Apology for Violating the Acceptable Use Policy

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Brian Kelley

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Nov 4, 2021, 7:25:47 PM11/4/21
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Hello again fellow Town Meeting Members,

It has been pointed out to me that parts of the letter from RL Barnard Landscaping violated our Acceptable Use Policy.  I read the letter and found it to be direct and harsh and that is why I did not endorse it but I did not contemplate the violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.  My intention was to bring a perspective from one of the larger, well known local landscape companies.  I should have considered the content of the letter more carefully.  I was wrong.  I'm sorry.  

Thank you
Brian Kelley
Precinct 6

Wendy Reasenberg

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Nov 4, 2021, 9:20:48 PM11/4/21
to Brian Kelley, Town Meeting Members
I'm sorry that R.L. Barnard's letter was considered a violation of the TMMA's acceptable use policy. If it were a town meeting member writing, I would agree that it is a violation because it is a little overheated and does attack the Committee. However, this is a member of the Lexington business public who had a lot of important things to say. He did not have the benefit of coaching beforehand from Madame Moderator or Vicki.

I think it would be wrong if we TM's started editing letters from the public.  We are all grown ups here and I think we all should cut some slack on the AUP for members of the public who are sometimes expressing their frustration. If we go too overboard on the AUP process, no one will post. The Lexington List is not an alternative as it is not for political issues.   

I did not think his letter was harsh, just passionate and impatient with a nagging issue that has a big financial impact on him and his industry. 

Maybe the technology hasn't caught up with what we want as yet. 

There are no easy answers to this climate change mitigation phenomenon. Imagine New Orleans in Hurricane Ida - 50% of the electricity is out in the entire city for days. What if New Orleans had been modern with 100% electric vehicles? Would anyone have been able to move including emergency and utility vehicles?  How fast could they have recovered?

Wendy Reasenberg
TMM Precinct 8





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Meg Muckenhoupt

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Nov 4, 2021, 9:40:13 PM11/4/21
to Wendy Reasenberg, Brian Kelley, Town Meeting Members
There are no easy answers to this climate change mitigation phenomenon. Imagine New Orleans in Hurricane Ida - 50% of the electricity is out in the entire city for days. What if New Orleans had been modern with 100% electric vehicles?

My son was in New Orleans for Hurricane Ida. What you don’t seem to know is that modern gas pumps don’t work without electricity. Gas and electric vehicles were in the same situation: if you didn’t fill up/ charge up before the storm, your vehicle couldn’t move.

Fortunately, New Orleans has prepared for the future, and was able to restore electricity to a substantial portion of the city in a couple of days.

I wish our correspondent had looked at the leaf blower noise ordinances in Brookline, Cambridge, and other nearby communities and decided to prepare for the future, as our excellent DPW began to go years ago. Instead, he chose a cheaper, polluting alternative that creates a public nuisance and affects his employees’ health. 

Choices have consequences.

Meg Muckenhoupt
Precinct 1


Would anyone have been able to move including emergency and utility vehicles?  How fast could they have recovered?

Wendy Reasenberg
TMM Precinct 8





On Thu, Nov 4, 2021 at 7:25 PM Brian Kelley <brianp...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello again fellow Town Meeting Members,

It has been pointed out to me that parts of the letter from RL Barnard Landscaping violated our Acceptable Use Policy.  I read the letter and found it to be direct and harsh and that is why I did not endorse it but I did not contemplate the violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.  My intention was to bring a perspective from one of the larger, well known local landscape companies.  I should have considered the content of the letter more carefully.  I was wrong.  I'm sorry.  

Thank you
Brian Kelley
Precinct 6

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andrei radulescu-banu

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Nov 4, 2021, 10:58:29 PM11/4/21
to meg muckenhoupt, Wendy Reasenberg, Brian Kelley, Town Meeting Members
"I have over 80 pieces of equipment that are targeted to be banned in this article. To charge each machine would need anywhere from 2 – 4 batteries minimum to get through a day. That is a minimum of 160 to 320 batteries that would need to be charged daily. I hope this doesn’t need more explanation?"

What kind of facility would this landscaper need to be able to charge that many batteries? How much would it cost to acquire all this equipment? Why is this a big problem for him - but not for DPW?

What is the capital plan for DPW to adapt to the ban, beyond personal assurances from the DPW director that he can do the conversion. What equipment does DPW already have, what equipment does DPW need, what facilities changes are needed for battery charging, how will that be funded?

I'm happy to vote in favor of this article, if there is a credible plan in place. Electric leaf blowers are the future, yes! But it's our job to make this work, and keep it practical, not just an aspiration.

Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Pct 8

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lextmma/CAFKi9D8ybr5BHKa-cLLU5-nFdLNLy3DzSizXXfAYNjSVzRUH_g%40mail.gmail.com.


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Andrei Radulescu-Banu
86 Cedar St, Lexington MA
617.216.8509 (m), 781.862.5854 (h)
==================================

Lin Jensen

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Nov 5, 2021, 12:25:12 PM11/5/21
to Town Meeting Members
Good questions Andrei. I did a quick google search and found some interesting articles:

1. https://www.landscapemanagement.net/charged-up-the-future-of-battery-powered-equipment/ dated 12/2019

“ Battery-powered equipment is more user-friendly, Barnaby says. The tools always start, are quieter than gas-powered, don’t release any emissions and produce very little vibration, he says. “The user is sacrificing nothing by transitioning from gas to battery power,” Barnaby says. “The ROI on transitioning is fairly quick as the user no longer has to pay for gas, oil or tuneups.” ”


The landscaper talks about no maintenance needed for the electric tools and easy to charge with his truck set up. His small business grew very well in the past years. (The talk about charging setup starts at 2:45 minutes in. )



“The TOWA PDM Will Automatically Distribute Power And Charge All Your Landscape Equipment (not cheap: $1,595 for 8 batteries)

The PDM-20-8 is the first SMART battery charging appliance designed for professional landscapers in the Outdoor Power Equipment industry. The PDM will intelligently charge eight batteries without overloading an electrical circuit by detecting amp draw requirements for each battery, then safely distributing power to each battery charger.”


"The $7,000 investment in solar panels on two trucks will take about a year to see a return on investment. Other crews use the inverters while the mowing crews with the solar-panel trailers use electric equipment all the time. The trailers produce more than enough power to feed the charging equipment, Blundon says. The key is not parking the trailer in the shade."

My takeaway is that, like all things new and different from familiar routines, there’s a learning curve. But it’ll be a win-win-win all around for the businesses, customers, health of the operators, and the only planet we have. With the nudge and anticipation of new requirements in a few years, the businesses will come out better.

Lin Jensen, TM P8

Sendt fra min iPhone

Den 4. nov. 2021 kl. 10.58 PM skrev andrei radulescu-banu <bitdr...@gmail.com>:



pam...@rcn.com

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Nov 5, 2021, 12:38:22 PM11/5/21
to andrei radulescu-banu, Town Meeting Members
Hi All - 

Here is a recent article in the October, 2021 newsletter of Lexington Living Landscapes 
regarding DPW's transition to electric landscaping equipment:


Pamela Lyons
Town Meeting Member
Precinct Five

andrei radulescu-banu

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Nov 5, 2021, 1:57:20 PM11/5/21
to Pamela Lyons, Town Meeting Members
Thank you. This is a helpful start. I see that the Town maintains 190 acres. The Town Hall Complex (.4 acres) has been fully transitioned to electric tools since Sept 2017. Three more properties (Cary Library, Visitor Center - Buckman Tavern, Emery Park) use electric tools for approx 25% of the work since Dec 2019.

The report details some of the classes of equipment used, but does not go into capital or operating expenses. This type of capital planning is usually done directly by the town, through its budget review processes.

I'd also be curious to also understand:
- How much of this maintenance for 190 acres is contracted out, as opposed to done in-house
- Whether it can be sped up, on a separate timeline from the town-wide ban we are asked to pass

The advantage of being transparent with the DPW planning aspect of this is that, basically, it stands as a test of how practically feasible this conversion is. And, if done right, it gives other communities a blueprint (which is actually the greater benefit of this exercise, IMHO)

Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Pct 8

andrei radulescu-banu

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Nov 5, 2021, 2:10:16 PM11/5/21
to Pamela Lyons, Town Meeting Members
To clarify - Cary Library, Visitor Center - Buckman Tavern, Emery Park total 2.9 acres, and work was started to convert 25% of that to electric tools after the report was completed in June, 2019. The expectation was that 25% would be done by Sept 2019. Diesel equipment and the 'turbo blower' were not included in the conversion.

The conversion is complete on (.4 + 25% x 2.9) = under 1 acre of 190 total maintained. Has more been done since 2019? And what is a 'turbo blower'?

Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Pct 8

David Kaufman

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Nov 5, 2021, 3:28:07 PM11/5/21
to Meg Muckenhoupt, Town Meeting Members, Wendy Reasenberg, Brian Kelley
Actually almost  anyone with an EV or plug-in hybrid could have charged it fully the day or so before Ida, and then driven past gas pumps and charging stations for anywhere from 100 to 400 miles, if the roads were passable, wires removed, downed trees cut up etc. There was plenty of advance warning.  In the future the EV batteries might actually provide back -up power to the utilities that charge them, when the power is on. Even now an EV will charge your mobile phone and power a laptop just sitting in your garage or driveway, and it won’t reduce the miles you can drive much. Hurricanes are usually predicted several days in advance now, and even tornados have a bit of warning, if one is listening to something other than Fox News.

