Well, people here do have allergies, so I'm sure they're bothered. But I haven't seen it in the quantities you two are describing -- staining plastic chairs, coating windshields. That windshield looks like it's being attacked by bees.
Hello Katy. The image I posted shows what are called catkins.

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in Salix). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem that is often drooping. They are found in many plant families.
Catkin-bearing plants include many trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, hickory, sweet chestnut, and sweetfern (Comptonia).
In many of these plants, only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single (hazel, oak), a cone (alder), or other types (mulberry). In other plants (such as poplar), both male and female flowers are borne in catkins.
These catkins are very light-weight, and easily wind-blown. The issue is that they tend to stick together, so they almost have a snowball effect, two or three will connect and start to blow, and suddenly, there are several hunderd (or more) "rolling" down the street like large snowballs. They easily clog gutters on homes and the drains in the street.
Here's a pic of a pile made from one front yard.

The amount of pollen they can put out is crazy.
