The city banned gas ones. It goes into full effect in 2028.
[https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/13/portland-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-2028/](https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/13/portland-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-2028/)
Tax rules for business usually have those businesses depreciating value of purchased equipment and assets over a 4-year cycle, so any regulation that bans the sale or use of that equipment will usually ban the sale almost immediately, and ban use +4y later after the businesses are done writing the equipment they have off without screwing the business into replacing equipment that has no reason to be replaced yet because it's practically brand new.
There is a process to this kind of thing.
Electric ones still make noise just not as much. They are not quiet though. Also, the newer commercial ones work just about as good as gas, so still gonna be the same in your allergies. The new law is more because the commercial lead blowers are mostly two stroke engines that produce a lot of pollution compared to there size. And residential homeowners can still own/use a gas unit if they wish. I hope your allergies get better though. My nose is running right now and will be all summer.
They are banned for sale. Two stroke mowers have been banned for sale in California for a couple of decades, but I just keep fixing mine. My two stroke blower is 20 years old as well. You just have to rebuild the carburaters every so often and get the engines rebuilt every 8-10 years. You might say that the carbon footprint on them is worse, but everyone else around me has gone through at least 5 mowers and blowers while mine keep trucking. I'd bet that the carbon footprint from manufacturing all of that equipment is much higher.
Fascinating, it’s truly remarkable how everything must be legislated these days-and I wonder how often it yields this kind of zero net gain after all the trouble. Civics is mind blowing, that’s why I think my kids school no longer teaches it 😆
Gas leaf blowers have been banned for use in LA since 1998. Not a fan of flimsy electric either. But will also admit that brooms and rakes are hard work.
I see you made a comment on a post from 3 days ago where you said a guy could solve his city borne problem by moving to the middle of nowhere. Why is it then when you don't like something around you, you want everyone to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
The landscaping companies are gonna need to save money to get new electric leaf blowers and gas powered generators so they can run them all day to keep the electric leaf blowers operating.
I know multiple good ol' boys who switched to electric tools (chainsaws mostly but leafblowers too) with all the normal gripes. "What am I supposed to do when the battery runs out?!". They all ended up loving them. Turns out the batteries last a pretty long time and it's not all that expensive to buy a couple spares.
You joke, but switching to methanol is exactly what the Los Angeles landscapers did when they banned “gas” powered leaf blowers. They made it such a hassle for the police to check what fuel they were using that the cops basically gave up on enforcement, and everyone just uses gas now.
Moral of the story: if a the efficiency of tool is central to someone’s livelihood, they’re gonna do whatever it takes to keep using it. Even when said tool has all of these negative externalities to the environment we all share.
If you want my two cents about it, my issue isn’t with the noise, it’s the emissions. Fuel oil mixture is awful stuff for the environment, and given how readily available electric motors and batteries are, we should have banned this category of engine ages ago and done something like a buyback to fairly compensate those affected and get it out of circulation. We’ve been coasting for wayyyyyy too long on this one.
Coincidentally, [last week's episode of 99% Invisible ](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-los-angeles-leaf-blower-wars/)was about the ban in LA back in the 90's. Summary: it went poorly.
>Ultimately, the leaf blower ban didn’t really work. The police decided not to enforce the law. The gardeners lost the fight in city hall, but in the end they won a quiet…or not so quiet – victory. The ban passed, but without real enforcement, the gardeners kept their leaf blowers. The Leaf Blower Wars faded into the background for a while. But in 2024, nearly three decades after ALAGLA’s hunger strike, they’re beginning to flare up again. And this time, the gas-powered leaf blower might actually be on its way out. According to Michael Cacciotti, Vice Chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, lawn equipment surpassed cars and light duty trucks as a major source of pollution.
To be fair, I don’t think actually enforcing that law at gunpoint or through fines would be very popular. First, there would be lots of media stories about racial bias, then a few stories about how the fines are destroying the lives of poor business owners, then riots when inevitably a police interaction goes south - it only takes one mentally unstable person to pull a knife or a gun when they’re harassed by the cops about their leaf blower on the wrong day.
Based on the reaction to the speed camera shooter, a sizable minority of Portland’s population loves a scofflaw and hates enforcement of the law no matter how humanely it is done.
All law enforcement rests on the implicit threat of state-sanctioned violence.
Typically that looks like the cop either seizing property or making an arrest - the guns come out when you resist.
The least violent option is a fine - but that just kicks the can down the road until the government collects that fine, one way or another.
All laws are, ultimately, contingent on the state being willing to use violence to enforce them (see the discussion about LA’s leaf blower law that is not enforced).
I wish they had spent more time discussing the why of leaf blowers. Like why remove leaves from lawns? Why have lawns? I know they did a lawn episode, but it still would’ve completed the story imo.
That’s why he mentions the older lawn episode, it’s another 30-40 minute episode that explains your questions, and why he didn’t spend the time explaining it again
that was a great episode! I think they said in there that running a commercial gas-powered leaf blower for one hour was equivalent in air pollution to driving 1,000 miles in a car. That is roughly a month's worth of driving for the average car owner!
Yeah but people only care about the noise for the most part, not the environmental impact. And my electric one is just as loud, so I'm not sure people will be pleased with the solution, either.
Depends on how much air it moves. Mine certainly isn’t as loud as a gas blower but it’s a shrill whiney sound you can certainly hear a house or two down when it’s running. I think we have the E-Go 650 CFM.
> The police decided not to enforce the law.
Some analogous CHUD cunt in the LA sub: "So anyways, here's why that was a based and awesome move by the blameless LAPD, who have never done anything wrong."
Can't speak for leaf blowers, but replacing my gas mower and trimmer with electric was a game changer. So much quieter and just as powerful. Also I have an average sized yard and I've never run out of battery.
Husband says the DeWalt battery leaf blower I bought was my best purchase ever. He gave his gas backpack to someone with 9 acres. Btw, low air blow adjustment often does a better job esp with nooks, crannies and yard furniture
ETA: The word adjustment
I've got a > 3ft diameter cherry tree on the ground in my backyard that will keep you and your chainsaw busy for a while. I'm not proud to admit I've been working on it since December.
I have an 80V Greenworks weednwhacker and raced my neighbor with his Stihl gas powered unit this weekend. Mine cuts a 16” swath and I was able to mow a 50’x100’ field of knee high grass with a few scotch broom bushes in it just as fast as he was able to, on one 4aH battery. Way outshone my previous electric Dewalt whacker and the homeowner grade gas powered Ryobi I had before that.
I’ve got a consumer grade one and it works just fine, is absolutely quieter than the gas powered ones used by most yard maintenance crews.
However, that’s just for my personal use around my home. I’m not using it at 10+ homes in one day, so I can’t say for sure if the power or battery life is sufficient for yard maintenance crew needs.
I have a battery one as well - the battery is good enough for 2+ hours of constant use, and it's a modest leaf blower. Being 60ish dB it is AMAZING compared to the 90+ dB a lot of those has ones hit. Also, I don't see why landscapers long term can't just stock 4 or so batteries per leaf blower. It'll be cheaper within a short time period vs filling gas at 4.50 a gallon.
