ELECTIONS / PALMDALE : Voters to Decide Fate of Fireworks Sales, Recreation Center Proposal

Residents in Palmdale, the last city in north Los Angeles County to permit sales of fireworks, will vote Tuesday on a measure that would outlaw them and on an advisory measure asking whether the city should tax residents to build a $24-million recreation center.

The fireworks issue, known as Measure B, would outlaw the sale and use of so-called safe and sane products in the city starting just after this year’s Fourth of July. The recreation center proposal, Measure C, is non-binding, but the mayor predicts that it will take a strong showing to persuade the council to build the center.

The City Council balked at voting on a proposed ban in September, 1990, and instead unanimously agreed to put the fireworks issue before the public. County fire officials support a ban, but the fireworks industry and local charity groups that sell fireworks for fund raising oppose it.

No one wrote a ballot argument for the fireworks ban, although county fire officials blame fireworks for fires and injuries each year. Three residents active in charity groups wrote an opposing argument, saying the ban would encourage use of more dangerous products that are already illegal.

The campaign has been dominated by the fireworks industry. Its No on Measure B Committee as of Wednesday had reported raising more than $34,000 in cash and services, the only reported fund raising in the race. All of it came from American West Marketing, the state’s largest fireworks distributor.

The No on B Committee thus far has funded at least three colorful mailers targeting some of the city’s 26,000 registered voters. The mailers warn that about 15 community groups that sell fireworks, such as Palmdale Little League and the Knights of Columbus, stand to lose about $200,000 annually if the measure passes.

One mailer included a statement opposing the measure signed by council members Jim Root, Jim Ledford and Janis DeLaTorre. Councilman Joe Davies favors the ban. Mayor Pete Knight, who is running for the state Assembly, has taken no public position on the measure.

Many types of fireworks, such as firecrackers and bottle rockets, already are illegal statewide. Palmdale’s measure would outlaw the sale and use of so-called safe and sane fireworks such as fountains. Thirty-six cities in Los Angeles County allow them, but 51 currently do not.

Fireworks already are illegal in Lancaster, unincorporated county areas, Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Los Angeles, San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Westlake Village. Residents around Palmdale sought the ban in the summer of 1990 after a series of arson-caused brush fires in the region.

The recreation center measure, meanwhile, is the latest hurdle in a three-year campaign by a group of parents who complain that Palmdale youngsters lack any kind of major indoor recreation area shielded from the high desert’s summer heat and winter cold.

If it fails to get at least a majority vote, the council would probably not proceed with the project, Knight said. A vote total between majority and two-thirds might persuade the council, but a two-thirds or better vote would probably assure the project’s approval, Knight said.

The advisory measure suggests that the recreation center be funded with a tax on all property in the city for about 30 years to pay for the 120,000-square-foot facility proposed for downtown.

The ballot measure proposes maximum annual rates of $60 per residential unit, $300 per acre of commercial or industrial development, $6 per parcel of vacant residentially zoned land, and $30 per acre of vacant commercial or industrial property. Any exact rates would be set later by the council.

The proposed center would include a gym, pool, ice skating rink, handball courts and other facilities. There has been no organized opposition to the measure. Its proponents have been distributing flyers and posting campaign signs around the city, but have reported no fund raising.