Public Comment
The Law on Leaf Blowers in Berkeley
“…However, if you are going to take away this tool from the worker, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY HIM MORE if you want him to use a rake, hose or broom to achieve the same kind of cleanliness…” – Hank Chapot, Letters to the Editor, Berkeley Daily Planet October 24, 2014
Hank Chapot’s perspective on leaf blowers is important, since he is a gardener himself. But he is wrong. Nobody has to pay their maintenance or landscaping crews extra not to break the law.
Homeowners and business owners need to make certain the people they hire to do landscaping and maintenance respect our community, which passed the law outlawing gas-powered leaf blowers in January of 1991.
I hope Hank Chapot will enlist the University of California at Berkeley’s better nature, and pressure it to trade in the gas-powered two-stroke leaf blowers for electric ones, which are legal under our law, or better still use ecologically sound and sufficiently effective rakes and brooms.
