Letter: Gardeners are a protected class

I want to support letter writer Joe Zuazua (“Glendale to become another Bell,” Oct. 25), who doesn’t like leaf blowers. An article in The Times a while ago discussed the economics of the gardening business. Gardeners work long hours in a marginal business and they rely on these obnoxious devices to save time. However, the hidden costs are paid by everyone else in the community: excessive noise, toxic, oily exhaust fumes and toxic dust.

Compared with four-stroke automobile or lawn-mower engines, their two-stroke engines produce vastly more pollution: About half the gasoline they consume is expelled unburned. Also expelled is oil smoke. A modern car could be driven for many thousands of miles and still produce less pollution than a leaf blower that is run for 15 minutes.

I object to making gardeners a protected class that tramples the right of the rest of us to enjoy peace and quiet and breathe good air.

Steven Asimow
Glendale