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By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The hot-button issue of outlawing leaf blowers drew few people to a meeting this week of the Sebastopol City Council, possibly because “ban” was not part of the public agenda description.
“I think just having the word ‘leaf blower’ itself would catch people’s eye,” said Mayor Guy Wilson. “In an earlier version of the agenda, the word ‘ban’ was there, but we weren’t coming into the meeting that a ban would be the outcome.”
Wilson said he had “ban” removed from an early draft of the council agenda because it is covered under the heading of regulation, though he insisted it wasn’t meant to be misleading.
“It is a semantic argument, but if we had said we would be doing a ban, that may have excited people more and brought people to the hearing, but that was not the goal,” Wilson said.
Wilson, however, was one of the strongest proponents of a ban and made the motion that instructs the city staff to draft an ordinance and bring it back.
Councilman Patrick Slayter said he also suggested the word ban be stricken from the public agenda, but that was because he never thought it was part of the consideration and he was surprised it came up at all.
“That was not part of the agenda item,” said Slayter, who opposes a ban.
Councilwoman Kathleen Shaffer also said she was surprised to see the council agenda’s wording change.
“I don’t want to say anyone was trying to mislead anyone, but I was surprised when the discussion started, that whatever you want to call it, it was a ban and that was the major part of the discussion,” Shaffer said. “I wish more people had been aware of it … I think they will now.”
The ban on leaf blowers, phased in over a year’s time, was approved, 3-2, with Wilson, Vice Mayor Mike Kyes and Councilwoman Sarah Gurney supporting it and council members Shaffer and Slayter opposing.
It would make Sebastopol the first city in Sonoma County and one of a few California cities with such bans in place.
The vote came after a presentation by Sebastopol Peaceful Air Effort, a small group of residents who contend that leaf-blower noise causes stress, the gas engines spew pollutants and the airborne particles cause respiratory problems.
“It’s deafening and disruptive,” said Jonathan Greenberg, a member of the group. “It strikes us as unnecessary. There is a role for government … people don’t have the right to pollute.”
Owen Masseytodd of Sebastopol, who was at the Sebastopol Hardware Center on Wednesday, said he will continue using his electric leaf blower “until the cops show up. I’ll be actively resistant.”
“It’s a testament to the community’s intolerance,” Masseytodd said. “Instead of dealing with your neighbor, you go to the City Council instead.”
Darryl Orr, co-owner of Pacific Landscapes in Sebastopol, said Wednesday the ban will increase costs of providing services in the town but Sebastopol is a small market for commercial landscape services.
“I thought they were going to go with time constraints rather than an outright ban, but Sebastopol is Sebastopol, it is a special place out here,” Orr said.
He opposes a ban, but said he won’t attend the meeting when the ordinance is introduced.
“It all goes back to being courteous about what you do,” Orr said. “I live in Forestville and there is a market that has an old blower that is twice as noisy as it has to be … there are quieter machines … you can operate it and not have problems.”
The city staff was directed to draft an ordinance banning all use of leaf blowers, both gas-engine and electric, within the city limits, with exceptions for city workers in situations that may be unavoidable, such as cleaning out a blocked storm drain, said City Manager Jack Griffin.
Griffin expects to have it ready in April or May for council action.
Shaffer expects more people at the next meeting.
“I believe people are not paying attention. I think it was off the radar,” said Shaffer, referring to the sparse crowd Tuesday.
“The word will get out very quickly. If they do have something to say, I think we will hear from them and when it comes back to the council for a vote, I expect them to be there.”
—–O—–
The Watch Sonoma County Poll
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It is really difficult to determine a true majority or minority on an issue without a public vote. This here poll is helpful and telling (that most people want to see some kind of change). Everyone should keep in mind that the most passionate people (one type of minority) are going to be the most vocal, i.e. posting on boards and writing to the editor. Without an actual public vote — not really something done on a municipal level — we rely on our elected officials (who were fairly voted in) to make collective decisions for our city. Therefore I think that petitions — on both sides — are the way to go here to get the best feel for a majority. A trend the Peaceful Air Effort has identified in its petitioning is that parents of schoolchildren and seniors in housing developments are calling overwhelmingly for a change. If any readers would like to add themselves to the list of supporters — a petition to which the undersigned ask the council to “effectively restrict the use of leaf blowers in order to prevent hazardous air and noise pollution” — please click on the link: http://www.progressivesource.org/SebastopolPeacefulAirEffort/
I am against the ban. I think some people need to get out of their little self-absorbed worlds and do something useful. Wood fires are worse for your health.
