This morning’s “Opinion” piece by one homeowner — detailing his frustration with Westport’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers — elicited many responses.
Like blown leaves themselves, they were all over the place.
We also heard from Kristin Schneeman, a Representative Town Meeting member who helped sponsor the regulation. She writes:
We’ve been hearing loud and clear this summer the level of frustration people have with the use of gas blowers, which is why we passed an ordinance in the first place.
Unfortunately change always takes time. Passing an ordinance was never going to guarantee immediate 100% compliance, whether there were penalties associated with it or not. (Witness the single-use plastics ordinance.)
The responsible parties in Westport are property owners, not landscapers. There are probably hundreds of landscapers who work for clients in town, and most of them do not live in Westport; they serve clients in a number of towns (even states), and as such it can be hard for them to know what the local regulations are.
A gas-powered leaf blower …
Our Conservation Department made a significant effort to reach out to as many as it could find contact information for, but it was likely a fraction of those working in town.
Instead of speaking with and complaining to landscapers, I’ve been encouraging residents to speak with their neighbors directly. We are all responsible for our own behavior on our properties, and that of anyone we hire to work for us on it.
Landscapers will respond to what their clients ask of them (as was the case with the author of the “06880” piece). There will always be people who flout regulations, even when there are penalties for doing so. But I’m optimistic that over time, the more people become aware of the existence of the ordinance and why it’s in place, the more people will ask their landscapers to comply.
This has happened in my own neighborhood. After notifying my neighbor about the ordinance when their landscaper continued to use his gas blower, first he stopped blowing when he mows their lawn; then he showed up with an electric backpack blower.
There is actually little reason to blow in summer. Grass clipping are best left in the lawn. Other neighbors have banded together to purchase a commercial-grade electric blower for the person they all use to take care of their lawns.
I’ve heard of other folks who have purchased an electric blower themselves, and asked their landscaper to use it on their property.
… and an electric one.
I know this is not everyone’s experience in town, but things have actually been appreciably quieter where I am in downtown – not silent, but much better.
I’ve heard from friends in another neighborhood that has been taking a very collective, neighborly, civil approach to education in their area as well. Again, it’s not 100% perfect, but it’s positive change.
Westport’s RTM chose not to make its ordinance punitive. It aims for education about the negative health, environmental and quality of life effects of GLBs, and for compliance.
I will note that Greenwich and Norwalk passed ordinances after we passed ours, which go into effect this summer and fall respectively, and they do carry penalties. So any landscapers working in those towns will be subject to fines.
I’m asking everyone to have patience and reasonable expectations. This will take time. Next summer will be better than this summer, and more towns in Connecticut will likely come on board.
But we all need to play a role in speaking with our neighbors, explaining why gas blowers are bad and aren’t really needed during the summer months. Call me naive, but I actually believe most people comply with most laws not because they’re afraid of getting caught and penalized, but because they believe it’s the right thing to do or derive other personal benefit from them (personal safety, better quality of life, etc.).
I don’t stop at stop signs because I’m afraid of getting caught and fined. I do it to keep myself and others safe.
But it takes time for people to become aware of and accustomed to new laws and regulations, and to understand the reasons and benefits of them.
Compliance may be achieve through attrition, as gas-powered blowers become aged and electric powered blowers become more affordable with increased supply. In regards to commercial applications, however, there comes the issue of charging. Landscapers fill their gas cans every day and fill the machines with fuel as needed. They would need to stock up on batteries and charge them nightly in order to service all of their accounts each day. Just a thought…
David Orr makes a good point. Moreover, changing the behaviors of so many landscapers and homeowners will take time.
Community change, especially one associated with additional costs, doesn’t work like instant coffee.
Kudos to those residents taking the lead to purchase battery powered equipment for their landscapers and maintenance peoples’ use.
If we all focus our frustrations on finding solutions, we’ll meet our objectives much sooner.
