Back in 1991, the city of Los Altos banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Now, 32 years later, their continued use remains a problem.
When GreenTown Los Altos’ Linda Ziff was asked about the extent of their use in 2023, her immediate response: “Huge.”
City officials estimate receiving 20-30 calls monthly about the air- and noise-polluting machines – a must-have tool for many gardeners.
Few citations are issued, in part, according to Ziff, because of current Los Altos leaf-blower regulations. As it stands, only the user is targeted, and any city response is usually caller-complaint-driven. The users also need to be found using the machines in order to be cited.
That may change. Los Altos City Council members were scheduled Tuesday to discuss ways of improving enforcement, including a review of the current ordinance. Results of that meeting came after the Town Crier’s Monday press deadline.
The review comes amid a zero-emissions goal in the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, as well as a new ordinance approved by the Palo Alto City Council last month. Among Palo Alto’s changes, the homeowner employing the leaf blower can now be warned, cited and fined. The enforcement also includes a patrol-driven component, with code enforcement personnel going around neighborhoods and spotting violators.
Ziff, who has headed GreenTown’s Clean Air Advocates Group since 2019, pointed with equal concern to the noise and air pollution impacts. She cited a California Air Resources Board finding that one hour of leaf blower use is the smog-producing equivalent of a Toyota Camry driving 22 hours from Los Angeles to Denver – 1,100 miles.
“These high-polluting gas leaf blowers are prevalent throughout our community,” she told the council at its retreat Feb. 21. “Let’s create and enforce a more effective gas leaf blower ordinance.”
Ziff noted that the technology of the gas-powered, two-stroke leaf blower engine is virtually unchanged from decades ago, while stricter regulations have resulted in cleaner-driving cars.
Members of GreenTown, a 15-year-old nonprofit environmental advocacy group, have done their part by educating workers and homeowners alike about the negative impacts of leaf blowers. They’ve distributed 1,500 flyers and launched an ongoing campaign with the theme “Don’t Blow It.”
There are also incentives for switching out the gas-powered machines. Under a little-known state program, people can purchase zero-emissions yard equipment, such as electric or battery-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers, at a discounted rate. The Air Resources Board has offered $27 million in vouchers for landscape services. The Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) is available through such businesses as Los Altos Hardware on First Street.
Los Altos Hardware proprietor Nina Nesmith said customers can apply for the CORE program at the time they purchase equipment.
“We can submit (the voucher application) for them,” she said.
As an example, a top-of-the-line, zero-emissions leaf blower retails for approximately $700, but the voucher program could cover $400 of that cost.
There is also a statewide ban on purchases of gas-powered leaf blowers, through AB 1346, beginning next year.
Use persists
Despite the education efforts and tightening laws, the use of gas leaf blowers persists.
“I can hear them, and I actually have a hearing impairment,” said Myra Orta, a longtime Los Altos resident who led a campaign 32 years ago prompting the city’s gas-powered leaf blower ban.
“Residents who work from home, housewives, the elderly and preschool children are exposed to the noise and air pollution from this tool when they are home during the day,” Orta wrote to the council. “We have an ordinance banning their use in Los Altos. Unfortunately, the ban is frequently ignored, and the machine is used with the excuse that it is expedient and saves the gardener clean-up time and, therefore, the homeowner money. This is nonsense. Electric blowers, which are allowed, do as well and do not pollute as much. Rake and broom are the most effective and good exercise for the user, and do not pollute at all.”
Both Orta and Ziff think much of the problem lies with lack of enforcement. The city of Los Altos is addressing that in part not only with this week’s council discussion, but by hiring a new code enforcement officer. That officer starts April 3.
Code enforcement responsibility also has shifted from police to the city’s development services department, headed by director Nick Zornes. Zornes emphasized the only change is the switch in department oversight, and that all other enforcement practices remain the same.
But whoever’s doing the enforcement, the key is being proactive, residents said.
Orta recalled the early days in the wake of the ban when police officers patrolled neighborhoods and cited leaf blower users.
“You shouldn’t have to wait for a call, and if you see (violators), you should cite them on the spot,” Ziff said. “Why should this be any different than a speeding ticket? If you see somebody speeding, you give them a ticket.”
She also asserted that the calls into the city are a fraction of what they could be.
“Residents do not want to rat on their neighbors,” Ziff said. “The average (number of) complaint calls to code enforcement is a minimum of those residents who are impacted by gas leaf blowers, because many residents won’t make the calls to inform on neighbors. Often by the time code enforcement responds to a call, the violator is gone. This is a waste of time and resources.”
Zornes offered council members “considerations” for discussion at Tuesday’s council meeting, including homeowner liability, citations issued at first sighting and updating the current fines. Currently, fines are $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for a third. Palo Alto is $250, $500 and $1,000.
Why not electric?
Electric blowers these days are just as powerful, legal and ultimately less expensive than gas models. So why aren’t more being used?
“They want to hold on to what they have. They don’t want to find a new one,” Ziff said. “Sometimes it’s an economic issue. Sometimes not. I’ve had workers say, ‘I can’t get a really good electric blower.’”
Residents also seem to want electric blowers and, in one case, they were willing to pay for it. A GreenTown blog recounted the story a gardener who received a warning about the gas leaf blower ban and presented it to the homeowner. The homeowner contacted the gardener’s other clients and together they raised money – $120 per resident – so he could purchase an electric blower.
Unfortunately, Ziff said, “several months down the line, (the homeowner) said he was using gas again.”
Equipment theft among gardeners also is a problem, she noted.
When informed of the benefits, including better health, some workers just shrug their shoulders.
“It’s a habit for them. They don’t wear masks. They don’t wear protection,” Ziff said.
But such attitudes won’t stop GreenTown volunteers from continually pushing forward their message.
“Electric blowers are cheaper because they don’t need the maintenance,” Ziff said. “The gas (blower) sometimes needs repair. And of course, they don’t need the gas. They really would be saving money if they started out with electric.”
For more information on the state voucher program for zero-emission blowers, visit
tinyurl.com/afcdmyz7.
For more information on GreenTown Los Altos, visit greentownlosaltos.org.
