdays and I have survived leaf blowing on my street on weekdays and weekends - and so have my children and family.  It is not a significant problem.  Your children's lives are not in jeopardy.  These are rich people's problems.  

Anything else you'd like to outlaw in our town?  

Actually, asthma is a major problem in our state.  My kid has asthma and, unless I seal our house up as tight as a button when the blowers start, he will have an attack.  

I am glad that you and yours are don't suffer from respiratory problems but the fact is that your actions are hurting those who do.  Perhaps you should pause to contemplate your position of privilege in this regard.

Forty-five years ago, pretty much everybody did their own lawn except for maybe the most wealthy folks in town. There were no leaf blowers regardless. People raked. Edging had to be done with a hand edger so you did not do it more than a couple times a year. Hardly any pesticide or fertilizer was used. A lot of people had push reel mowers and then gasoline mowers. People picked weeds by hand with a pointy hand tool if they wanted to. My grandmother ate the weeds. It's not that we should go back in time or forego technology. But when taking care of your lawn was a chore, how it looked was just not that important. Unless you let it grow two feet high, nobody cared. There were way more important things in life to stress over. Most people did not care if somebody walked on it. In fact, that is what it was for, to play on, run in the sprinkler etc. 

Back to the future, the reality is a good battery electric mulching mower will cut lawns, leaves, everything without the need to rake or blow anything.

Klinker said:

Woot said:

 Wow.   "Poisoning my children's air".  

I am occasionally home on weekdays and I have survived leaf blowing on my street on weekdays and weekends - and so have my children and family.  It is not a significant problem.  Your children's lives are not in jeopardy.  These are rich people's problems.  

Anything else you'd like to outlaw in our town?  

Actually, asthma is a major problem in our state.  My kid has asthma and, unless I seal our house up as tight as a button when the blowers start, he will have an attack.  

I am glad that you and yours are don't suffer from respiratory problems but the fact is that your actions are hurting those who do.  Perhaps you should pause to contemplate your position of privilege in this regard.

Leaf blowers endanger your children as a result of their asthma?  Ok.  I'm genuinely sorry to hear that.  

But then is lawn mowing good for them? What about pollen, or spring altogether?  

And I thought the issue was noise?  

sac said:

"Rich people's problems"?????

I think it is the "Rich people" who are most likely to be hiring these landscapers but not around during the day to have to endure the noise, dust, etc. for an activity that really accomplishes relatively little (in the summertime.)

I'm quite sure that if some restrictions are put into place, the landscapers will figure out how to deal with it.  Maplewood is too ripe a market for them to just pull out.  And the so-called "Rich people" can surely afford to pay a bit more to achieve their golf course lawns, if that's what they want and that's what it takes.

And I still don't understand why people think it is OK for the landscapers to ignore the fall leaf pickup schedule rules that are already in place.

Yes.  Noise pollution from commercial leaf blowing is a first world problem if there ever was one. 

Look, my life isn't going to be dramatically different with this ban.  And yes I have been home when my neighbors homes are being leaf blown.  It lasts 10 minutes.  It is really not a big deal from a noise perspective - asthma sensitivities aside.  

My concern was more about pricing and small businesses.  

But to be clear, this is likely not a huge problem.  

Yes, it lasts 10 minutes at this house.  And then, a short while later, another 10 minutes and another and another.  All day, almost every day. If it was only ten minutes a day, it wouldn't be an issue.

I find the lack of empathy here to be disturbing.

sac said:

Yes, it lasts 10 minutes at this house.  And then, a short while later, another 10 minutes and another and another.  All day, almost every day. If it was only ten minutes a day, it wouldn't be an issue.

+10. The clouds of dust and exhaust fumes that blow in my windows are no fun either. 

I wonder if people who don't think leaf blowers are a problem live on bigger lots and don't have too many nearby neighbors.  

tom said:

I find the lack of empathy here to be disturbing.

Wow "disturbing"?  Ok. So I will admit that I must have underestimated the severe difficulties that my neighbors struggle with every summer at the hands of leaf blowers.  My apologies.  

So now I'm for the ban.  

kthnry said:

sac said:

Yes, it lasts 10 minutes at this house.  And then, a short while later, another 10 minutes and another and another.  All day, almost every day. If it was only ten minutes a day, it wouldn't be an issue.

+10. The clouds of dust and exhaust fumes that blow in my windows are no fun either. 

I wonder if people who don't think leaf blowers are a problem live on bigger lots and don't have too many nearby neighbors.  

Mostly I think they are somewhere else all day.

we both work during the week, largely to pay the exorbitant taxes and provide a decent quality of life for ourselves.  Part of that includes paying for commercial landscaping so we don't have to waste our precious weekend hours on it and nstead use that time to enjoy our commercially landscaped property, and eat scones.

Affluence pollutes? How about a custom hand cut and raked landscape, using only the finest hand made tools, all organic, with heirloom plantings. Why settle for a mundane cookie cutter landscape? Unique, quiet and sustainable is the way to go. You deserve it!

Robert_Casotto said:

we both work during the week, largely to pay the exorbitant taxes and provide a decent quality of life for ourselves.  Part of that includes paying for commercial landscaping so we don't have to waste our precious weekend hours on it and nstead use that time to enjoy our commercially landscaped property, and eat scones.

Is someone trying to stop you from using professional landscapers?

Perhaps, just perhaps:

In the neighborhoods where there are noise problems; the residents could get together and agree to use a single lawn service, which would service the area on a designated day of the week.

The noise would go on longer on that designated day; but it would leave the other days relatively quiet.

The neighbors might even get a price break, insofar as the service wouldn't have to travel from neighborhood to neighborhood to service it's customers that day. Saves money on gas and travel time; thereby saving money on wages.

Just a thought.

TomR