Leaf Blowers

Are you serious? Is this really a huge problem for you? It seems like a minor inconvenience that comes with having neighbors.

Leaf blowers, the bane of my existence. I think they use them to blow stuff into the street because they assume street cleaners will pick it up.

Agreed.

I suppose one could put on one's most neighborly smile, make a visit to the person who is using the leaf blower, hand them a nice new rake tied with a big red bow, and ask them to use the rake instead. Even better, bring two rakes, and help your neighbor rake the leaves. A small investment for what may have a considerable impact.

Having used both tools, myself (i.e, leaf blower and rake), they seem to do the job in the same amount of time. Given that the rake gives me some physical exercise, doesn't needlessly consume electricity, and permits me to enjoy the sound of the wind through the trees (instead of hurting my ears with a growling motor), I prefer the rake.

Alas, many of the people who use the leaf blowers are hired by landscaping companies, and may therefore not have much say in about the tools provided to them.

If a neighbor likes the idea, above (first paragraph of this post), it would be my pleasure to participate. Perhaps other neighbors would be inspired, and consider the rake?

I have done a little research in the past about this as I hear them a couple time a day very early in the morning Monday - Wednesday. I work late and can never get back to sleep after the crews are done mowing and blowing. My research found that they are illegal for use in the city of chicago, however I could NOT find verifiable proof of this on the city web site or other resources. I would be more than willing to sign a petition and do some work to ban them from the ward/city. They are an easy tool for the lawn crews but I hate that my house smells like 2-stroke exhaust for an hour after their use as well as the noise and air pollution.

Oh, I hate them, too. They're loud and use needless energy! Seeing people use them on tiny yards when a simple rake would do is frustrating. (I can certainly give a pass to senior citizens who want to use them, but, really, does the able-bodied teenage boy down the street really need to stand there forever trying to blow the last handful of leaves that he could much more quickly pick up with his two hands?!) That said, I'm not sure what can be done about them. Perhaps a noise pollution task force: Turn in your leaf blower and we will give you a free rake! :)

I can see how they can be a serious problem for people with allergies, but I don't see anything being done about it any time soon, as E Sherlock said, it is part of having neighbors.

I would say if you see a landscaper company that leaves the debris in the street, call and complain. Even that might not get you far as your not the one paying their bill. I see plenty of people who use them and clean up after themselves and plenty who don't. It would be great if there was a way to make more people do the right thing and take responsibility, but I have yet to figure that one out.

I'm not a fan either. They're noisy, polluting, and blowing leaves and yard debris into the street results in clogged street gutters and a greater need for City-funded street cleaning. Raking works just as well and composting the organic debris provides an added bonus of flower bed fertilizer! Landscapers usually take the cheap, fast route like blowing leaves into the street for someone else to deal with, or spraying chemicals on weeds rather than pulling them. Lots of cities are considering ordinances to ban gas powered leaf blowers because of the noise and air pollution.

@ E Sherlock - Yes. I am serious. Very serious. But thank you for asking. :)

Here's a similar conversation from EveryBlock L.A. I thought you guys might be interested.

http://la.everyblock.com/announcements/apr30-leaf-blowers-should-not-tolerated-1289729/

How lazy can you be?
Sweep the darn sidewalk!! Good exercise for you, good for the environment, good for neighborly relations. Case closed!!

How about using them as an audible reminder to exhale and chill out. You live in a city where there are more noises than this to worry about.

I'm Buddhist. I know about being in the moment, so using leaf blowers as an audible reminder to exhale and chill is not a foreign concept to this lifelong Chicagoan. But thank you anyway, Ja Stoddart. In fact, while I'm sneezing and coughing from my allergies, I am VERY in the moment. lol Oh, well.
Thanks, Becca Martin for the link. Very informative and it made me feel better to know that I'm not alone.

I find it hard to understand why the sound of the neighborhood being maintained is a bad thing.
The sound lasts for what maybe 15 min. a couple times a week at a SPL lower than the Ipod earbuds hanging around a Hipsters neck.

I do understand allergies, having a few myself, but I'm thinking there are probably more than a few triggers in a city. Of course if they are really bad then I'm guessing only living in an air filtered environment would help.

To you it may be the sound of the neighborhood being maintained, but to me it's the sound of gasoline being burned needlessly. The sound of a neighborhood being maintained for me is the lovely little ffft-ffft-ffft of a rake sweeping through leaves. For those who hate raking or can't, the electric-powered versions seem at least a bit more considerate in terms of noise and emissions.

Well as someone who came from a place where 10 acre lawns were the norm I do have a love for power tools. Here with these postage stamp lots, battery power seem to be more than enough. Still the lawn service guys are out to make a living and need to get in and out. Of coarse if you want to pay em more I'm sure they'll stick around and rake by hand.

rakes++, allergies--, CO_emissions--

Before we switched condo mgmt. companies, our maintenance guy would pull out the leaf blower 2-3 times a week and blow every speck of dust (note, not leaves) off the sidewalk, alley and parking lot around our building, for an hour at a time. We live at Lawrence and California, and once I walked to the Walgreens and Western, just to get away from the noise (I work at home) and I could hear the leaf blower a mile away. So it's not for 15 minutes, it is pretty darned noisy, and it has nothing to do with people making a living raking leaves.