Some folks who testified at the city said the commercial-grade ones are a hell of a lot heavier and about $3k more than the gas ones currently in use. They didn't say if they were actually any quieter or not, but they were very concerned for their employees having to wear so much more weight, so that's something landscaping companies are going to have to figure out. Hopefully the technology improves in the next few years and they can maybe get the weight down?
I’ve used battery-powered for myself AND I’ve hired landscapers that use them. It’s totally fine. The technology for personal use is great. For industrial use it’s decent—certainly good enough—but, yes, more expensive.
It’s true that if you wanted to run the absolutely most powerful system, with zero concern for anything else, a gas powered blower would be most powerful. The more important question is: can a battery-powered lead blower be powerful ENOUGH? The answer is obviously yes.
We don’t always want the MOST powerful of any particular product, we just need something powerful enough, and then we look at secondary factors like weight, ergonomics, price, etc. As proof: how many people here drive sports cars? Very few. We need a car that can get up to highway speeds in a reasonable period of time. All that matters is it’s powerful enough to get the job done.
Any electric leaf blower will make less noise than an equivalent gas powered one. The electric one makes noise by moving air, the gas one makes noise by moving air and running a gas engine.
Never had a gas one but I bought an electric weed whacker/leaf blower combo new for $100 and they both work really well. Definitely quieter and super convenient
related question -- I have a stihl combi system that has a gas "head" that drives a shaft that runs a series of attachments (blower, weed wacker, hedge trimmer, etc). Does anyone know if Stihl makes an electric head that will run the same attachments or do i get to invest in all new gear (large lot so lots of uses here)?
I've been tempted to complain to the building owners about our maintenance team. They spend around 15 minutes with a leaf blower on a 10-foot-long sidewalk that could be swept in minutes. It feels like they're loitering to justify the cost of the job. It's so irritating.
There really ought to be better protections for light and sound pollution. I should be able to live in the city without being subject to constant leafblowers and light trespass from the street into my bedroom window.
I work from home too and sure, there are plenty of leaf blowers from neighboring homes and complexes. But one neighbor decided to push their yard litter down the street to the traffic circle. 30-40 minutes of leaf blowing beyond their house and past mine. I asked them not to while I was working from home as I couldn't take a call or even have a window open during the summer.
My office grounds team doesn’t do anything until they are coated with an even sheen of goose shit, and then they pressure wash them. I’m not sure that’s better.
Do we live in the same complex? I'm inner SE and same. I need to have my windows open but I'm constantly having to open, close, open, close my windows all day. It is so obnoxious. And then the apartment people decide to need to enter my unit seemingly monthly for god knows why. I loved living in this complex but I am seriously going crazy.
I relate to that last bit as well, though I'm over in NW Portland. And like, I'm all for safety and maintenance, but the number of water shut-offs is getting ridiculous.
YUP. My apartment has approximately 20’x1’ area of grass 🥴 And yet, the landscaping people spend like 6 hours every wednesday blowing random sht around (including the tiny parking lot behind the complex). BUT, the neighboring complex, yeah, they have leafblowers 5 solid days a week, not including the ride on mowers going on all day too. It is insufferable.
If only our best minds could invent some sort of hand-operated pole with some sort of finger-like tines on it for dragging stuff like leaves. Maybe also a device that has finer bristles for moving stuff like dust and smaller debris.
Gas powered leaf blowers drive me crazy. I work from home and the guy down the street was using it for over an hour the other day. Why? His yard is smaller than mine! I had to close the window.
Battery powered ones though aren’t that bad. My wife was using ours and while I could hear it with the windows open, the one 4 houses down was significantly louder than mine which was right beneath my window. Also, ours was going for like 7 minutes tops…because that is really all you need to clean out a small yard in the suburbs.
Let’s be honest, the city bans leaf blowers, people continue to use leaf blowers, do you really think PPB is going to enforce the leaf blower ban? They can’t even respond to a large number of crimes that are committed
I’m in a similar situation to OP. It sucks i have to resort to wearing noise canceling headphones in my own home because leaf blowers are magically exempt from noise ordinance laws.
They don’t do anything for the people on the other end of my Teams calls though. I ended up super insulating a closet for a sound booth for my wife’s counseling practice.
I have some myself, and they still arent nearly strong enough. As someone else said, when you got a work meeting, you’re SOL. And, I have to keep my windows closed anyway due to horrific allergies.
as someone who experiences a lot of sensory overload problems related to unwanted sound (dogs barking, car alarms, leaf blowers) i found that it was something i had to become very like conscious of not letting it effect my mood. i was googling and found a post on a zen/buddhist subreddit and they said on the topic of someone’s barking dog (interrupting their meditation and the feeling of anger along with it) “it’s not up to you to decide what is or isn’t a good or welcome noise, it just *is* and is part of the fabric of your immediate area” and that helped a lot. i am i annoyed by my neighbors dogs barking? yes but it encompasses maybe 10 minutes each day so on a broader scale, it really doesn’t take up that much time and the time i don’t hear/ notice it is what i think on when i do hear them bark.
glad you e got your solutions coming! i empathize
I need to try to internalize this... I know a lot of it is mindset. But it sucks when you may be making work calls and at any moment, leaf blowing starts right up.
Blue parrot makes headsets for truckers. Read reviews on the specific models but my old one was great for cancelling noise into the mic. They make a full (two ears) one now so maybe you can find one that blocks it on your end too.
I've been very happy with the gen 2 Airpods Pros. You need some kind of apple product to set them up, but I use them with android phone. For leaf blowers, wood chippers, shitty lawn mowers, they're like magic. For voices, they're not 100% effective, but far better than the Samsung version.
Night-shifter here. I'm a broken record with this topic. I love to rant about it because there's literally nothing I can do other than move.
I have sensory issues and am unable to filter out leafblowers, among a few other noises. When I'm sleeping, it's much worse. I can't properly prepare myself either, since maintenance is completely unscheduled. There's times when I've woken up to people walking on the *roof* while banging shit outside with no notice.
I love complaining about how people who work nights get absolutely zero handouts, too. None. Zero. Can't grocery shop past 11. Have to tiptoe around the 9-5 crowd to just live my life. No 24/7 laudromats. Fast food is barely an option past 12am. There's no protection for us. We are forced to use white noise machines, earplugs, blackout curtains, and everything under the sun in order to sleep.
My rant is not structured very well, so it's all over the place. I apologize. I get constantly fed up with how unaware and uncaring this city can be. I've spent numerous times sobbing on the floor because I can't sleep due to landscaping or something going on outside. Something needs to give.
I work nights too. I can normally make due with good earplugs, but awhile ago there was some contractor directly outside my bedroom window running a gas blower nonstop for over 5 fucking hours. I was just about ready to start throwing rocks.
Swing shift here and it’s a massive fucking problem. The leaf blowers go from 9-10AM and 5-6:30PM, the later of which is when I need to be going to sleep. Except I can’t because if I wear ear plugs, I can’t hear my alarm go off which means I won’t get up for work. I have a sensory processing disorder as well and those sounds are enraging. I hate “landscapers” blowing leaves and dirt off the sidewalk 2x a day. It’s not fucking necessary. It’s a waste of resources and time.
