Recommendation to receive and file a report and presentation regarding the impacts of allowing the sale and use of state-approved fireworks.  (Citywide)
Thank you. I want to thank everybody who testified there was a long, bitter testimony, but you did a great job. Thank you. Now move to item 18. Read. Item 18 is a report from the fire department with the recommendation to receive and file a report on the plan presentation regarding the impacts of allowing the sale of safe the sale of safe and use of state approved fireworks care. Can I ask people just be try to be as quiet as you can as you leave before have Chief Terry or whoever was going to get the report. I just want to I'm going to have to leave early tonight. But I wanted to make a couple of comments on this issue. I know we're not going to vote to put it on the ballot. I know it's to receive and file and hear the report from the fire department. But I did want to signal to the proposer of this that I've got some real problems with this. First of all, I think that we're elected to either the city council or mayor or whatever to solve these problems. If we if you see it as a problem that should be dealt with, we should put an ordinance up here and craft the kind of conditions under which this should be done, merely putting something out to the public. Do you want fireworks or not? Doesn't it only be it doesn't even hardly begin the discussion. For example, you'll hear from Mr. Terry. I'm sure that other cities who have brought these back have a substantial cost for clean up and for public safety. At a minimum, I would want a fee imposed here that would compensate the city for those costs. And that just begins the problem here. You know, you'll hear you'll hear from, you know, from Mr. James, from the PSA, who I have great respect for, that he's concerned that because it's hard to enforce this are impossible to enforce it. People think that they're negligent, that the the force is being negligent. I understand that point of view. But the fact is, we rely every day on people obeying the law and observing the law without having the law enforcement there. If you wanted to fully enforce every traffic law, you'd have to have an officer every quarter mile on every street. But we depend on people. So to say that because it's not enforced, somehow we should just take it off the books, I don't think that makes any sense. And to me, if you really want to do this either because your son's football team wants to sell fireworks or create stuff for other charities, I understand that. I think there are other ways of doing it, but I think we need to put the conditions under which that the city is not expend any money, that people are safe, that the neighborhoods are protected. Those are the conditions under which should be done. I think that should be in an ordinance putting this before the voters in this form. To me there's really nothing. So I want you have an opportunity to answer that. I just wanted to let you know that's kind of where I am right now. And, you know, this this this idea. It gives me great trouble, Mr. Terry. Mayor Foster council members on January 7th, the council directed staff, fire staff to come back to them tonight to give a report on the impacts of allowing for possibly for sale, use and possession state approved fireworks. We have a little presentation we'll go through right now for you in the next slide. State approved fireworks known by the hour, which are known by the fireworks industry as safe and sane are those that do not go up into the air, explode or move about the ground in an uncontrolled way. They have been approved by the state fire marshal for private use by consumers, and some examples include cones or sparklers under ten inches in length, smoke balls and spinners. The fireworks are approved for sale for a few days leading up to the 4th of July. State approved fireworks do provide some several benefits for our community, one of which families can spend the 4th of July holiday at home and avoid the crowds and traffic associated with going elsewhere to watch a planned show. The fireworks have been deemed safe for sale use in possession by the state fire marshal. The city of Long Beach could receive income from permit fees and sales tax, and the greatest benefit is perhaps to local nonprofit organizations. Nearly all state approved fireworks are sold by volunteers raising money for volunteer groups, as reported to us by phantom fireworks and TNT fireworks. The average gross retail sales for a stand location is between 22,030 $5,000, of which the nonprofit groups keep 30 to 35%, which equates to about 7000 to $15000 per stand. A survey of cities that have stands indicated to us that gross sales are near the lower end of that range, typically between 23,020 $4,000, meaning groups keep about $7,000 per stand. The potential profit, however, depends greatly on the number of stands and the proximity of the stands to one another, as well as a stands location. Some of these benefits have been outlined by information provided by the fireworks industry. Think slide 295 cities in the state. Permit the sale and use of fireworks or about 61%. 39 cities in Los Angeles County permit fireworks. That's about 44%. It means that a slim majority of cities in Los Angeles County, or about 56%, do not permit the sale or discharge of state approved fireworks. The cities in Los Angeles County that do permit fireworks are much smaller than Long Beach, and these cities typically average about 56,000 residents. Together, these 39 cities account for one fifth of the county's population. A majority of these cities, or 77%, contract with Los Angeles County Fire for Fire Services and 49% contract with L.A. County Sheriff's Department for their police services. Thus, most of these cities do not bear the costs associated with increased public safety demands. I want to point out here that we did reach out to Los Angeles County Fire and Orange County Fire Authority, and they did confirm that the costs associated with staffing up during that holiday period are borne by the county themselves. The assumption being, of course, that the contracts included those costs. The existing ban that we have in Long Beach is consistent with most large cities in California, examining the top ten largest cities. In California, of which Long Beach is one, we find that 70% of these cities currently ban consumer use of state approved fireworks. No city in Los Angeles or Orange County with a coastline permits the sale or use of state approved fireworks. Coastal cities attract large numbers of