Statement Supporting Measure "D" Banning all Fireworks in Lakewood

Nov. 7, 2006 Election

Shall Ordinance No. 2006-4, which would impose a ban on the sale, offer for sale, possession, use or discharge of fireworks, be approved?

The real reason fireworks sales are allowed is money. If we were talking about cigarette sales for fundraising, we would not need to hold an election. Civic groups have not made an effort to wean themselves off fireworks because they had the support of the city council and the fireworks companies who rely on this desire for quick money to peddle their smoke and noise. Lakewood groups will need to do the same thing all the other clubs and parents have done in other cities: Find other sources of funding. They’re there, just look around.

Fireworks may seem sane but they are not safe. Almost 10,000 people a year (mostly children) are injured with fireworks, not to mention all the fires and property damage.

If only pets could vote in this election. Some pet owners have to leave the city with their pets, board them, drug them or risk loosing them as they break out of yards to escape the noise. This would not be as bad if the fireworks did not go on for days before and after the 4th.

With global climate change looming, can we afford to have a “pollution day”? The pollution Lakewood makes on July 4 must equal car emissions for a month. Not to mention all the hazardous chemicals, like deadly perchlorate, washed down into the storm drains and oceans after smoke clears.

Can the City continue to spend $100,000 in tax revenues every year to support policing fireworks? Can we risk another explosion like Dunrobin?

Do we want to move towards the future with progressive, forward looking cities like Long Beach, Cerritos and Signal Hill that ban all fireworks, or do we want to side with the shrinking minority of California cities that allow them?

VOTE YES ON MEASURE "D"