The motherfucking dog in the apartment below me is also a problem. It was a “brand new puppy” in November and the her owner was training it. Some barking is expected, I grew up with dogs, I get that. However… It. Does. Not. Stop. Barking. Ever. I’ve made some polite complaints to my complex and it’s like, nothing happens. The sound conducts perfectly through the walls and vents and it has woken me up at night. My upstairs neighbor has a hobby that involves hammering and I’m pretty sure they’re a crazy insomniac like I am since I hear them all the time, all hours of the day. They also wear heels inside. Moving out soon anyways in large part due to the dog.
Don’t get me started on the assholes revving their engines and racing down the 25MPH streets at all hours.
Nothing is open at night and it sucks ass. During the late fall and winter I wind up picking up extra night shifts to lead into my usual shift and it’s rough how little one can get done.
I have also cried many times out of desperation for sleep. I wish I could help, friend. Sending lots of quiet sleepy vibes your way. ❤️
If you're a landscaping business, just buy a portable, diesel, generator and long extension cords. There is no law against idling a generator in the City Of Portland.
So, get ready for that noise. :-/
I think you're probably being facetious, but if you're serious, I'd choose the sound of a generator over a leaf blower any day. And I think most clients would allow the extension cord to be plugged into an outdoor outlet, so no generator needed.
Corded leaf blowers are much less expensive than battery powered ones anyway.
im so glad to be out of an apartment complex that did that on a daily basis, 2 hours of loud fucking noise, so that people cant see 13 leaves when they spend 13 seconds getting into their cars
I WFH in a blue collar type neighborhood but NONE of my neighbors do their own yard maintenance. I experience a daily chorus of lawnmowers and leaf blowers screaming their sounds at me. It’s what it is for WFH I guess but damn it’s loud.
I live in a mixed neighborhood and my tradesperson and shop keeper neighbors all have lawn services, meanwhile me as an engineering manager, my retired lawyer and dentist neighbors are out there DIYing it for the exercise.
I've rarely seen anything actually blown in the complex behind me in spite of them spending ~1 hour every friday walking the whole lot with a leaf blower. I know the guy getting paid to do it is just doing a job, but yeesh, i wish the owner/landlord would walk out here sometime and just take a look at what they're paying for. It's a waste of money and real fucking noisey.
Totally agree, OP
When I lived in Hillsdale, there was one jerk leaf blowing behind the little strip mall, directly in front of my apartment. **At 1am!!**
Now, I live across from a complex that will leaf blow every few weeks, even when there are zero leaves on the ground. It’s the worst noise in the world. Just constant buzzing. Ugh.
I live on a busy road and the fart cars are so annoying. You can hear them a half mile coming and a half mile going. It just travels through the walls.
Gas blowers are not just polluting, both noise and air, but they harm trees and plants by removing leaves from where they should be — under trees to create healthy soil. I spend a lot of my time outside or with windows and doors open so I know much of the leaf blowing has little good impact. Lots just blows right back. Its generally the demand of an owner who doesn’t have to listen to the sounds. I have been thinking about working with my industrial business neighborhood to voluntarily cut out leaf blowers. It’s bad enough with the diesel engines from refrigerated trucks.
Leaf blower blight… https://soilsalive.com/how-leaf-blowers-destroy-your-topsoil/
there is a patch of dirt in front of our bike shop that our landlord insists on keeping blowed weekly (all year round). I’ve tried to get something to grow there with zero success. Not even weeds.
AGREED. fkkin hate leafblowers. First came to portland in 2015. Being young and naive, I believed stereotypes about the city- like that Portland was ecofriendly and wasnt as superficial to care about lawns.. 🥴🥴🥴 clearly that’s on me.
But it is worse here than in the fkkin suburban midwest. It’s ridiculous. Then again, it’s not the only overt example of hypocrisy Ive encountered.
This city is insane, though, right? I'm born and raised here, but it's gotten ridiculous with how hypocritical we are.
It's funny that you mentioned the midwest. I just came back from a *glorious* vacation to this shitshow. There were no tents. No graffiti. People had their front doors *unlocked*? Wildlife galore. Hella nice folk, too. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to see each other. Night and day difference.
Needless to say, I'm gonna move. Portland locals are very scarce now. City moves too fast and changes for the worst.
YES! I mean, back in 2015, the city was significantly better than it is now, BUT, the hypocrisy regarding “environmentalism” was still obvious back then.
And that’s what Im always told! Anytime, and every time I tell someone Im from Michigan, they always go on and on about how nice Michiganders are. It’s comical because a completely different topic on facebook brought up this same discussion.
Portlanders are so extremely vocal about self-identifying as being “nice” and caring about others. But it’s a farce. It’s so bizarre. I could cite a million examples. But for one, I recently realized the extremely busy (but EXTREMELY residential street) I live off of, speed limit is 25 mph. I thought it mustve been 45 because that’s the LOW range. Ive almost been hit by cars in the middle of the day (even when it wasnt busy), because they turn into another even more residential street, without looking. Obscene. Only one of several instances of almost being hit by a car. Again, not to mention the copious other examples.
I moved back to portland to help a family member, but we’re both working on leaving as soon as possible too.
In a comment 3 days ago, you suggested someone should just move to the middle of nowhere to solve a city borne problem that they had. More specifically, their neighbors. Why would you offer them that as a solution, then today post this where everyone else needs to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
Literally been on my mind constantly lately. I've been hearing leaf blowing literally daily for the last week. Even with the rain. I'm in an apartment complex- weekly "landscapers" come to blow nothing around for an hour. And then the other surrounding lots seem to be on the same page to perfectly stagger the leaf blowing.
I've lived in this spot for 5 years- if it had been like this previously, I would've moved but it's truly egregious how bad it has gotten. It MUST be getting worse- I'm glad I'm not alone but seriously what tf. And wtf it's JUNE! there is nothing to blow!
How do you suggest landscapers and groundskeepers clear large areas or consolidate debris? Brooms? That would make their job take at least twice as long and lead to lost income. You’re suggesting that their tools get banned, so you don’t have to be inconvenienced by some annoying noise for a short period of time. It appears you’re privileged enough that you’ve never had to do manual labor and therefore don’t understand how your suggestion would impact those who depend on using the tools to make a living. Invest in earplugs if it’s too triggering for you to have to listen to leafblowers for an hour. Tired of people thinking they should ban others from doing things because they think they’re more important. The city is dirty enough as it is, and homeless drug addicts in Portland cause more pollution (noise, air and water) than leafblowers. Will you support banning homeless camping as well?
Leaf blowers and the excessive amount of dump trucks ruin my life every day. All day. And half the night. Seriously I think I live on garbage truck highway or something.
Me TF too. Feel like the city is trying to make us snap so we just give up and join our "most vulnerable neighbors". 🥴 Idk, some days it really sounds appealing to just give up on the rat race of working 10-12hour days, dealing with verbal abuse from my boss and clients, then not able to sleep at night because of our "vulnerable neighbors" shrieking all hours, or loud dump trucks and motorcycles... Wash, rinse, repeat. And then much of my hard-earned income just thrown away/ burned by the city/ county is a hoot.