visitors to their shores each Independence Day. And even if the fireworks were prohibited on the beachfront, it's nearly impossible with existing staff to prevent their discharge on our shores. This creates potentially dangerous conditions on the beaches at night, contributes to litter on the beaches, and exposes ocean waters to toxic substances found in fireworks. Hold on a sec. So the following video shows the situation on the honor beach. You'll see a crowded beach filled not with only state approved fireworks, but also dangerous fireworks. And you'll see residents, including youth, engaging in unsafe activity with state approved fireworks, such as throwing them into the air. Over the video, you're going to hear 911 calls that are a sampling of what our dispatch office receives on the 4th of July holiday, with reports of trashcan fires and residents who believe that fireworks are actually gunshots or mortars. This is merely a fraction of all activity we would see if the fireworks were to become legal. Keep in mind that this video was created with the band, in effect, Dancing on the beach. This is a longer fire. We like to remind. The fireworks are illegal. Please note our 600 are at the intersections of what? Atlantic and Ocean. You've got a building here. It's like a. Four story. Building. And I just like to go on the roof, the penthouse, open area. They've got some type of pyros. I don't know. They're like open flames, and they're also launching rockets and all kinds of stuff. Sounds great upon the paramedics. What's the address of your emergency? 3900 Dispo Avenue. They're all standing in front loading fireworks, and the embers are going up on our roof. It sounds like mortar fire. Gunshots. Okay, hold on a moment. Okay. 103. It's just. Blown up. Car stands between Santa Ana. I'm the vision and camera in my shorts and so. It's about five people are setting off fireworks yeah interest and. You alley rear of 1929 Payne fireworks it went bad There's a fire. My first friend. Waiter Engine four. Looks like someone threw a homemade. Bomb over the wall here. It's at 645 Atlantic Avenue in the parking garage area. They have a huge fire going on inside of their dumpster. There's a bunch of teenagers throwing fire in and out of it. Are they fighting fire or firework fire or they were doing fireworks from the dumpster and now it's fire like a huge fire. One kid, my dad just burned his arms. Next slide. I discussed. Go to the next slide, please. If we could get our PowerPoint back up. I just saw the slides. Yeah, I discussed their personal injuries and property damage caused by fireworks at a previous council meeting. Therefore, I will not recount the numerous statistics that I relayed to you on this topic before. I would just simply offer here a few pieces of information that illustrate the harm that fireworks can cause. Next slide. The contents of fireworks include toxic substances that can accumulate in soil and water permitting. The sale, use and use of state approved fireworks will reverse progress. Long Beach is made in improving our air and water quality as far as water pollution, fireworks contain a number of toxic chemicals and metals these substances can accumulate in the soil and water. Perchlorate, a substance common in fireworks, has been known to cause groundwater contamination. As far as air pollution, fireworks are known to expel toxic chemicals into the air, and these elements are finally responsible, increasing agitation to those with asthma, heart conditions or other respiratory conditions. The particulate matter can also be problematic for seemingly healthy individuals, as some of these particulates are healthy and can remain in the lungs. Many Long Beach residents consider the noise produced by fireworks to also be a nuisance. Calls for service due to noise will undoubtedly increase. The police will not be able to address the complaints as it will be for illegal activity. The noise pollution disturbs animals. Domestic and wild like dogs have been reported to have run away, even jumped through screens or fences in order to escape from sounds that they hear on the 4th of July. This can lead to animals being injured by cars that may run into the street, and we could see an increase in calls to animal care and an increase in missing pets. Animal Care confirms that the days leading up to and following the 4th of July are among the busiest of the year for them in pounds nearly double . Beginning on the 4th of July, they must schedule extra staff on the 4th of July through the sixth. And fireworks have also been known to disturb and disorient birds, causing them to leave their nests and sometimes collide with buildings. Next. The city of Huntington Beach, which is a coastal city located to the south of Long Beach in Orange County, decided to permit the sale, use and possession of state approved fireworks for two years, 2012 and 2013. The city experienced a number of negative impacts. Thus, at the conclusion of the two year pilot, the council voted to reinstate the ban. The city of Long Beach can learn a lot from the experience in Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach documented an increase in illegal fireworks or improper use of state approved fireworks. Progress had been made in 2010 and 2011 and decreasing fireworks as illustrated by the downward trend in confiscations in 2010 and 2011. This trend reversed in 2012 and 2013 when fireworks were allowed in the city. Confiscation of legal fireworks increased as a result of individuals discharging those improperly or discharging them in prohibited areas. The increase of dangerous fireworks is important. These fireworks have a great potential to harm individuals and damaged property by allowing state approved fireworks. Long Beach will almost certainly experience an increase in dangerous fireworks. Police and fire will have a difficult time distinguishing between the approved or dangerous fireworks complicating enforcements. The complicating factors put citizens and property at risk. Huntington Beach documented an increase in calls for service citywide as well. The first year, 2012, the police noted a 182% increase in call volumes when compared to the same day of the prior week. The fire department noted an 87% increase in emergency calls. Huntington Beach collected 680 cubic yards of trash on the beach alone after the 4th of July. That's equivalent to 170 of these dumpsters you see on the slide. Even though the beaches and parks were considered off limits, residents and especially visitors did not know this or chose to disregard the prohibition. This