Is the Providence City Council reading my blog?
It certainly appears so. Following yesterday’s post, today’s Providence Journal carried this article:

COUNCIL AIMS TO SILENCE LEAFBLOWERS
The panel voted to amend a city noise ordinance, to allow leafblowers to be used only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- With autumn comes a glorious blaze of colors in the trees, then falling leaves.

And soon to follow, the roar of portable leafblowers.

Concerned by the jarring noise of those power tools, the City Council last night took a first step toward prohibiting their use in the early morning and evening.

The council voted 8 to 5 to amend a noise ordinance, to allow leafblowers to be used only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Councilwoman Rita M. Williams, who represents the East Side and sponsored the ordinance amendment, recalled that on a recent weeknight, she was sitting in the living room at home and talking on the phone.

"Two houses down they had a leafblower, and I couldn't hear on the phone," she complained.

The council's inclination on leafblowers, if it follows through, would continue a trend of recent years in which city officials have sought to improve the quality of everyday life by tightening laws regulating noise, trash, rats, the felling of shade trees on private property, and even children interfering with traffic by leaving their sports equipment in the streets.

The noise ordinance has limits on amplified music as well as the noise generated by any machinery, equipment, fans and air-conditioning, among other noise.

There is a limit on the decibel level of such noises at any time of day, and the ordinance prohibits such noises if they are audible "to a person of reasonably sensitive hearing at a distance of 200 feet from its source."

"Whatever happened to rakes and brooms?" she asked her colleagues last night. People with leafblowers too often blow them into the street or into neighbors' yards, she said.

"After 6 p.m., when we're trying to have some peace and quiet, at least we won't be bothered by leafblowers," Williams said. Some communities in California ban them altogether, she noted.

I thank the city council for reading my post and so expeditiously addressing my complaint. As you can see they also read your comments. This evidenced by the fact that the council also addressed Smivey’s problem with air conditioners and Councilwoman Williams plagiarized Lux’s comments. Typical politician!

It also seems like politicians in California are also heeding the Mighty Jimbo’s request to ban leafblowers there (by the way, Welcome Mighty Jimbo!).

Unfortunately, I did not see anything about barking dogs. Sorry Radmila, that must be because you are Canadian. But I will keep working on it.

If you have any other complaints or issues with public nuisances, safety issues, or other matters, please let me know. Xoloitzquintle is here to fight for you and pressure all levels of government to address your concerns!