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 . . .

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

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 . . .

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 . . .

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 . . .

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