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SURVEY99 DESIGN
Intention. Survey99 was designed to gather
unbiased answers. If Participants first inquired about the survey
and/or its sponsors, they were informed of Senator Burton's SCR19,
which seeks information regarding the health and environmental
effects of leaf blowers on their operators and on the general
public. Participants were told survey results would be sent to
the California State Legislature, and asked to hold all other
questions until after the survey was completed.
Administration. Surveys were administered
by unpaid volunteers. It was imperative that Survey99 responses
accurately reflect the experiences and opinions of as diverse
a sample of Participants as possible. Persons were approached
in a random manner for personal interviews at shopping malls,
sports and music events, Farmers' Markets and public beaches.
A small minority of surveys were taken door-to-door or by telephone.
Only California residents of voting age were surveyed.
Affiliation of Survey99 Author. Survey99
was designed by Diane Wolfberg, Chair of Zero Air Pollution ("ZAP")
Education Committee. ZAP is a grassroots group of concerned residents
and workers in Los Angeles, California who joined together in
1995 to secure a ban against 2-stroke motor gas leaf blowers in
Los Angeles California. ZAP, as an organization, was created in
response to a gardener association which formed and united with
blower manufacturers, to fight the ban. Costs associated with
ZAP activities are borne by individual members who incur those
costs themselves.
In addition to other volunteers, Diane Wolfberg
and George Wolfberg also administered Surveys, designed the database
for data entry, tallied the answers and composed this Survey99
Report. Diane Wolfberg is a former teacher and legal secretary.
George Wolfberg is retired from the office of the Los Angeles
City Administrative Officer. Many, if not all, Los Angeles City
Council members he worked with throughout his 35-year tenure will
vouch for his competence and integrity. Both have a history of
volunteer work with civic and nonprofit groups, as have most of
the members of ZAP.
Design Consultant. Surveys were designed
with the assistance of Anya van Leeuwen, who holds an MBA in marketing.
Limitations. Volunteers
were given only two weeks to complete the surveys. Of 53 completed
surveys, over 38 zip codes and a wide variety of income levels
are represented.
Where a blower has not been used on the property
of a Participant's residence in the past 12 months, questions
regarding blower use were skipped. All findings about blower use
and protective gear concern only blower use on the property of
Participants' residences.
Where a statistic represents a sub-group of Participants,
rather than the whole, it is so noted as representing only those
who answered.
Participants
were picked at random. For instance, a table and signs (which
did not indicate the subject matter of the survey) were set up
at a farmers' market. People who showed interest were surveyed.
At two beach areas, which were available to public transportation,
a particular walking path was pre-determined. All people within
that path who were not sleeping, engrossed in reading, or in animated
conversation were approached. At the shopping mall, shops which
did not have customers at the time were entered, and people who
appeared to be employees or owners were approached.
Upon commencement of the survey
taking, it soon became clear Survey99 represents opinions of California
residents who had not been heard from before. A question regarding
possible affiliation with special purpose groups involved in this
controversy would have made that clear.
Total Number of Surveys
53. Owners=36, Renters = 17
PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY99
It is believed that Los Angeles is the largest
market for leaf blowers in the world. The use of leaf blowers
has been a contentious issue in California for many years, as
evidenced by bans in 20 cities, and regulations in many more.
The right of a local government to regulate leaf blower usage
in its jurisdiction has been challenged by various bills proposed
in the California State Legislature since 1998. Two proposed 1999
bills will carry over into the year 2000.
SCR19 (Burton) requested the California State
Air Resources Board to make a report of existing studies which
regard the health and environmental effects of leaf blowers on
the public at large and on blower operators.
Survey99 was designed to reveal perceptions and
opinions of the public at large, regarding residential landscape
maintenance practices and any problems associated with blower
use. The goal of Survey99 was to find facts, which might help
proponents and opponents of blower bans have an understanding
of each other's concerns. Concerns of ZAP members include the
following:
- Blower Intrusion
- Residents in some California neighborhoods
suffer daily assaults of blower noise and pollution. This results
in persons at home, including retirees, parents and caregivers
to infants and the sick, having to change their routine in some
way. For instance, they might change locations within the impacted
property, and/or close doors and windows in order to engage
in conversation, concentrate on work, or relax. Use of blowers
also creates sleep problems for night shift workers who must
sleep during the day, as well as others who must rest during
this period.
- The impact of blower use is exacerbated when
the odors and noise of blowers are added to those of lawn mowers
and edgers. With the advent of larger landscape crews, all of
these machines are frequently used at the same time, despite
the advice of at least one manufacturer to "use only one piece
of equipment at a time. . . .". If all three are used at once,
the noise and odors are that much more disturbing. If all three
are used separately, the noise and odors are extended over a
longer period.
- Lawnmower noise, in one study, inhibited the
response of passersby to a woman in need of help. When the mower
was turned off, indifference was replaced by helpfulness.
- Harmful Gardening Practices
- Independent landscape contractors and gardening
experts state that blowers are harmful to the environment,
the soil and vegetation.
- Workers are encouraged by manufacturers
to use power blowers, instead of water, for "areas such
as gutters, screens, patios, grills, porches and garages,"
areas that are more easily and more quickly cleaned with
a broom or rake.
- The Amish have a phrase for gardening practices
which allow for hearing the sounds of nature, the sounds
of reassurance that the world is alive and well. "We are
the quiet on the land."
- Health Concerns
- The two-stroke engine used on blowers has
been banned in the form of personal water craft (jet skis)
from use on Lake Tahoe and in lakes in Washington state
because of its noise and air and water pollution.
- A 1997 study by Kaiser Permanente linked
Particulate Matter to excess mortality and morbidity, and
to higher asthma mortality rates between 1970 and 1994.
This is a period of time during which blower use increased
greatly.
- Recent studies have demonstrated that agricultural
products and animal feces from landscape and farming activities
are a major source of ocean pollution in such areas as Los
Angeles and Orange Counties,
- The South Coast Air Quality Management
District, in 1990, linked leaf blowers to air pollution
and in 1997 reported that Particulate Matter could "potentially
damage the lower respiratory tract and the gas-exchange
region of the lung. A 1994 report stated that air toxics
(e.g. benzene, a carcinogenic component of gasoline)
are not safe at any level. Fuel spills, exhaust emissions
and the blowing up of gasoline residue from streets are
all concerns which prompted efforts to ban leaf blowers.
2. Conflicting Statements and Opinions
Conflicting statements and opinions have been presented based
on evidence that can be linked to blower use. Yet there appear
to be no serious health studies specifically related to residential
use of leaf blowers and/or other gardening equipment
There are conflicting findings and/or opinions regarding the
amount of time blowers are used, what they are used for, as well
as the time differences between blowers and other methods of leaf
and debris gathering.
In the absence of such specific health studies,
it appears that a more general study regarding quality of life
issues, actual landscape maintenance practices, and economic questions,
would help California state legislators make informed decisions
in the future. Economic facts were not called for in Senator Burton's
SCR19, therefore they are not discussed specifically in this Report.
They are discussed generally as they relate to lack of both automatic
and requests for pay raises.
- Economics
- Conflicting statements made by a landscape
contractor's association create confusion by declaring, on the
one hand, that workers will have to be fired if blowers cannot
be used, and, on the other hand, that more workers would have
to be hired to use rakes and brooms.
- Independent landscape workers, themselves,
have said and been quoted as being unwilling to discuss pay
adjustments with employers because they fear their job will
be given to a lower-cost competitor;
- Proponents of leaf blower bans believe these
economic conjectures should not outweigh health and quality
of life issues surrounding the use of blowers.
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