demonstrates that it's very difficult to place certain areas in the city off limits to fireworks. Enforcing geographic prohibitions would not only require that staff be dedicated to the area, but that there be enough staff to adequately patrol the area to ensure compliance. In staff reports, Huntington Beach noted that the city was unable to fully recover the costs of the police department, fire department overtime as well as cleanup by their public works and parks departments. Fiscal impact in Long Beach, a fee of 1500 dollars per fireworks stand, which staff tentatively proposes at this time, could result in a new annual revenue of $60,000, which would cover staff costs associated with permitting and inspection. The 1% sales tax on the sale of fireworks could result in additional revenue of about 14000 to $15000 if industry estimates are accurate. More likely, the resulting sales tax will be $8000 to $9000. However, it is believed that the city's cost for increased fire and police response, as well as public works and parks and Recreation and marine staffing for cleanup activities, would exceed the tax revenue generated from the sales. In. In. In the even in the event of a June 3rd, 2014, citywide runoff, the estimated cost of placing an advisory measure on the ballot and in the sample ballot booklet is $150,000. If there is no citywide runoff election, the estimated cost is $1.4 million. Excellent. So that said, the fire department recommends that the city council maintain the existing fireworks policy that has been in place for decades due to the risk of injury and property damage and adverse impacts to the quality of life for our residents. The environment and city services. Mr. Mayor. With that, I stand ready to answer any questions. Any Council comment. I believe this item is just a is this just a receiving file? Because this is simply a report from the fire department on on the last requested action. So I don't know if there's any councilmembers there as a councilmember, Councilmember Austin wishes to come. Thank you. And thank you, Chief Tory, for the very comprehensive staff report. I will commend you that it was very illuminating. It was dramatic and somewhat balanced. I do have a few questions because I don't. Despite what we've seen here, I am not convinced fully that that that we are number one. I'm convinced fully that we're not enforcing the ban that we have, particularly with those images that was put that that showed that fireworks were rampant at our on our beach. And I assure I'm one of the motivations for bringing this item forward for consideration. And in conversation by this council, in conversation for the city, is the fact that the the alarming number of calls service for service says that there actually take place during the 4th of July. And the the the the expectation of residents that that we are going to actually enforce the ban, saying that is not enforced and has not been enforced. I thought, why not bring this item forward for discussion, for consideration, for debate by the city and its residents to consider legalizing safe and sane fireworks with the simply because of the fact that they're everywhere throughout our city. Your own staff report identifies or defines safe and sane fireworks, which I think you you you backtrack from your original definition as a marketing ploy, but you define them as fireworks, which are approved by the state fire marshal that do not go up in the air, explode or move about the ground in an uncontrolled way. Your your graphic about showing the city of Huntington Beach clearly had a table where you said safe and sane fireworks and dangerous fireworks. So I'm I'm assuming that you don't believe the safe and safe fireworks are dangerous or you may be coming back off of your original position on that. And the fact if we could go back to that graphic, it would be very helpful because I think it actually the data shows us something else. It shows that when we actually do have safe and sane fireworks in the city of Huntington Beach in 2012 and 2013, the confiscation confiscation rate for the, quote, dangerous fireworks were far greater, which tells me that public safety police services were probably focused on confiscating and dealing with illegal fireworks. Those that are going to be more of a harm do more harm to structure and be more dangerous to children and to the public. And so I think that graphic was very telling in some respects. Further in your staff report, quote said It's not possible to respond to all request for service. Was that specifically for police or fire or both? I guess that's a question. That's a question. Councilmember. I can tell you that I can speak for the fire department. I'll let Deputy Chief Luna speak for the police department. But we have a team of four arson individuals that go out and patrol over the 4th of July holiday that look for fireworks to eradicate the use of fireworks that are not permitted in the city , which is all of them. On July 3rd and fourth this year, our arson unit responded to 41 calls for service, cited nine persons for illegal fireworks and a check of their fireworks been revealed about 75 to £100 confiscated that they then turned into the state fire marshal's office. So we respond to all of the calls that we can. I would be willing to bet based on our arson captain this year. He can answer this as well, that we do not get to every single call that comes in related to fireworks. So your calls your response to calls for service? Actually, as a fire fire department, you actually confiscate fireworks as well. Our arson detail does. They're sworn peace officers. