New Leaf Blower Ban Enforcement Measures Take Effect

Beginning this Thursday, October 28, enforcement of Santa Monica's recently updated motorized leaf blower restrictions will be taken over by the City's Office of Sustainability and the Environment (OSE).  Originally banned in the early 1990s, motorized leaf blower restrictions were difficult and costly to enforce due to the requirement that the violation be directly observed by a sworn police officer.  In order to improve enforcement, Santa Monica's City Council adopted changes to the ordinance to allow OSE staff to issue administrative citations to leaf blower operators, landscaping companies, property owners and/or property managers.  OSE's bi-lingual inspectors will initially focus on public education about the ordinance and about alternatives to using motorized leaf blowers for removing debris from landscapes quickly and economically.

"Beyond the noise and the annoyance, leaf blowers pose multiple health risks to the community and the operator.  These devices are so inefficient they emit more pollution than a car and blow a mix of fine particles into the air we breathe.  Our education-driven enforcement plan should make Santa Monica a little healthier as well as quieter," said Dean Kubani, director of the City's Office of Sustainability and the Environment.

In what belies commonly held perceptions on air pollution, an individual gas powered leaf blower, those often used by professional gardeners, emit 500 times the level of hydrocarbons than a modern automobile (CA Air Resources Board).  The added air pollution is significant and affects tens of thousands of healthy and vulnerable Angelinos, especially troubling asthmatics and allergy sufferers.  With a muzzle velocity up to 150 miles per hour, blowers further impact our air quality by blowing fine particles of fertilizers, pesticides, and other contaminants up from the ground into the air.  Noise is also a serious issue, a gas-powered blower creates up to 70 decibels of nerve-racking noise at 50 feet.  Reducing noise pollution continues to be a high priority for homeowners and renters alike, especially those with small children, or individuals with home offices.  Noise from blowers also scares our local wildlife, especially birds.

The Alternatives - Use alternatives like push brooms, rakes, and manual leaf sweeping machines.  Leaf vacuums may be an option for larger properties.  Hosing surfaces is prohibited.

The Law -  No person shall operate any motorized leaf blower within the city (SMMC 4.08.270).  A leaf blower is defined as any motorized tool (gas, electric, battery powered) used to propel fallen leaves, grass clippings and debris for removal.  Infractions may be punishable by substantial fines to property owners, property management companies, landscape companies and/or individual operators.

Reporting Leaf Blower Use - To report violations please provide an address, date and time of the violation.  Staff will promptly follow-up with reported violations in addition to being out in the community educating gardeners and property owners.

Reporting Options:

GO System:  www.smgov.net/go

Email: environment@smgov.net

Telephone:  (310) 458-4952

Website:  www.sustainablesm.org/leafblower

Download the Iphone App to Report Violators

 Do you enjoy the Farmers Market?  Are you passionate about local, sustainable food?  Would you like to get involved and assist on a regular basis?  The farmers market needs your help! Volunteers are vital to the operations of the Santa Monica Farmers Markets and are greatly appreciated.  Volunteers perform a wide variety of tasks at the Farmers Market Information Booths as well as special projects for the Farmers Market.  Market days are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and we ask that you be able to volunteer a minimum of once per month.  If you are interested and would like more information please contact us at farmersmarket@smgov.net or 310.458.8712 x2. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Green Drinks allows for anyone concerned about environmental issues to get together over a drink. Green Drinks events are very simple, informal, unstructured, and self organizing, but help connect the green network. Let's bring together the huge LA environmental community and have fun doing it!

When: Saturday, November 6, 2010

Time:  11:00am

Location: Santa Monica Main Library, MLK JR. AUDITORIUM
601 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, 90401
MAP

Join us for the 4th Annual Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. Celebrate sustainability with author appearances, including Pioneer Award winner David Orr, green crafts for kids, refreshments, and local sustainable organizations on hand to show you how to live green.

Ensure your seat and save $5 when you buy advance tickets for Discover Cal California, a traveling lecture series that brings renowned faculty to the extended Cal family.

When: Monday, November 8, 2010

Time: 6-7pm- Reception with light refreshments and no-host bar
7-8:30pm- Faculty perspectives and audience Q & A
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
888.UNIV.CAL (888.864.8225)
Location: Shutters on the Beach, Santa Monica


CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Recovering from the explosion and spill that resulted in 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico - a wound in the earth that could not be staunched for nearly three months - requires our best minds. Discover Cal offers perspectives from Berkeley experts about the effects on the environment and efforts to make oil companies more careful, accountable, and socially responsible. Speakers include Terry Hazen, head of the Ecology Department, Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the Joint BioEnergy Institute; Kellie McElhaney, founding faculty director of the Center for Responsible Business, Haas School of Business; and Thomas Azwell, doctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources.

Hosted by Discover Cal

"Why I Love Santa Monica" will be the theme of a public community forum on Monday, November
8, 2010 starting at 7:00 PM at the Ken Edwards Center located at 1527 Fourth Street in Santa Monica. The forum will be hosted by longtime Santa Monica residents and community activists Jerry and Marissa Rubin.

At the forum, participants will reflect and brainstorm on the many wonderful aspects of Santa Monica, including its special places, projects, people and structures as well as the many creative individual and community endeavors that make Santa Monica such a great place to live, work and visit, says event organizer Jerry Rubin.

