To the editor:
In a letter posted March 13, David O’Neil recognized the efforts of the Leaf Blower Study Committee to reverse our ever-heavier reliance upon leaf blowers in prettying our patches, public and private, big and little. O’Neil connected the unconstrained use of leaf blowers to the problem of “the commons” to which Garrett Hardin drew wide attention almost 50 years ago, in the springtime of the American environmental movement. O’Neil closed his letter by urging us all to acknowledge “that our shared commons are more valuable to our well-being, and to our survival, than anything that we may own as individuals.”
O’Neil’s proposition is incontestable—from a sufficiently global perspective. It may not, however, be fully persuasive for the bulk of residents in this New England town of Lincoln, where, individually, we own a great deal that is valuable to our well-being—notably, valuable real private property. I write to suggest that a more parochial conception of “our shared commons”—one that bases itself upon the long-established and clearly articulated conception of this town as itself, in important respects, “our shared commons”—is sufficient to recommend and justify the restriction of leaf blower usage that O’Neil urges.
Among the stated purposes (Section 1) of the Zoning By-Law of the Town of Lincoln is “to conserve the value of land and buildings, including the prevention of blight, excessive noise and pollution of the environment.” As we all know well, to achieve this common purpose, the town has created highly restrictive regulations and review requirements touching every visible aspect of the residential environment. Oddly, however, the town has yet to create any regulation restricting noise emanating from noncommercial properties.
Is this not a “blind spot” in the town’s measures to conserve and enhance what makes residing in Lincoln congenial and desirable? Isn’t the use of leaf blowers—a technology producing noise and air pollution that was essentially unknown in Lincoln’s residential neighborhoods a generation ago—an appropriate place to begin to extend to our auditory environment such conservation measures as are almost unanimously accepted as indispensable to the protection of our visual environment?
Sincerely,
Paul Forman
33 Todd Pond Rd.
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.