2:00 AM Blasts on Southside

Was awakened early this AM by, you guessed it, the repeated blasts of fireworks!  It was apparently a ways off, as my Aussie did not react as she usually does.  However, it would seem that this year's end-of-the-year fireworks have begun.  Contrary to what I have urged you all to do, I did not call 911 nor post City representatives regarding the incident.  I probably with do the latter today, and herein, I am sharing news of this event with you folks.  Later . . .

Not Long Until New Years!

As 2012 comes to an end, we wish we could report significant progress in our efforts to get the City to address it's fireworks problems.  The simple fact is that the City has "lots on it's plate" and fireworks ends up a low priority item.  We've engaged Mayor Linville and the Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission (MNAC) and acting Fire Chief Roger Christensen.  Though our reception was polite in both instances, nothing much has transpired in the interim.  Mayor Linville has committed, however, to look into the situation in the New Year.  We will keep you appraised of how this moves forward in 2013.

Today's Herald front page story regarding the Mayor's selection of Clifford Cook to replace retiring Bellingham Police Chief Todd Ramsay is somewhat heartening.  Cook comes to Bellingham after a 5-year stint as Police Chief in Vancouver, WA.  Interesting is the fact that Vancouver's municipal code bans all fireworks at New Years.  This being the case, perhaps the new Police Chief will be receptive to what we are about.

With New Years just a few days away, the following information might be of interest to you.  Bellingham's fireworks ordinance, BMC 10.24.130, restricts sales of so-called safe and sound fireworks to between 12/27 and 12/31.  Use is restricted to just 12/31 and 1/1.  However, Bellingham's noise ordinance, BMC 10.24.120, fails to exempt the noise of fireworks as being allowed.  So, what should you do, as a concerned citizen, when this year's barrage begins over New Years?  Two things:

1. Call 911 - or 676-6911 - and report the noise as a violation of BMC 10.24.120.
2. Follow up each telephone call with an E-Mail to the Mayor (mayorsoffice@cob.org), the City Council (ccmail@cob.org) and both the Police (police@cob.org) and Fire (fire@cob.org) Departments.

We hope you and yours have a terrific Holidays.  And that 2013 is a great year, especially with regards to the City doing something about it's fireworks problem.  Later . . .  

Interesting Link

Found a new entry on our on-line petition/opinion poll yesterday. What's interesting is that the site advocates a total ban of all fireworks! Also interesting is its advocacy of laser shows to replace public fireworks displays. It certainly is something to think about. Check it out at http://www.backcountryattitude.com/toxic_fireworks.html. Later . . .

PRELIMINARY Petition Signature Totals

In preparation for the launch of our Bellingham Initiative No. 2012-01 petition, 500 copies were printed.  Between January 12th and July 11th, 254 petitions were used to gather signatures. All but 16 have been accounted for and, pending receipt of these, we can report a PRELIMINARY total of 3208 signatures. As reported earlier, this is not enough to get Bellingham Initiative No. 2012-01 on the November ballot as Proposition No. 1. However, this total has attracted the attention of members of City government. At the direction of Mayor Kelli Linville, City staff is addressing the fact that Bellingham has a fireworks problem that needs to be dealt with. In a community which was suffering "petition fatigue" - the one about coal and the one about increasing to number of Port Commissioners as well as ours about fireworks - and with only about 25 volunteers and minimal expenditures, we should be very proud of what we have accomplished. Later . . .

Mayor's Report to City Council on August 6th, 2012

Per published minutes of the August 6th, 2012 meeting of the Bellingham City Council, the Mayor's Report portion of the minutes documented that "Mayor Linville notifed Council of meetings and direction to staff regarding fireworks, which include: reviewing Spokane's laws and results; education and marketing and fire and police emphasis patrols."  As in the posting below, keep "tuned in" to this website as this process continues. 

Spokane Press Conference

There has been a fireworks ban in Spokane for 20-years. The link below is to a YouTube presentation of a press conference given in late June of this year regarding this ban.

The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHBoR_YJfG8&list=UUchSHbVFw3KbQOEFojE_s-g&index=1&feature=plcp.

Bellingham needs to do exactly the same thing that Spokane did 2-decade ago. Seems like a "no-brainer" to me! Later . . .

So, the Process Continues

This evening's Council Meeting confirmed that the City's fireworks problems will in fact be addressed. Mayor Kelly Linville explained, during her report to the Council, that she has directed Assistant City Attorney James Erb to investigate ways that the fireworks situation can be controlled by the City. This will apparently include looking into the history of the nearly 20-year old Spokane consumer fireworks ban. As I advised in my earlier posting, keep "tuned in" to this website for updates. Later . . .

The Respite is Over

After a nearly two-week respite, the Southside idiot - probably the one with a calendar-reading problem - set off a tremendous explosion last evening. It was actually considerably louder and shook the ground much harder than anything I've ever heard here. You know, this idiot might very well be the one who my wife saw driving a white SUV downtown recently with bumper stickers that read - and I kid you not - "Cherry Bombs for Jesus" and "I Love Fireworks"!  The former is certainly a new twist to the concept of "religious freedom"!  I just wanted to share this with you. Later . . .

A Couple of Interesting Letters-to-the-Editor

Below are links to recent letters-to-the-editor of the Herald which relate to our efforts to get better control of fireworks here in Bellingham.

• The first - http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/07/26/2607260/tried-of-government-bans-on-humanity.html - illustrates how difficult it is to ban anything.  The exchange of comments gets a bit over the top, but it's still interesting reading. 
• The second -  http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/07/25/2607242/blames-fireworks-for-dogs-death.html - hits a bit "closer to home", as it were.  And again, the exchange of comments is intriguing.  

So, the Process Begins

The Monday afternoon Council Meeting of the Whole did not go "exactly" as expected.  When Stan Snapp attempted to bring fireworks up as New Business, there was confusion as to whether this was the proper parliamentary method to initiate a discussion of fireworks. Fortunately, the Mayor intervened to salvage the situation, offering to direct the City Attorney to look into ways that the fireworks situation can be addressed by the City. So, the process begins.  Keep "tuned in" to this website for updates.  Later . . .

Dr. Hodge's Letter-to-the-Editor

Back on June 20th, a local opthamologist by the name of Dr. John Hodge sent us an E-mail which, with his permission, we quoted.  On July 13th, the Bellingham Herald published his letter-to-the-editor.  You might find his letter and the resulting comments interesting.  The link to Dr. Hodge's letter is: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/07/13/2579732/wants-city-to-ban-personal-fireworks.html

City Council to Discuss Bellingham's Fireworks Situation

This is actually a Bad News/Good News posting.  The Bad News is that we did not gather enough petition signatures to get on the ballot in November.  The Good News is that we did gather over 3000 petition signatures with about 25-volunteers and minimal expenditures.  Our efforts have increased awareness of the City's fireworks problems tremendously, evidenced in part by Councilman Stan Snapp's call for City Council discussion of the situation.  Snapp intends to bring this subject up under New Business during the Monday, 7/23/12 City Council Meeting.  Snapp's action will "get the ball rolling".  As future Council Actions on this subject are scheduled, our in-person attendance at Committee and Council meetings will likely be worthwhile.  But for now, we just need to let the process move forward.  As this takes place, updates will be posted here.  THANKS to all of you for supporting our efforts to get some action going on this issue.  Later . . .

Thunder and Lightning vs Fireworks

The "calendar-reading-challenged" idiot just north of the Parkway continues to blow stuff up. The last two evenings, in direct competition with some pretty loud and impressive thunder and lightning, explosions caused by fireworks once again shook the earth. Later . . .