Electric landscaping equipment for City crews

The idea

The City of Boston should replace internal combustion engine landscaping equipment used by the City with electric equipment.

Who it helps and why

There is significant environmental harm in a range of ways from gas-powered landscaping equipment, which appear to be in use from City of Boston personnel in the Public Garden and potentially elsewhere. Converting the fleet of equipment that the City of Boston controls would reduce harm to the environment and public health. For reference, according to Bloomberg news, "The two-stroke internal combustion engines used in most gas leaf blowers make them far more polluting than those in automobiles: They release up to 30% of their fuel mixture unburned, along with carcinogens like benzene, formaldehyde and butadiene. The low-frequency, high-decibel noise they generate can strip the hairlike cells of the inner ear, never to regenerate, and penetrate buildings even from a distance."