Thursday, May 30, 2013

Monday's City Council Meeting Agenda

Just found the Agenda for the 6/3 evening City Council Meeting.  It includes an updated AB 19866, an Agenda Bill and it's attachments.  It's an interesting read!  Check it out here.  Hope many of you can testify during the public hearing and/or just watch our Council in action in person on Monday evening.  Later . . .

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Spokane's Successful Fireworks Ban

The City of Spokane has had a fireworks ban for two decades.  The success of the Spokane ban is remarkable.

Spokane's success shows what can be done if a city adopts an easily understandable and enforceable fireworks ordinance, reaches out to educate it's citizens as to what the ordinance means and then enforces it's ordinance fairly and consistently.  The City of Bellingham can do the same thing that Spokane and fifty-seven (57) other cities in our State have done.  Let's do it!

Lisa Jones, Fire Marshal of the Spokane Fire Department, recently provided the graphs below which illustrate this success of Spokane's ban.  Some explanation is required:  The ban was put in place in 1992.  After 10-years, yearly data, for a period of June 28 through July 6, was gathered for the 10-years before and 10-years after the ban was enacted.  The comparison of the number of firework-related injuries and fireworks-related fires for these two periods is stunning:
(NOTE: "Left Click" on graph to enlarge.)
As shown in this top graph, injuries dropped 87% from 290 between 1983 and 1992 to 37 between 1993 and 2002.  Since 2003, there have been 49 fireworks-related injuries, with no fireworks-related injuries in 2012.
 (NOTE: "Left Click" on graph to enlarge.)
As shown in this bottom graph, fires dropped 95% from 1043 between 1983 and 1992 to 46 between 1993-2002.  Since 2003, there have been 47 fireworks-related fires, with just a single fireworks-related fire in 2012.

Spokane's Fire Marshal, Lisa Jones, attributes much of the success of the Spokane ban to education and outreach to the public.  An example of this is a 6/28/12 press conference which you can check out here.  Later . . .

Monday, May 27, 2013

Something to Think About, Right?

Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The existing Bellingham fireworks ordinance - BMC 10.24.130 - has been in effect for over a decade. When Council updated this ordinance in 2002, it was with the expectation of Councilman Bornemann and his fellow Council members that fireworks which flew into the sky and exploded loudly had been prohibited. The "over and over again" yearly attempts to enforce this ordinance have not prohibited flying, explosive fireworks. And the insanity is "expecting different results", which will likely be shown very clearly in a few weeks. The bottom line is that it is time for the current fireworks ordinance to be simplified and strengthened. And that is exactly what the proposed ban will do. I urge you to testify in support of the proposed ban at Council on 6/3. Or perhaps, you could show your support by simply attending upcoming City Council meetings on 6/3 and 6/17. Something to think about, right? Later . . .

Thursday, May 23, 2013

City Of Bellingham News

This is not really news to those who have been following this blog or the Fireworks Guy FaceBook page.  However, the City's "official announcement" of what's coming is significant.  Check it out here.  Later . . .

Success May be Attainable

When our Freedom from Fireworks in Bellingham group and the blog was initiated back in 2010, we certainly hoped we could bring the idea of a ban of fireworks in our City this close to what might be legislative success.  Yet that's exactly where we are right now:

  1. A public hearing at Council is scheduled for 6/3/13.  Council can complete a 1st and 2nd reading of the ban under their consideration that evening and vote to move forward.  With a majority affirmative vote, the ban can then be scheduled for final consideration at Council on 6/17/13.
  2. On 6/17/13, the Council can complete a 3rd reading of the proposed ban and take a final vote.  With a majority affirmative vote, the ban is adopted by Council.
  3. The resulting ordinance, after endorsement by Council President Seth Fleetwood, approval by Mayor Kelli Linville, the Finance Director, the City Attorney and publishing, becomes the "law of the City" no later than 6/27/13.
  4. After the State-mandated 1-year "waiting period", this revised fireworks ordinance - BMC 10.24.130 - is enforceable before the 4th of July next year.
During our efforts to promote the idea of a ban, over 3700 folks have supported us via two petition campaigns.  We hope that many of these people will attend the 6/3 and 6/17 Council meetings to show, by their presence, their support of the proposed ban.  THANKS!  Later . . .

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Second Stark Piece This Week

There was another well-written, front page article below John Stark's by-line in this morning's Bellingham Herald.  It reports that a public hearing regarding the proposed fireworks ban currently under consideration by the City Council will take place at Council on 6/3/13.  As usual, on-line comments resulted.  Check out article and the comments here.  Later . . .

