How early is too early to fire up a leaf blower in Leafy Lamorinda? Some locals have an idea there shouldn’t be any blowing in town before 8 a.m. Some landscapers/maintenance crews, apparently, have an entirely different view.
Apparently a civilian had a problem with crews responsible for tidying up the Rheem Valley Center parking lot firing up the Satan’s Whistles before 7 a.m. on what was recorded as Thanksgiving Day. It may have been a day earlier, actually, but the police put it down as Turkey Day. In either case, a brew-ha-ha erupted and the police, always happy to be summoned by irate homeowners upset by blower noise (ahem), came when called at 7:18 a.m.
Turned out all parties got together for a little talk and the irate citizen told officers he/she has been calling the center and Town and God and everyone else in an effort to resolve the issue but to no avail. The maintenance men told police they were under contract to start at 6 a.m. with an expected finishing time of 10 a.m. every Friday and were obliged to fulfill the terms of their contract – and wake up the town, too, apparently, but a contract is a contract after all and hang the innocent bystanders.
Judging from the police report we’re not sure if anything was actually resolved but we would wager that at least one homeowner’s blood pressure was waaaaay up that morning and that four guys with gas-powered Hades Machines returned to what they were doing, as per the terms of their contract.
Close readers may see an issue with the hours set forth under that contract and the town’s own ordinances relative to operation of high-pitched, pulse-accelerating, shrieking, gas-powered Devil’s Trumpets but that matter does not appear to have been addressed – as far as we can see, at least.