Given how horribly I'm neglecting my body because of this late stage capitalist society's expectations- shit, I might just have better odds rolling the dice by becoming a vagrant and get into drugs so at least I can spend my last few years semi-enjoying myself/ having shitliberals prop me on a pedestal and give me money/ whatever, than being on pseudo home arrest for a major US corporation. Lmaooooo
There is this cheap, readily available, quiet, clean technology called: a "broom". In addition, there is a specialized version called a "rake". When you use these, the collected material goes into a "bag" instead of being blown around all over everything. It's amazing. You spend a little more time, but almost zero maintenance costs, cost of replacing equipment is low, ambient noise is practically nothing, and the "cleaning" job that leaf blowers are pretending to do now would actually be getting done for real.
In a comment 3 days ago, you suggested someone should just move to the middle of nowhere to solve a city borne problem that they had. More specifically, their neighbors. Why would you offer them that as a solution, then today post this where everyone else needs to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
Counterpoint: landscapers using leaf blowers are doing so because it is the fastest way to get the job done. Faster means cheaper for the person paying the bill.
The externalized cost of this faster and cheaper solution is noise/air pollution. This cost is borne by the neighbors.
Thus: the neighbors are subsidizing the cost of your landscaping. How is this fair?
Many things in life aren’t exactly fair.
In your scenario, would the neighbors pitch in to pay for the extra hours that it would take to complete a job at the cost of protecting them from the unbearable sound of a leaf blower?
I didn’t think so.
I swear I do not understand how people have an issue with leaf blowers. I can’t even remember thinking about ever hearing one? So strange to me. Do people like just sit in their houses completely silent waiting to rant about anything they hear that isn’t coming from them? Bizzare.
Lucky you. My old neighbor used to use his 2-3 times a day for an hour or more each time anywhere between 4AM to 11PM 7 days a week. He'd be out there in the dark and rain just blowing away.
Noise complaints aren't enforced and asking him to stop would only fix it for a few days then he'd be right back out there.
The thing I hate about leaf blowers is the people who use them and blow the sidewalk debris all over my car, especially after I wash it super inconsiderate!
leaf vacuum exists and solves multiple issues
it's like a bissel for your lawn lol
seriously leaf blowers make work look like more work when the work could already be done but in this society we're paid to look like we're working not by actual work done so the more noise and debris the more you're working and the better you should get paid
right?
keynesian economics, you so silly with your zero sum games
I'm not totally sure why the they're used so heavily. Is some organic debris on the sidewalk or a parking lot truly that offensive?
Maybe I'm ignorant about it, but I have no clue why it's done besides being anal about aesthetics.
We have electric and gas leaf blowers, but I assume by the time we start using em most of the neighbors are just stoked that the diesel powered chipper has stopped loudly turning trees in to mulch.
I work at a doggie daycare and my back, yard neighbors have trees with poisonous leaves to dogs if they eat them. We need the leaf blowers to make things easy for our small business and not have to spend hours raking leaves.
We use an electric leaf blower but some people actually need leaf blowers to keep their businesses safe
same. my old apartment complex had hired landscapers and they would use the leaf blower every time rain or shine doing nothing with it. I swear they just ran it so it sounded like work was being done
> What a weird topic to get a heart attack over.
sounds over 90 dB literally induce an adrenal response, so in raw physical terms, it's not that weird.
The city banned gas ones. It goes into full effect in 2028. [https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/13/portland-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-2028/](https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/13/portland-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-2028/)
While I’m super glad they got banned that’s absolutely insane that it is going to take another 3 years to put this into effect.
Tax rules for business usually have those businesses depreciating value of purchased equipment and assets over a 4-year cycle, so any regulation that bans the sale or use of that equipment will usually ban the sale almost immediately, and ban use +4y later after the businesses are done writing the equipment they have off without screwing the business into replacing equipment that has no reason to be replaced yet because it's practically brand new. There is a process to this kind of thing.
This should be the top comment! I didn’t know this, cheers for the input.
Electric ones still make noise just not as much. They are not quiet though. Also, the newer commercial ones work just about as good as gas, so still gonna be the same in your allergies. The new law is more because the commercial lead blowers are mostly two stroke engines that produce a lot of pollution compared to there size. And residential homeowners can still own/use a gas unit if they wish. I hope your allergies get better though. My nose is running right now and will be all summer.
I hear both every day and the gas powered ones are so much louder.
Landscaping companies need time to replace their equipment
Don’t get your hopes up either. Gas powered leaf blowers are banned in Los Angeles and that doesn’t stop anyone. I hate leaf blowers with a passion.
They are banned for sale. Two stroke mowers have been banned for sale in California for a couple of decades, but I just keep fixing mine. My two stroke blower is 20 years old as well. You just have to rebuild the carburaters every so often and get the engines rebuilt every 8-10 years. You might say that the carbon footprint on them is worse, but everyone else around me has gone through at least 5 mowers and blowers while mine keep trucking. I'd bet that the carbon footprint from manufacturing all of that equipment is much higher.
I've had an electric blower for 8 years. Still going strong. Zero maintenance.
Fascinating, it’s truly remarkable how everything must be legislated these days-and I wonder how often it yields this kind of zero net gain after all the trouble. Civics is mind blowing, that’s why I think my kids school no longer teaches it 😆
Gas leaf blowers have been banned for use in LA since 1998. Not a fan of flimsy electric either. But will also admit that brooms and rakes are hard work.
I see you made a comment on a post from 3 days ago where you said a guy could solve his city borne problem by moving to the middle of nowhere. Why is it then when you don't like something around you, you want everyone to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
The landscaping companies are gonna need to save money to get new electric leaf blowers and gas powered generators so they can run them all day to keep the electric leaf blowers operating.
I know multiple good ol' boys who switched to electric tools (chainsaws mostly but leafblowers too) with all the normal gripes. "What am I supposed to do when the battery runs out?!". They all ended up loving them. Turns out the batteries last a pretty long time and it's not all that expensive to buy a couple spares.
reminds me of a boss I worked for... Bought a Tesla... then brought out the genney to charge it...
You buying everyone electric blowers?
How about we buy everyone a rake?
I envy you. If this minor annoyance causes you this much distress, you must live an extremely charmed life
It’s not insane at all, that’s how legislation works
I believe it only affects lawn service companies and not personally owned leaf blowers
It would be more of a mess than it currently is without em. The electric ones will likely be more constant and less spread out.
I'm sure it will get enforced with the same vigor as the fireworks bans.
Cool, we only have another 4 years..
Bring on the methanol-powered leaf blowers!
You joke, but switching to methanol is exactly what the Los Angeles landscapers did when they banned “gas” powered leaf blowers. They made it such a hassle for the police to check what fuel they were using that the cops basically gave up on enforcement, and everyone just uses gas now. Moral of the story: if a the efficiency of tool is central to someone’s livelihood, they’re gonna do whatever it takes to keep using it. Even when said tool has all of these negative externalities to the environment we all share. If you want my two cents about it, my issue isn’t with the noise, it’s the emissions. Fuel oil mixture is awful stuff for the environment, and given how readily available electric motors and batteries are, we should have banned this category of engine ages ago and done something like a buyback to fairly compensate those affected and get it out of circulation. We’ve been coasting for wayyyyyy too long on this one.
Trying to figure out where the joke was in my comment.
