Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are a public nuisance, harmful to public health, detrimental to air quality and negatively impact the environment overall. 

• According to the Centers for Disease Control, leaf blowers typically produce at least 90 decibels of noise – exposure two hours of such noise causes permanent hearing loss. 
• A 2011 test by the car experts at Edmunds showed that “a consumer-grade leaf blower emits more pollutants than a 6,200-pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.” In their test, the engine emitted nearly 299 times the hydrocarbons of the pickup truck and 93 times the hydrocarbons of the sedan. The blower emitted many times as much carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides as well. 
• A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency entitled, National Emissions from Lawn and Garden Equipment, indicates that gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment is a prevalent source of toxic and carcinogenic emissions.

In Sacramento, a region consistently rated as having some of the worst air quality in the nation, and where gasoline-powered leaf blowers are in such frequent use due to the proliferation of trees, gasoline-powered leaf blowers create more of an environmental and quality of life hazard than in other parts of the state. 

Switching to electric would sharply reduce air pollution. Power plants are equipped with scrubbers to filter out pollutants, the kind of technology that could never be attached to a hand-held leaf blower. Consumer Reports says that, for ordinary yards, electric blowers perform comparably to gas-powered models.

The City should move to immediately pass an ordinance that prohibits the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers in favor of electric models.

Cities, towns, counties and states which ban or restrict the use of blowers include:
Arlington, MA
Aspen, CO
Belvedere, CA
Berkeley, CA
Beverly Hills, CA
Boulder, CO
Brookline, MA
Cambridge, MA
Carmel, CA (banned in 1975 – first city in the USA)
Claremont, CA
Del Mar, CA
Dobbs Ferry, NY
Evanston, IL
Foster City, CA
Framingham, MA
Hastings, NY
Honolulu, HI
Houston, Texas
Indian Wells, CA
Key West, FL
Laguna Beach, CA
Lawndale, CA
Los Altos, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Malibu, CA
Mamaroneck, NY
Maplewood, NJ
Menlo Park, CA
Mill Valley, CA
Montclair, NJ
New Rochelle, NY
Oyster Bay, NY
Palm Beach, FL
Palo Alto, CA
Pelham Manor, NY
Pelham, NY
Portland, OR
Portsmouth, NH
Rye, NY
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Scarsdale, NY
Scottsdale, AR
Sunnyvale, CA
Tampa, FL
Tiburon, CA
Toronto, ON
Vancouver, BC
Westchester County, NY
West Hollywood, CA
White Plains, NY
Winnetka, IL
Yonkers, NY