Alameda ban on gas-powered leaf blowers bogs down

ALAMEDA >> Alameda may ban gas-powered leaf blowers in about two years, according to a city report, but that’s not fast enough for one councilwoman.

Trish Herrera Spencer put the prohibition of the machines on the City Council’s agenda last Tuesday, saying it should be a bigger priority for the city.

However, she was not able to muster enough votes from the rest of the council for an immediate, speeded-up ban.

In 2019, the council approved eventually prohibiting the gardening machines as part of its plan for reducing carbon emissions.

“We all know there’s pollution, noise pollution,” she said. “There are many people who have issues breathing and experience problems from this type of equipment.”

Councilman Tony Daysog echoed her remarks.

“I do believe this is a concern for residents,” he said, noting that gardeners often work in the morning when the noise of the blowers can be especially disruptive as people are waking up and getting ready for work.

Residents have repeatedly contacted Daysog to complain about the blowers, he said. “It is something I hear from the public regularly,” he added.

Spencer’s request to have city staff come back with an update on what’s happening with a gas-powered blowers ban, and which Daysog supported, was rejected by their fellow council members.

Councilman John Knox White said he supported stopping crews from using the blowers, but he wanted

to stick with the priorities laid out in the city’s climate action and resiliency plan, which has a goal of making Alameda carbon neutral.

Those include reducing traffic and creating more bike lanes, as well as providing more opportunities for electric vehicle ownership.

“It’s just fallen down the list of things to do,” Assistant City Manager Gerry Beaudin told the council about the blowers, saying city officials were concentrating on actions that will have the biggest impact on helping the environment, such as urging developers to not use gas hookups in homes being constructed.

“This is certainly a quality-of-life issue for a lot of people,” Beaudin said about the gas-powered blowers. “We certainly recognize that.”

Gardening crews with the Alameda Recreation and Park Department already have converted to electric blowers.

Alameda’s climate plan initially suggested a twoor three-year “phase-in” ban to give landscape contractors time to buy replacement equipment. The council most recently reviewed the plan last month, when it approved keeping the same deadline of within three years.

Spencer initially put a ban before the council in June 2018, when she was mayor.

At the time, she asked when the council would review the issue again, and was told the first draft of a plan could be back in January or February 2019, according to the meeting’s minutes — something that did not happen.

A recent complaint from a resident about someone using a gas-powered blower prompted her to resurrect the effort to ban them, Spencer said.

Several cities prohibit blowers, including Oakland. Its ordinance prohibits both residents and gardening services from operating combustion engine-powered leaf blowers and string trimmers, commonly known as “weed whackers.”

Starting this month, those who violate Oakland’s prohibition, adopted in October, could be cited.

Orinda restricts the use of gas-powered blowers to certain hours. Berkeley banned them in 1991, about a year after Piedmont did.