From: Martin McTaggart
To: Andrea Chow
Cc: Christina Horrisberger
Subject: Fw: Ban leaf blowers!!
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2026 9:00:16 AM
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From: Susan Shankle < t>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2026 4:36 AM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Cc: Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Ban leaf blowers!!
RE: City ordinance to prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality.
Hello,
I agree with all the proposals submitted over the past decade to ban leaf blowers. Why do we have to put up with these things?
Gas leaf blowers were banned in CA in 2024, but they are still being used. And the electric ones are still a problem: they blow dust, dirt, pesticides and allergens into the air we breathe, and create terrible noise pollution. They generate between 65-100 decibels.
Instead of chasing those leaves around the street in the wind, workers should use brooms or rakes. No big deal.
At one point, it was suggested that at least the frequency of use could be regulated, like only at certain times or certain days of the week. But they can interrupt a conversation or a peaceful moment at any time of the day or week.
Just ban them, and be done with it.
Thank you,
Susan Shankle
33-year San Mateo resident
Lifelong Bay Area Resident
Citizen, taxpayer and voter
From: Chantal Eaton
To: Andrea Chow
Cc: Christina Horrisberger; Alex Khojikian; Prasanna Rasiah Subject: FW: LEAF BLOWERS, REACH CODES, AND PCE
Date: Sunday, October 12, 2025 6:01:20 PM
Please see comment below.
Best,
Chantal
From: Anne Adams < >
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2025 4:18 PM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Subject: LEAF BLOWERS, REACH CODES, AND PCE
City Council.
I have been away,
AND
I missed the meeting
and I support what has been done in Burlingame,
Hillsborough, Menlo Park, and Pall Alto; and what was also recommended by the San Mateo Sustainability and
Infrastructure Commission
PLEASE
1) Place a limit on hours of leaf blower operation in residential areas and adjacent commercial areas.
2) Begin enforcement of the new leaf blower Ordinance nine months after adoption, and
3) Recommend whether you think penalties should be assigned to the property owner, or the leaf blower operating company.
Thank you taking these measures/actions,
Anne Adams
Don't ask yourself what the world needs –
Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Dr. Howard Thurman
If we want to change the story of the human race in the 21st century, we have to change the stories we tell ourselves.
Anne Adams, PhD
https://integrality.co/
https://humanenergycollaborative.com/
From: Gail Lee
To: Sustainability & Infrastructure Commission
Subject: Leaf blowers and Reach code
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025 8:51:53 PM
Dear members of the San Mateo City Council,
I would like to urge members to support what has been done in Burlingame, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, and Pall Alto; and which was also recommended by the San Mateo Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission at its meeting of September 10, 2025:
1) Place a limit on hours of leaf blower operation in residential areas and adjacent commercial areas.
2) Begin enforcement of the new leaf blower Ordinance nine months after adoption, and 3) Recommend whether you think senalties should be assigned to the property owner, or the leaf blower operating company
With regard to the Reach codes under consideration for existing buildings, I would like to urge members to support Reach Codes for cooling upgrades and planned home renovations for the 2025 building code cycle.
The new codes will ensure that alternatives to use of methane gas are selected and reduce reliance on methane which is known to cause fires, contrlbute to indoor air pollution, contribute to respiratory illnesses, and reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and worsen environmental justice.
Thank you for your consideration of these positive environmental, health and climate positive improvements for our community.
Sincerely,
Gail Lee, REHS, MS, LEED Green Associate
Executive Board, Sustainable San Mateo County
Community Advisory Committee, Peninsula Clean Energy
Professor, University of San Francisco
Resident, San Bruno
From: Nancy
To: Lisa Diaz Nash; Adam Loraine; Nicole Fernandez; City Mgr; City Attorney"s Office; Rob Newsom; Andrea Chow; Danielle Cwirko-Godycki Subject: Re; Leaf blowers ban: when convenient, can you kindly confirm receipt of this email? Thank you Date: Thursday, November 6, 2025 6:36:57 PM
Re; Leaf blowers ban: when convenient, can you kindly confirm receipt of this email? Thank you Nancy < > Oct 8, 2025, 9:39 PM
to CityCouncil, citymanager, achow, , Simona, cityattorneysoffice, , contact, rnewsom, alo To : San Mateo City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Staff (cc to interested parties such as Quiet Clean San Mateo and Sustainable San Mateo County) If I understood the council comments at last Monday October 6, 2025 meeting re item# 17 leaf blowers, a couple of the council members seemed ready to extend leaf blower usage to Sundays. I completely disagree with this. I think this is the time to think hard about why we need to allow the already extensive hours for leaf blowers --- whether electric or gas. I was shocked to hear that this would even be considered especially when cities throughout the country are moving in the other direction i.e. to less noise. It seemed rather tone deaf (no pun intended) to suggest this.
