HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.1 SB343 Consider Sale of Fireworks 8-20-13
SB 343
Senate Bill 343 mandates supplemental materials that have been
received by the City Clerk's office that relate to an agenda item after
the agenda packets have been distributed to the City Council be
available to the public.
The attached documents were received in the City Clerk's office after
distribution of the August 20, 2013 City Council meeting agenda
packet.
Item 5.1
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From:
Date: August 19, 2013, 7:34:18 PM PDT
To: <joni.pattillo(�dublin.ca.gov>, <cbris.foss a,dubtin.ca.gov>
Subject: Council Meeting August 20, Agenda Item #5.1: Citizen Request to
Consider Sale of Fireworks
I am unable to attend the meeting and speak publicly regarding this agenda item, but as
a Dublin resident since 1979, and having been involved for many years in the sale of safe
and sane fireworks for two charitable organizations in our community, I would like to
submit the following comments into the record (assuming this is allowed).
1. I understand the frustration people have regarding the use of unsafe and
illegal fireworks as that seems to be the issue here. However, that is a universal issue in
every city throughout the country on July 4. Some cities try to control the problem through
banning all fireworks - safe or unsafe -while others, such as Dublin, make provisions for
the sale of safe and sound fireworks, which provide funds used by bona fide charitable
organizations to help provide needed services to Dublin residents.
2. I am a retired command officer from a large Bay Area city in Alameda County and
former police chief of a small Contra Costa community. Those communities ban the sale
of fireworks, both illegal and those considered safe and sane. Those bans did not have
much deterrent effect on the use of fireworks and the police departments were still
required to provide extra staffing in an attempt to keep the problem under control to the
extent possible and minimize the impact of illegal fireworks on the residents of those two
communities.
3. Though retired, I am still active with the law enforcement community in Contra Costa
County, which has a total ban on fireworks. Even so, county police departments still
provide extra staffing to deal with the use of illegal fireworks on July 4. The ban of safe
and sane fireworks has not allowed them to decrease staffing levels because of the
ongoing problem of the use of unsafe and illegal fireworks.
4. Dublin has a stellar record of working with local charitable organizations to ensure, to
the extent possible, that only safe and sound fireworks are sold and used in our
community; the Dublin police department has been a welcome and critical component of
those efforts throughout the week of sales.
5. I also live in the West Side of Dublin and have for many years listened to the same
nuisance activity as the petitioner here. However, I deal with it this one day knowing full
well that banning safe and sane fireworks would have minimal, if any, impact of the use
of illegal fireworks or the diminishing of this nuisance activity. Eyen with this one day of
extra staffing, the police cannot be everywhere and see everything in their efforts to
control the use of illegal fireworks or the possible misuse of the safe and sane fireworks
in Dublin and it is unreasonable to believe they can be.
6. Dublin has an effective model that balances the need for public safety and minimizing
the impact of fireworks - legal and illegal - with the needs of charitable organizations in
our community to provide a variety of services to those who need it most. I would
recommend the Council continue to support these decades-long efforts and keep the
current model of allowing for the sale of safe and sound fireworks.
Pete Peterson
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