A fairly small change this week, but one I've wanted for a long time. In the City of Santa Cruz, a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and similar machinery went into effect on July 1. The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a story today, by reporter Arik Sleeper, that goes into more detail about the new law and its relationship to longer-range state laws with similar aims. The city website has links to the full ordinance.
The new ordinance will reduce noise and air pollution from exhaust fumes, but does little to reduce particulate pollution from blowing all that stuff up into the air. To address that problem, I would support a ban on any type of leaf blower, it's unlikely that we'll see a return to rakes and brooms (or electric-powered leaf vacuums) anytime soon.