One parked EV pickup truck (the coming Ford 150?) would probably have a battery and inverter that could run several gas pumps for several days. A gas station with some solar panels on its canopy would have running gas pumps during the day until the tank under the station was empty.

This is another reason to pass article 14, as well as a reason to pass article 10 which phases out but does not ban GLBs.

Looking at the “bad example” of the lot with trees and some leaves provide by Mr DiLegro ( IMG_6793.JPG) and comparing it with his large green lawn with some leaves, I see a lot with trees that cool Lexington, absorb CO2, and mitigate global warming versus a lot that uses a bunch of chemicals, insecticides, and fertilizer, in addition to frequent use of lawn equipment that annoise (sic.)the neighbors with frequent sound and air pollution.


David L. Kaufman, Precinct 3

The border is what joins us, not what separates us.
       -Arizona Poet Laureate  Alberto Rios

Vicki Blier

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Nov 5, 2021, 4:23:11 PM11/5/21
to David Kaufman, Meg Muckenhoupt, Town Meeting Members, Wendy Reasenberg, Brian Kelley
Given that it's Town Meeting Season, let's control the urge to broaden the discussion beyond the information we need to vote on Article 10.

It's hard enough as it is, to keep up with the complicated discussions about OSRD, Mt. Independence and what-all else.

Vicki Blier
TMMA List Moderator

781-862-1804 Landline First
    



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Vicki Blier

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Nov 5, 2021, 10:18:57 PM11/5/21
to LexTMMA
Hi Andrei--
(off-list)
I hope that you realize that the only way Mr. Barnard would have 80 pieces of newly useless equipment is if he has 80 gas leaf blowers. And I'd bet anything that he doesn't.
The only equipment that is affected by the proposed phase-out is gas leaf blowers. Period. So his example of how many batteries would have to be charged is false as well. There are all-electric companies (not just leaf blowers) out there who have figured out how to do it at competitive pricing, and Bob Barnard can figure it out too.
Many of his other statements are pretty darn iffy as well, including, of course, his wildly false characterization of our committee.

Also- regarding the DPW-- Dave Pinceneault has confirmed that he has no problem with meeting the orignal 2024 date for phase-out of gas leaf blowers, so the new 2025 phaseout would be fine with him as well.  The ban would apply to his sub-contractors, if any, as well. As you know, the properties that the DPW maintains are very large, laying to rest the landscaper's claims that Lexington's large properties are not manageable without gas leaf blowers.

I have a lot of sympathy for the landscapers (despite the falsehood-based and libelous campaign that they are waging). Their's is a business that faces big challenges from weather, the labor market and other unpredictable forces. 
Change is hard, but change is inevitable and they should spend more time researching how to adapt to it and less time inducing their customers to send out dozens of letters based on the false information they were given.

Vicki


Vicki Blier

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Nov 5, 2021, 10:40:48 PM11/5/21
to LexTMMA
Oops... my apologies for hitting the wrong recipient. Rookie mistake, and I'm not a rookie.
At least I didn't call anyone a deviant, but it's still a bad error.

Sorry,
Vicki Blier
Pct. 9

781-862-1804 Landline First
    


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andrei radulescu-banu

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Nov 5, 2021, 11:20:19 PM11/5/21
to Vicki Blier, LexTMMA
I've made the same mistake a few times. (And I am a rookie!)

To change tack a bit. Do we have a list of landscapers in Lexington that use all electric equipment? Joe Pato forwarded an informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnNp6t2jiwQ. It has the latest from the DPW director (and no, DPW is not yet using all-electric blowers for Fall & Spring cleanup). But at 1:22:00 in the video, there's a presentation from EcoQuiet Lawn Care in Concord. They service Lexington.

Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Pct 8

pam...@rcn.com

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Nov 6, 2021, 8:13:21 AM11/6/21
to andrei radulescu-banu, LexTMMA, Vicki Blier

Yes. Lexington Living Landscapes  has put together a list of 
landscapers serving Lexington who use "organic methods and/or battery powered equipment."


Pamela Lyons
Precinct Five 



From: "andrei radulescu-banu" <bitdr...@gmail.com>
To: "Vicki Blier" <v...@blier.net>
Cc: "LexTMMA" <lex...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, November 5, 2021 11:20:01 PM
Subject: Re: [LexTMMA] Apology for Violating the Acceptable Use Policy
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