Orinda's Peter Kendall has heard enough of what he considers noise pollution in his own backyard.
"Where we live, we can see and hear leaf blower activity up to a quarter mile away. Basically six days a week, throughout the day, we are able to listen to the symphony of leaf blower noise," he said.
Peter and his wife Susan have launched a web campaign called "Quiet Orinda." It is a petition drive designed to persuade the city council here to ban or seriously restrict the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.
Piedmont, Berkeley and Mill Valley have already done it.
"I think Orinda should take a serious look at this. We pride ourselves on the quiet bucolic neighborhood. It's no longer quiet," Susan Kendall said.
The Kendalls and their supporters even produced a video to show the harmful effects of leaf blowers beyond the noise.
"Well leaf blowers have a two-stroke engine, which is inefficient and it emits a lot of pollution and it emits more pollution than a modern car," Kristine Roselius from the Bay Area Air Quality District said.
One gardener who does a lot of work in Orinda says he sympathizes with residents who think the blowers are too noisy, but he says they're a necessity in his line of work.
Gardener and landscaper Gabriel Garcia says turning in his leaf blower for a rake and broom, just wouldn't cut it.
"First of all if I got to a property that normally takes three hours, it's going to take about eight hours with a broom and a rake to just get it clean. It's going to cost more money," he said.
The "Quiet Orinda" supporters hope to present the city council with a 5,000 signatures by next fall. So far, they've gathered about 100.
