Dear Editor,
Banning fireworks sales doesn’t have to mean the end of local
charities. Notice that Girl Scouts are able to raise a lot of money
by selling something that doesn’t cause fires, and others can,
too.
However, banning fireworks sales this year, mere days before
expected sales, would really hurt. Here’s a proposal: Everyone buy
fireworks and immediately put them in a bucket of water to destroy
them.
In fact, why not equip the stands with a big container full of
water so that people can buy the fireworks and soak them there? The
charities would get the money, and the fireworks would never hit
the streets (or fields or forests).
Go ahead, buy the fireworks for charity – then dunk them in a bucket of water
Dear Editor,
Banning fireworks sales doesn’t have to mean the end of local charities. Notice that Girl Scouts are able to raise a lot of money by selling something that doesn’t cause fires, and others can, too.
However, banning fireworks sales this year, mere days before expected sales, would really hurt. Here’s a proposal: Everyone buy fireworks and immediately put them in a bucket of water to destroy them.
In fact, why not equip the stands with a big container full of water so that people can buy the fireworks and soak them there? The charities would get the money, and the fireworks would never hit the streets (or fields or forests).
In the long run, charities could enter a partnership with the city’s municipal fireworks display: Sell “stakes” in the show, and for each stake (say, $10), half would go to the city’s fireworks show and half to the charity.
Charities would make their money, and we would have more funding for a bigger city-sponsored show. In addition, the charities could also sell DVDs of each year’s municipal fireworks show. I’m sure some creative minds could come up with even better ideas. But sooner or later, Gilroy has to join the rest of the county – and most of the state – and quit allowing the sale of fireworks.
Tom Mulhern, Gilroy
Councilman’s vote against fireworks should lead to a recall initiative
Dear Editor,
I have a few statements to several groups in the wake of Tuesday’s special City Council meeting. To the City Council: THANK YOU (to five) for not falling for Peter Arellano’s paranoia. I will raise a toast you at all three block parties that I will attend this weekend.
Time will tell whether his call for a ban was political grandstanding, pandering, or just plain ignorance. To the voters of Gilroy: If anyone knows how to get a recall movement going, please contact me. (I’m easy to find.) I want to get the ball rolling to oust Arellano.
He, like every one of the other Gilroy residents who supported the ban, does not deserve the FREEDOM we enjoy here on the Fourth. We can’t force him to leave the City, but we can remove him from Council (which we already did once for voting in favor of eminent domain).
Also to the voters of Gilroy: This November, be sure to vote to keep the city elections in odd-numbered years, or we’ll see more like Arellano on the Council. To the whiners who supported the ban and live in Gilroy: Please move to Morgan Hill. Or further away. To the whiners who live outside of city limits, especially Ken Pauley: Stay there and butt out. You already have things your way, and we have it our way. We value freedom and we like our block parties and intend to keep them.
And to my fellow fireworks fans: KEEP IT SAFE! If you see anyone setting off any fireworks in a manner that poses the slightest risk, or shooting bottle rockets, ask them to knock it off, and don’t be afraid to call the cops. Support your block-party hosts by using only legal fireworks. Also, please show your support to the five Councilmen with sense (Dion Bracco, Robert Dillon, Craig Gartman, Cat Tucker and Perry Woodward) and send them a personal thank you to (c/o 7351 Rosanna Street).
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
Patriotic traditions as an excuse not to ban fireworks? You’ve got to be kidding
Dear Editor,
The meaning behind the Fourth of July is hardly even being celebrated, most people nowadays think of the Fourth as a day to just do fireworks. To use the notion that it is “part of American History” as an excuse to not ban fireworks is just unbelievable.
Right now with the over 800 fires burning throughout California – so many that not all of them can even be attended to – people need to be thinking of safety! HELLO?
How would those you feel if YOU lost your home because of fireworks … illegal or not?! The illegal fireworks can not be policed if there are any fireworks going off.
Do we not have any common sense anymore? I live on a 15-acre lot, that is very dry but we’ve done all we can to fire protect it. I’m already sleepless being up most of the night hearing the fireworks going off now, getting up to check and make sure our property is not on fire and my family and livestock are safe.
Stacy Jenkins, Gilroy
Environmentally sustainable ways to make money should replace fireworks
Dear Editor,
I am disappointed to learn the City Council decided to let the fireworks bes old and used here in Gilroy this Fourth of July.
Now is the time to change our assumptions about what is important – as we look toward our future – I hope the organizations relying on fireworks sales as a fund-raiser can think of environmentally sustainable means of support. Perhaps groups can come up with ideas such as selling reusable bags or lemonade on a hot day. Or start an Arbor Day jamboree to celebrate life-giving trees.
Groups could start dry-climate trees from seed and sell them, then get an additional donation for helping the buyer plant the trees.This would go a long way towards improving our air quality, beautifying our city and cultivating an earth-nurturing means of fundraising for our non-profit organizations.
Heidi Collier, Gilroy
Appreciated the editorial calling for a moratorium on this year’s fireworks sales
Dear Editor,
Good opinion piece on banning fireworks this year for all the reasons that were stated.
Re-direction for those organizations supported by the sales is another great idea. The beer booth at the GArlic Festival is a good place to start helping the organizations supported with the fireworks sales. I hope the City of Gilroy reconsiders.
