My concerns regarding leaf blowers are based on the experience of an emergency-room physician who asserts that the allergens, toxins, and small particles that become and remain airborne when leaf blowers are used cause people with respiratory conditions to become more ill. These particles may remain in the air for hours or days after the leaf blower is used, including possibly viruses.
Citizens of Santa Barbara outlawed leaf blowers with the initiative process many years ago, but the city watered the law down by deciding that it would be only gasoline-powered leaf blowers that would be illegal and then only during daylight hours.
Of course, this is nonsense as the same toxins would be in the air whether blown there by battery or gasoline engines, and breathing the toxins at night would be just as dangerous for those with respiratory ailments as during the day, perhaps more so when they sleep. Furthermore, even when the police are notified of a gasoline-powered leaf blower being used during the day, they consider it low priority and usually arrive long after the operator has finished and left.
The proper number to call the police is 805-882-8900 in the city of Santa Barbara and 805-683-2724 for county enforcement. Please call and report one today!
If you are someone with respiratory ailments living in or around Santa Barbara, consider suing the city for its failure to protect your health if your condition worsens. All the city has to do is enforce the law that the citizens passed to protect you, and it has chosen not to do so!
Rowland Lane Anderson
Santa Barbara