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Also, you were quoted in your staff report that said that it will, quote, will lead to a sharp increase in calls. And I have some challenges with that assumption because it may may I think it may lead to a sharp increase or an increase in calls, particularly in fire service. But when we look at police calls, if we are legalizing same and same fireworks that are probably more prevalent throughout our neighborhoods, throughout the city, calls will can be be decreased significantly, particularly if we educate the 911 operators and the dispatchers to ask the right questions. Are these fireworks on the ground or are they in the air? Are they going bang or are they whistling? I think it's it's very clear here that that there's an opportunity to to actually possibly reduce calls for service and refocus our resources on the dangerous fireworks here. And that is really the genesis and the motivation behind doing this this just this discussion here. I want to ask you two more questions for now. I love to hear from the public and my colleagues. Councilmember Anderson. Yes, thank you very space folks. Here are what we have in a year. Really, I think, you know, allowance, you know, the sale of state approved fireworks is very ill advised by that. You know, by their opportunities to raise funds through the sale of state approved fireworks is not worth the nuisance they did pose to residents in my district and in the city of Long Beach. Fireworks are dangerous. They are flammable, combustible and very appealing to those waiting to have the source of entertainment for a party. Unfortunately, many people get caught up in the excitement of the fireworks and forget about the danger that they pose by allowing people to buy these more frequently leaves room for more accidents and injuries. And making these and I think you guys can see that in the Boston Marathon that they had those fireworks, that they took all these things on and caused a bit dangerous where most people were killed and other incidents that came about. So I think it's something that we really seriously have to look at, not just in my district, think all over the city of Long Beach. It is a dangerous situation. And I think this is why we haven't, you know, made these things legal at this point. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Andrews. The members of the public wish to comment. Good lineup. You have 3 minutes. Figures. Woman No. Fireworks are fun. Yeah. You know, I find it's a celebration of life. And above all, in celebration of our great revolution. It's our most patriotic holiday. I will get just sit by and watch fireworks off the shoreline that indulge their beauty. That in itself. When you go to buy them, you're actually helping people. Why do you why restrict something that helps people? The donations go to good causes. More heart, more. Hyman would be done in decimating fireworks than it would it allowing them. We have restrictions against smoking. That's always dangerous. But why don't. Why do you want to have a restriction on fireworks, too? That's. That's our holiday for enjoyment. It offers a little danger, I tell you. Maybe we should. Maybe we should outlaw football because a lot of people get injured in that. Near here. And that goes, you know, good car that fills the pockets of the athletes. No, I think fireworks are just wonderful. I think kids love them. Maybe we should follow the paradigm of L.A. City, which is advanced in many, many ways, more than even we are. Their paradigm restrict some, but not all. And there are there are some points that they make in regards to that. They. The point that Mitch Austin makes that they're everywhere should. Yes, there's something right about it. If they're everywhere in Iran, why are they so popular? We should not restrict fireworks. It's unpatriotic. It makes. A holiday less participatory. And celebrates America. Power. Love. And of country. And above all, freedom. Council members. And. Mayor. Sit in. My name is Angela and I have lived in. Long Beach for a very long time and. I have always enjoyed the fireworks. From afar. Safe distance. However, I cannot say that our dogs enjoyed it. In fact, we had to buy a tranquilizer. It was named as one of the detriments of fireworks. And as a lifelong animal lover, I can say that it's not just the dogs. It's not just the cats, it's horses. And yes, it also affects me when a cherry bomb goes off in my alley or on the beach. And it doesn't stop when everybody wants to go to bed. It continues and it continues for days. I find it very stressful. And I would like to encourage you to vote against the having Long Beach, allowing that people can buy and fire off dangerous fireworks by themselves. And you know, the statistics in hospitals, how many people do get injured and yes, animals get injured by getting out of the yard, running away in fear. And so please keep language safe. It is not as safe as it could be. As long as Lakewood sells it legally and Long Beach residents go and get the stuff and bring it to Long Beach, it's already out of control to a large degree, so let's not increase that. Thank you. Hi. My name's is Carbon. I've lived in Long Beach for about 1520 years and I've been a technician at an animal hospital for about the same amount of time. And I can vouch that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed every year from fireworks and. Personally, I can't really enjoy em because I know how much it's bothering every creature on the planet. When. When these things are going off. And there's. Statistics are all over the place proving how many shelters get filled up every 4th of July with with dogs and cats that break through glass and run across the street. Get hit, get lost. A client of mine's dog broke out of his yard and fell over dead from a heart attack just because humans wanted to be entertained by fireworks. And to me, that doesn't that doesn't make any sense at all. With all the. Things that we can do now for entertainment. There's there's things like laser that are quieter and doesn't have fire. And there's just so many reasons to not have them. I think it's pretty selfish to to do it anyway. I mean, it bothers a lot of people. Children with asthma, they're they're toxic. The fumes come downwind and. There's just so many reasons to not have known. Three nights ago I was walking my dog and a cherry bomb or some kind of thing landed right behind us on the sidewalk, and he broke out of his collar and ran all the way home. And I went back to the house where it came from, and they just denied that they did it. And I know it's impossible for law enforcement to stop that, even with them illegal. We have a huge problem on the 4th of July on the peninsula. The police, there's not enough to be there to stop. And the fire department's down there trying to stop illegal fireworks. I mean, I just can't even imagine what it would be like if they were legal. I mean, there's just not enough people to to manage it. And it's like putting guns in serial killer's hands. People are going to do something stupid if they're allowed to buy fireworks. And that's just human nature. And please, please don't pass this. Thank you. Thank you for being here. On the fireworks issue, I vote no on putting it on the ballot on state approved fireworks in Long Beach. I live next to Naples Elementary School, which is already a war zone with illegal fireworks going off and explosive litter in the weeks leading up to the 4th of July. We're not talking about one