As concerned residents, we attended the Southampton Village Board’s meeting on January 25 specifically to hear and lend our support to comments urging that gas-powered leaf blowers be banned year round.
While we applaud the board’s even-handed approach to informing policy, the decision to appoint a task force to examine this issue seems misguided. The harmful effects of gas-powered blowers on health, the environment and quality of life are well documented.
Hearings that gave both landscapers and citizens the opportunity to make their case for and against the use of these machines were held in 2019. Landscapers have had three years since then in which to convert their equipment and practices to reduce the negative impact of their work.
This isn’t complicated. It doesn’t require years of review and deliberation. If using gas-powered blowers is wrong during the summer months, how could it possibly be acceptable for nine months of the year? And how can the board justify a political process that would delay a decision and extend the continued use of this harmful technology?
The board should do the right thing for the residents of our village and for the planet, now, by making the seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers year round.
Jan and Anil Kumar
Southampton
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