I Hate Leaf Blowers

I mow my own lawn with an "acoustic lawnmower". I have a leaf blower-a Black & Decker battery-powered model. It blows at one speed and doesn't wake up the dead. I'd use a broom, but the blower's faster. But if it was as loud as the gas-powered ones, I'd push the broom.

All the neighbors have gardeners. All of whom use gas-powered leaf blowers that are as loud as a 747. I can blow off the patio, the sidewalks and the driveway in about three minutes. Battery powered tools aren't practical for the traveling gardener working all day on several yards. And the reason there aren't more complaints about the noise is that most people aren't home when the gardener shows up.

I've never heard anyone else discuss this, but it seems that people with asthma, allergies and hay fever are on the rise. I note within my circle that people get hay fever in the wintertime, which, even in California, isn't a high-pollen-index time. I think that the increase in these problems may be due to the atomized particles put into the air by those gas leaf blowers. If they just blew leaves and grass clippings, it wouldn't make much more dust than a vigorous brooming. But they blow at full power at bare dirt in flowerbeds and bare spots in the yard. What is pumped into the air? Mold, pollen, and very fine dust.

At least all I have to complain about is the noise. Even though I had pollen allergies as a kid, I outgrew them. It's just an annoyance to me, but it could be the cause of health problems for many others. Good luck if you want them banned: the city of LA tried that many years ago, and suddenly there was a League of Mexican Gardeners to oppose it. Oh! the hardship of having to push a broom!

As an aside, we wouldn't have such an illegal alien problem if more of us mowed our own lawns.