I have become the Sheriff of our street of 13 houses. The great majority are in compliance but several, notable Covid NY transplants, are not. I stick a nice note in their mailbox reminding of the new ordinance and also speak to the landscapers. Two don’t speak English, one says an “ordinance” is not the law and one said the low gas blowers you pull along the ground are not covered by the ordinance. I do this, not because I like to but (1) I edit/write all night and the blowers wake me up from my morning slumber; (2) I was in a war zone in Vietnam and Westport was beginning to sound like that 7 months out of the year, nearly every day and (3) I was a former federal attorney and like folks to obey the law. Norwalk has a fine for violations, Westport needs some teeth in their ordinance.
As a post script, the Conservation Department has told me that only our First Select-woman has the power to impose a fine.
Incorrect. It is the legislature (the RTM) that makes the laws, which either include, or leave out, fines and penalties. If the legislature passes such a law (which at the local level is called an ordinance) with penalties, it would be the executive branch of the gov’t, such as the police, which would normally issue a ticket and impose the fine. Typically, there is an appeal/review process for challenges to fines and penalties.
Read the ordinance, counselor. Passed in January, it bans gas powered leaf blowers from May 15th – October 15th and empowers the Conservation Department to enforce it without penalty. And that Department says it is up to the First Select-woman, certainly by your verbiage part of the executive branch to implement any penalty. And thank you for the Constitution Law lesson but I do hold a J.D. and LL.M (Finance & Securities) while working for the Treasury Department during the S&L crisis and helping taking down Enron receiving two Presidential citations.
My landscaper warned me that it will probably cost me more for each visit, as the electric blower’s are not as powerful and much slower.
It’s also annoying that the city property across the street from my house uses gas powered equipment all the time.
The landscapers with whom I’ve spoken have said that they would prefer not to be exposed themselves to the gas fumes or the noise, but that the expectations of the homeowners have to change because the charge on the batteries of electric blowers does not last long enough to obsessively clear every leaf from a large lawn, driveway and pathways. Westporters will have to adjust to the living in a more natural (and quieter) environment — and convey that to their landscapers.
We need to move away from the suburban lawn entirely and plant more trees and other greenery that do not require frequent watering or gas power mowers to maintain. I have seen acres of trees destroyed by my neighbors to be replaced by lawns that no one uses. No one plays on them. No one so much as sunbathes on them. They are simply living carpets at the front of a home that are contributing to the destruction of our environment. Sadly I have never seen people enter or leave some of those homes — just landscapers who come weekly to mow and blow.
agreed. our “perfect” lawns are deserts for our fellow creatures . we need to adjust our eyes to appreciate the beauty of diverse vegetation on our lawns .
Kristin, a couple of points.
First, when referring to landscapers, you say: “it can be hard for them to know what the local regulations are.” Indeed, but much as when I drive a car, I am subject to the regulations of that jurisdiction where I’m driving, whether I know the regulations or not. For example, if someone from Connecticut makes a right turn on a red light in New York, they can be ticketed, even though the same action is legal in Connecticut.
Second, you mention: “Greenwich and Norwalk passed ordinances.” Not all ordinances are the same. Without looking at them individually, they shouldn’t be lumped together. One item you note is that the other towns have fines for violations. That’s a very significant difference.
But it’s clear to me that what’s missing is a way to ENCOURAGE migration to electric yard equipment. It’s going to happen with or without an ordinance. So, if the Town/RTM wants to ACCELERATE that migration, why not give people (homeowners and landscapers) an INCENTIVE?
Kristin,
First, I certainly appreciated the INTENT behind wanting a gas-powered blower ordinance. No problem with that at all. But what you passed was toothless, which is what has largely created confusion amongst residents.
If we’re all being honest, we will acknowledge that an ordinance without consequences is (as someone else said) no better than a Sense of the Meeting Resolution. It allows RTM to pat themselves on the back for doing something when they really haven’t.
And, yes, there are perfectly good reasons that you weren’t able to get more – RTM members who just don’t care about the matter and an Administration who won’t enforce it. But in this case, what was passed was worse than nothing because of the public confusion and the animus created amongst residents. (And, seriously, if the Administration doesn’t want to live by the regulation, compel them to do so when they bring you their next budget. if enough RTM members actually do care.)
