Mailbag:

It’s my turn to blow off my own hot air about leaf blowers. I read with approval Carole Wade’s essay of condemnation (Sounding off: “Leaf blowers need to be banned,” Feb. 3), recalling all the times the community association where I live inflicts them upon us. Then I read the particularly nasty, mean-spirited letter from a defender of the infernal contraptions (Mailbag: “Writer is full of hot air herself,” Feb. 4).

While Wade may have exaggerated some of the effects of leaf blowers, the fact is that they are noisy, smelly, obnoxious and polluting.

I would love to see not only Newport Beach, but the whole world ban these things and, for good measure, recycle all their components.

Maybe we’d have a few more leaves lying about, but we’d also have a little more peace and quiet.

On weekdays that I have stayed home from work, I have been appalled at just how noisy my neighborhood is because of leaf blowers, carpet cleaning vans, garbage trucks, construction projects and the like.

Getting rid of leaf blowers would certainly improve the quality of life and would no doubt be a boon for the economy, as there would be more employment for the manufacturers of brooms as well as for people who know how to use one.

Lenard Davis

Newport Beach

Get leaf blowers out of our community

I completely agree with Carole Wade that leaf blowers should be banned from our community (Sounding off: “Leaf blowers need to be banned,” Feb. 3). They have already been banned from Bayshores for quite awhile. The subject has come up and is being considered on Lido Isle.

I would not call them “beautiful signs of life,” like children playing, etc. (Mailbag: “Writer is full of hot air herself,” Feb. 4)

We have them daily in our community and all they do is move the dust around, make noise, and send gas odor and fumes into our homes. They need to go.

Jeremy Burns

Newport Beach