Some call it a lack of common sense, some say the body lacks
political will. Either way, the more than 70 residents who
persuaded the council to keep fireworks around this year do not
account for everybody.
The city council voted 5-1 during a special session Tuesday to
continue allowing community groups to sell so-called safe and sane
fireworks. Councilman Peter Arellano supported the ban, and Mayor
Al Pinheiro was absent.
Some call it a lack of common sense, some say the body lacks political will. Either way, the more than 70 residents who persuaded the council to keep fireworks around this year do not account for everybody.
The city council voted 5-1 during a special session Tuesday to continue allowing community groups to sell so-called safe and sane fireworks. Councilman Peter Arellano supported the ban, and Mayor Al Pinheiro was absent.
The decision came despite the Hummingbird and Whitehurst fires and tinder-box conditions still surrounding Gilroy. In front of four TV news cameras and a group of firework vendors and patrons, the council decided that banning fireworks would primarily target nonprofit groups and responsible families who enjoy sparklers, not the typical source of past Fourth of July-related fires: high-flying explosives that Gilroy already outlaws, according to Gilroy Fire Department Chief Dale Foster.
“We can’t create an ordinance to outlaw lightning – it happens,” said Councilman Dion Bracco, referring to the cause of the weekend fires. “Nonprofits making money would never come before our public safety, but I have not seen anything different this year.”
The audience muttered “yeahs” and nodded their heads at Bracco’s comments. They also cheered four of the 16 nonprofit vendors this year who took the podium to tell the council the value of the fund-raising event.
“Making this decision tonight would have huge impact. That money is spent before we get it,” said Ed Jensen, who stood up on behalf of the Gilroy High School Quarterback Club. The group raises $15,000 to $20,000 in the days before the Fourth of July to pay for equipment, camps and just about everything else, Jensen said.
Despite the three other vendors who stood up to make similar cases, Councilman Arellano, a physician, stuck to his guns, citing the unusual fire season along with public safety. Thursday Arellano said he was disappointed nobody stood up to support his point after he and his colleagues received dozens of e-mails supporting the ban.
“Unfortunately none of them showed up. I know the city made calls to the vendors to inform them of the meeting, but I don’t know of anyone calling the people who e-mailed us,” said Arellano, who introduced the ban Sunday after watching the blazes and hearing from patients suffering breathing ailments.
Nancy Rose White, who said her oldest son works for Cal Fire, vented in an e-mail Thursday:
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! I love a City Council that has no political back bone, or the will, to stand up and do the right thing for its citizens as a whole when measures call for it and kowtows to a vocal group of people who are only looking out for their personal interests and are not savvy enough to look at the big picture and find other avenues to raise money for this year.”
Heidi Collier, a resident off Santa Teresa Boulevard near Hecker Pass Highway, also conveyed her disappointment in an e-mail to the Dispatch Thursday.
“Now is the time to change our assumptions about what is important,” Collier wrote. “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.” White suggested auctions, golf tournaments, Christmas wreaths and car washes among other ideas.
Although an illegal firework landed on the roof and nearly burned down the El Toro Way home of Jess and Dolores Perez July 4, 2003, Bracco and others pointed out that even safe and sane fireworks are not allowed in hazardous fire areas in west Gilroy. This includes lands west of Santa Teresa Boulevard along Hecker Pass Highway, off Mantelli Drive, west of Rancho Hills Drive and in Eagle Ridge.
Gilroy’s safe fireworks wholesaler for the past 30 years, Gene Della Maggiote, showed up to tell the council that the goodies are family oriented and all the vendors emphasize safe handling and consequences via the flyers customers receive with their purchases.
The city also earns money from a fireworks booth, which is dedicated to the Community Services Adaptive Recreation program and raises about $9,000 a year to sponsor events for mentally and physically handicapped people, according to Sandra Sammut, the city’s recreation supervisor. In addition, the city takes in thousands through a 7 percent earnings fee charged to all vendors.
Mayor Pro Tem Bob Dillon called the meeting Monday and implied that he would support the ban before joining the majority the next night. Enacting the emergency ordinance would have required five out of seven votes, according to the city charter.
Last year on July 4 police and firefighters issued 42 illegal fireworks citations – seven of which it later reversed. Residents are charged $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $750 for the third. Police also arrested 18 people last year for illegal fireworks possession, a misdemeanor that requires officers to prove exactly who owns the explosives. So far nobody has been cited or arrested this year, Foster said. In preparation for the event, police will add 12 patrol officers and the fire department will add eight firefighters, two investigators and three chief officers.
