I have a mechanical push mower for my tiny little lawn. It lets me feel extra smug with my neighbors who have lawn services for their equally tiny lawns. All in all I think this is a good law, even if it's implementation is doubtlessly going to be heavy handed. The noise pollution alone is good enough reason, let alone the chemical pollution. Not sure how easy it will be for the big landscape companies who do things like large city parks, but I'm also not sure inconvenience and price are good enough reasons to keep dinosaurs on the prowl. We'll see how it goes, but I hope more states will consider restrictions, if not outright bans.
How's the reel mower working for you? I've got a smallish 14,000 sq ft lot that I mow in 20 minutes with an 25 year old commercial 48" walk behind mower. It's a four stroke and likely pollutes horribly. Having mature,50ft+ treesnin my yard, I depend on something that mulches leaves. I've always thought of switching to a mechanical mower. Cursory searches always led me ro believe it is a pipe dream.
The big downside is that while it cuts grass really well, it does nothing to weeds. Any stem thicker than a blade of grass might as well be steel. So if you have a lot of dandelions or whatever, your results will suffer. This is the one I have:
katakowsj - I have the Fiskars. have had for five years. b_b is right - weeds'n'such require a weed whacker. I have a 7000-ish sqft lot and in general, when it's growing season, I hit the grass every week (30min). I hit the stubborn stuff every other week with a weed whacker. Go cordless. All my stuff is black'n'decker, and all of it has the same battery mount. There's something delightful about being able to mow the lawn and listen to an audiobook.