Newport Lifts Ban on July 4 Fireworks

Reversing an earlier decision in the face of an outcry from the public, the Newport Beach City Council has voted to allow Fourth of July fireworks at Newport Dunes Aquatic Park and Big Canyon Country Club.

After hearing dozens of residents at a late-night meeting Monday, Councilman Philip R. Maurer finally said, “Let’s vote and avoid the lectures.”

The council then voted unanimously to allow the fireworks shows, which have been major attractions since 1959, provided that the Dunes aquatic park hire off-duty California Highway Patrol officers to help monitor traffic.

“I’ve come to the conclusion (that) when you interfere with Americanism, you’re in trouble,” Maurer said Tuesday.

Inundated With Mail

City Hall had been inundated with mail and council members had been hounded by telephone calls since they decided several weeks ago that the displays attract too many people and cause too much traffic congestion, Mayor John C. Cox Jr. said.

The problem, Cox said, is that each year, as huge fireworks explode in the air, traffic comes to a standstill while motorists gawk.

Other council members complained that with the annual Fourth of July block parties on the Newport Peninsula, police resources are stretched thin.

“If you’re down here on July 4th and you look behind City Hall it will freak you out because that’s where police process everybody arrested from all the action on the peninsula. There’s a party atmosphere down there (on the peninsula) from 32nd Street to 53rd Street. It’s a 20-block party,” said Councilwoman Ruthelyn Plummer.

‘Not Against Fireworks’

“Shoot, I’m not against fireworks but the City Council can’t make Pacific Coast Highway and Jamboree Road into parking lots,” Plummer said.

City Council members also expressed concern about the city’s potential liability if an ambulance or fire truck was prevented or delayed from reaching its destination, Cox said.

Before the City Council meeting, Charles Yates, general manager of the Dunes aquatic park, said he had reached an informal agreement with police and had agreed to hire extra people for traffic duty.

The requirement of added personnel only applies to the Dunes and not to Big Canyon Country Club.

Safety concerns due to fireworks were never the issue, Plummer said.

“Both the Dunes and Big Canyon left no stone unturned as far as safety for shooting the fireworks off was concerned. But their efforts at traffic monitoring have failed miserably,” she said.