Open Letter to District 4 Candidate Cwirko-Godycki

This is Quiet Clean San Mateo’s letter to San Mateo City Council District 4 Candidate Cwirko-Godycki.

Candidate Cwirko-Godycki, 

Quiet Clean San Mateo is an advocacy organization working to eliminate fossil-fuel powered lawn maintenance equipment from the City of San Mateo. We are focusing on the most destructive of these tools: gas-powered leaf blowers. We are writing to you to offer context for this crucial project and offer support for the changes ahead. 

Eliminating fossil-fuel powered lawn equipment emissions in San Mateo is part of a broader state- and nationwide-effort to combat global warming. According to a 2023 Environment America report, California is 5th in the nation for fossil-fuel powered lawn maintenance equipment emissions. San Mateo County ranks 62nd in the nation among all US counties for lawn maintenance equipment emissions. Especially for forward-thinking San Mateo citizens, this is embarrassing! 

You have direct experience with global warming’s devastating impacts. You organized your neighborhood after severe flooding. In the end, the Community Flood and Stormwater Initiative passed and San Mateo’s infrastructure will better withstand such weather events. However, the flooding in your neighborhood is likely tied to global warming, and we can expect greater impacts from severe weather events in the future. Our effort to ban gas-powered leaf blowers is about reducing those severe weather impacts and further protecting our homes. 

Two of your endorsers are Senator Josh Becker and Sustainability and Infrastructure Commissioner Cliff Robbins. Both of them have supported impactful environmental protection measures. Senator Becker has been a leader in California’s fight against global warming, sponsoring innovative climate bills, such as SB 49. Commissioner Robbins has been a lone, defiant voice in the San Mateo government supporting a gas-powered leaf blower ban. We’re sure both of these leaders would applaud support for a gas-powered leaf blower ban in San Mateo. 

Candidate Cwirko-Godycki, we see your professional background includes developing and managing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). So, you understand how critical it is to recognize the diversity of the San Mateo community and include the interests of vulnerable community members. While the harms to the planet are reason enough to ban gas-powered leaf blowers, our greatest concern is about City of San Mateo maintenance workers and employees of private landscaping contractors, who are often recent immigrants. They are most directly exposed to fine particulates, unburned gas and oil, benzene, and other toxic substances all day each work day. We must point out that the OSHA guidance on safety hazards indicates safety hazards should be removed wherever possible, and dangerous lawn equipment can certainly be replaced with superior, zero-emission alternatives. The American Green Zone Alliance specifically works with city maintenance operations to ease the transition to the new, lower-operating cost, superior electric-powered tools. 

San Mateo has 35 parks, six recreation/community centers, two pools, community gardens, the Marina Lagoon and the Poplar Creek Golf Course. So, the maintenance task is significant. However, other cities and facilities have proven zero-emission tools are tough enough for the job. Some might say that San Mateo’s Poplar Golf Course, at 105 acres,

is too large to maintain with zero-emission tools. However, Alameda’s Corica Park is 300 acres and maintained without gas-powered leaf blowers. In addition, The Cities of San Francisco and Oakland use only zero-emission tools.  

We are encouraged that your campaign prioritizes public safety, and you believe in making principled, fact-based, and community centered policy decisions. Our principles align with landscaping worker safety. All the facts favor a gas-powered leaf blower ban. A gas-powered leaf blower ban is a simple, low-cost initiative that benefits everyone in the community. The opportunity is to lead San Mateo toward a brighter, cleaner, zero-emission future.