This week a committee of the Palm Beach Town Council took a step toward banning leaf-blower use within the city. "The residents don’t want them,” one committee member said. “My opinion is that the majority of the residents in town are ready for a ban.”

The story is in the Palm Beach Daily News, by Aleesa Kopf, and you can read the whole thing here. Samples:

Leaf blowers could be on their way out of Palm Beach.

The town’s Ordinances, Rules and Standards Committee recommended Thursday to ban landscape companies from using the noisy machines in Palm Beach.

Members Bobbie Lindsay and Danielle Moore made their decision based on a groundswell of support over the past several months. Advocates for the ban cite noise, health and safety concerns.

“The residents don’t want them,” Lindsay said. “My opinion is that the majority of the residents in town are ready for a ban.”...

Rita Sullivan called the machines dangerous for workers who can’t hear what’s going on around them and for residents who have debris blown in their faces. She said the noise and air pollution blowers cause, and the friction they create between neighbors, are bad for quality of life on the island....

“The town has been dealing with this nuisance for 25 years with very little progress,” he said. “Leaf blowers cannot be regulated. We have tried for years to regulate these things. It’s pragmatically impossible. These things have to be banned. Period.”