Montgomery County Council to amend gas blower ban to ease immigrant fears

Heading into this fall’s leaf season, the roar of a gas-powered blower is no longer legal in Montgomery County.

A ban on the use and sale of gas-powered blowers, urged by County Executive Marc Elrich and passed by the county council, kicked in on July 1st.

That law leaves electric blowers as the only option, much to the chagrin of people like “Bill” of B&D landscapers. Bill spent $9,000 on electric blowers, which he says don’t even work that well.

“We’re going broke!" Bill said. "We’re going broke, and when we do the leaves, I don’t know what we’re gonna do. I might have to hang it up.”

The Montgomery County Council killed an amendment to exempt landscapers during leaf season. But now, councilmembers believe their law has created another problem.

As it stands, it asks people to take pictures of those using gas blowers to help enforce the law. Now, councilmembers believe that will frighten the Hispanic and immigrant people doing most of the yard work in the county, so they’ve introduced and fast-tracked a bill to eliminate the request for photos.

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