night of fireworks, of sparklers. People begin getting it, getting it into their hands before the fourth. And the problem starts early for the understaffed and underfunded shelters. I'm a rescue volunteer and they beg us weeks in advance of the 4th of July, please come and take the animals, because they're having to put them to sleep, to clear the decks for animals that are going to be coming in. And after the 4th of July, the animals that are dead in the streets and again, they're crowded. They have no chance of getting adopted because of the onslaught of animals coming in. So, please. Thank you. Now, can you just identify yourself for the record? Louise Montgomery. Thank you. Third District. Got it. I'm Lynda montgomery. Ditto to what everyone said. I know that. You know, the people that get hurt with fireworks, it's usually kids, in which case the parents are responsible. You know, as a kid, I saw somebody get hurt with fireworks, so I've always been kind of afraid of them. Anyhow, I saw a kid get his toes blown off and that's always, you know, sort of stayed in my mind. I saw another kid have firecrackers throw down his pants, you know, again. So that's embedded in my mind. But the big problem is also adults. I mean, they're stupid adults. But on 4th of July, I mean, I'm the first one to confess I'm sometimes stupid to because we drink. Everybody's at these house parties and they're drunk and they're fooling around with firearms. Hello. We don't let people drink and drive, but we let them have fireworks and drink. I don't know. It just doesn't make sense. I mean, we're a smart city. You're a smart council. I can't believe that we're even talking about this issue. It's so stupid. But anyways, please vote against it. Thank you. Thank you for your candor. Yes, I do. I follow Linda. I'm Kate Karp, and I live near Belmont Shore. A while ago, one of my dog of one of my friends burst through a plate glass window and went looking for her mistress because of a firework. Whether it was safe and sane or unsafe and stupid, I don't know. But this this was just an example of what everybody else has been saying. My fear is that allowing safe and sane fireworks, so-called safe and sane fireworks, and I'm qualifying them as such because there really isn't any such thing, as our chief pointed out in the city, is going to open the door for anything goes. And to me that means anything that goes boom. It's going to be a lot tougher to enforce the laws that we have now. And Councilmember Austin, let me tell you something. About four years ago, they decided the city was going to have a crack down on the fireworks. We had a bunch of pinheads who lived across the street who were just the scourge of the neighborhood. We got rid of them because of that ban. They were out there. They were stupid enough to throw one in front of the police car that came down when we called them and they wound up out of there after anywhere from a 3 to $5000 fine. So. Yes, thank you. Police department. They did. I live near the shore and it's bad enough there. But I have a friend who lives in Lakewood where they do sell fireworks. And she lives in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood where there are no draws, such as bottle rockets on the beach. And she said that they're neighborhoods, a war zone on the 4th of July. This is where they sell illegal fireworks. And furthermore, and this is, you know, close to everybody's heart. It's the animals. I worry about the animals, as our chief said, the animal care services manager. He showed you the stats, how they went up and so did the dogs. And this is going to further increase with your your holiday at home. Everybody's going to be setting them off. And that's what we're looking forward to. It just seems to me that it's the height of folly to support a measure that's going to cost about $15,000 a year to get on the ballot when it comes to discretion on this issue. I'm listening to our fire chief. Let's not take a step backward. Thank you. Well to the late Judy. Hi. My name is Jenny Warner and I live at 1084 Mahana, which. Is Midtown area. I belong to a neighborhood association that basically has four council districts in it. And I can tell you that there's no such thing as 4th of July. It's it starts in June and it ends in May. It's like every year when I. Moved here four years ago, fireworks. Were a huge problem. Basically, since Commander Rocky has taken. Over, I want to give him a lot of credit. There's been a lot more. Enforcement and the list last year was actually very enjoyable. There were just a few apartment buildings that were problems. I have had my hedges catch on fire. It's not as bad as where I used to live. In Koreatown, where my roof caught on fire. But safe and sane fireworks in L.A. were just crazy guns being shot. Long Beach is so much better. I really. Urge. Everybody, just like Deandra said, to vote no on this. I worked in hospitals. I ran disaster program. I've seen people, little kids come in with their hands split open from the little pole. Kind of poppers. I worked for our Medical Reserve Corps. I am involved with Surfrider. We've seen the trash impact. There's just a. Lot of considerations. And 4:00 in the morning, sun waking up to huge fireworks going off right over my house is not fun. I can see the Queen Mary displays from my house. That's fine. Thank you very much. But good evening, everyone. I'm Judy Crumpton and I reside in the Forth. And my addresses on file. And I'm here basically to support what our fire department and police department have already brought forward all the reasons why we need to keep this band. I really like what Councilmember Andrews and our mayor had to say. I echo the thoughts of everybody that has come up here. The previous speakers, they've really said it all. I do have great concerns for our children and our animals. Safety, it's all been said. What happens to animal care services? All animal control services throughout the country suffered dramatically because of one holiday. I'm a patriotic person too, but I put safety for children and people and animals before any tradition on earth. I would just like to say to that I don't appreciate the pollution that will definitely increase dramatically. And there are wonderful fireworks displays everywhere. They're terrific. So, yes, it's nice to be at home and have a holiday, but it's not so great if it's not safe and kids are getting hurt and they do all the time. The emergency rooms at hospitals are loaded with kids that have lost fingers and eyeballs and and so many animals are killed from from