Leaf Blowing In Los Angeles

I've written a lot of articles on Los Angeles real estate and things regarding our community.  Anything from "What Does an Escrow Company Do?" to "What is going on with the construction at Ventura and Hazeltine?" can be found here on my blog.  I really try to keep all my articles very informative for people wanting to know about the market or happenings in the area.  But this article is really my soapbox about something that I have a personal interest in (or disinterest to be more fair).  I have a strong dislike for leaf blowers and have had it for a very long time.  From the years when I was in my early twenties living in Hollywood and they would wake me up at 7am to now-a-days where I am in a home in a quiet residential area of the valley and I have to close my windows so they don't wake up my baby.  For those of you who may read this and live elsewhere in an area where they are not used, they can be as loud as a chainsaw, they do absolutely no improvement to the area since all they do is blow leaves and dust everywhere but the immediate area, and the gas ones are bad for breathing and the air.  For those of us who live in LA, we are pretty use to all the noises of the city, the air pollution but also, the wonderful weather we are blessed with here.  But the amount of times that I have to quickly roll my car windows up as I come upon a thick cloud of dust and debris being blown into the streets by a leaf blower, or I have to close my home's windows during certain times of day because of the leaf blowers' noise in the neighborhood, is just uncountable. And for those of us already concerned about the air we breath here with the strong amount of pollution, we just intensify this pollution by kicking up all this dust everywhere we go.  We actually have city ordinances here in LA that not only prohibit gas blowers in a lot of areas, but also prohibit the noise any blower creates. You can find this here on the Los Angeles Police Department website Gas Powered Leaf Blowers Enforcement and Noise Ordinances   Look for Los Angeles Municipal (LAMC) Section 112. 04 (c)  You will find some departments and their phone numbers on that website as well as at the bottom of this article.  But of course this is a double edged sword isn't it?  Because for a very large amount of residents here in LA, most people hire gardeners that use these.  And if they didn't use these, we assume they would charge more for the labor involved in raking the leaves and sweeping, right?  I don't know but I do know that I am not alone when it comes to my extreme dislike of these machines. So while there may not be an easy solution, I believe it is something worth while discussing. Okay, I'm going to breath out now that I have written my frustrations down and feel free to leave your thoughts below. 

Air Quality Management District
800-288-7664 or 800-288-7664
(Emission problems, smoking vehicles, air health hazards)


Leaf Blower Hotline (City of LA)
800-996-CITY


The number to call when you don't know what number to call--- 311