For further information call: 310-399-1000

E-mail to: JerryPeaceActivistRubin@earthlink.net

When: Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Santa Monica Main Library, MLK JR. AUDITORIUM
601 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, 90401  MAP
Cost: FREE

Rebecca D. Costa discusses her book, The Watchman's Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction. Costa explores whether our society can learn to think its way out of crises or whether it is doomed to gridlock and eventual extinction.

Recently spotlighted by CNN host Larry King as his book pick of the week and garnering praise from personalities such as E.O. Wilson, Tina Brown, Thom Hartmann and Temple Grandin, The Watchman's Rattle is a thought-provoking work in the vein of best-selling authors such as Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedmann. In The Watchman's Rattle, Rebecca D. Costa examines our modern culture, and asks if, in the face of complex problems such as global warming, viral pandemics, catastrophic oil spills, and economic disasters, we can think ourselves out of crisis, gridlock and eventual extinction.

A book sale and signing will follow the panel discussion.

This author event is presented free to the public. Seating is limited and on a first arrival basis. The Santa Monica Public Library is wheelchair accessible. For special disabled services, call Library Administration at (310) 458-8606 at least one week prior to event.

For more information on this and other library programs, visit www.smpl.org or contact the Santa Monica Public Library at (310) 458-8600.

  The "2nd Annual We Care Job Fair," scheduled from 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10 at The Olympic Collection in West LA, is a community-wide event organized to help people who continue to find themselves out of work or whose businesses have failed. We invite you to participate and meet with representatives from an array of industries including financial services, legal, education, sales & marketing, accounting, and more.
 

Join us on Wednesday November 10th for complimentary refreshments and hors d'oevres and a FREE community solar workshop at The Green Life on Main Street.

When: Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Time: 6pm-9pm

Location: The Green Life Co

2409 Main St, Santa Monica, 90405 MAP

Click Here for More Info & to REGISTER

In 1999 the City of Santa Monica became the first municipality in the nation to purchase 100% green power for its electricity needs.  Santa Monica has now installed solar panels at over 260 sites.

Bring your neighbors to this FREE WORKSHOP at The Green Life on Main Street and learn about the Open Neighborhoods community solar program:

Homeowners and commercial building owners. Sustainable industry professionals. Clean energy advocates.  Anyone interested in learning about solar options. Attendees will be able to speak with others who have already installed solar and ask questions of solar experts

Sensitive paper. Stuff we shouldn't see: bank statements, medical stuff, tax documents. Nervous about tossing them in your recycling cart?  

Solution: SHRED IT for FREE!   

When: Saturday, November 13, 2010

Time:  9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
 
Where: Fire Training Tower at the City Yards 2500 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica, CA  MAP
Open to Santa Monica Residents

Click Here for More Info

  Santa Monica Bike Valet is on Main Street every Friday evening!  Bicyclists who valet on Last Fridays will receive discounts from participating merchants.  The Bike Valet is on the east side of Main Street between Ashland and Pier Avenue from 5 p.m. to midnight every Friday until further notice.  Note: Some merchants will be offering discounts to those who valet their bikes!  Look for the *.

When: Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Time: 6:30pm

Location: Santa Monica College Bundy Campus Room 123 MAP

The Santa Monica Malibu Unified District-wide Bike It! Walk It! event was supported by numerous parent, teacher, student and staff volunteers at each school, as a way to encourage regular physical exercise, reduce traffic congestion around schools, and promote "safe routes to school", a nationwide movement to reinstitute healthy and safe active transportation by school children.  The SMMUSD District and school board supported such efforts in a 2009 Resolution, and participation has been growing each year.
 
This year's event marked the addition of nine elementary schools to the middle and high schools who have participated since 2009.  Students at Santa Monica High's Samohi Solar Alliance, an environmentalist club, started the event as a way to encourage Samohi students to combat global warming.
 
The October event tied in with International Walk to School Day, and provided a chance to establish walking or biking to school habits at the start of the school year.  City staff helped prepare with maps of Safe Routes for each school found on the bikeitday.com website, and Santa Monica police and transportation staff kept an eye on safety issues at each school. 
 
The event generated huge enthusiasm among students, teachers and parents. Volunteers were well prepared with snacks, stickers, and counting crews. There is talk of establishing bicycle clubs at several schools in the district, and everyone is looking forward to the next District-wide Bike It! Walk It! Day in the spring.  Several schools are planning their own events in the interim.
 
The Parent Teacher Student Association helped novice cyclists get ready for the event by sponsoring two well attended Bike Safety Workshops from Sustainable Streets, a local non-profit (sustainablestreetsla.org) which provides pedestrian and bike safety education and encouragement programs.  "Awesome fun!" pronounced one middle school student of the workshop, while a parent said, "I learned why hugging the curb isn't the safest way to ride on the street."  PTSA members also sold bike helmets on school grounds to make sure students and parents were aware than helmets are required for cyclists under 18.
 
Often other parents in cars are the greatest threat to the safety of kids walking or biking to school. Drivers are becoming more aware of the growing presence of cyclists of the road.  By giving the car driven children an opportunity to walk a block or two every day, we create a car free zone around the school every morning and every afternoon. Lots of ideas to explore before the next Bike It! Walk It! Day. 
  
Richard McKinnon, Bike It Day Chair
bikeitday@gmail.com
 
Alison Kendall LCI, AICP
Sustainable Streets - promoting active transportation
and livable communities
310.586.1557 phone
alison@kendallplanning.com