Letters to the Editor: Pickleball isn’t the only source of noise pollution making our lives less peaceful

To the editor: Staff writer Hannah Fry’s article on Carmel-by-the-Sea banning pickleball from its public tennis courts quotes someone as saying, “Pickleball is the first major noise pollution to hit the suburbs” (“Wealthy California coastal city bans pickleball, saying it ‘turned into a madhouse,’” Nov. 26). But what about lawnmowers, leaf blowers and those cars with the fancy motors that rev like they’re going 100 mph when going 15?

We’ve tried to ban gas leaf blowers because of their emissions and because the electric ones are quieter. But the gas leaf blowers keep going, in yard after yard, day after day, sometimes blowing and blaring to get a single wet leaf from a front yard into the road.

I wish us all luck convincing everyone — pickleball players, neighbors and drivers — that unnecessary noise just makes any moment so much worse than it needs to be. Let’s give thanks for a quiet moment, and let’s make more of them.

Dana Cairns Watson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: You can’t play pickleball without raising a racket.

Michael Galbraith, Lynwood