City Council Voting on Leaf Blowers This Tuesday!

This is it!

After much work with Santa Cruz C.H.A.S.E., city staff, and the public, Councilmember Kalantari-Johnson introduced the leaf blower ordinance at the city council meeting two weeks ago, and the final city council vote is set for Tuesday, June 25 (meeting starts at 12:30 p.m).

(The County Board of Supervisors will take some action on their policy on the same day—details below.)

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting to weigh in, this is your last and best chance to make your voice heard. Please email a letter in support for the ordinance by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 24. Even if you’ve written in before, new letters will be part of the agenda packet council members will consider.

And if you can, join us in person at the meeting. If you can say a few words at the podium in favor, please do, and either way, let’s all wear green to show our support from the audience.

If you can’t attend the meeting in person you can follow along on zoom and make a comment over the phone when the item comes up—see instructions at the top of the meeting agenda. The agenda item is #39. (Click on the item to see a link to the ordinance text.)

We succeeded in getting the 10+ acre exemption modified so mobile home parks and HOAs will not be excluded from the benefits this ordinance will bring. A number of larger city parks will be exempt for now, but this will be reconsidered—and hopefully scrapped—when the city revisits its Climate Action Plan workplan in 2026-2028.

If it passes, the ordinance will go into effect on January 1!

Whether you write in, call in, or walk in, make sure the city council hears your voice—tell them to take long overdue action for the health and livability of Santa Cruz and the safety of its residents and workers and vote yes to finally pass the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers!

If you live within unincorporated Santa Cruz County, change may be coming to your neighborhood, too. Supervisor Manu Koenig answered our call and has been working on the same policy for Santa Cruz County. The Board of Supervisors will consider an ordinance “in concept” at their upcoming meeting, this Tuesday, June 25. Here’s the agenda; it’s item #13. While not a final vote, this is an important step to passing this ordinance at the County.

Wherever you live in Santa Cruz County (including the city of Santa Cruz), please tell the Board that you support banning gas-powered leaf blowers county-wide. Please email the Board by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 24 so your comment can be included. Info for attending in person or commenting via phone or zoom can be found at the top of the agenda.

Thank you all for your efforts in the past weeks, months, and years—for pressing city council, spreading the word among your neighbors, and for everything else you’ve done to get us this far. Please help us with this one final coordinated effort to get this over the finish line, for the health, well-being, and future of everyone in Santa Cruz.

Turn the page on leaf blowers

Please email us with any questions.