By Cheryl Lecesse/ Staff Writer - Lincoln Journal
June 8, 2006
Two residents have come together to show their concerns about leaf blowers are more than just hot air.
Bedford Road resident Dan Dimancescu has put together www.ccblincoln.com, a Web site designed to alert residents to the improper and unnecessary use of leaf blowers in town, and what other cities and towns in the country have done to regulate, and even ban, the devices.
Dimancescu said the Web site is intended to be a quick and easy information resource.
"It’s a site that helps confirm this is much more than a Lincoln issue," he said.
Part of the problem is due to the machine’s growing list of uses.
"The machine is now being used as a handyman for any task," he said, and, especially now, those wielding leaf blowers are using them not for rogue autumn leaves, but to blow around dust and debris.
"One of the major manufacturers specifically recommends not using it for dust," Dimancescu said. "That just adds to the environmental impact these things have."
Noise is also a concern.
"It’s not just decibel noise - it’s also pitch," Dimancescu said.
Dimancescu said his complaints about leaf blower use in town date back to September 2004, when he wrote his first letter of concern to the Board of Selectmen.
"I thought that the best way was to at least alert the selectmen about the inconveniences," he said.
Since then he has written three more letters to the board, most recently last month, explaining the noise and environmental impacts of leaf blower use.
"The fact that there was zero feedback in a two to three year period was an added concern," he said.
It was coverage of Jim Meadors’ citizen’s complaint of leaf blower use during the open forum portion of a selectmen’s meeting last month that encouraged Dimancescu to make his concerns public.
"That was completely out of the blue," Dimancescu said, adding that he had no idea Meadors shared his concern until he read about it in the Lincoln Journal May 18.
"I have talked to several people in town who are concerned about the issue," said Meadors.
Meadors gave Dimancescu complete credit for the Web site, adding that he hopes it serves an educational purpose moving forward.
"We’re going to need more than a Web site if things are really going to happen about this," he said.
Before designing the Web site, Dimancescu researched what has been done about leaf blowers across the country, and he realized how seriously other communities were taking the issue.
"Particularly in California, where they’re much more progressive in environmental issues," he said.
In his research, Dimancescu has learned the issue has been resolved through ordinances that either ban or control the use.
"The procedures and the methods for dealing with this have been established for a long period of time," he said. "It’s a problem that’s been dealt with, and local communities can solve the problem."
On the Web site, the city of Cambridge is included as one working on regulating leaf blower use. In March, the Cambridge City Council ordered the city manager to report on an amendment to the municipal code to ban leaf blowers.
City Councilman Craig Kelley said the group has discussed leaf blower use, but so far nothing concrete has been done to solve the problem.
"It’s a pretty significant problem for a fair amount of people," he said, echoing the same concerns with leaf blowers that Meadors and Dimancescu have said.
Kelley said the emissions are also a major problem, because the leaf blowers’ two-stroke engines emit thick exhaust.
In December 2005 there was an initial report put in to have the manager draft a municipal regulation to ban gas powered leaf blowers. There was also discussion about the city’s noise ordinance during the same month, Kelley said.
As of Monday, Kelley said the council has not yet heard back from the city manager on possible regulations. He said, if citizens were more organized in Cambridge, they might see more traction from the city manager’s office.
"I think it’s wonderful they’re doing this," he said of Citizens for a Cleaner, Better Lincoln. "Hopefully they’ll lead the way."
Dimancescu said he hopes the selectmen will address the issue by holding an open meeting on it.
"The selectmen have a responsibility to respond to a citizen’s concern which has both health and environmental implications," he said.
"Lincoln is a forward looking community," Meadors added. "It’s something that we should really think about."