Lakewood Places Fireworks Ban on November Ballot

Lakewood is the latest Southern California city to let voters decide whether to ban the sale and use of fireworks.

The City Council has placed a measure banning fireworks on the Nov. 7 ballot; a similar proposal is on neighboring Artesia’s June 6 ballot.

The fireworks debate, a perennial in Los Angeles County, pits community groups that depend on fireworks booths for fundraising against safety concerns and the high cost of fireworks cleanup.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department serves 32 cities that allow fireworks and 26 that don’t, according to 2005 figures.

Spurred by a house explosion March 5, some Lakewood politicians had considered an immediate moratorium on the sale of so-called safe and sane fireworks, an alternative to more powerful pyrotechnics. The explosion was caused by illegal fireworks, authorities said.

But in the face of an outcry from community groups, which raise about $250,000 each year from fireworks sales, the council decided instead to place a measure on the ballot. The decision Tuesday was greeted with cheers from more than 100 people in the audience.

Dina Schmidt, vice president of Lakewood Pacific Junior Football and Cheer, which serves about 500 children, called the push for a moratorium a knee-jerk reaction.

“That they were almost willing to take something away from me without asking my opinion is really disheartening,” she said.

Schmidt said her family moved to Lakewood because of its reputation as a traditional American town.

Artesia Mayor Larry R. Nelson, a strong supporter of a ban, said his city has become a haven for fireworks fans from other parts of Southern California.

“These folks come into Artesia, do fireworks, leave our streets in shambles, then go home,” he said.

Last year, sheriff’s deputies could not control the unruly crowd that gathered in Artesia Park to shoot off fireworks, he said.

The city spends more than $10,000 on cleanup -- no small price tag for a town of 16,000 residents, he added.

“We’re just so fortunate that no one was seriously injured,” Nelson said. “It has to stop.”

However, a prohibition is no panacea, city officials warn. Long Beach, just south of Lakewood, is plagued by fireworks displays each Fourth of July despite a 40-year-old ban, city spokeswoman Katherine Parsons said.

Thousands of people gather along Long Beach’s 11-mile coastline to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks and food, leaving behind 85,000 pounds of litter that takes days to remove, she said.

For the last four years, Long Beach police have averaged 585 complaints about fireworks, she said.

Despite the caveat, Parsons said a ban in Lakewood would be a step in the right direction. She said: “It helps us manage the safe and sane and helps keep out the really dangerous ones.”