Many cities have not only banned gas leaf blowers, but also restrict hours of operation of electric leaf blowers much more than San Mateo does.
Some cities outright ban all leaf blowers i.e. including electric. Such cities include the following as reported by Sustainable San Mateo County: Leaf Blower Regulation "Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Laguna Beach and Del Mar ban the use of all leaf blowers, both gas and electric." Many cities that do allow electric leaf blowers (but not gas), do not allow their commercial operation on Saturdays as well as Sundays.
Cities like Burlingame, have banned gas blowers and only allow electric blower usage on certain days of the week.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Burlingame City site:
Leaf Blowers | Burlingame, CA
Gas Leaf Blower Ordinance
Gas leaf blowers are prohibited for use starting July 1, 2024 to reduce noise and air pollution in Burlingame.
Leaf Blowers | Burlingame, CA
Day of Use Restrictions
The City of Burlingame's Ordinance still restricts the number of days blowers may be used in each neighborhood:
Commercial blowers may be used on only one day per week, per area, with an extra day for R3 and R4 buildings.
Residents may use their own blowers on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm, as well as on their assigned weekday.
Leaf blower Operation Map
Leaf blower day of the week flyer in English, and Spanish How did we get here?
At some point, the usage of leaf blowers "exploded" in the last 25 years ago. It became socially acceptable to allow these obnoxious machines to proliferate in our neighborhoods. As the wealth gap in areas like the Bay Area increased, it became acceptable to farm out activities such as this to low-wage earners. (Similarly, the number of people in our city who have their bathrooms cleaned by low-wage earners, dramatically increased.) Leaving aside the debate for now on the equity issues here, it is puzzling to me why we would so readily give up the peace in our neighborhoods (especially as more and more research shows how important keeping noise pollution down is to the health of individuals, families, and communities).
There is a movement I read about called Make America Rake Again. Some cities like Mill Valley (which ban gas blowers), actually include such rake encouragement in their communications.
Here is an excerpt from the City of Mill Valley site FAQs • Are gas-powered leaf blowers allowed in Mill Valley? regarding raking. It lists raking before using any motorized equipment. "Instead of using gas-powered leaf blowers, residents and gardeners are encouraged to rake or sweep leaves and debris into piles and dispose of them in the appropriate green trash bin. Residents and gardeners can also use electric leaf blowers or electric leaf vacuums to collect and dispose of leaves. Please do not leave piles of leaves in the roadway. Leaves left in the street will block storm drains and may lead to flooding." (By the way, I wonder if there is a certain fascination / obsession with motorized equipment/ tools in this country that does not exist in other countries. Recently I was in western Europe and surprised and delighted to see how many accommodations have washers but still no dryers. They each had plastic folding simple racks that do the same job very well for the most part and with less energy of course.) :
In conclusion, I personally support the total ban of leaf blowers. For one, they are a noise nuisance that would not be tolerated in another form (e.g. a dog barking issue or neighbors yelling consistently).
If at this time, the council does not feel inclined to go this far, I would request serious consideration of policies that places like Burlingame have which assign one weekday for usage.
I would argue that a majority of residents would favor this. (By the way, time-permitting, I may start some informal surveying to see if my position is far off from others. I would send the results to the council, staff and interested parties like Sustainable San Mateo County and Quiet Clean.) P.S. I hope this is not offensive, but I would not advocate for keeping the policies on this issue "simple" at the expense of sound regulation. Honestly, it was not simple to research this issue and advocate for years about it. We residents, all taxpayers in a democracy, should expect that things not be kept "simple" in lieu of our representation.
