MAYOR APPROVES BLOWER BAN; GARDENERS TO CONTINUE HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST FINES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Despite threats by gardeners to continue a hunger strike, Mayor Richard Riordan signed an ordinance Thursday that calls for fines of $270 against anyone using a gas-powered leaf blower in a residential area.

Before he signed the law, Riordan met for nearly an hour with hunger-striking gardeners in wheelchairs to resolve the dispute, saying his hands are tied.

The mayor said if he had not signed the ordinance setting the $270 fine, a previously approved measure allowing up to six months of jail time for violators would have taken effect.

``In good conscience, I cannot send a gardener or other violators of this old ordinance to jail,'' Riordan told reporters. ``Now, that's not to say that the gardeners don't have a good case for taking a look at both ordinances.''

The gardeners say loss of the gas-powered blowers threatens their ability to make a living by forcing them to use more time-consuming methods of doing their work.

Riordan pledged to form a task force to look at alternatives that include limiting the hours leaf blowers can operate and providing loans to gardeners so they can buy quieter, less-polluting machines.

Riordan pledged to work with City Council members Mike Hernandez, an opponent of the ban, and Cindy Miscikowski, the leading proponent of the ban, to ``find a solution that makes the homeowners happy (and) allows gardeners to continue to make a living wage.''

However, Alvaro Huerta of the Association of Latin American Gardeners said the mayor did not provide enough guarantees and so the liquid-only hunger strike, which enters its seventh day today, will continue until city officials provide a signed written commitment to solve their grievances.

``If tomorrow there is a viable solution in writing, then we will end the hunger strike. If not, then we will continue,'' Huerta said.

Already, four of the 11 gardeners and protesters who began the hunger strike last Saturday have been forced by doctor's orders to stop because of health problems.

The seven who are left remained camped out on the south lawn of City Hall, where they all were in wheelchairs.

Huerta, who is not a hunger striker, said the ordinance signed Thursday means ``at this point the only people whose needs are being met are rich people in West L.A.'' who sought the ban because of concerns about noise and pollution.

Enforcement of the ban will be done primarily by the Los Angeles Police Department, but the start of enforcement is still more than a month away.

Riordan's signature approving the leaf-blower ordinance triggers a process that requires the measure to be published in a local newspaper in the next week. The ordinance will take effect 30 days after the notice of the ordinance is published.

Once the law takes effect, residents may call the nonemergency number of their local police station to report violations, according to LAPD Cmdr. Maurice Moore.

Moore said because violation of the blower ban is an infraction, officers will respond to complaints only after handling more serious crimes, including felonies.

``We will try to make every effort to respond to them, but this will not be high on our priority list,'' Moore said.

Moore said officers can only issue citations if they witness a violation. The law does provide the ability of citizens to make citizens' arrests, but Moore said the LAPD is discouraging that kind of activity because it will lead to problems between neighbors.

In addition, the council has authorized inspectors for the Building and Safety Department and Street Maintenance Division to issue citations as they come across violations, but those agencies will not respond to citizen complaints, officials said.

At the same time, the city is in the process of setting up a telephone hotline, to be operated by a street maintenance clerk, to whom people can call and lodge complaints. Officials will send warning letters to property owners and gardeners they identify.