JUDGE REJECTS TICKETS FOR LEAF BLOWER USE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

In a setback to Los Angeles' leaf blower ban, a judge ruled Friday that gardeners can sidestep the law by using methanol as fuel instead of gasoline.

Municipal Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White dismissed $270 tickets given to two gardeners because she said the city law explicitly bans only those blowers that run on gasoline.

Gardeners hailed the ruling, but police and prosecutors vowed to continue enforcing the law and homeowners said they would move quickly to rewrite the five-month-old ordinance.

``Finally, justice prevails,'' said Alvaro Huerta, general secretary of the Association of Latin American Gardeners, which represents more than 1,000 laborers. ``We feel this is going to be very problematic for the city because they don't know if we have one methanol leaf blower out there or 10,000.''

Friday's ruling came as the city's ban on leaf blowers faces a challenge in the Legislature, and homeowners who increasingly question whether the city is doing all it can to catch violators. Starting this week, the city plans to dispatch 40 inspectors to help police investigate and cite offenders.

However, the court ruling could make it difficult for police to enforce the ban if gardeners claim they are using methanol-powered machines.

Saving the ban

City attorney's officials say they have not decided whether to dismiss another methanol case set to go to trial in West Los Angeles on Tuesday.

``It's premature to actually know whether or not this judge's ruling will set a precedent for this ordinance,'' said Sue L. Frauens, a supervising deputy city attorney. The ruling follows a similar finding in June.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who was instrumental in pushing for the ordinance, said she would meet next week with prosecutors to see whether the ordinance needs to be amended.

``I would be concerned that someone who gets a ticket can say, I'm using methanol, and there's no verification of it,'' she said.

Miscikowski said she has resisted attempts to rewrite the law until now in favor of supporting the development of a battery-powered leaf blower.

``If anything, this really re-energizes the need to work with the DWP to find alternatives to gas-powered leaf blowers,'' she said.

Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Maurice Moore, the governmental liaison officer to Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, said there are no plans for officers to take samples of a blower's fuel or confiscate machines as evidence.

``That's an absolute bizarre thing to consider as far as an infraction,'' he said. ``This is still a legitimate law on the books and it's our intent to continue to enforce it.''

Backers of the ban said that in addition to asking the City Council to amend the law they want to know whether methanol use violates federal emissions guidelines.

``We see a pattern of trying to deliberately evade the law by the yard maintenance workers and their groups,'' said Jack Allen, a retired attorney and co-chairman of the Coalition to Ban Leaf Blowers.

The cases

The judge's ruling dismissed $270 tickets for gardeners Ismael Munoz Rodriguez and Pascual Maximo Pegueros, who were cited in March and April, respectively.

Deputy City Attorney Pat Milne said he argued that the ban extended to those using natural gas or methanol. He said the gardeners claimed their machines were fueled with methanol, but they did not supply proof.

The gardeners were represented by the law firm Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, which took the cases pro bono. Their attorney, Kimberly Buffington, said the gardeners were not trying to circumvent the law, just make a living.

``They basically thought they were complying with the statute by going out and having their blowers converted,'' Buffington said.

In her written ruling, the judge said the law is open to interpretation, so she was obligated to adopt the one ``more favorable to the offender.''

``The defendants therefore reasonably assumed that converting their leaf blowers to methanol would allow use of the leaf blowers without being in violation of the statute,'' White said.

``Clearly, even the City Council believed that the statute did not prohibit leaf blowers other than those which were `gas powered,' '' she wrote.

At one point during a Nov. 12, 1996, hearing on the law, Councilman Richard Alarcon asked why the law was written so that ``the only thing it does is eliminate gas-powered blowers.''

Ban working?

Residents report leaf blowers by calling a city hotline with an address or license plate of a gardener's truck. Warning letters are sent to gardeners and homeowners after a first complaint. A second complaint prompts an investigation that can lead an inspector to pursue an offender.

The law calls for a maximum fine of $270 for people who operate leaf blowers within 500 feet of residences and for the homeowners who hire them.

In five months, 38 citations have been issued, all against gardeners, police say. Of those tickets, there have been five in the San Fernando Valley and 22 on the Westside, and most of the 2,500 complaints lodged since February have come from those areas.

Some residents, among them retired mechanical engineer Joe Quercia of Tarzana, said the ban isn't working.

``Every household around here has a gardener that uses a leaf blower,'' he said over the buzz of leaf blowers in his neighborhood.

Quercia's neighbor, Viola Stimpson, a 91-year-old actress, says she hates leaf blowers but still allows her gardener to use one at her Tarzana home.

``It's noisy and scatters dust, but it's very convenient for them and I don't bother them,'' she said. ``It's such a part of their profession that I don't want to interfere with the mechanism of their work.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Despite a city ban on leaf blowers in residential areas, some gardeners continue to use the devices.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News