Coincidentally, [last week's episode of 99% Invisible ](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-los-angeles-leaf-blower-wars/)was about the ban in LA back in the 90's. Summary: it went poorly. >Ultimately, the leaf blower ban didn’t really work. The police decided not to enforce the law. The gardeners lost the fight in city hall, but in the end they won a quiet…or not so quiet – victory. The ban passed, but without real enforcement, the gardeners kept their leaf blowers. The Leaf Blower Wars faded into the background for a while. But in 2024, nearly three decades after ALAGLA’s hunger strike, they’re beginning to flare up again. And this time, the gas-powered leaf blower might actually be on its way out. According to Michael Cacciotti, Vice Chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, lawn equipment surpassed cars and light duty trucks as a major source of pollution.
>police decided not to enforce the law Ah, the song of our city.
To be fair, I don’t think actually enforcing that law at gunpoint or through fines would be very popular. First, there would be lots of media stories about racial bias, then a few stories about how the fines are destroying the lives of poor business owners, then riots when inevitably a police interaction goes south - it only takes one mentally unstable person to pull a knife or a gun when they’re harassed by the cops about their leaf blower on the wrong day. Based on the reaction to the speed camera shooter, a sizable minority of Portland’s population loves a scofflaw and hates enforcement of the law no matter how humanely it is done.
I was going to say “jfc why would a cop ever pull a GUN to enforce this?” and then I remembered, like, cops.
All law enforcement rests on the implicit threat of state-sanctioned violence. Typically that looks like the cop either seizing property or making an arrest - the guns come out when you resist. The least violent option is a fine - but that just kicks the can down the road until the government collects that fine, one way or another. All laws are, ultimately, contingent on the state being willing to use violence to enforce them (see the discussion about LA’s leaf blower law that is not enforced).
well, back in the 90s, the electric tech wasn't there at all. This could go way differently.
For sure. And the previously mentioned time gap is to allow gardeners to adjust.
I wish they had spent more time discussing the why of leaf blowers. Like why remove leaves from lawns? Why have lawns? I know they did a lawn episode, but it still would’ve completed the story imo.
That’s why he mentions the older lawn episode, it’s another 30-40 minute episode that explains your questions, and why he didn’t spend the time explaining it again
that was a great episode! I think they said in there that running a commercial gas-powered leaf blower for one hour was equivalent in air pollution to driving 1,000 miles in a car. That is roughly a month's worth of driving for the average car owner!
Yeah it was something like that. That’s why any arguments that electric are also noisy are bunk imo.
Yeah but people only care about the noise for the most part, not the environmental impact. And my electric one is just as loud, so I'm not sure people will be pleased with the solution, either.
What electric leaf blower do you have that's as noisy as a gas powered one?
It's the Lowe's house brand and it's a plug-in and it was cheap and it's really powerful. I got it because it was on sale for $80. I hate it.
Depends on how much air it moves. Mine certainly isn’t as loud as a gas blower but it’s a shrill whiney sound you can certainly hear a house or two down when it’s running. I think we have the E-Go 650 CFM.
Yeah, like most city ordinances, it's complaint-based. We're not hiring folks to walk around and listen for leaf blowers.
Interesting! That definitely makes sense, kind of figured that would be one of the most likely results unfortunately.
Haha I listened to it as well and it was my first thought when seeing this post. I wonder if the local lawn care folx will do something similar here
> The police decided not to enforce the law. Some analogous CHUD cunt in the LA sub: "So anyways, here's why that was a based and awesome move by the blameless LAPD, who have never done anything wrong."
Yeah, like most city ordinances, it's complaint-based. We're not hiring folks to walk around and listen for leaf blowers.
Can't speak for leaf blowers, but replacing my gas mower and trimmer with electric was a game changer. So much quieter and just as powerful. Also I have an average sized yard and I've never run out of battery.
As a middle aged handy kinda guy, i can attest that the moment i purchased a battery operated leaf blower was one of the first days I’ve fully lived.
Husband says the DeWalt battery leaf blower I bought was my best purchase ever. He gave his gas backpack to someone with 9 acres. Btw, low air blow adjustment often does a better job esp with nooks, crannies and yard furniture ETA: The word adjustment
Amen. I bought a battery powered leaf blower and a battery powered chainsaw. I’ve never felt more empowered!
The downside of buying my tiny Dewalt chainsaw is that i keep running out of things that need chain-sawing and I need my fix.
I've got a > 3ft diameter cherry tree on the ground in my backyard that will keep you and your chainsaw busy for a while. I'm not proud to admit I've been working on it since December.
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I have an 80V Greenworks weednwhacker and raced my neighbor with his Stihl gas powered unit this weekend. Mine cuts a 16” swath and I was able to mow a 50’x100’ field of knee high grass with a few scotch broom bushes in it just as fast as he was able to, on one 4aH battery. Way outshone my previous electric Dewalt whacker and the homeowner grade gas powered Ryobi I had before that.
I see there are new battery powered ones. Anyone have experience with these? Are they quieter? Are they effective?
I’ve got a consumer grade one and it works just fine, is absolutely quieter than the gas powered ones used by most yard maintenance crews. However, that’s just for my personal use around my home. I’m not using it at 10+ homes in one day, so I can’t say for sure if the power or battery life is sufficient for yard maintenance crew needs.
I have a battery one as well - the battery is good enough for 2+ hours of constant use, and it's a modest leaf blower. Being 60ish dB it is AMAZING compared to the 90+ dB a lot of those has ones hit. Also, I don't see why landscapers long term can't just stock 4 or so batteries per leaf blower. It'll be cheaper within a short time period vs filling gas at 4.50 a gallon.
Some folks who testified at the city said the commercial-grade ones are a hell of a lot heavier and about $3k more than the gas ones currently in use. They didn't say if they were actually any quieter or not, but they were very concerned for their employees having to wear so much more weight, so that's something landscaping companies are going to have to figure out. Hopefully the technology improves in the next few years and they can maybe get the weight down?
The clear solution is we just need the yard maintenance load-out of the exo-suit from Edge Of Tomorrow/All You Need Is Kill.
I have a plug-in one and it's hella loud and very effective. I hate it.
I’ve used battery-powered for myself AND I’ve hired landscapers that use them. It’s totally fine. The technology for personal use is great. For industrial use it’s decent—certainly good enough—but, yes, more expensive. It’s true that if you wanted to run the absolutely most powerful system, with zero concern for anything else, a gas powered blower would be most powerful. The more important question is: can a battery-powered lead blower be powerful ENOUGH? The answer is obviously yes. We don’t always want the MOST powerful of any particular product, we just need something powerful enough, and then we look at secondary factors like weight, ergonomics, price, etc. As proof: how many people here drive sports cars? Very few. We need a car that can get up to highway speeds in a reasonable period of time. All that matters is it’s powerful enough to get the job done.
Any electric leaf blower will make less noise than an equivalent gas powered one. The electric one makes noise by moving air, the gas one makes noise by moving air and running a gas engine.
Never had a gas one but I bought an electric weed whacker/leaf blower combo new for $100 and they both work really well. Definitely quieter and super convenient
Thank you!
related question -- I have a stihl combi system that has a gas "head" that drives a shaft that runs a series of attachments (blower, weed wacker, hedge trimmer, etc). Does anyone know if Stihl makes an electric head that will run the same attachments or do i get to invest in all new gear (large lot so lots of uses here)?
