Greenwich Citizen, June 6, 2006
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
A vigorous tug of war over a proposed ban on leaf blowers between now and Labor Day pitted a band of crusaders against the Board of Health last Monday. The crusaders claimed the noise and projectiles pesticides, grass clippings, animal droppings shot into the air at 125 miles an hour by the gasoline-powered blowers are harmful to health and disturb the bucolic Greenwich aura. Further, the blowers "create noise which can and does go on for hours every day, can cause headaches, increased blood pressure, undue stress and deafness," Lucy Jinishian, leader of the "ban" band, declared.
On the other side of the spirited confrontation, lawyer Robert Carangelo, chairman of the Greenwich Board of Health, asked for scientific proof that leaf blowers harm health. The group was told by Carangelo to take its proposal to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) headed by First Selectman Jim Lash. The step after that BOS approval, according to Carangelo, would be to bring the proposition to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). Carangelo claims leaf blowers are a quality-of-life issue. It has been shown that towns that have banned them on that basis have been successful. Those communities include Princeton, N. J., and Rye, N.Y.
Jinishian's troupers included Dr. Barry Boyd, oncologist on Greenwich Hospital staff; Bob Wylie, a veteran volunteer in the community; Dick Roberts, town volunteer and a jazz pianist. It troubles him that due to leaf blower noise, he cannot open his windows in summertime. Jinishian was chairman of the Greenwich Shellfish Commission for 20 years and was responsible for getting shellfish beds in Greenwich opened for access by citizens. In an interview Tuesday with the Greenwich Citizen, Jinishian said she was peeved about the confrontation with Carangelo at Town Hall.
"During the discussion, at two different times, he related that he had talked with board members about the leaf blower ban that has been on the agenda distributed days ahead of the meeting. "Board members are not supposed to discuss agenda items in secret," she said. "Further, it takes four board members to make a quorum. Only three members were present at the meeting. If he knew that in advance, Carangelo should have postponed the meeting. Without a quorum, there can be no official action." In the presentation to the Board of Health May 22, Jinishian said:
"We are here tonight to ask the Board of Health to enact a leaf blower ban, to be effective this summer and future summers as a health measure, which would enhance the quality of life and the overall environment in Greenwich. "We consider the environmental problems caused by gas-powered leaf blowers to be an important health issue which your board has recognized in the past and not an issue to be decided by public opinion or other considerations. "As you know, we have done a considerable amount of research and have passed it on to your board." She highlighted the following research:
"Blowers create noise levels between 90 and 100 decibels. Adverse health effects have been documented. This extremely annoying noise can go on for hours every day, can cause headaches, increased blood pressure, undue stress and deafness. "The continuing noise seriously affects the quality of life in Greenwich, particularly in the summer when people want to enjoy being outdoors. People should not have to go indoors with their children on a beautiful day just to avoid the noise and pollution "Leaf blowers adversely pollute the air we breathe and our waters. Leaf blowers produce smoke, particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons from their gasoline.
"In addition, they blow all the fertilizers and poisons put on the lawns into the air along with animal offal, and this ultimately goes into the water we drink, the lakes and ponds, and Long Island Sound to their detriment. "This kind of air pollution is especially unhealthy for children, the elderly and everyone with allergies, to say nothing of our pets. But most important, in the summer months when our air pollution is at its worst, leaf blowers are totally misused to blow away every blade of grass and those cuttings could provide natural fertilization to the lawns." Jinishian has been calling for a ban since 1994.
"Since that time, the use of leaf blowers has increased exponentially in Greenwich. Some gardeners carry as many as seven leaf blowers. Every day, three to four blowers are used on individual properties in my neighborhood. "And more people are using landscapers. There are now more gardeners and many are ignorant of the current regulations on noise and use times, which your board passed." Michael Long, head of the Greenwich Department of Health Environmental Affairs Office, said the Noise Ordinance from the Greenwich Municipal Code #6B7, 6B8 states: "No person shall operate or permit the operation of any gasoline-powered leaf blower between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, and between 3 p.m. and 9 a.m., Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
"Commercial and /or residential property parcels of one-fourth acre or less may only be serviced by one gasoline-powered leaf blower at any given time. "Premises located in the Town of Greenwich may only be serviced by one gasoline-powered leaf blower, at any given time, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, inclusive.)" Jinishian acknowledged that the regulations are not working because "there is little enforcement." "No one, including the police, knows exactly which lots are ? acre or less unless they have a tax book in hand," she said. "Nor have they tried to enforce one blower per property from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It would be too time consuming for the police."
The enforcement matter is compounded because many landscapers using leaf blowers do not have any identification on their trucks. It is next to impossible to track them when they break the existing noise ordinance law. "Our proposal of a total ban of leaf blowers from May through September would be more easily enforceable with the help of citizens, because it is a clear statement: no gas-powered leaf blowers between May 15 and Sept. 30," Jinishian said. Meanwhile, oncologist Boyd said he is concerned about more than leaf blower noise.
Air pollution connected with the blowers worries him. He believes gasoline powered engines are why Connecticut is number one in the country in breast cancer. Boyd related that, relatively speaking, a gasoline powered leaf blower pollutes about the same as 40 cars idling on a lawn. "Connecticut has one of the highest rates of cancer," he said. "It is critical that we eliminate pollution from gasoline-powered engines where we can. "Summertime is when Connecticut air is most polluted. A summertime ban on leaf blowers makes sense to me." Carangelo countered:
"The town must not make laws that are unreasonable and arbitrary. "Such laws are hard to enforce." Jinishian said the Board of Health in 1994 enacted a ban on leaf blowers after 3,000 citizens sent it post cards demanding a ban." But the ban was repealed after the Board of Health conducted a public hearing on the subject. "Some 300 landscapers appeared to oppose the ban," she said. They complained that the town was trying to "interfere in their means of making a living."