Editorial: There blows the neighborhood!

In gas-powered blower debate, we need to turn over a new leaf|

“All we are is dust in the wind,” arena rock band Kansas once so wisely observed.

And it seems if they ever make it to Sonoma, the song might take on a more literal meaning.

At least that’s the impression one gets when you consider the ongoing Sonoma leaf-blower controversy, which has left some neighbors raked with anger over incessant daytime noise from local landscapers who blow fast and furious to rid property limits of that age-old eyesore – foliage – with as much by-the-hour expedience as possible.

The Sonoma City Council “considered revisiting” town leaf-blower regulations at its meeting this week – the latest round of multiple return visits with the issue since the 2011 establishment of the leaf-blower ordinance. That ordinance limits their volume to 70 decibels and their use to weekdays from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. in business-zoned neighborhoods; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday in residential neighborhoods.

Still, folks without out-of-home commitments during those times may be subject to the lilting cadence of the unfortunately-in-this-case-named “Echo” PB-77OT (complete with tube-mounted throttle and cruise control!) which, according to one blower-booer at the meeting, causes residents to “close doors, shut windows and don’t meet with anyone.”

Some on the council remained dubious to the number of Valley shut-ins the machines were creating and questioned what was really at stake in Leafgate.

“I haven’t seen the problem,” said Councilmember Gary Edwards. “I’ve received maybe 15 emails on this, a small number out of 11,000 residents.” Edwards wondered if we’d also need to ban other noisy things like helicopters, motorcycles or airplanes.

Of course, that’s a specious argument – there’s a big difference between an ear-splitting annoyance that occasionally zooms by for 10 seconds on a Harley, and one that rattles your single-pane window from 10 to noon every Monday and Thursday.

As Mayor David Cook put it: “There has to be a problem, because this keeps coming back.”

Now are leaf blowers such a big problem that they’d force Darryl Ponicsan, the author of “The Last Detail” to relocate from Sonoma to the desert? (As became legend during the last round of what we like to call “the nightmare on elm-leaf street.”) Hardly. And does it affect that many people? Not really. But neither is that the point.

Government exists for the benefit of the many; but it also must protect against, as they say, the tyranny of the majority. And in this case that means the eye-rolling majority who think the leaf-blower roustabouts – or, thistle-blowers, if you will – should just don some earmuffs and wait until the dust settles. Literally.

The council, to its credit, seemed genuinely sympathetic to the plight of the nuisanced neighbors – but many appeared to stop short of supporting a ban on gas-powered blowers (Councilmember Gallian voted in favor of a ban when the matter was narrowly defeated in October). Curiously, the idea of actually enforcing the existing ordinance wasn’t taken seriously at the meeting – with one councilmember suggesting the Sonoma Police Department has better things to do. Chief of Police Brett Sackett was on hand at the meeting and seemed perfectly amenable to responding to neighbor complaints about leaf blowers, but added that his department got “a spike in calls when (the leaf-blower issue) was in the papers, but we don’t get a lot of calls” generally about them.

Sackett estimated his department had issued “a couple of citations in the past year.”

So the cycle of annoyed neighbors not reporting violations because they don’t feel citations are dependably issued continues. Which is why, perhaps, the discussion needs to change away from “To ban or not to ban?” over to “To enforce or not to enforce?”

When city staff returns to the council with suggestions about leaf blowers, as was directed by the council, perhaps what’s in order are tighter restrictions on the machines and a directive for neighbors to report violations under the assumption that they will quickly and reliably be enforced by Sonoma police.

We’ve tried to ban them, or not to ban them as the case was last year, and, well, here we are again – casting to the wind, and letting the leaves fall where they may.

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