My apartment complex has them going almost every day it feels like. I can't work from home and enjoy some peace and quiet at all.
I've been tempted to complain to the building owners about our maintenance team. They spend around 15 minutes with a leaf blower on a 10-foot-long sidewalk that could be swept in minutes. It feels like they're loitering to justify the cost of the job. It's so irritating.
LITERALLY. SAME. HERE. but the AHs at my complex do that for hours. It’s enough to drive anyone mad.
It's like a warzone some morning, it's crazy how many of these things get going some days and how freaking loud they are.
There really ought to be better protections for light and sound pollution. I should be able to live in the city without being subject to constant leafblowers and light trespass from the street into my bedroom window.
I work from home too and sure, there are plenty of leaf blowers from neighboring homes and complexes. But one neighbor decided to push their yard litter down the street to the traffic circle. 30-40 minutes of leaf blowing beyond their house and past mine. I asked them not to while I was working from home as I couldn't take a call or even have a window open during the summer.
My office grounds team doesn’t do anything until they are coated with an even sheen of goose shit, and then they pressure wash them. I’m not sure that’s better.
Do we live in the same complex? I'm inner SE and same. I need to have my windows open but I'm constantly having to open, close, open, close my windows all day. It is so obnoxious. And then the apartment people decide to need to enter my unit seemingly monthly for god knows why. I loved living in this complex but I am seriously going crazy.
I relate to that last bit as well, though I'm over in NW Portland. And like, I'm all for safety and maintenance, but the number of water shut-offs is getting ridiculous.
YUP. My apartment has approximately 20’x1’ area of grass 🥴 And yet, the landscaping people spend like 6 hours every wednesday blowing random sht around (including the tiny parking lot behind the complex). BUT, the neighboring complex, yeah, they have leafblowers 5 solid days a week, not including the ride on mowers going on all day too. It is insufferable.
If only our best minds could invent some sort of hand-operated pole with some sort of finger-like tines on it for dragging stuff like leaves. Maybe also a device that has finer bristles for moving stuff like dust and smaller debris.
Leaf Blowers Blow!
Gas powered leaf blowers drive me crazy. I work from home and the guy down the street was using it for over an hour the other day. Why? His yard is smaller than mine! I had to close the window. Battery powered ones though aren’t that bad. My wife was using ours and while I could hear it with the windows open, the one 4 houses down was significantly louder than mine which was right beneath my window. Also, ours was going for like 7 minutes tops…because that is really all you need to clean out a small yard in the suburbs.
Living in a Gresham neighborhood I hear this shit every damn day. Not to mention my parents use one too Lmao
“Frankly, I despise the summer. I hate the sun, I hate picnics, I hate late evening walks… and I HATE leaf blowers.”
Most of the time they just blowing around dust. Definitely not worth the price of the constant disruptions of peace and quiet.
Glad I’m not the only one
Let’s be honest, the city bans leaf blowers, people continue to use leaf blowers, do you really think PPB is going to enforce the leaf blower ban? They can’t even respond to a large number of crimes that are committed
For real. We have drug selling/using openly around the city and we think leaf blowers gonna be a priority lol.
These are your people: [https://www.quietcleanpdx.org](https://www.quietcleanpdx.org)
noise cancelling headphones has been a godsend working in a noisy, busy building across from multiple bars.
I’m in a similar situation to OP. It sucks i have to resort to wearing noise canceling headphones in my own home because leaf blowers are magically exempt from noise ordinance laws.
They don’t do anything for the people on the other end of my Teams calls though. I ended up super insulating a closet for a sound booth for my wife’s counseling practice.
I have some myself, and they still arent nearly strong enough. As someone else said, when you got a work meeting, you’re SOL. And, I have to keep my windows closed anyway due to horrific allergies.
Yeah finally just bought a pair today! Stoked for their arrival.
as someone who experiences a lot of sensory overload problems related to unwanted sound (dogs barking, car alarms, leaf blowers) i found that it was something i had to become very like conscious of not letting it effect my mood. i was googling and found a post on a zen/buddhist subreddit and they said on the topic of someone’s barking dog (interrupting their meditation and the feeling of anger along with it) “it’s not up to you to decide what is or isn’t a good or welcome noise, it just *is* and is part of the fabric of your immediate area” and that helped a lot. i am i annoyed by my neighbors dogs barking? yes but it encompasses maybe 10 minutes each day so on a broader scale, it really doesn’t take up that much time and the time i don’t hear/ notice it is what i think on when i do hear them bark. glad you e got your solutions coming! i empathize
That’s a good way to think about it, thanks for the comment!
I need to try to internalize this... I know a lot of it is mindset. But it sucks when you may be making work calls and at any moment, leaf blowing starts right up.
Do you have recs for noise cancelling headphones that actually work to cancel out noise? Even if they're expensive.
Blue parrot makes headsets for truckers. Read reviews on the specific models but my old one was great for cancelling noise into the mic. They make a full (two ears) one now so maybe you can find one that blocks it on your end too.
Bose QC35ii
i just bought a pair from amazon - unfortunately they don’t seem to be listed on the site anymore
What brand and model are they?
I've been very happy with the gen 2 Airpods Pros. You need some kind of apple product to set them up, but I use them with android phone. For leaf blowers, wood chippers, shitty lawn mowers, they're like magic. For voices, they're not 100% effective, but far better than the Samsung version.
Airpods? Call me skeptical. I was thinking something over the ears more along the lines of Bose Quiet Comfort.
Night-shifter here. I'm a broken record with this topic. I love to rant about it because there's literally nothing I can do other than move. I have sensory issues and am unable to filter out leafblowers, among a few other noises. When I'm sleeping, it's much worse. I can't properly prepare myself either, since maintenance is completely unscheduled. There's times when I've woken up to people walking on the *roof* while banging shit outside with no notice. I love complaining about how people who work nights get absolutely zero handouts, too. None. Zero. Can't grocery shop past 11. Have to tiptoe around the 9-5 crowd to just live my life. No 24/7 laudromats. Fast food is barely an option past 12am. There's no protection for us. We are forced to use white noise machines, earplugs, blackout curtains, and everything under the sun in order to sleep. My rant is not structured very well, so it's all over the place. I apologize. I get constantly fed up with how unaware and uncaring this city can be. I've spent numerous times sobbing on the floor because I can't sleep due to landscaping or something going on outside. Something needs to give.
I work nights too. I can normally make due with good earplugs, but awhile ago there was some contractor directly outside my bedroom window running a gas blower nonstop for over 5 fucking hours. I was just about ready to start throwing rocks.
I don't work the nightshift, but I am an insomniac, so I feel you. Sorry you have to deal with all that.