the fear. I know my husband. We cannot go out on the 4th of July. We stay home with our dogs because they are so drastically afraid. We have to keep the, you know, the radios up and the TV's up. And also, I want to say, it's not just the fourth people start this nonsense like two weeks ahead of time. A week later, neighborhoods suffer for sometimes because I know my neighborhood does and we don't even bother calling the police department cause we know they're so busy. It's not that they don't want to come out and help. They're just so busy with phone calls. They can't. They can't do it. Why can't we just find a better way to enforce our ban? You know, why are we even considering increasing a problem? We already have a problem, you guys. Why are we even considering this? So I'm sorry, Councilmember also, but I think this really stinks. Thank you. Mr. Double, Vice Mayor, members of the Council. Steve James, President of Long Beach Police Officers Association. You know, obviously, this is a very emotional issue for people. I'm a dog lover. I've got a dog now. I've had two dogs before. I lived in Long Beach for, I don't know, 35 years. We always had to sedate our dogs, but there was a ban, but I had to sedate my dogs. I now live in Westminster. When I moved there, fireworks were illegal. Safe and sane. State approved were illegal. I had to sedate my dogs. Now they are legal. I still have to sedate my dogs. You're going to have to sedate your dogs on the 4th of July if your dogs need to be sedated, whether this passes or doesn't. So I have the utmost respect for these folks. The things that I mean, there's a very good friend of mine sitting back there that does a lot of great work with animals, but I don't think that really is the issue here. I want to see a little bit of full disclosure. I work at a fireworks stand in the city of Westminster that raises money for my son's hockey program. I'm not at all interested in a fireworks stand in Long Beach. The PIO doesn't want one. Steve James doesn't want one. But I want to talk a little bit about we need to separate two things. The stuff that is illegal in the state of Long Beach is 95, 98, maybe even 99% of what you've heard the problems are. We don't they don't sell cherry bombs at a fireworks stand. They don't sell things that explode. They don't sell things that go up in the air. They don't sell things two months before the 4th of July. So if you're having these problems, these problems are not from the fireworks being sold from a fireworks stand. I'm not saying that some of those products don't cause these problems, but for, I don't know, 20 years of my life, I got in the car with my dad. We drove to Lakewood, we bought the fireworks. We brought them back into Long Beach and we had a great time and we let them off. We are criminalizing. Law abiding citizens with this law. If you put this on the ballot as an advisory, non-binding advisory vote, what you're afraid of is that about 60% of the public is going to tell you that they want these things. Why? Because 50% of them are already using them. 10% are afraid because they are such law abiding citizens. Unlike my parents, they won't go buy them. And in Lakewood. We don't need to criminalize these folks. We can't enforce this. We cannot enforce this. We don't want to enforce this. You don't want us to enforce this. I am not going to go and take a box of $50 fireworks that were bought at a fireworks stand from a ten year old child and his parents. I'm not going to. That's not the impression we want this ten year old child to have of the police. The other thing is, I'm going to get dispatch when that kid has a sparkler in his hand, even under adult supervision. And now I'm at that call instead of going to the call where the fireworks are going up in the air, where things are exploding. So this is to me, we need to take some of the emotion out of this and we need to take some of the rhetoric out of it. The presentation, with all due respect to my very good friend who is the fire chief. Huntington Beach had 170 dumpsters of trash. Okay. What did they have when fireworks were illegal? 164 dumpsters of trash. I mean, that that doesn't show me that that we're getting anywhere. If there's no runoff, there's going to be a runoff. All of you people running for mayor, I think, are well aware there's going to be a runoff. So we don't need to talk about $1.4 million in cost. I know the light's red. Just because you don't like what I have to say doesn't mean you have to be rude. I think they're saying your lights on. That's what they're the lights on. It's actually been on for about 30, 45 seconds. I apologize. But I will just tell you, you're putting police officers in a spot that they cannot be successful. If we take the fireworks, we create enemies. If we don't take the fireworks, we create enemies. It's just a terrible spot to put us in. My name is Bill Endicott, and I live in Belmont Shore. When we came here 30 years ago, we had a lot of problems with fireworks. Thanks to the excellent work of the police officers and the fire department. And thank you for your good presentation. Cheap battery. We're now down to a fairly quiet situation. Each year it has gotten better. I think what's missing in the discussion here is if you have fireworks stands around the city of Long Beach, the message to the public is, oh, we've changed our mind. It's okay to set off fireworks. You can buy them here legally and you can set them off. And the public doesn't know which is safe and save and which is not so. Once you open the door to fireworks, you're going to have more and more of them. And I certainly agree with the people who have so much trouble for their animals. I have friends who have to take their dogs to a veterinary place for the weekend of before and after the 4th of July. So we urge you not to spend the money to put this on the ballot. There are good ways to raise money. We've got Girl Scouts selling cookies. We've got people selling candy. There are ways to make money for non-profits that are more acceptable. And I urge you, these are dangerous. It'll just open the door to more. And please listen to your police and fire. Our police commander does a great job in trying to suppress fireworks and we appreciate it and thank them. So thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor and Staff John Kelly, vice president with TNT Fireworks. I'm a resident of Huntington Beach. Make a couple comments to that effect in a moment. A couple of comments on some of the slides shown earlier. The top ten cities, I would point out Anaheim voted