Shirley Kennedy, Gilroy
‘Brilliant display’ Tuesday night gets him off the fence – ban all the fireworks
Dear Editor,
For years I have been on the fence about fireworks sales in Gilroy but Tuesday night’s brilliant display of illegal fireworks in the northwest sector was the final straw. The bangs and booms so loud they left my ears ringing, the flashes so bright they lit up my yard like the sun.
As I spent my night inspecting my yard and roof for burning embers and debris it became very clear, enough is enough. I would support a full ban on all fireworks and hopefully a zero tolerance policy like our neighboring cities to the north. No simple warnings and confiscations – big fines and jail time are what is needed to reign in these people with no regard for public safety.
Russ Rinfret, Gilroy
Ban makes sense, but they’ll just buy fireworks elsewhere and bring them here
Dear Editor,
I agree with the Dispatch editorial published online that because of the recent fires here in Gilroy we should not have the fireworks here this year.
However, if we don’t sell them then people will bring them in from somewhere else.
It’s a Catch-22 either way.
Lori Fowler, Gilroy
That’s one outrageous school bond – vote No on the $150 million tax
Dear Editor,
You could have knocked me over with a feather after having read the Gilroy Dispatch article “School board votes to place $150 million bond on November ballot,” specifically, “If voters pass the bond in November, property owners will be taxed at a rate not to exceed $60 per $100,000 of assessed home value per year. That translates to $383 in taxes for the average homeowner with a home worth $639,000, the average home price in Gilroy …”
1. Why should I pay for a school I’ll never use and which I don’t think is even needed?
2. Aren’t there LAWS preventing any given county from allowing such an abuse of bond measures? This dollar amount per household is I-N-S-A-N-E!!
Slightly off topic, but I have a reason for mentioning it in the same context: with all the wildfires in the last week how on earth can the City of Gilroy even consider selling fireworks?
Here is a better plan:
1. Scrap the school and the bond (if people want it let them pay for it with private funds)
2. Create a bond that gives funds to the agencies that have in the past benefited from the sale of fireworks.
3. Base this replacement bond dollar amount upon the average of the past three years of firework sales, divided among the number of households
4. Target the money from this replacement bond for police, fire, and city services associated with clearing brush all year long. (Preventative activities to minimize fire impact)
5. Prosecute anyone setting off illegal fireworks to the fullest extent of the law, and if the fullest extent isn’t much, change it to make it a deterrent perhaps even include county jail time for setting off illegal fireworks.
I hope voters vote NO on the school bond and instead I hope that someone creates a REASONABLE bond measure that instead benefits Gilroy fire and police services. If people think a second high school is needed, let them raise the funds privately and build it themselves. I don’t want it, I don’t want to pay for it, and if the city isn’t planning on expanding Santa Teresa and creating access with a Day Road ramp that doesn’t stop Santa Teresa traffic, then it’s just going to be a huge mess anyway which will be impossible to retrofit.
The bond measure should be to support fire police departments, not a new high school in a city with only 50,000 people. Or, here’s a crazy idea: rebuild the library (go see what Morgan Hill has done if you’re not already aware). I’m voting NO on any bond to build a new school.
C.L. Taylor, Gilroy
Council with no backbone – there are plenty of ways to earn money
Dear Editor,
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! I love a City Council that has no political backbone, or the will to stand up and do the right thing for it’s citizens as a whole when measures call for it – and kowtows to a vocal group of people who are only looking out for they’re personal interest.
They aren’t savvy enough to look at the big picture, and find other avenues to raise money for this year? When my boys were in nursery, elementary, junior high, high school and college, I did my share of fund-raising for various “boosters.” We never sold fireworks, either.
We did plenty of the following: silent auctions, alumni progressive dinners, golf tournaments, walk and hit-a-thons, holiday bouquets and Christmas wreaths, spirit sales (hoodies, hats, sweatshirts), car washes, candy, wrapping paper, books … the list is a whole lot longer with many goods and services donated by local business, and we made money.
My oldest son works for Cal Fire and is busting his hump right now. I need to remind people that these firework stands aren’t selective, and will sell to people who come from outside the area. So in the real world, Gilroy is supplying the rest of the region with fireworks. Perhaps, the groups that are making a profit from firework sales, would be willing to pony up and help cover the additional cost of fighting the firework related fires that will be started? Because, let’s face it, it isn’t if, it’s when.
I’d urge everyone at this point to boycott these stands.
Nancy Rose White, Gilroy
Editor’s note: The city ordinance governing the sale of fireworks restricts sales to Gilroyans only.
Cancel fireworks? Are you nuts …
Dear Editor,
Ban fireworks? Are you nuts? Fireworks and the Fourth of July are an American tradition. Fireworks should not be canceled for the behavior of the minority, the majority use fireworks responsibly.
Having been born in Gilroy in 1954 and lived my whole life there until 1993, leave a hometown tradition alone. People are too quick with these knee jerk reactions like Wednesday’s Dispatch editorial online.
Paul W. Johnson, Gilroy
Can’t the groups be responsible …
Dear Editor,
One would think that after all these years of protests that youth groups and a church would find a more responsible way to raise money.
Kay Spencer, Gilroy
