Sleepy Hollow Mulls Joining Other Rivertowns In Banning Gas Leafblowers

This is the first in an occasional series of articles written for The Hudson Independent by local students. Submissions should be sent to editor@thehudsonindependent.com.

 By Ginger Lidsky–  

Last Tuesday evening, dozens of people gathered at Sleepy Hollow Village Hall for a community hearing to decide on a potential year-round ban on leafblowers. Business owners concerned about losing money from the ban, residents with health issues and local environmentalists stood up to voice their opinions. Most supported the ban. Mayor Marjorie Hsu chose to keep the hearing open another month.

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Sleepy Hollow currently has a part-time ban on gas-powered leafblowers. Most Westchester County villages have already banned them in some way. Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Larchmont, Mamaroneck and White Plains have prohibited their use all year. New York state may ban the sale of all gas-powered leafblowers by 2027 if a bill in committee passes. Nationally, the seemingly irrelevant issue has become partisan, with majority-Democrat states tending to be more receptive to bans.

The first and most prominent speakers were the Zegarelli brothers. The current president of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and former mayor of the village, Philip Zegarelli, was seeking exemption for all local cemeteries. He said that it was important for the cemetery to continue to look nice for the frequent year-round tours, and especially during the tourist season in October. “It’s very important to understand the melding together of the village and the Sleepy Hollow image,” Mr. Zegarelli said. “We think we should be understood as a cemetery with 47,000 people there who won’t be injured by noise.” Later, Kirsten Bourne said, “Wearing my resident of the Phillipse Manor hat, we smell wafts of the exhaust coming from the cemetery constantly.”

A contractor for a local landscaping company was worried about how the cost of the mandated electric leafblowers would harm his business. The new leafblowers are far more expensive, but wouldn’t be as efficient. He said that his employees would have to work three times as hard, and felt that the ban would not benefit everyone equally without an incentive being offered.

Voters on the other side of the issue, many with health problems, came to speak about how gas-powered leafblowers harm them. Margaret Rubick brought a petition with over 80 signatures gathered in December from people eager for a ban. The petition had been created by her husband, Ed Andrews, who was personally triggered by the gas-powered leafblowers, along with Francesca Genco. A man with multiple chemical sensitivities spoke about how fumes from the leafblower affected him from as much as two blocks away, and was concerned that in the future, other people could develop such sensitivities as a result of frequent exposure to fumes.

A few members of the local environmental group Sustainable Sleepy Hollow, who have long supported a permanent ban, shared details about the extreme level of pollution caused by the leafblowers and their damage to ecosystems. They pointed out that keeping  the leafblowers would not be in compliance with local and state climate action plans. “Maybe it made sense in the 80s, the 70s, back when we didn’t know what we know about leafblowers now,” said Kirsten Bourne, “but given how much we know about human health and climate change and the ecosystems we are responsible for caring for which are our yards, we need to act.”

The board is expected to make a decision at its March 10^th meeting.