Palmdale Council Feels Heat, Rejects Fireworks Ban

Under strong pressure from community charitable groups, the Palmdale City Council has rejected a proposed ban on the sale and use of fireworks and instead promised to let city voters decide the issue with an April, 1992, ballot measure.

The council action came after a 75-minute public hearing on Thursday night in which numerous groups complained the loss of fireworks sales would deprive them of their major annual fund-raising tool. County fire officials, in contrast, asked the council to pass the ban for fire prevention and safety reasons.

The council’s decision leaves Palmdale as the only city in northern Los Angeles County that still permits the sale of legal fireworks. A different group of Palmdale council members rejected a similar proposed ban about two years ago.

“It’s the Fourth of July. To take the sparkle out of it would be criminal,” said Gilbert Snow, a dentist with the Hi Desert Children’s Dental Clinic. He said the clinic relies on fireworks sales to provide treatment to low-income children.

Other community groups such as the Elks and the American Legion warned that their support for children’s sports programs, meals for the elderly, student scholarships and even payments to Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops would suffer, and that some charitable groups themselves would have to disband.

The ban was proposed in July by Palmdale Mayor Pete Knight and supported by Councilman Joe Davies after a series of arson-caused brush fires struck nearby rural areas. But neither spoke in favor of it Thursday as the three other council members voiced their opposition.

Without ever taking a formal vote on the ban, Davies instead proposed that voters decide the issue at the city’s next regularly scheduled election in April, 1992, and the council passed that motion 5-0. Other elections will come sooner, but including the measure before 1992 would be more costly to the city.

Despite not getting the ban enacted, county Assistant Fire Chief Leon Provost called the council’s action “a victory for the Fire Department” and predicted the ballot measure will pass. Added county Fire Marshal Jim Daleo, “You let people go into the ballot box, and they won’t be fooled.”

County fire officials maintain that even so-called safe fireworks such as sparklers and fountains, which cities can permit if they choose, are dangerous and can cause fires and injuries. County fire officials in recent years have been campaigning to get cities to ban them.

According to county Fire Department records, 37 cities in the county, including Palmdale, permit legal fireworks. But 49 cities--including Lancaster, Santa Clarita and San Fernando--have voted to outlaw them.

The fireworks industry, which aided the Palmdale community groups in opposing the fireworks ban, argues that illegal fireworks such as bottle rockets are the real problem. Industry officials claim outlawing legal fireworks will only fuel the demand for illegal ones.

Dennis Revell, a spokesman for two major fireworks manufacturers who testified at Thursday’s hearing, said Palmdale residents have already “voted with their pocketbooks” by buying several hundred thousand dollars worth of fireworks each year. Revell predicted the ballot measure would fail.

Palmdale’s current law restricts fireworks sales to only nonprofit groups during the period June 28 to July 6 each year. The city issued fireworks permits to 18 such groups this year, double the number from 1987.

The proposed 1992 ballot measure will require further council approval.