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tuesday AM Front Page Article in Herald

You know progress is being made toward a ban of fireworks in our City when local columnist John Stark gets coverage on front page of in the Bellingham Herald.  It's a well-written piece that deserves a read - cannot say that about the on-line comments but most of these comments illustrate where the reluctance to put a ban in place comes from.  Check the article out here.  Later . . .

Monday, May 20, 2013

Public Hearing on 6/3

This evening's City Council meeting ran very long. It was past 10PM before the subject of a fireworks ban was addressed. The substantive result of discussion this evening was the a motion, passed unanimously, scheduling a public hearing regarding a ban, to take place at Council on 6/3. Later . . .

Conoboy's Latest Northwest Citizen Piece

Local activist Dick Conoboy continued today to show his support of a fireworks ban in our City.  After attending this morning's meeting of the Public Safety Council Meeting, during which a lively discussion took place, Conoboy shares is view of what took place.  His suggested use of the money that is wasted on the purchase of fireworks is a great one!  Check out his posting here.

Ban Discussion Televised this AM

BTV10 will be broadcasting live the Public Safety Council Meeting today at 9:00AM. Assuming you cannot attend the meeting in person, I encourage you to instead check out the scheduled discussion of the DRAFT fireworks ban on TV this morning. Later . . .

Thursday, May 16, 2013

DRAFT Ban is Available for Review

The Agenda for next Monday's City Council activities appeared on the City website today. This Agenda includes AB 19986, which includes as an attachment the DRAFT fireworks ban that is to be discussed at the Public Safety Council Committee meeting on Monday morning. If you are so inclined, please click on the link below and check it out.  Later . . . 

http://www.cob.org/web/council.nsf/0/6F82BCD0B9C834BB88257B6D00640BD6/$File/20may2013_AB19986.pdf?OpenElement

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Good News at Council on Monday Evening

City Council members Cathy Lehman and Stan Snapp made statements at Monday evening's Council meeting (at about 97.00-minutes of the linked video) that clearly indicate that the fireworks issue continues to be of interest to Council.  The Mayor's statements regarding this issue (at about 102.00-minutes of the video.) show that efforts continue to address this issue prior to this year's 4th of July.  This is indeed good news!  The video is available on-line at http://www.cob.org/services/education/btv10/videos/council/2013-05-13-council-meeting.aspx.  Later . . .

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Another Sunday Political Cartoon


 
This Rik Dalvit cartoon in today's Bellingham Herald is intriguing.  However, anytime Dalvit makes a  reference to fireworks - even "fireworks manufacturer?" - is significant, in that it keeps the idea of a ban of personal fireworks in City in view of the public.  Later . . .

Monday, May 6, 2013

Recent Letter-to-the-Editor

You might want to check out this recent letter-to the Editor in the Bellingham Herald.  It seems to have hit home as it brought the anti-fireworks-ban folks out in droves.  There appear to be strikingly different views of what a Civil Society really is.  It's a great letter - some of the comments, not so much!  Interesting reading, to say the least.  Later . . .

Friday, May 3, 2013

Poll Results


Evan Marczynski, Lead Reporter at the Bellingham Business Journal, after reading Stark's front page Herald fireworks piece on Tuesday, April 23rd, launched a fireworks ban poll on April 25th. It's question was simple: Should Bellingham ban personal-use fireworks?  Evan posted results (See below) of the poll to me this afternoon, and I believe it's important to share them with interested members of the Public. Although the poll is not "scientific", l hope you find the results compelling and well worth consideration.  Later . . . 

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Evan Marczynski
To: Control Fireworks in Bellingham, WA
Subject: RE: Follow Up to Our Telcon
Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 15:50:32 -0700

The fireworks ban poll from last week received 231 total votes. 78 percent were in favor; 21 percent against; 1 percent not sure. We have been running weekly polls on our website since March 2012. This is the third most-popular poll (by number of total votes) that we have run. The two polls that received more votes involved questions about whether Bellingham would be a good fit for a Winco Foods grocery store, and one that asked respondents if they supported the Gateway Pacific Terminal.

And just so we are clear, neither myself nor The Bellingham Business Journal have taken a position on whether personal-use fireworks should be banned in Bellingham. This poll, which is not scientific and relies on voluntary votes, was done to engage with our audience and measure community opinion on this matter.

Best of luck to you!

Evan Marczynski
Lead Reporter