Thank you for your efforts and consideration,
Nancy Gogan
Addendum at 11.6.25
I did see there were many letters to the Council from other residents attached to the October 6 packet.
All expressed dislike of blowers.
An issue that I saw there, and really have not considered too much, is what is the actual content of the material that is being blown around --- whether by gas or electric blowers. It is a little disturbing I think to contemplate the variety of pollutants, including from animal waste, that is distributed from these machines.
How did we get here?
At some point, the usage of leaf blowers "exploded" in the last 25 years ago. It became socially acceptable to allow these obnoxious machines to proliferate in our neighborhoods. As the wealth gap in areas like the Bay Area increased, it became acceptable to farm out activities
such as this to low-wage earners. (Similarly, the number of people in our city who have their bathrooms cleaned by low-wage earners, dramatically increased.) Leaving aside the debate for now on the equity issues here, it is puzzling to me why we would so readily give up the peace in our neighborhoods (especially as more and more research shows how important keeping noise pollution down is to the health of individuals, families, and communities).
There is a movement I read about called Make America Rake Again. Some cities like Mill Valley (which ban gas blowers), actually include such rake encouragement in their communications.
Here is an excerpt from the City of Mill Valley site FAQs • Are gas-powered leaf blowers allowed in Mill Valley? regarding raking. It lists raking before using any motorized equipment.
"Instead of using gas-powered leaf blowers, residents and gardeners are encouraged to rake or sweep leaves and debris into piles and dispose of them in the appropriate green trash bin. Residents and gardeners can also use electric leaf blowers or electric leaf vacuums to collect and dispose of leaves.
Please do not leave piles of leaves in the roadway. Leaves left in the street will block storm drains and may lead to flooding."
(By the way, I wonder if there is a certain fascination / obsession with motorized equipment/ tools in this country that does not exist in other countries. Recently I was in western Europe and surprised and delighted to see how many accommodations have washers but still no
dryers. They each had plastic folding simple racks that do the same job very well for the most part and with less energy of course.) :
In conclusion, I personally support the total ban of leaf blowers. For one, they are a noise nuisance that would not be tolerated in another form (e.g. a dog barking issue or neighbors yelling consistently).
If at this time, the council does not feel inclined to go this far, I would request serious consideration of policies that places like Burlingame have which assign one weekday for usage.
I would argue that a majority of residents would favor this. (By the way, time-permitting, I may start some informal surveying to see if my position is far off from others. I would send the results to the council, staff and interested parties like Sustainable San Mateo County and Quiet Clean.)
P.S. I hope this is not offensive, but I would not advocate for keeping the policies on this issue "simple" at the expense of sound regulation. Honestly, it was not simple to research this issue and advocate for years about it. We residents, all taxpayers in a democracy, should expect that things not be kept "simple" in lieu of our representation.
Thank you for your efforts and consideration,
Nancy Gogan
From: Alex Khojikian
To: Andrea Chow
Cc: Christina Horrisberger
Subject: FW: Please consider refining the leaf blower ban Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 11:39:09 AM
Attachments: image001.png
image002.png
FYI
Alex Khojikian
City Manager | City Manager’s Office
330 W. 20th Ave., San Mateo, CA 94403
650-522-7002 | [email protected]
From: Dave Clark
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 11:26 AM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Cc: Dustin Chase
Subject: Please consider refining the leaf blower ban
We are almost there! What a relief it will be to throttle back the noise and pollutants from gas powered leaf blowers. San Mateo is one of the largest cities in the county; this decision will have impact for neighboring towns.
Dustin Chase and I have followed this issue for a decade or so. We would like to add to the SIC recommendations and add stronger enforcement measures.
https://quietcleansanmateo.org/
"I want to support landscaping worker's safety, my community's safety, and the City of San Mateo's climate goals. I want to help code enforcement with the challenging job of enforcing the gas leaf blower ban. Please reconsider using citizen affidavits in gas leaf blower ban enforcement."
Sincerely
Dave Clark
From: Clerk
To: Andrea Chow; Christina Horrisberger
Cc: Alex Khojikian; Prasanna Rasiah
Subject: FW: Advocating for action on a gas leaf blower ban Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025 2:23:24 PM
Please see comment below.