If RTM “aims for education about the negative health, environmental and quality of life effects of GPBs, and for compliance” then why did they exempt Town from the regulations? Town should have been first in line to observe regulations, but RTM gave Town a free pass. What is the educational message sent when a Town employee is using a GSP on a golf course, park, or ball field?
And, yes, I do think you are being kind of naive. I’m glad you stop for the stop signs, but why do you think that so many people don’t and they run red lights, and they go into the opposing lanes to pass stopped vehicles whether or not a car is coming the other way. If you read local social media pages you read daily complaints about terrible (unsafe and selfish) driving? It happens because there is little enforcement.
So, yes, while I personally wish we would rid the Town of GPBs, I’m not going to alienate a neighbor or inconvenience a landscaper when Town doesn’t follow the same standard and there isn’t any enforcement, anyway.
This vigilante justice needs to stop. Nowhere does the ordinance provide neighbors with the enforcement mechanism; rather, it is the Conservation Department that has enforcement authority. Please read and follow the ordinance.
People who take it upon themselves to speak with landscapers and neighbors are in violation of the ordinance (the ordinance does NOT provide you with that authority). Instead, raise your complaint to the Conservation Department.
It is also a violation of federal law to stick things in people’s mailboxes. Only authorized U.S. Postal Service delivery personnel are allowed to place items in a mailbox. By law, a mailbox is intended only for receipt of postage-paid U.S. Mail.
(Side note: I feel bad for the overworked staff at the Conservation Department. They have better things to do with their time than sending literature to people.)
I wish I had such a coddled life that I could with a straight face call politely speaking with a landscaper about a new ordinance “vigilante justice.” What a lucky person Mike Richards must be! Setting the spoiled Westporter bar ever higher. But probably not much fun at parties.
I am simply asking people to comply with the ordinance, which I would expect proponents of the ordinance to be in full support of.
If you see a violation, do NOT go and speak with a landscaper or home owner — the ordinance does not give you that enforcement authority (which is why doing so meets the definition of vigilante justice).
Why not? I have known most of these neighbors for over forty years and these landscapers, for the most part, do not live here. If our government is unwilling or under staffed to enforce their own ordinances, why would you be afraid to speak to landscapers in a civil manner to inform them? The ordinance may not give you any authority but certainly as a long standing tax payer, you have every right. “Vigilante justice” implies force which is hardly the case. What are you afraid of Mike, that since most landscapers are Latino, they are going to rape and pillage the community?
I do so wish for some piece & quiet but do understand the cost & time restrictions with uses electric. Maybe the town could partner with Westport Hardware to offer discounts on electric blowers to landscapers who can prove they work in Westport. Food for thought…
*peace
There’s an error here—quite obvious one.
This leaf blower ordinance is a false sense of security to the public. There is no enforcement because…there was no support from any department or agency (unlike the Single Use Plastics ordinance, supported and enforced by WWHD, Sustainable Westport, Conservation and the town!).
Sustainable Westport put out literature supporting the already built in campaign of upon request…maybe Sustainable Westport can go door to door and talk to residents when this occurs each time!
I have only lived in Westport ten years so excuse me for being incorrect about anything, but what I have observed is even if this were to add an enforcement layer, it would fail.
Too many rules
Too many assholes. Not enough rules.
No enforcement of any rules including now the leaf blower ordinance. No stopping at stop signs, speeding, no adherence to crosswalk laws, on and on. We need a professional city manager in this town to crack down on what I perceive to be, a very weak and absent police department.
One wonders why all comments must contain full, real names, but accusers are allowed to remain anonymous.
I’m not sure what you mean by “accusers,” but “Opinion” writers — and commenters — may request anonymity, if there is a good reason. In this case, the writer wanted to make a point about the town as a whole, not have commenters start focusing on what was or was not happening his one particular neighborhood.
I put my thoughts into a lengthy comment on the other Leaf blower 06680 blog ” Am I the Only One..”