March 14, 2006

March 14 2006 city council meeting

One-year moratorium on fireworks sales set for March 28 public hearing

At its Tuesday night meeting, city council members approved a five-point motion on fireworks, including the scheduling of a public hearing at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. March 28 to consider a proposed one-year moratorium on the sale and use of “safe and sane” fireworks in Lakewood

Council members also:

§ Directed city staff members to provide options to the council on ways to assist non-profit organizations that would lose income from the sale of fireworks for their charitable, civic, and youth activities during the one-year moratorium.

§ Appropriated $100,000 for additional neighborhood nuisance property law enforcement efforts (which would include enforcement of the city’s fireworks laws).

§ Established a $100 reward for information from tipsters who assist sheriff’s deputies in citing firework law violations.

§ Directed city staff members to report to the council on the feasibility of organizing individual fireworks shows at city parks on July 4, 2006.

The public hearing on the proposed fireworks moratorium will be held at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers (5000 Clark Avenue). If approved, the moratorium would prohibit all fireworks use, including the use of “safe and sane” fireworks purchased in nearby cities and brought to Lakewood.

Artesia, Bellflower, Lakewood, and Paramount – cities also served by the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station – permit the sale and use of “safe and sane” fireworks. An election on June 6 in Artesia will determine if fireworks in that community will be banned.

“Safe and sane” fireworks are currently legal in Lakewood, but only for use on July 4. (Lakewood fireworks regulations)

The issues surrounding fireworks use were seen in light of the recent explosion on Dunrobin Avenue that wrecked a home that appears to have been a workshop for manufacturing illegal fireworks.

The Dunrobin explosion was the subject of a report to the city council by Sheriff’s Captain Dave Fender. Captain Fender described the process the Sheriff’s Department followed in responding to reports of the use of illegal fireworks in the neighborhood. Some of those reports were linked to the Dunrobin house.




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