Best,
Chantal
From: Mark Miller
Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2025 3:11 PM
To: Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Advocating for action on a gas leaf blower ban
Forgot to reply-all. ♂
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mark Miller
Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: Advocating for action on a gas leaf blower ban To: <[email protected]
>, <[email protected]>, Lisa Diaz Nash
<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Another thought came to mind about adding operational hours to Sunday. I'm not sure where the request for Sunday is coming from and haven't heard anyone say that they want this. I'm concerned that if San Mateo is the only municipality to offer Sunday blowing, all of the operators will descend on San Mateo on Sunday and disturb the quiet, peaceful environment during one of two days when most residents are enjoying time at home. Meanwhile, there could be no usage during Monday - Friday when many residents are out of the house and the noise will be not as concerning.
On Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM Mark Miller wrote:
Dear Mayor Newsom, San Mateo City Council and San Mateo City Clerk,
Thank you for taking the time to review my letter regarding the consideration of a gas leaf blower ban for the City of San Mateo. I appreciate your ongoing commitment to protecting both the health and well-being of our residents and our environment.
I understand that there are a variety of factors to consider when implementing a new policy, especially regarding the operational hours for electric leaf blowers in residential areas.
However, after careful thought, I would like to address one specific concern that has been raised regarding expanding the operational hours to include Sundays which was discussed at the City Council Regular Meeting on Monday, October 6, 2025.
I strongly believe that adding Sunday to the operational hours would create an unnecessary disturbance to the quiet, peaceful environment that is so vital for the well-being of San Mateo’s residents. Sundays, in particular, serve as an important day for relaxation, reflection, and family time. It is a day when many of us are home and deserve the opportunity to enjoy a quieter, more serene environment.
Even the noise generated by electric powered leaf blowers can be disruptive and detrimental to the quality of life for residents, many of whom work long hours during the week. Limiting their use to Monday - Saturday would strike a better balance -- allowing the necessary yard work to be done while also respecting the need for a peaceful environment.
I respectfully urge the Council to maintain the current proposal, which restricts leaf blower use to Monday - Saturday for residential areas, and to avoid expanding the operational hours to include Sundays. This compromise would achieve the desired environmental benefits, while also protecting the tranquility that so many of us cherish.
Once again, thank you for your leadership in protecting our environment and the health of our community. I trust that the City Council will continue to consider both the environmental impact and the quality of life for San Mateo residents as you move forward with this important decision.
I appreciate your attention and your consideration of this request. -- Mark Miller
On Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 8:30 PM Mark Miller wrote:
Dear Mayor Newsom and the San Mateo City Council,
Good day. I am a resident of District 5.
I am asking the City Council to reconsider a gas leaf blower ban for the City of San Mateo, now that the City of Burlingame has instituted its own ban effective July 1, 2024. As we are
all aware California law AB 1346 has gone into effect, however online retailers continue to sell gas powered leaf blowers and restock their shelves given little oversight related to enforcement, which means that this law will take several long years to have any measurable impact on the use of these poorly regulated machines that generate a deafening whine of noise that feels inescapable and pollute the atmosphere with high levels of carbon dioxide.
One of the main issues that have prevented municipalities such as San Mateo to institute a ban on gas powered leaf blowers is that landscapers are resistant to change and will have a hard time making the switch to battery operated machines. In order to make the switch, landscapers will need to be pushed into making the change as this group is resistant to change until told to do so apparently.
I am asking the City Council to please have the courage and leadership needed to institute a ban on gas powered leaf blowers to protect the environment for ourselves and more importantly for future generations. Please consider what the City of Burlingame has instituted and the strong message that this says to their residents and businesses, that we care about both your health and the health of our environment with a strong ban on gas powered leaf blowers that goes into effect in a short time table as well as restricting the use of leaf blowers for use by certain areas one day per week and only on weekdays thereby giving back weekends to residents to enjoy without having to endure the noise of these machines.
