Letter: Mobilize on Leaf Blowers

To the Editor:

Once again, as the leaves begin to fall, I have asked Weston Today to consider running my Letter to the Editor about leaf blowers.

What’s new this year is that a group of us in Weston are hoping to mobilize and maybe get some restrictions passed on their use in town. Many of our neighboring towns have already done this. If you’re interested in participating in that effort, feel free to reach out to me by email: CarolWbaldwin@gmail.com.

Have you experienced this?

After a couple rainy, grey days, the sun is finally shining. It’s a beautiful day in autumn. You decide to go outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air…

… only to hear around you the never ending drone of leaf blowers!

Or maybe you’re driving in your car and you have to swerve out of the way of piles of leaves, dirt, and debris being blown at you. And, my favorite: when you see someone with a blower chasing a single, solitary leaf all the way down a long driveway.

They start sometimes before 8 am, even on weekends. They’re noisy and smelly. The droning goes on ALL DAY LONG! It’s the omnipresent sound of autumn in affluent suburbs.

There is a solution!! This year, I asked my lawn care company to come ONCE in the fall to RAKE the leaves, instead of their weekly blowing. They were confused; when I said I didn’t like the noise of the blowers, they said they could schedule a time to come when I wasn’t home. I told them that wasn’t the issue: I didn’t want to contribute to that ever present droning.

So they agreed.

The crew is here today. The raking sound is pleasant. And, in the weeks before they came, I got a bit of exercise myself raking. It’s actually kind of fun and brings back memories of my youth — of raking, leaf piles to jump in, fireplace fires, hot cider — autumn BEFORE LEAF BLOWERS!

Happy autumn!

—  Carol Baldwin

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