You were fine up until here. Insulting people for wanting to use an easier option isn't a great look.
If they waited until 8 on weekdays and 10 on weekends they did their part in waiting until most people were awake.
Dogs bark, lawn mowers cut grass, motorcycles or trucks have engines that are a cut above the rest in noise. People throw the odd celebration.
Get over it. You're not the only person in this world.
“Selfish” is not a protected class.
Also this: the leafblower ban was voted on and passed. The majority of Washingtonians thinks that running your petrol toy in public is so rude and bothersome that the practice needs a city ordinance banning it.
It takes me a half day with a leaf blower.
Between October and Feb I may have to pick up leaves 3 or 4 times to keep it from killing my grass or at the very least not be a bad neighbor and allow my leaves to blow over into the yard of people who just picked up theirs
I have a kid to take care of, other house upkeep to do, a 40-50 hour a week job.
This whole thread is filled with young, urban kids who have never been responsible for property
One solution would be to hire outside help to keep the excess of stuff clean, but that may be expensive. There's another solution, to cut down on the amount of stuff. When I was a kid the lawn would take 30 minutes to mow with a push lawnmower, and maybe 45 minutes for raking. Once a week. On Saturdays, because Sundays is quiet day.
Washington told its citizens to either earn enough and keep quiet or downsize to keep quiet. It's a good start.
It's time that other peoples' ostentatiousness stopped spilling over in my domain. Leafblowers are just one symptom. SUVs are another.
Portlandia isn't for everyone.
Leaf blowers are a god send for people with medical problems that 8+ hours of raking would seriously harm them or be impossible for them.
Also, good luck raking on the side a small, but steep, hill - you can't even stand on the hill without lots of pain and damaging the surface. But you can use a leafblower from the top.
i.e. just because you have a limited experience in the world, doesn't mean others do too.
(I own exactly 2 pot-plants, FWIW.)
Plus even if you have flowers and such you don't want lots of leaves there.
And, in my limited understanding of horticulture, I thought leaves happened later in the year than flowers. Don't they blow off or turn into fertiliser before spring?
And of course, that's the big issue here. By taking more time, raking makes cleaning the yard more expensive. When it comes to people in houses, that makes yard care more of an expense, which means some people will have to spend more time doing it rather than hiring a service. When it comes to condos or rentals where it's included, it makes rent more expensive.
But hey, some louts won't have to put up with the sound of a leafblower for a few minutes a week. Who cares if everyone is worse off?
It's more than just sound. Leaf blowers mostly use dirty, dirty two-stroke engines. Tons of emissions--which, regardless of the smell, we should be minimizing--and an awful stink.
If you can afford a house, you can rake the lawn and sweep the driveway. Or, as the article notes, even in Totalitarian Hellscape Washington you can buy a battery-powered leaf blower. What a horrible horrible sacrifice you must make.
I have medical problems limiting just how much I can exert myself. This wasn't true when i initially bought the home.
Raking leaves, is a 3-5 times event that could take me about 16 hours (an entire weekend) each time.
Blowing the leaves takes about 5-6 hours.
I had an electric blower for a long time and honestly, it only shaved off maybe a 10th of my time b/c it simply wasn't strong enough.
I recycle, i drive a hybrid, i compost and garden, i have an electric mower.
But for some people who spout endlessly about "externalizes", it's like there's no end to minimizing my foot print until i just up and commit suicide. You all sit back with your high and mighty judgements and half of you are just kids who've never been responsible for anything but yourselves, or dorky urbanites who have half a putting green for a yard in high crime areas. Or hell..both things at once.
Using a rake takes me 2 days to rake my yard. (about 16 hours)
An electric blower, 1.5 days (roughly 10-12 hours)
A gas blower takes me about 4 hours.
I have 2 medical conditions going on right now and can't pay someone $200 every single time i need my yard picked up. I spend enough in medical bills right now.
Hand held tools and scooters can be electric, small outboard motors for marine applications can be four stroke or propane fired.
Gotcha.
In the first world, two stroke is obsolete in every form.