City Hall sure went to a lot of trouble to pass a new ordinance
? a questionable local law ? that would allow administrative
citations to be handed out on the Fourth of July to property owners
where firework violations took place. No muss, no fuss ? if the
fireworks were set off in front of your house, you?re guilty.
City Hall sure went to a lot of trouble to pass a new ordinance ? a questionable local law ? that would allow administrative citations to be handed out on the Fourth of July to property owners where firework violations took place. No muss, no fuss ? if the fireworks were set off in front of your house, you?re guilty.
That in itself caused a community stir, but now the cloud of smoke surrounding that ordinance has become even thicker since the city decided to wait three months before sending out the citations, and then only did so when reporter Emily Alpert called to inquire about the disposition of the $7,500 in fines that were to be issued.
Someone dropped the ball, and given all the hullabaloo about illegal fireworks, City Council members shouldn?t worry about having a short fuse on this one.
Illegal fireworks present a serious public safety concern. And though it?s debatable whether administrative citations are the proper way to deal with the issue, what?s not debatable is that the citations, once recorded, should not take three months to get to violators. That gap sends a terrible message to the public ? the message that illegal fireworks really aren?t that big a deal. Tell that to a resident whose roof has caught on fire, or to the firefighters and police officers who have to try and curb that nonsense.
Gilroy is the last city in the county to allow the sale of safe-and-sane fireworks. A whole bunch of community groups benefit from those sales. It?s an American
tradition we?d like to keep, but the illegal variety unfortunately threatens that
freedom.
The City Council should ask for a full public report on this breech of responsibility. Let?s publicly air the problem and make darn sure City Hall has it fixed.
