The numerous letters in last week’s edition concerning the phasing out of leaf blowers are a clear mandate to ban these infernal machines.
Owners of only intermittently used properties, and speculators of properties for sale maintained while on the market, seem oblivious to the cacophony that year-round residents endure when properties on both sides of the street are “maintained” with the simultaneous roar of several leaf blowers from Monday to Friday, and often on Saturdays as well, despite legal restrictions.
In early December, I watched employees of a well-known landscaper going about their work in a phalanx of five guys aiming their blowers at a blacktop driveway. Photographic proof available.
The approximately 180-ph blasts of extremely hot air directed at leaves gathered around bushes, tree trunks and hedges efficiently distribute mold and fungal spores, plant pathogens, and rodent and bird feces — plus the chemicals people like to apply “to save plants from infections,” the infections encouraged by said blasts, that destroy the soil structure and dry out shallow root systems while killing many beneficial organisms. The pile of leaves is then carted off to the nearest dump, and subsequently nature’s mulch will be replaced by bags of store-bought, pungent-smelling mulch.
If we are bothered by the hideous noise these hellish machines make, pity the guy who is paid to pursue errant lawn mower clippings with a roaring engine strapped to his back just inches from his ears.
A version of the above was published in this paper in 2008(!), yet the problem has only gotten worse. It bears repeating.
Heide Löfken
Southampton
Shut Him UpFolks: it is time to take Michael Daly at his word(s), unpleasant as that may be. First: glide by his smarmy greeting card calls for “love.” His own words reveal him, above all, and consistently, a purveyor of hate and...
Suffering in SilenceWhen our world gets out of balance, we lose our comfort and security. Too much or too little of anything spikes our fear, and we lose our sense of peace. Those who have what they want and need are comfortable....
Advocate & Adjudicate?The previous administration of [Supervisor Jay] Schneiderman and current board member Tommy John Schiavoni did not give high priority to monitoring appointed public officials for ethical lapses in their private life activities. This laissez-faire policy towards ethics enforcement appears to...
Soil Is CallingIn a book titled “In Old Southampton,” Abigail Halsey reminds us that in the early days of Southampton, “every man was a farmer and a fisherman.” But those days are long gone and most people, today, have no connection to...
A Web of InterestsKudos to Craig Catalanotto [“What Are We Doing?” Letters, April 18] and Barbara Ring [“Tangled Web” Letters, April 18] for their letters to the editor shining a light on the web of special interests, conflicts of interest and misinformation that...
Dates of InfamySeptember 11 and October 7, similar dates of infamy for strong allies with similarly divergent reactions. Now gathered mobs of protesters are cheering on those who cry “Death to America” and call for the complete annihilation and genocide of the...
Your VoiceOn June 25, registered Democrats will go to the ballot box to determine who will represent their ticket for New York’s 1st Congressional District. Although CD1 has recently been held by Republicans, both parties have assumed leadership over the years....
Master ClassI thank Barbara Ring for aptly proving my point. In response to my letter [“An Alliance,” Letters, April 11], which decried the state of civic public discourse in Hampton Bays as being overtaken by misinformation, fear-mongering and conspiracy peddling, Ring...