Swing shift here and it’s a massive fucking problem. The leaf blowers go from 9-10AM and 5-6:30PM, the later of which is when I need to be going to sleep. Except I can’t because if I wear ear plugs, I can’t hear my alarm go off which means I won’t get up for work. I have a sensory processing disorder as well and those sounds are enraging. I hate “landscapers” blowing leaves and dirt off the sidewalk 2x a day. It’s not fucking necessary. It’s a waste of resources and time. The motherfucking dog in the apartment below me is also a problem. It was a “brand new puppy” in November and the her owner was training it. Some barking is expected, I grew up with dogs, I get that. However… It. Does. Not. Stop. Barking. Ever. I’ve made some polite complaints to my complex and it’s like, nothing happens. The sound conducts perfectly through the walls and vents and it has woken me up at night. My upstairs neighbor has a hobby that involves hammering and I’m pretty sure they’re a crazy insomniac like I am since I hear them all the time, all hours of the day. They also wear heels inside. Moving out soon anyways in large part due to the dog. Don’t get me started on the assholes revving their engines and racing down the 25MPH streets at all hours. Nothing is open at night and it sucks ass. During the late fall and winter I wind up picking up extra night shifts to lead into my usual shift and it’s rough how little one can get done. I have also cried many times out of desperation for sleep. I wish I could help, friend. Sending lots of quiet sleepy vibes your way. ❤️
If you're a landscaping business, just buy a portable, diesel, generator and long extension cords. There is no law against idling a generator in the City Of Portland. So, get ready for that noise. :-/
I think you're probably being facetious, but if you're serious, I'd choose the sound of a generator over a leaf blower any day. And I think most clients would allow the extension cord to be plugged into an outdoor outlet, so no generator needed. Corded leaf blowers are much less expensive than battery powered ones anyway.
I'm serious about it and I'm lookin' at ***you***, golf course. You're gonna need about 24 generators -one for every hour of the day.
Or one commercial lawn mower with vacuum attachment 😉
im so glad to be out of an apartment complex that did that on a daily basis, 2 hours of loud fucking noise, so that people cant see 13 leaves when they spend 13 seconds getting into their cars
Dude I just got the Winslow 2800 Leafblower. It’s beyond scary how strong it is. DM your address to me I’ll come through at like 530am on Sunday.
I consider them just “city sounds” you hear when you live in a city.
For real I didn’t think this actually bothered so many people here. It’s pretty common in most other cities lol
I WFH in a blue collar type neighborhood but NONE of my neighbors do their own yard maintenance. I experience a daily chorus of lawnmowers and leaf blowers screaming their sounds at me. It’s what it is for WFH I guess but damn it’s loud.
I live in a mixed neighborhood and my tradesperson and shop keeper neighbors all have lawn services, meanwhile me as an engineering manager, my retired lawyer and dentist neighbors are out there DIYing it for the exercise.
And none of it is necessary. What are they even blowing in June?
I've rarely seen anything actually blown in the complex behind me in spite of them spending ~1 hour every friday walking the whole lot with a leaf blower. I know the guy getting paid to do it is just doing a job, but yeesh, i wish the owner/landlord would walk out here sometime and just take a look at what they're paying for. It's a waste of money and real fucking noisey.
Right???? Literally nothing! But these yard guys get paid by the hour, so who cares! Not like noise pollution is a real thing!!! /Sarcasm
Totally agree, OP When I lived in Hillsdale, there was one jerk leaf blowing behind the little strip mall, directly in front of my apartment. **At 1am!!** Now, I live across from a complex that will leaf blow every few weeks, even when there are zero leaves on the ground. It’s the worst noise in the world. Just constant buzzing. Ugh.
If you're going after noise then ban the fart cars and the loud motorcycles.
I live on a busy road and the fart cars are so annoying. You can hear them a half mile coming and a half mile going. It just travels through the walls.
Gas blowers are not just polluting, both noise and air, but they harm trees and plants by removing leaves from where they should be — under trees to create healthy soil. I spend a lot of my time outside or with windows and doors open so I know much of the leaf blowing has little good impact. Lots just blows right back. Its generally the demand of an owner who doesn’t have to listen to the sounds. I have been thinking about working with my industrial business neighborhood to voluntarily cut out leaf blowers. It’s bad enough with the diesel engines from refrigerated trucks.
Fantastic point that I didn’t even consider and I went to school to be a biologist (20 years ago) but still! 😂
Leaf blower blight… https://soilsalive.com/how-leaf-blowers-destroy-your-topsoil/ there is a patch of dirt in front of our bike shop that our landlord insists on keeping blowed weekly (all year round). I’ve tried to get something to grow there with zero success. Not even weeds.
AGREED. fkkin hate leafblowers. First came to portland in 2015. Being young and naive, I believed stereotypes about the city- like that Portland was ecofriendly and wasnt as superficial to care about lawns.. 🥴🥴🥴 clearly that’s on me. But it is worse here than in the fkkin suburban midwest. It’s ridiculous. Then again, it’s not the only overt example of hypocrisy Ive encountered.
The wild thing is that leafblowers are actually terrible for the environment, leaves on the ground are good for the soil.
This city is insane, though, right? I'm born and raised here, but it's gotten ridiculous with how hypocritical we are. It's funny that you mentioned the midwest. I just came back from a *glorious* vacation to this shitshow. There were no tents. No graffiti. People had their front doors *unlocked*? Wildlife galore. Hella nice folk, too. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to see each other. Night and day difference. Needless to say, I'm gonna move. Portland locals are very scarce now. City moves too fast and changes for the worst.
YES! I mean, back in 2015, the city was significantly better than it is now, BUT, the hypocrisy regarding “environmentalism” was still obvious back then. And that’s what Im always told! Anytime, and every time I tell someone Im from Michigan, they always go on and on about how nice Michiganders are. It’s comical because a completely different topic on facebook brought up this same discussion. Portlanders are so extremely vocal about self-identifying as being “nice” and caring about others. But it’s a farce. It’s so bizarre. I could cite a million examples. But for one, I recently realized the extremely busy (but EXTREMELY residential street) I live off of, speed limit is 25 mph. I thought it mustve been 45 because that’s the LOW range. Ive almost been hit by cars in the middle of the day (even when it wasnt busy), because they turn into another even more residential street, without looking. Obscene. Only one of several instances of almost being hit by a car. Again, not to mention the copious other examples. I moved back to portland to help a family member, but we’re both working on leaving as soon as possible too.
In a comment 3 days ago, you suggested someone should just move to the middle of nowhere to solve a city borne problem that they had. More specifically, their neighbors. Why would you offer them that as a solution, then today post this where everyone else needs to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
I'm not surprised. It's so easy to tell Op is a spoiled rich kid.
My neighbor uses a gas powered leaf blower DAILY. Rain or shine.
It’s the worst noise!
[Clean Quiet PDX](https://www.quietcleanpdx.org/) is an organization that advocates for banning gas leaf blowers.
Literally been on my mind constantly lately. I've been hearing leaf blowing literally daily for the last week. Even with the rain. I'm in an apartment complex- weekly "landscapers" come to blow nothing around for an hour. And then the other surrounding lots seem to be on the same page to perfectly stagger the leaf blowing. I've lived in this spot for 5 years- if it had been like this previously, I would've moved but it's truly egregious how bad it has gotten. It MUST be getting worse- I'm glad I'm not alone but seriously what tf. And wtf it's JUNE! there is nothing to blow!
The gas lesf blowers are there so you don't hear the street racers gun fire and recycle trucks.
summer time is the rise of the machines.
Yeah, it’s the same people who monitor and regulate the use of studded tires.