I appreciate your attention and your consideration of this request. -- Mark Miller
https://www.burlingame.org/573/Leaf-Blowers
https://www.hillsborough.net/618/Leaf-Blowers-in-Hillsborough https://www.losaltosca.gov/development-services/page/gas-powered-leaf-blowers- prohibited
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill id=202120220AB1346
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From: Clerk
To: Andrea Chow
Subject: FW: Decision Framework - Electric Leaf Blower Transition Date: Friday, October 24, 2025 5:06:00 PM
Attachments: Decision Framework.pdf
Hi Andrea,
Please see comment attached.
Best,
Chantal
From: Dustin Chase
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 9:02 AM
To: City Council (San Mateo) <[email protected]> Cc: City Attorney's Office
<[email protected]>; City Mgr <[email protected]>; Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Decision Framework - Electric Leaf Blower Transition
Honorable Council,
Quiet Clean San Mateo’s goal is to bring the best of the best ideas to the gas leaf blower prohibition program in San Mateo. We appreciate the feedback and comments presented during the October 6 study session.
Finalizing the electric leaf blower prohibition program can be challenging. Please find attached a decision framework we hope will ease the process.
Thank you,
Dustin
Decision Framework
The San Mateo City Council’s October 6 gas leaf blower prohibition study session raised many questions regarding various ordinance details. It appeared difficult to resolve some of the policy questions.
In response, Quiet Clean San Mateo is offering a decision framework that will hopefully ease the burden on decision makers. This seeks to restate the goals and principles we observe in San Mateo government, and illustrate the status quo in San Mateo regarding gas leaf blowers.
Our Goals and Guiding Principles
Our Goal
Our goal is to foster community vibrancy. The means to achieve our goal is reducing or eliminating machine interference in community activities.
I live in the Mission District of San Francisco. I experience many amazing community activities, such as impromptu street dance parties. Sometimes those things are louder than I’d like, but these activities are about people expressing themselves and living joyfully. It’s people making my community more vibrant.
In San Mateo, we prioritized closing some streets to cars downtown and reducing train noise.
Both those actions reduced machine activity, so people can enjoy a better quality of life in San Mateo.
Guiding Principles
People increase community vibrancy. Machines dull it. We’re eliminating a particularly nasty machine from our community.
Simplicity. We want to minimize city workload and set clear expectations for landscaping businesses, property owners and the entire community. We will have one set of rules for everyone to follow, and simple procedures for accepting and resolving complaints.
Decision Factors
The Impact
The low frequency noise a gas leaf blower produces is extremely loud, carries over 2 football fields away, has little drop off over that distance, and penetrates physical barriers such as doors, windows, and even walls. This noise causes hypertension, stress and aggression.
Every single gas leaf blower violation matters because even a single gas leaf blower can severely impact hundreds of homes.
For those of us who are not exposed to this noise, it is all too easy to dismiss it. But it’s undeniable physics. Noise is vibration, and gas leaf blower noise powerfully affects the human nervous system. It is undeniable physics vs fragile human beings.
It’s no contest: physics always wins. That is why we see people like the resident who asked at the October 6 study session for an immediate gas leaf blower ban. He seems to be struggling much the same way I was in San Mateo, and I hate to think he might end up making an emergency escape from San Mateo as I was forced to.
There is high tension and much conflict in San Mateo neighborhoods over gas leaf blowers. We will relieve that tension by both prohibiting gas leaf blower use in San Mateo, and effectively enforcing that prohibition.
Electric Compromise
Leaf blowers are not necessary for plant care. They are a convenience for property owners, and they’ve become the de facto tool for landscapers.
Banning leaf blowers altogether would best serve our goal of fostering community vibrancy. But property owners like the convenience of leaf blowers, and landscaping businesses insisted they need them, so we compromised on electric models.
These are substantially quieter and produce higher frequency noise than gas leaf blowers do.
So, electric leaf blower noise does not travel nearly as far as gas leaf blower noise does, and it is more easily blocked. But many electric leaf blower models are still quite loud, and many people find them disturbing. My experience with electric leaf blower noise has varied, with some electric models being easily tolerable and others setting my nerves on edge. I could never adapt to gas leaf blower noise, but I can to electric ones. It’s a compromise.
