Rye's new ban on gas-powered leaf blowers is already keeping police busy.
Officers issued 78 summonses in May, the first full month after the city's year-round ban took effect. By comparison, police handed out just two tickets during the previous four months.
The city has not said how many citations went to homeowners versus landscaping companies, or how many involved repeat offenders.
A big jump in enforcement
The spike stands out even compared with Rye's previous seasonal restrictions.
From April 2025 through April 2026, police issued 511 summonses under the old rules, according to the Rye Record. Those tickets were spread over a full year, while May's 78 citations came in a single month.
Other communities took a different approach
Neighboring communities that adopted similar bans focused heavily on education before enforcement.
In Larchmont, which banned gas-powered leaf blowers in 2022, police issued just 29 summonses over the same 12-month period.
"Our Environmental Committee had done such an amazing job with education that most residents were actually asking for the ban," Larchmont Mayor Sarah Bauer told the Rye Record.
Rye did not launch a comparable public education campaign before its ban took effect.
Landscapers say the switch isn't easy
Local landscapers have warned that replacing gas-powered equipment with electric models comes at a cost.
Irving Reyes, owner of Reyes Lawn Care & Landscaping, told the Rye Record his company saw higher costs after Southampton adopted a similar ban. Electric blowers required more batteries, took longer to complete jobs and proved difficult for some smaller companies to afford.
Rye landscapers voiced many of the same concerns during City Council meetings before the ordinance passed.
Help could be on the way
A bill awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature would create rebates for commercial landscapers and institutions purchasing electric landscaping equipment.
The legislation, sponsored in the Assembly by former Rye Mayor Steve Otis, would offer point-of-sale discounts to help offset the cost of switching away from gas-powered tools.
The next test: Fall leaves
May offered the first glimpse of how aggressively Rye plans to enforce the new law.
The real challenge may come this fall, when leaf cleanup ramps up across the city. So far, officials have not announced any changes to enforcement or plans for a public education campaign ahead of the busy season.
