There’s a Leaf Blower Fight Brewing In Portland’s West End [PHOTOS]

The hipster bar tosses your can to the curb, and up Pine you go. You end up in the hammock still hanging on your back porch and settle in for a nap until the leaves gotta fly!The ordinance is almost as shaky as you will be in a few hours, but, the guy with the Hulk Hogan-style leaf blower has every right to blow those damn leaves off his yard at 7 o'clock in the morning.

This will still be weighed when you file a complaint with the city, although, it being a city, noises do happen: smells occur, dogs bite, bees sting.  So, if you wish to object, the city has to receive more than one complaint from one house to try to get it to stick.  And try that out after we have a foot of snow on the ground with more powder forecast... yes, leaf blowers become snow squirters: same decibels, less visibility.

Not taking sides, here.  I firmly believe noise ordinances covering such things as yard and garden tools were written for things like, oh, brooms and hand rakes.  And, shovels. Hence, the need for more than one weekend warrior to file a complaint to get any action from the city. "It can't possibly be that loud," they might say.

So, as we set our feet firmly in the age of POWER TOOLS FOR EVERYONE!!", (worth billions as an industry...or maybe trillions around the Holidays), just know, you still have to go to a secluded island--say, Mackworth--to not hear the leaf blowers; or live someplace where oak and maple trees just aren't...locally, that would be Kennebec Street.

The sub-industry is ear plugs. There, I just helped with your wish list.