Kill a baby? HUH?
To Blown away above: Only 38% favor no restrictions. 62% of us favor CHANGING the exiting situation to create restrictions on leaf blowers, with more than a third of those favoring restrictions wanting a complete ban.
There is a lot of hot air being blown at those of us who favor effectively restricting the usage of leaf blowers in Sebastopol.
Yet despite the constant barrage of insults and distracting comments that have nothing to do with this issue, it is the Sebastopol Peaceful Air effort, which seeks to effectively restrict leaf blowers, that speaks for a clear majority of the members of our community. We are not a tiny minority, but a majority of the residents of Sebastopol. It sees that this fact, more than any other, triggers such anger from the pro leaf blower crown.
My public challenge to those who spend all their words working to diminish and denigrate SPARE’s effort is that you constructively propose which restrictions each of you find acceptable or express why you feel no restrictions are necessary.
Our community and City Council members are listening, and I have personally heard very insightful defenses of irreplaceable uses for leaf blowers. But it’s hard to find those, between all the negative attacks.
It would reflect well on all of us, and feel more like the caring community we are, if we each tried to bring a Peaceful Air Effort to this debate, as well!
Respectfully,
Jonathan
Unbelievable. This is not the Sebastopol I was born and raised in. I would like the old Sebastopol back and the train down main wouldn’t be bad either. Crazy that all this time was spent on the issue of leaf blowers. Are you kidding me aren’t there bigger fish to fry? What will a VERY small minority tell us we can’t do next? We better wake up and get active. I for one am going to start going to the Sebastopol City Counsel Meetings. We have been silent too long.
According to the poll taken at the bottom of this article, 80% of respondents are in favor of no changes in the law, or limited changes while just 20% say BAN private citizens and landscapers use of leaf blowers.
Yet a small group of people (3) decided otherwise, with very little knoledge or research on the topic.
I’m wondering why the many compromises that council members Shaffer and Slater suggested after researching the subject were rudely ignored in favor of an all out BAN for anyone other than the city workers.
I don’t like the loud noise from leaf blowers, but couldn’t we at least try implementing a noise and time of day limit first, or must it be an extreme and one sided rule?
Do the police really have the time and resources to devote to implimenting this law?
City workers will be allowed to use the blowers in situations they deem necessary, but private citizens will get no such exceptions.
When your 90 year old grandmother slips on the leaves that she cannot afford to pay someone to pick up one by one, will the city be held liable?
The Sebastopol Peaceful Air group used 30 year old data and claimed that thousands of people die from leaf blower use every year! When Council member Shaffer questioned this statistic she learned that respitory illnesses/deaths attributed solely to the blowers by the S.P.A. group was actually a compilation of automobiles, factories, and every other air pollutant combined.
If you don’t like the flippant disregard for, and constant, steady erosion of your rights by a small minority, come to the next Sebastopol city council meeting and let your voice be heard.
Wilson said he had “ban” removed from an early draft of the council agenda because it is covered under the heading of regulation, though he insisted it wasn’t meant to be misleading.
Are you serious? Wilson brought up the word ban over and over as he epressed how he didn’t like using the word…then replacing it with other words like….prohibition….oh, that didn’t sound right either….regulation…..nope….maybe these words didn’t sound right because no matter how you put it, it’s Government Intrusion on the private sector that has a very good chance of running local business’ out of Sebastopol! You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.
One more point….regardless of the obvious disingenuous conclusions in the presentation that was brought before Council and the public, as legitimate questions were posed by two Councilmembers or the possibility of having an effect on business’, the three Councilmembers chose to vote yes to a ban that wasn’t supposed to be a ban.
Seems to me this kind of governing is not representative of the public.
So in a year from now it will be perfectly legal to abort(kill) a baby and illegal to use a leaf blower? Sanity and insanity have sure flip-flopped, haven’t they?