Houston’s drinking water system is being stressed by overflowing water reservoirs and dams, breached levees and possible problems at treatment plants and in their water distribution system. Failure of drinking water systems could lead to real water shortages. Raw sewage, dead bodies (human and animal) in the water and release of dangerous chemicals into the floodwaters could lead to the spread of disease through contact with contaminated water and to infection through open wounds. Most flood and swift-water first responders, such as our County’s all-volunteer Technical Rescue Swift Water rescue technicians, all wear dry suits to protect themselves from these types of contaminants in the unknown waters they will be in to perform rescues, searches and other related tasks.
Houston has at least a dozen sites that have been designated environmentally hazardous and at risk of petrochemical contamination. Indeed, companies have reported that pollutants from refineries have already been released. As if those are not bad enough, the “unprecedented” amount of water leads to the perfect breeding opportunities for mosquitoes, which bring us Zika and many other infectious diseases. Hurricane Harvey has already led to deaths by drownings and the destruction of many homes and businesses. Most in Texas, specifically in the Houston area were caught in a false sense of safety as the experts had indicated they were not in harms way.
Flood impacts can hit hardest on the most vulnerable and exposed people, especially low income and ignored neighborhoods, the elderly and frankly, already known flood-prone areas, such as the Bronx River and Saw Mill River corridors. And yet, after several years of relative calm when action could have been taken, the politicians did nothing and moved on to more critical issues. Specifically, in our Town, the major concern between lawsuits and guilty verdicts against our Supervisor has been over leaf blower noise. While an inconvenience to some, nobody has ever lost their possessions or been forced from their homes because someone was using a leaf blower!
In fact, Mr Feiner asked his Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) to review and report back to him about regulating leaf blower usage. And, the CAC issued no less than four reports to the Town Board, and recommended that the Town Board regulate the periods of use of blowers in the residential areas of Unincorporated Greenburgh for part of the year – from May 1 - September 30. Interestingly, the Town stopped using the vacuum truck to pick up leaves during the fall because they did not know when the leaves would fall. Huh? So, how can they now know that September 30th is the correct date to go by for this proposed bill?
The Edgemont Association sought this legislation, along with the 50 or so Edgemont, Cotswald and Hartsdale residents, and even passed a resolution in support of the CAC findings. They also agreed with the exemptions that practically negate the bill, should it become law, and only restrict residents from leaf blower usage. We quote here from Section XXX-4. Exemptions, about who will be exempted from this:
B. The restriction provided by Section 3 shall not apply
to: (1) commercial properties, (2) privately-owned golf courses, (3) properties
owned by a religious institution, and (4) properties owned by the town. Perhaps the only valuable portion of this bill comes down to the permissible hours of use: “...after 9 am and before 2 pm on weekdays and after 12 noon and before 5 pm on weekends and holidays.” Our non-legal interpretation is that homeowners’ landscapers or maybe even neighbors helping each other with their leaves are restricted unless they purchase a new electric blower and all businesses are not. Ironic that most businesses utilize landscaping companies and some of the complaints leading up to this request for legislation have been from those adjacent to golf courses, which are exempt.
Whether every community has similar issues or not, does not diminish the merit of their concerns. However, if less affluent neighborhoods do not utilize these landscaping services as do these other communities, is this necessary for the entire Town or just a few neighborhoods? Likewise, these non-flood zone area residents might make a similar argument about the Town's resources being committed to the flood corridors. Regardless, no Town monies have been expended toward either effort.
In reading the proposal for a leaf blower bill, it almost seems to make the case for having a law based of flimsy reasoning. We quote in italics:
The basis for the CAC's recommendation were the adverse environmental and public health effects of blowers, principally the degradation of soils and the involuntary exposure of residents to air-borne particulate pollution. Soils are the foundation of plant life.The hurricane level wind forces generated by blowers, regardless of how powered, disrupts soils and soil regeneration. Moreover, those wind forces also involuntarily expose residents to filthy particular matter thrown into the air, some of which are toxic. Children, the elderly and residents exercising or walking outdoors are particularly at risk.
As incredulous as the above statement is to believe, it seems like nothing more than the CAC trying to give Mr Feiner the cause celeb that he asked for proving (however weak) that another law is needed. He’s even said the Town is in need of a new law since it only has a noise ordinance pertaining to gas leaf blowers which is hard to enforce. We fail to see any enforcement improvements, only additional limitations on homeowners. In fact, placing the dates of use as well as time restrictions in the new law, won't offer any more enforcement opportunities unless Mr Feiner plans to have a cadre of interns patrolling landscaper-friendly neighborhoods on Segways to alert the police of an infraction.
A disaster involving a hurricane cannot happen unless people, infrastructure and communities are vulnerable to it. People become vulnerable if they end up being ignored by their political representatives. Where is the committee that was formed to address flooding by County Legislator Williams, or co-chairman Victor Carosi and most importantly, Mr Feiner and his Town Board? Now that it's hurricane season, we should be more concerned about flooding, toxic waste in the flood waters and the health effect it all has on our neighborhoods than leaf blower noise.
And, what about the deadly leaf blower problem? Kill the suggested bill and go back to the table to develop a Town law that gives the affected communities the ability to regulate when and how loud a leaf blower, whether gas or electric, can be used. Wait a minute..., isn't that why Edgemont is trying to incorporate? The issues are clear, as are the motives from the corner office. It has to stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.