Keep in mind, for the large apartment & condo buildings, the residents don't necessarily determine how things are done. If the landlord/association hires landscapers to do the job and they choose leaf blowers over rakes (who wouldn't from a time/cost perspective?) then what can you do?

I respect all of your concerns, but in the grand scheme, is this not just a trivial complaint?

I agree that it's not the biggest concern in the neighborhood, but I don't think people are powerless to make small changes. Condo associations can effect who they hire or volunteer to do the raking among tenants. Neighbors might offer to rake for an elderly neighbor who hires a service. I think this has been a nice discussion. It will encourage me to keep an eye out for ways to help minimize the problem. ...But of course cars are clearly a much bigger polluter in terms of both emissions and noise.

And let's keep an eye out for our storm drains, too. They get clogged up so easily. :)

Trivial is a matter of perspective, I guess. If you have a child with asthma you probably don't think it's trivial when both the pollution, and the dust/pollen your neighbor's leaf blower picks up and redistributes into the air triggers an asthma attack if you're not quick enough to close all your windows (and leave them closed for several hours). Cities all over the U.S. banned leaf blowers including several North Shore communities that don't allow them in the summer months at all -- still plenty of lawn service guys able to make a living up there.

NOW, let's move on to people throwing their cigarette butts on the ground! Just kidding (not really). No, I'm kidding (but really not). :)

Pay your landscapers more to work without leaf blowers.

Very simple: take photo of them blowing it into the street. Make sure that you get the name of the company if it is not the homeowner. Send photo to your Alderman's office, and also to your Ward's Streets and Sanitation (you can find them by going to the CityofChicago.org website) and ask them to enforce the $500 Ordinance fine.

oops - fine I quoted is incorrect. It is "Any person who violates this section shall be fined not less than $200.00, nor more than $500.00, for each offense. Each day that a violation continues shall
constitute a separate and distinct offense." Found at: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/streets/supp_info/MuncipalCode728395.pdf

Still hate them.

Must be lawn mowing day, eh David? Sorry. :)

:)
Thankfully, it passes within one hour. The toughest days are when several residences are having lawn day. The fumes, the noise, the debris in the streets. It's just odd. All that debris being blown into the streets must surely be clogging up the sewer drains. Maybe I'm wrong. Alone I can do something, but I guess that's just it. Alone. Oh, well.

I love my leaf blower and would not want to part with it. I also would not like another “government intrusion” on my ability to choose what I believe is the best (legal) method of keeping MY property clean and neat (a charistic I wish more property owners would adopt). I especially like the fact that my electric blower allows me to “spot” (no pun intended ) “ the ever present “neighborly” dog droppings and remove them without creating a bigger mess on my lawn (can you emagine finding them with a rake...ugh ?).

As far as blowing the debris into the street, that IS illigal and if you see a professional landscaping crew doing that, you should let the owner of the property know about it and they will talk to the company I’m sure. After that, the neighbors should let the alderman know what is going on. After all.... the aldermen are always asking “us” to keep the city’s catch basins clean so THEY should put pressure on any company that is creating catch basin problems.

Having said all that... keep in mind .... you live in a city..... Not a rural pastur ...You will have to learn to tollerate many LEGAL albeit noisy inconviencs.

I'm 48 years, I'm not a child, and I have been through hell and back. Trust me when I say that I am in no need for instruction on how to properly live in a city. But thank you for reminding me that I do live a Chicago and not an apple farm. I have lived here long enough to know what to expect. And thank you for keeping your home in lovely shape. Chicago deserves citizens like you. :)

That would be an Apple Orchid, you are a citified. ;-)

LOL
So true. Those orchards are quite lovely, I must add. If anyone wants something different to do, visit an orchard (there are plenty west of Chicago) when the apples are ready. A good way to escape the lovely nuttiness that is our beloved city. :)

Yes there are,and so idyllic, with tractors running 8-10 hrs a day, pulling eight foot lawn mowers. then there is the chainsaws and the power loppers pruning the trees, the dust and pollen covering every thing. The trucks hauling bins of Apples to the barns. The noise of heavy machinery sorting and washing the Apples. Of course the compressors for the refrigeration of buildings big enough to run the forklifts in and out. Then when the time comes when it's a lovely fall day the traffic is backup up a mile, people are every where, and the bees are out.

Come to think of it I don't pay attention to the relative quite of a leaf blower.

Oh and don't get me started on vineyards having to use gun shot blanks and loud music to keep the birds out of the grapes

:) Take care and I wish you well. :)

And it's sooo awesome when ythey just have to blow at 7 AM on a saturday!!

Still hating them. Now more than ever.

H A T E them. btw...it's perfectly legal to be blowing all that crap into the streets, right? I'm just a sayin.

You were given a perfectly suitable solution- take a picture and report them to your Alderman. Seriously the angry noise on this post is enough for me!

I love my leaf blower/vacuum/mulcher. I can't wait until the leaves start falling so I can start using it. It does a great job blowing my leaves into a pile and then I flick a switch, and presto, it starts sucking them straight into a bag all nicely mulched. That bag then can be easily dumped straight into one of my compost bins.

It all saves me a bunch of time so I have free time to post on important topics like this.

I am waiting for the all important snow shovel vs. snow blower thread....myself, I am a shoveler!

lol
You guys are funny. Thanks for the laughs. I really needed them today. btw - thanks, nick, for shoveling. You are a true friend for those who have a difficult time for getting around the city in winter. :)