As the air turns cold and the leaves begin to change, I am again reminded of the annual autumn curse: the leaf blower. Worse than any swarm of mosquitoes at your ear is the high-pitched whine of these most annoying of devices. Rather than use a rake, it seems that many would rather spend five times longer swinging their deafening machine back and forth moving the leaves inch by blaring inch. One must wonder if users are unaware of the decibels, having lost their hearing long ago clearing their yards.
Robert Heise, Richfield
MINNEAPOLIS WORK RULES
What's the fuss? We've already adopted these best practices
At Gandhi Mahal, we see our employees as family — and treating them well fits into owner/chef Ruhel Islam's philosophy of building community and goodwill as well as a commitment to sustainability ("Mpls. weighs sweeping rules for sick time, work schedules," Oct. 4, and "Mpls. council keeps honing work rule plan," Oct. 7).
The working families ordinance wouldn't impact us significantly, because we are already doing many of the practices that the policy proposes — scheduling in advance, making sure employees are still paid when they are sick or have a sick child, etc. Because of these practices, we have also benefited — we have a higher retention rate, low turnover costs and strong loyalty, which have benefited our bottom line.
There is a value for businesses in providing quality work practices. A citywide policy would lift everyone in our community up. The process of this ordinance for fair scheduling and sick days has been flawed, and should have included more small businesses from the start. However, the dialogue has been tremendous — and the sponsors of the ordinance are showing their flexibility to change the ordinance and make sure that what is ultimately passed will be workable for small businesses and that it will add new protections for employees.
With an extended phase-in for small businesses and scaling back some of the initial proposals, this plan makes a lot more sense. Hopefully, the ordinance language reflects the input from small business owners, and in the future, the city should make sure small businesses are at the table when major policies such as this are drafted.
Andrew Papacosta, Minneapolis
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