Electric leaf blowers have some of the same drawbacks gas models do because they do exactly the same thing: blow. They can still kick up pollen, dust and animal feces. Those with asthma and other respiratory illnesses will still be affected by electric leaf blowers. However, successfully transitioning to electric leaf blowers requires businesses to use them much more efficiently than the old gas models. The resulting lower speeds should mitigate the huge clouds of dust we see around gas leaf blower operators. Again, this is a compromise with landscaping business owners and their customers in the name of harm reduction.
In this compromise, landscaping business owners got what they asked for and more than they knew. They not only got to keep using leaf blowers, but also got safer working conditions and higher profit margins. They also get financial assistance with the upfront investment in superior tools.
Their workers’ safety is the main driver behind this change. So, the individuals who are so often thought to be most harmed by this prohibition are those who benefit most.
Our biggest gain with this transition is the elimination of local gas leaf blower emissions. The community will still have to contend with leaf blower noise and dust, but at much lower levels with electric models than with the old gas ones. In exchange for tolerating electric leaf blowers, they get significantly cleaner air, safer neighborhoods and a more vibrant San Mateo.
The XY Problem
Some landscaping business owners have some concerns about electric leaf blowers. Let’s not address these one by one. Instead, let’s address their source.
Many landscaping businesses are trapped in what is called an “XY Problem” with leaf blowers.
It’s a common problem amongst human beings. It’s when we discuss the end user's attempted solution (X) rather than the root problem itself (Y).
Some landscaping businesses see themselves as a leaf blower service, not a landscaping service. They train and supervise their employees as leaf blower operators, not as landscaping workers. The following examples are given not to demonize anyone, but to show how the XY problem shows up in landscaping services, so we can make better policy decisions.
1. A landscaping business employee is directed to spend 20 minutes at the customer’s property. There is very little debris to clear, but the employee has no choice but to spend the full 20 minutes running their leaf blower at virtually nothing. (San Mateo public comment)
2. A tenant wants the landscaper to, at least, spend less time running the gas leaf blower.
He times the landscaper, then times himself doing the same job with a push broom. They are about the same. Another day, he meticulously clears the entire property with a push broom shortly before the landscaper arrives. The landscaper spends no less time using the gas leaf blower than he usually does, blowing the entire, practically pristine property. (My observation)
3. Using a gas leaf blower at full throttle, a landscaper scatters leaves and debris around the customer’s property. He clears one area, does another, then goes to the previous area to clear the debris he just blew back into the area he just cleared. Back and forth the worker goes, eventually herding all the debris into a single pile in the street. He then blows the pile around and up the street to make it appear that he removed them. (My observation)
4. A leaf blower operator finds a few leaves and trimmings in an apartment courtyard.
Instead of sweeping up the small pile, he blows it all the way around the courtyard and into the street. (Reddit)
5. A landscaper blows an entire parking lot, whether there was any debris in a particular area or not. As he works, he produces a huge cloud of fine dust, which settle\s over the parking lot. He then blows every inch of the parking lot, again, to remove that dust. (My observation)
The numerous landscaping businesses that work efficiently and use leaf blowers appropriately are not likely to complain about the transition to electric leaf blowers. We’re more likely to hear complaints from businesses that use leaf blowers as much as possible, at the highest power possible. The XY problem is the source of battery life and tool performance complaints.
These landscaping business owners themselves are stuck in legacy practices, with gas leaf blowers the ultimate problem. They invite abuse. Convenient gas/oil refilling means you can get away with wasting fuel, so you use full power all the time. You can also use the blower for every speck of debris, no matter how small. The hurricane-force wind moves so much debris at once that you are fooled into believing you are working quickly. Really, that tool is wasting your time and money.
Moving on from gas leaf blowers means solving the XY Problem. Don’t ask “how can I use my leaf blower?” but “how can I best get my work done?” The City of San Mateo did exactly that when it replaced much of its leaf blowing with a Brush Hog.
Customer Expectations
Landscaping business owners react to customer demands, which can lead to excessive, wasteful leaf blower use. Some property owners expect their outdoor areas to be pristine. One of my old San Mateo neighbors used her leaf blower multiple times each day in pursuit of that goal.
Summary
We are eliminating gas leaf blowers in service to community vibrancy. The challenge to this change is mainly in customer expectations and legacy landscaping practices. We will address these challenges simply and effectively.