unanimously about a week and a half ago at their city council meeting to put the issue of fireworks to their voters. In June of San Jose and in Mercury Times in August, Mayor was quoted stating, Our ban is not working and we need to seek some alternate alternatives. And staff is currently studying that issue. And while in Southern California, we don't have any cities that rival Long Beach in population, cities like Fresno, California, do and have been selling very successfully since the early 1990s. Want to comment a little bit on the Huntington Beach, one of the slides showing that £166 of dangerous and illegal fireworks were confiscated. I want to call to your attention some efforts by a task force that was formed in Los Angeles County by the El Monte Police Department, along with some other supporting agencies. The city of El Monte had a very serious fireworks problem and the task force set out in March of 2013 to do something about it. They confiscated over £44,000 of illegal fireworks in a three month period. Clearly, illegal fireworks is a big problem in California. It's a huge problem. It's a huge black market. They do much more business than I do in this state. They're not subject to the restrictions that I am for stores, not subject to the sale periods they operate of seemingly with impunity. A couple of comments in closing on the staff report. On the first page, we make a reference to licenses, sales tax and possibly a surcharge. Would serve to offset additional. Safety costs. And yet nowhere in the remainder of the report do we offer any dollar amounts for those surcharges. I know that I provided staff with examples of cities that charge surcharges to the retail consumer. Those vary anywhere from 2 to 7%. So you do the math on those retail sales and you're talking anywhere from 20 to as much as $90,000. And I would question if that would assist in offsetting some of the clean up and enforcement costs. And finally, it states. In the last paragraph that. A sample ballot would be $150,000. I was at the last city council meeting. It was reported it was 65,000. I'm curious why the increase? Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Hello. My name is Vince Watson, and I've been a resident of Belmont Shores since the mid seventies. And I'm here to strongly oppose any sort of legalization of fireworks. I'm a homeowner, business owner, pet owner and the president of a501c3, which is a nonprofit. So I'm very familiar with the needs for raising funds, but I don't think this is the way and I'm not a fund hater either. I'm not unpatriotic. But you know, the old adage about you can swing your arms as much as you like until you start hitting people in the face. And I think that's where we're at with this. I mean, this is this is people pointed out this goes on a long time. It's it's not a daily thing. I do a one day thing, but I'm representing myself, my family and my neighbors and friends who strong who also agree with me that this is just not a good idea. The potential for injury, fire, property damage, vandalism far outweigh any temporary economic benefits to the city from the first and inevitable lawsuit that will follow would eliminate any monetary gains. It also encourages people to come from outside the city, converging on Long Beach with the idea that now it is fireworks friendly, whether they be legal or not. And I don't see any evidence that any of these people have our best interests when they do come into the city, as has been documented in Huntington Beach and so many others. I actually, you know, and if you remember, there were two homes that were damaged and or destroyed back in Lakewood within the last ten years, probably five or eight years, I don't remember. But someone was actually prosecuted because their fireworks caught fire and did burn homes in a neighborhood. Negative environmental impact has been documented. I mean, realistically, we've heard from professionals, police, fire, city attorney, I don't know this, but I'm assuming the city is not really big on this or the city manager. I know animal control is not. These are the professionals. And it seems to me that we should be listening to them. It's a it's a potential step backwards and a liability to the city and the citizens. To me, this is the kind of logic of stepping over $100 bill to pick up a dime. It just does not make sense. Thank you. Hello. Kelly Edwards again, still downtown Long Beach. I just will be real quick. I just wanted to bring up a couple of things. I was interested to know what the percentage was of when people get fined, of what the percentages of those that actually pay those fines. I think that's something that we should look at because maybe if we just have more officers that are hired at that time to really hit our cities hard. Make a statement in the next couple of years, we'll start to see that decline. Also, the other thing I just wanted to bring up with in regards to Councilman Austin, I understand that you were talking about educating the nine on one employees. Problem is, is that those that are calling in aren't educated. So they're not going to know if it's a cherry bomb, a gunshot or just sparkler that's going off. They could just completely be freaking out and exacerbating the whole situation to where the nine on and most of the time they're not even seeing it. They can only hear it. So even with educating them on that is going to fall short when the caller is informed themselves. So thank you for your time. Good evening. I've been hearing this argument and I guess I would have to say I'm somewhat neutral due to the fact that, oh, by the way, my name is Hadi Mohammed. And this situation, me personally. When I was younger with black convert, I used. To, you know, set off fireworks. However, when I hear Councilman Austin and the fact that in this room tonight, I don't think we're qualified to speak for the entire city of Long Beach. And believe it or not, there's some pro, there's some con. There's a lot of bad things like in boxing, people fighting it's entertainment. But sometimes people get killed or sometimes you see blood splatter. I believe that this is a situation that needs to go to the voters. Me personally, I don't set off fireworks. It's not my thing. However. Maybe there are people who do care about this or who do want to set off fireworks. And I believe that it should be done by popular vote. Thank you. Great. Thank you. No more public comment. Council member Neil. Thank you, Mr. Pro-Tem. And I would like to thank everyone that has come up and spoke on this issue. This is, as you can see, there