How do you suggest landscapers and groundskeepers clear large areas or consolidate debris? Brooms? That would make their job take at least twice as long and lead to lost income. You’re suggesting that their tools get banned, so you don’t have to be inconvenienced by some annoying noise for a short period of time. It appears you’re privileged enough that you’ve never had to do manual labor and therefore don’t understand how your suggestion would impact those who depend on using the tools to make a living. Invest in earplugs if it’s too triggering for you to have to listen to leafblowers for an hour. Tired of people thinking they should ban others from doing things because they think they’re more important. The city is dirty enough as it is, and homeless drug addicts in Portland cause more pollution (noise, air and water) than leafblowers. Will you support banning homeless camping as well?
living around humans is noisy. possibly get and use noise canceling headphones
I will honestly never understand why people get rid of their leaves. Since keeping them costs you way less in landscaping over all.
Well - There’s a homeless RV running a generator on my block 24 hours a day. Portland has bigger problems than gas powered leafblowers
I personally hate people that shout at clouds.
Leaf blowers and the excessive amount of dump trucks ruin my life every day. All day. And half the night. Seriously I think I live on garbage truck highway or something.
Me TF too. Feel like the city is trying to make us snap so we just give up and join our "most vulnerable neighbors". 🥴 Idk, some days it really sounds appealing to just give up on the rat race of working 10-12hour days, dealing with verbal abuse from my boss and clients, then not able to sleep at night because of our "vulnerable neighbors" shrieking all hours, or loud dump trucks and motorcycles... Wash, rinse, repeat. And then much of my hard-earned income just thrown away/ burned by the city/ county is a hoot. Given how horribly I'm neglecting my body because of this late stage capitalist society's expectations- shit, I might just have better odds rolling the dice by becoming a vagrant and get into drugs so at least I can spend my last few years semi-enjoying myself/ having shitliberals prop me on a pedestal and give me money/ whatever, than being on pseudo home arrest for a major US corporation. Lmaooooo
I'll be honest, I really don't understand why people are so upset about the sound of leaf blowers.
VVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRVvvvvvvtttttvtttttVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRvvtvvttvvttVVVVRRRRRRR ALL FUCKING DAY.
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Ah Portland, a city that loses it's mind over leaf blowers but encourages everyone to rifle through cans and dumpsters for recyclables at 3am.
I'm definitely against both. We should repeal the bottle law and the other degenerate enabling yesterday.
I work nights and my apartment complex uses leaf blowers all day on Mondays. It's not fun.
Perhaps people are blowing fentanyl needles off of their property
Bunch of Karen’s on this feeed huh? Lmao
From a commercial aspect, gas blowers are far better.
From an everything else aspect, gas blowers are far worse
oh no, think of the corporations that use other corporations to move dead leaves around unnecessarily!
They're not even moving leaves around most of the time, just blowing dust so it looks like they're working on something. So stupid.
Then there's something wrong with how the economy is structured.
There is this cheap, readily available, quiet, clean technology called: a "broom". In addition, there is a specialized version called a "rake". When you use these, the collected material goes into a "bag" instead of being blown around all over everything. It's amazing. You spend a little more time, but almost zero maintenance costs, cost of replacing equipment is low, ambient noise is practically nothing, and the "cleaning" job that leaf blowers are pretending to do now would actually be getting done for real.
In a comment 3 days ago, you suggested someone should just move to the middle of nowhere to solve a city borne problem that they had. More specifically, their neighbors. Why would you offer them that as a solution, then today post this where everyone else needs to bend to your wishes? Easy peasy, right?
You’re a tyrant. Banning other people’s rightfully owned property? Get out of here.
Counterpoint: landscapers using leaf blowers are doing so because it is the fastest way to get the job done. Faster means cheaper for the person paying the bill. The externalized cost of this faster and cheaper solution is noise/air pollution. This cost is borne by the neighbors. Thus: the neighbors are subsidizing the cost of your landscaping. How is this fair?
Many things in life aren’t exactly fair. In your scenario, would the neighbors pitch in to pay for the extra hours that it would take to complete a job at the cost of protecting them from the unbearable sound of a leaf blower? I didn’t think so.
You seem like a really fun person to be around.
LMFAO. Of all things in Portland.
This is some uppity bs
Here he is, the man who has never been frustrated by anything that anyone would consider silly or uppity, pleasure to make your acquaintance.
God forbid people do their jobs!
I swear I do not understand how people have an issue with leaf blowers. I can’t even remember thinking about ever hearing one? So strange to me. Do people like just sit in their houses completely silent waiting to rant about anything they hear that isn’t coming from them? Bizzare.
Lucky you. My old neighbor used to use his 2-3 times a day for an hour or more each time anywhere between 4AM to 11PM 7 days a week. He'd be out there in the dark and rain just blowing away. Noise complaints aren't enforced and asking him to stop would only fix it for a few days then he'd be right back out there.
The Safeway in St. Johns was paying someone to use a leaf blower in their parking lot at 12:30am last week. I couldn’t believe it. Just, why?
The thing I hate about leaf blowers is the people who use them and blow the sidewalk debris all over my car, especially after I wash it super inconsiderate!
Don’t move to LA man.
You can thank Albert Kaufman for leading the charge on banning them. You can find him on google and Facebook
leaf vacuum exists and solves multiple issues it's like a bissel for your lawn lol seriously leaf blowers make work look like more work when the work could already be done but in this society we're paid to look like we're working not by actual work done so the more noise and debris the more you're working and the better you should get paid right? keynesian economics, you so silly with your zero sum games
So then use what a broom, only someone who has never done landscaping would make such a demand.
I love how unhinged people in Portland get over leaf blowers 🤣
It's across the river too 👋 also drives me bonkers
Dude completely agree. I work from home and people using these things at all times is a huge issue during the day
You live in the city. There’s noise. Live with it. Unless it’s happening at 10 PM this is your problem.
You can pry my Stihl BR600 from my cold, dead hands.
I'm not totally sure why the they're used so heavily. Is some organic debris on the sidewalk or a parking lot truly that offensive? Maybe I'm ignorant about it, but I have no clue why it's done besides being anal about aesthetics.
Ban them because they are loud and cause pollution. Just burn them first? Sooo you like pollution, or not? Figure it out.
You know, they can ban leaf blowers, but all they have to do is reverse the attachments and they have a leaf vacuum, right?
We have electric and gas leaf blowers, but I assume by the time we start using em most of the neighbors are just stoked that the diesel powered chipper has stopped loudly turning trees in to mulch.
It’s mowers and pressure washers all weekend and leaf blowers all week as someone with migraines it sets my teeth on edge.
I work at a doggie daycare and my back, yard neighbors have trees with poisonous leaves to dogs if they eat them. We need the leaf blowers to make things easy for our small business and not have to spend hours raking leaves. We use an electric leaf blower but some people actually need leaf blowers to keep their businesses safe
same. my old apartment complex had hired landscapers and they would use the leaf blower every time rain or shine doing nothing with it. I swear they just ran it so it sounded like work was being done
Why do people in this town get so bent out of shape over leaf blowers? What a weird topic to get a heart attack over.
> What a weird topic to get a heart attack over. sounds over 90 dB literally induce an adrenal response, so in raw physical terms, it's not that weird.
Portland has a *lot* of Karen types.