Fireworks Face Buena Park Test

When Buena Park voters head to the polls Tuesday, they will have the final say in whether the city will join the other 29 cities in Orange County that ban the sale of so-called safe and sane fireworks.

Supporters of Measure D say the annual sale of the fireworks draws thousands of people to the city who set off their sparkling cones and fountains, leaving behind a huge mess. They also set off illegal fireworks, causing fire and safety hazards, the measure’s supporters say.

“We close city parks because of the mess that’s left behind, and it costs too much to clean it up,” said Councilman Art Brown, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

According to the ballot argument supporting the ban, “Calls to your police and fire departments have skyrocketed 400% in the last three years,” and “for six hours each year, Buena Park becomes a ‘war zone.’ ”

But opponents of the measure say the city may be exaggerating the harm from the sale of the fireworks, including the number of police and fire calls on Independence Day.

“I’ve not seen any proof of things like that,” said former Councilman Don Griffin. “It seems there’s a wee bit of exaggeration.”

Plus, opponents point out, the sales benefit school, scout and other youth groups that operate sales booths as fundraisers and rely on the sales to pay for their outings and other activities. Fireworks sales also generated $12,000 in sales tax and $24,000 in fees to the city last year.

Supporters counter that argument by noting that other cities that have banned the sales have found other methods of fundraising. Supporters also cite the July 4, 2002, death of 9-year-old Xavier Morales of Anaheim as a reason to outlaw fireworks. Xavier died from a stray bullet shot in the air while leaving a city park.

Opponents, however, say that argument is deceptive and misleading because fireworks were not to blame for the boy’s death.

Buena Park, a city of about 80,000, passed an ordinance in 2003 to ban the sale of fireworks. The ordinance, which the City Council passed 3 to 2, would have taken effect this year.

A citizens group, however, led a successful petition drive to put the issue before city voters.

A major stakeholder in the decision is Fullerton-based TNT Fireworks, which supplies groups that sell safe-and-sane fireworks at booths throughout the city.

The company has donated about $70,000 to a coalition to defeat the measure, said John Kelly, vice president of TNT. The firm has also contributed much of the $241,486 being spent to defeat a similar measure in Santa Rosa, about 50 miles north of San Francisco, he said.

Kelly said safe and sane fireworks do not explode or go into the air.

“If you have to look up in the sky to see it,” then it’s illegal and not sold by TNT, he said.

Supporters of the measure, however, say that the sales only encourage the use of illegal fireworks.

They add that the trash and disruption to the city have become so bad that city parks are now closed at 6 p.m. on Independence Day. Civilians and Explorer Scouts patrol the parks, Brown said, to prevent people from entering.