To the Editor:

I am writing about unnecessary disturbance and pollution that could easily be avoided, to the benefit of all.

Today (January 17) Princeton had two inches of light snowfall. At the Barbara Sigmund Park on Hamilton Avenue, an employee of the Public Works Department attacked this tiny snow layer on the paths and sidewalk with a full-bore backpack leaf blower. It was audible 400 feet away. Its emissions and unburned gasoline could be smelled some distance away. I, who am two to three times the age of that diligent employee, used a simple push shovel to remove the sidewalk snow faster than the noisy leaf blower could do. With no carbon emissions either.

At a time when our town is, commendably, developing a Climate Action Plan, here is an opportunity to take a step to reduce emissions and provide other benefits. I ask the Public Works Department to cease using leaf blowers to remove snow, a very undesirable new use of these troublesome devices. They contribute to greenhouse emissions, are disturbing to residents, and are completely unnecessary.

Anthony Lunn

Hawthorne Avenue

Editor’s Note: The writer is one of the founding members of Quiet Princeton.