Publication Date: Wednesday Oct 28, 1998

MENLO PARK: Leaf blower ban heads for a showdown

After nearly a year of emotional debate, Menlo Park residents will finally get the chance to cast their vote on whether gas-powered leaf blowers should be outlawed within city limits.

The referendum, which appears on the ballot as Measure E, stems from a petition-gathering campaign by a group known as The Coalition to Stop the Leaf Blower Ban. The group rounded up support after a 3-2 vote by the City Council in April to prohibit leaf blowers.

While the issue on the surface may appear simple, the decision to ban or permit gas-powered leaf blowers has forced residents of Menlo Park and other communities across the country to weigh sensitive issues of class, race, economic risk and environmental protection.

The controversy pits affluent homeowners against working class laborers. And it divides homeowners who are inconvenienced by noisy leaf blowers from those who prefer pristine lawns blown to perfection.

The positions of the warring camps in Menlo Park are clearly outlined.

Gardeners say the machines allow them to quickly remove leaves from lawns, saving gardeners time and property owners money. They have offered to restrict the days and hours gardeners use leaf blowers, to trade in their noisier models for quieter, less-polluting ones, and to educate gardeners about their use.

Without leaf blowers, gardeners say, they will have to use rakes and brooms, which will double or even triple the time they need to do their job. The cost of hiring gardeners will skyrocket, driving some gardeners out of business.

Opponents counter that gas-powered leaf blowers are unbearably noisy, disturbing the ill, the elderly, parents caring for young children, and those who work at home, not to mention any number of people who sleep during the day.

They argue that the machines cause air pollution, degrade topsoil and waste fossil fuels. Since the ban applies only to gas-powered leaf blowers, they urge gardeners to replace them with quieter but lees-powerful electric machines.

They also say there is no evidence from cities where gas-powered leaf blowers have been banned that gardeners have suffered financial hardship. Compromising on the continued use of gas-powered blowers, such as limiting hours of use and reducing their noise by by cutting their power, will be difficult to enforce, they add.

Juan Carlos Prado, executive director of the 220-member Bay Area Gardeners Association--the majority of whom work in Menlo Park--says the group has already asked its members to turn over their older gas-powered blowers for newer models. He also says the association will continue to educate gardeners to use the blowers at lower speeds to reduce noise, dust and emissions.

"We need to work together with the community to create a compromise that's livable for gardeners and residents," Prado says.

While some gardeners, many of whom are Latino immigrants, have raised the specter of racism, Prado says the leaf blower issue is not fundamentally about racial discrimination. Instead, he says, it is a class issue, dividing the wealthy and the poor.

Cheryl Zaslowsky, who heads the Menlo Park residents group that supports the ban, says the issue has been framed as a "small group of struggling gardeners vs. a big group of affluent residents."

"Really, it's about community, quality of life and pollution. If it's anything, it's a handful of residents vs. manufacturing money," she says.

Zaslowsky and other opponents believe the Illinois-based Echo Corp., which manufactures and sells gas-powered leaf blowers, is behind local gardeners' effort to overturn the ban. They say the company has been fighting clean-air measures and regulations that affect two-stroke engines all over the state.

Prado vehemently disagrees. "We've never received one cent from any manufacturer in this campaign," he says. The Echo Corp. only gave them a one-time deal on the newer gas-powered leaf blowers, selling them replacement blowers at cost, Prado adds. According to the latest campaign finance reports, the Bay Area Gardeners Association is the biggest contributor to the coalition's campaign. Of the $2,903 raised by opponents of the ban as of October 17, $2,329 came from the Redwood City-based gardeners association.

That's still less than the ban's supporters have collected. Citizens Against Leafblowers in Menlo has reported raising $3,235 as of October 17.

However, opponents of the ban have far outspent its supporters, pouring $4,271 into advertising, yard signs, fliers and postage, leaving the coalition in the red with $1,844 in unpaid expenses. CALM lists $1,924 in total expenses.

About 20 cities in California have banned gas-powered leaf blowers. Los Altos banned them in 1991.

A movement in Sacramento to adopt statewide standards for gas blowers has been under way for a few years. A bill tabled in the Senate last year would have prohibited cities from imposing bans except in the case of a citywide vote.

Menlo Park City Councilman Steve Schmidt, who voted for the leaf blower ban, says if the ban is defeated, the council will work to craft a plan that tries to address the concerns of city residents.

Andrea Gemmet, who writes for the Weekly's sister publication in Menlo Park, the Almanac, contributed to this report. 

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