Westside Elitism Is Evident in Leaf Blower Ban

If you want to know where the pressure for Los Angeles’ new leaf blower ban originated, look to the Westside, the heartland of L.A.’s fussy class.

Their home turf is Los Angeles’ 11th City Council district, which stretches from Westside’s Brentwood and Pacific Palisades into upscale portions of the west San Fernando Valley.

The councilman representing the area, just-retired Marvin Braude, fought hard for the ban, one of the last acts of his long career.

Few politicians have done more for L.A. than Braude. He saved the beach off the Pacific Palisades from the ravages of an oil drilling scheme and led the fight to save the Santa Monica Mountains from developers. You can thank him for the Venice bike path.

In all these efforts, he was backed by wealthy, politically powerful constituents, and I suppose we should thank them too.

But sometimes there is downside to what happens when these people get their way. This is Me Generation country, as illustrated by the local driving habits. I live on the Westside myself. So I can say with authority what happens when anyone stops a car to permit a pedestrian to cross a street. The blare of the horns protesting this act of decency--and obedience to the law--would drown out the drone of any leaf blower wielded by a hard-working gardener.

*

What’s happened is that City Hall has caved in to a small, powerful and aurally sensitive group of Westsiders. And I think that’s silly.

Leaf blowers are just one more noise in the big city, hardly noticeable against the racket of power mowers, helicopters, garbage trucks, street sweepers, motorcycles, neighbors’ TVs and barking dogs. In some places, add gunfire. If I liked quiet, I’d move to the desert.

There are, in fact, days when I find the noise of the leaf blower comforting, a roar that announces the end of the gardeners’ task, promising clean walkways and flower beds. Maybe these gas-powered leaf blowers do cause pollution. But it’s nothing compared to cars, trucks and industrial plants.

It’s not fair to the gardeners. They survive on relatively low wages by caring for many homes. Gardeners manage this by using labor saving power equipment--mowers, weed whackers, edgers, hedge clippers and chain saws, in addition to leaf blowers.

If you know the Westside, the ban is also full of irony.

This affluent area treasures the self-made business person. Picture a Westside entrepreneur, working at his home-office computer, complaining about the noise made by another, poorer, entrepreneur laboring in the garden outside.

This is elitism, a law originating in a rich community against those without political clout. It’s not surprising that the western part of L.A. gave birth to the ban. Most of the other Los Angeles County cities with such bans are affluent--Santa Monica, South Pasadena, West Hollywood, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates, Beverly Hills, Claremont and Hermosa Beach.

Imagine what would happen if someone floated a plan to ban motorcycles. The proposal would never make it through the political process, no matter how annoying the noise from these vehicles. In fact, a lot of Westsiders would oppose it, trooping to City Hall and the Capitol on their Harley hogs, wearing expensive leather motorcycle jackets.

Then there’s the problem of enforcement, the unnecessary work it piles on the Los Angeles Police Department.

They’re trying to solve murders, burglaries, robberies, car thefts, kidnappings, frauds and rapes. In the midst of all this, they get a leaf blower complaint?

*

The enforcement factor is what may sink this misguided law.

Councilman Mike Hernandez told me the LAPD has asked to appear before his Economic Development Committee today and ask for a moratorium on enforcement of the ban.

“They’re concerned about getting too many calls,” Hernandez said. “They don’t have the staff.”

Hernandez wants enforcement delayed until the garden products industry comes up with quieter leaf blowers.

At last, some common sense.

The Southland lost a valuable forum for these kind of disputes when KABC radio removed talk show host Michael Jackson from the prime morning spot and shifted him to the weekends. The even-handed, intelligent Jackson has made a real contribution to political debate with one of the few programs where public affairs were taken seriously.