Leaf Blower Users Hail Loophole

A group representing landscape workers vowed Saturday to use a legal loophole uncovered in two recent court cases to skirt a Los Angeles ordinance banning gasoline-powered leaf blowers near homes.

On Friday, a West Los Angeles Municipal Court judge dismissed cases against two gardeners cited for using leaf blowers that they convinced her were powered by methanol, an alcohol derivative, not gasoline. A similar decision was handed down in June.

“It is our way of resisting this unjust law in a legal fashion,” Alvero Huerta, general secretary of the Assn. of Latin American Gardeners of Los Angeles, said Saturday.

City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who was instrumental in the passage of the law, said she is “very concerned about what this may mean in terms of the ordinance.”

She said she will meet with the city attorney’s office this week to study whether an amendment will be necessary to eliminate the apparent loophole.

Miscikowski said that the issue was one of quality of life and that those who convert or say they have converted their leaf blowers to methanol are simply skirting the law.

The ordinance bans the use of gas-powered leaf blowers within 500 feet of residences and carries a maximum fine of $270.

A divided City Council passed the controversial ordinance earlier this year after lobbying by residents who felt the tools were too noisy and polluted the environment. Gardeners, however, viewed the gas-powered blowers as an important tool for their livelihoods and at one point staged a hunger strike in front of City Hall to protest the ban.

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The laborers’ opposition did not keep the ordinance from passing 9-5. The council did significantly lessen the penalties, which at one point had featured a six-month jail sentence plus fines.

Municipal Judge Elizabeth Allen White ruled Friday that because the ordinance specifies gasoline-powered leaf blowers, the gardeners did not violate it.

The ruling came just a day before the city expanded enforcement jurisdiction of the ordinance to include the Bureau of Street Maintenance and the Building and Safety Department. Since the law took effect earlier this year, the Police Department had possessed sole authority to write citations.

Huerta called White’s decision a victory for his group and said it puts “a wrench in the enforcement process.”

Supervising Deputy City Atty. Sue L. Frauens said her office has not yet determined what impact the judge’s ruling will have.

“We are going to have to reevaluate in terms of enforcement,” she said. “We don’t know at this juncture whether to appeal.”

Frauens said that “the use of alternative fuels was never contemplated” during the drafting of the ordinance.

“Nobody brought it up,” she said.

Although Frauens said White’s ruling does not set a precedent, an earlier case in June involving a methanol-powered leaf blower also went against the city.

Kimberly Buffington, the attorney who represented Friday’s defendants as well as those in the June case, said, “We absolutely think this ordinance does not apply to blowers converted to methanol. If the city is interested in banning all leaf blowers regardless of power, then the ordinance needs to be amended to reflect that, so all parties can have fair warning.”

She said her firm has two similar cases pending.

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Huerta, of the 1,000-member gardeners group, said the association is advising laborers to convert their blowers if they can. He said the hope is to force the city to rewrite the ordinance so it would not ban gas-powered leaf blowers but would establish noise and pollution restrictions.

“We are not against regulating leaf blowers,” Huerta said. “Gardeners were never consulted about how this would affect them economically. We are hoping it goes back to the city and we can get a more reasonable ordinance. It is not that the gardeners are stubborn.”

He estimated that since the ordinance took effect about 20 of the group’s members have been cited and hundreds have received warning letters from the city.

The hot debate over the ordinance may soon become moot if the Legislature passes a bill introduced by state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). The measure would allow gas-powered blowers with some noise restrictions and bar cities from banning them.

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On Saturday, two gardeners in the Mid-Wilshire area emphasized the importance of leaf blowers powered by gasoline.

“Gas is better,” said one, a self-employed man who asked that his name not be used. Even so, he has started using an electric blower. But, he added, “the electric blowers are too noisy and it takes too long.”

Nearby, Jose Perez said he continues to use a gasoline-powered blower despite the ban. “The blower takes less time to get the job done, about 20 minutes. If I used a rake, it would take me three to four hours,” he said.

Staff writer Inna Williams contributed to this story.