Happy Springtime!
We hope you’re enjoying time in your yard, garden, and neighborhood. Perhaps by next spring the noise and fumes from gas-powered leaf blowers will be a thing of the past in Portland. Thanks for all you’re doing to help us eliminate these dangerous machines. Here’s the latest update on our efforts:
Educational Campaigns
Nearly 50 Quiet Clean PDX volunteers have distributed more than 4,000 door hangers throughout Portland, educating residents about the dangers of gas-powered leaf blowers and the alternatives available. Hopefully, many neighborhoods will soon see a difference. We still have 6,000 hangers to distribute, so more volunteers are welcome! Sign up here.
We have also launched a postcard campaign with a similar message as the door hangers. We need volunteers to help disseminate 5,000 of these postcards. If you’re able to mail postcards to family, friends, and neighbors, or have ideas for disseminating them widely, email Nancy Kurkinen, campaign coordinator, at nak242@comcast.net.
Publicity
Voluntary Action
We wanted to share this interesting story a member sent our way, illustrating a creative new strategy - paying for the results you want:
"After a Quiet Clean PDX presentation at Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood Association's monthly meeting, Tim Gillespie, BWNA president, approached his yard maintenance contractor with a deal: he offered to take some of the money he'd normally donate to environmental causes and instead give it directly to the contractor for converting to an electric blower. The contractor found a $400 "state-of-the-art" electric blower, split the cost with Tim, and soon declared how pleased he was with the results. Thank you, Tim!
Legislative Update
We were disappointed to hear that our bill in the Oregon State Legislature, HB 3023, will not make it out of the House Committee on Energy and Environment this session. The bill would have banned the sale and use of gas leaf blowers within the Portland Urban Growth Boundary.
But we haven’t given up! We’re working to get an “informational hearing” with the committee that should bring us good visibility and credibility, as in the 2019 session with a similar bill. Stay tuned for an update on this effort.
And we close with the good news that Oakland, California has prohibited the use of GLBs and gas-powered string trimmers starting next month, joining many other municipalities.
From all of us on the Steering Committee at Quiet Clean PDX, thank you for supporting the effort to eliminate gas-powered leaf blowers in Portland! Let us know if you have ideas for an Earth Day event on April 22. (You can respond to this newsletter.) Also, if you have an idea for us - or would be interested in joining our core group, let us know.
Sincerely,
Robert Elon, Michael Hall, Albert Kaufman, Nancy Kurkinen, Tamara Olcott, Brian Stewart, and Judy Walton
PPS - you can use the social share buttons at the top of this email to re-post this newsletter - or use the View as a Webpage to get the URL which can be shared on Nextdoor.com or anywhere else your heart desires!
