Letters

With all the fuss about having to give up (polluting, loud) gas-powered leaf blowers and switch to the (cleaner, quieter) electric kind, you’d think that gas blowers had been around forever.

In fact, those of us who grew up in Southampton Village in the 1950s and 1960s had only the rake. And while it’s true that raking didn’t move leaves around at 200 mph, it did the job, allowing us to enjoy fall — our favorite season — in peace.

It’s not that we expect that rakes will make a comeback; it’s just that electric blowers seem like a more than reasonable compromise.

Many of us in the village feel that a ban on gas blowers is called for — and by that we don’t mean a ban that will take effect in over two and a half years, as the current draft legislation proposes. Enacting it no more than a year from now should give all parties time to adapt to new and more Earth-friendly (and people-friendly) practices.

Because there is a possibility that this may be voted on that evening, all village residents interested in this issue, please attend next Tuesday’s 5 p.m. Village Board meeting and make your voices heard.

Penelope Wright

Southampton