is a lot of emotion around this. And I believe I'm not speaking for Mr. Olsen, but I believe his point in bringing this forward was to create this dialog and to really look at a situation that, as the head of our police union has said, is not enforceable as it is. All of these things are happening anyway. So the question in my mind is. Is there is there room for the city to benefit? And is it worth us investing in. And that you know that. That's a decent question. Right. Because regardless of what we decide today or tomorrow, next year on the 4th of July, all of our animals are still going to be running scared. And there are going to be fireworks going off in our neighborhood. It's going to happen. So the question still remains is, is there an opportunity for the city to benefit and. Bye. If we were to choose to do a safe and sane. Fireworks, does that put the police in a better position to their assumptions? But does it really make it easier for them to go after the unsafe fireworks? Those are the two questions that I have. And I want to thank all of you for your testimony. But I'm still left with as many questions. As I have before we set out here. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Neal. You know Councilmember Dawn. Well, could we ask Deputy Chief Luna to answer that question? What specific question would you like them to ask? Answer Councilmember Neal said he had a couple of questions. One of them had to do with whether or not it made it easier or more difficult for the police department to manage this. And I guess I'd like to hear from the police department what their answers. Councilman Neal, what you might know, repeating. The specific question, please. Sure. If we were to have safe and sane fireworks, would would your department be better poised to go after illegal fireworks? It's going to be very difficult in the. PMA, president stated earlier. It puts us in a difficult position. Either way when we get out there and we do respond. I would say just talking about the 4th of July itself, our call volume increases between 18 and 20% just for fireworks. People are going to call people are going to call whether they are the illegal kind or what could be deemed illegal. It's very difficult to determine. And when they get there, the officers would make the best determination possible. But what we got to look at from a public safety perspective is that the 4th of July hands down, is the busiest day of the year for the Long Beach Police Department. We quadruple the number of officers that we put in the field. And it's not only to deal with firework enforcement, that's only part of it. We deal with an influx of several hundred thousand people that come to our beachfront. So we're dealing with a lot. The men and women of this police department do an outstanding job. They do enforce firework violations. The citizens of this city call over and over that they are perturbed by this nuisance and the officers do a pretty good job year after year of going out and trying to enforce what they can . Although they do get put in a difficult situation. So I guess I'm not clear. Will the police department be better off or worse off if the city permits safe and sane fireworks? The position of the police department is that if if this were to pass, we believe it would put us in a more difficult situation moving forward. And we believe that because I don't see the call volume going down. Actually, I see probably and I can't prove this until it happens that the call volume would potentially go up. We still have to respond to citizens calling us regarding fireworks, firecrackers being heard or observed. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. DeLong. Any further counsel comment? Do we have a motion on the same you? I'll make the motion to with recommendation, receive and file a report. Actually, the recommendation is well, it's actually approved recommendation, but it's really receiving files for it should. Be so moved. Council member Austin wishes to comment. Good. And for the record, I did second to the motion. I do agree we should receive and file this motion and staff report. I think at issue here is over the last eight years, we've actually lost 200 officers due to attrition, due to cuts. And that is a real problem with our enforcement efforts here in the city of Long Beach. I don't know that fireworks are more prevalent today than they were eight years ago, those. But I've lived here for the last eight years. And I will tell you, based on my experience as a resident, as a pet owner, as a homeowner, and as a as a as a vested stakeholder in this community in a city, I don't believe that the volume has has decreased even with the or the the the less number of police officers on the streets. Today, I think it was as high eight years ago as it is today. And I would just say that I don't believe that we are doing an adequate job of enforcing this. With all due respect, I think we we have the best police department in Southern California, not the state of California. I think they do an excellent job keeping our city safe. But I want them to be able to direct their resources in a manner that is smart and is efficient and that really goes after the dangers in our community. Safe and safe fireworks are are state approved. They are legal in the state of California. And I hear you, I've heard you. And I appreciate everyone that came out to the comment. I appreciate the letters that I received both pro and con, on this issue. I've heard a lot of good, good dialog over the last few weeks. And so I think I've been successful in one way, inspiring a conversation. I'd like to see this go to the ballot, quite frankly, because I think it deserves a hearing and airing among the voters here in the city of Long Beach. This is a statewide issue. If you want to ban fireworks, if you want to, you know, really clean this up and then maybe this is something for Sacramento. And I know a couple of you may be listening to me right here, but, you know, several several cities already have made this are recognizing safer same fireworks. And the youth organizations, the service organizations, the nonprofit organizations in those cities are benefiting from the sale of save the same fireworks. The point is duly noted there. Girl Scout cookies and their bake sales and candy sales that work. I can tell you, as someone who is a parent of two very active young, young, young kids, they they don't raise enough money. And every one of these organizations is struggling to raise money out there, at least from my experience. And I've been involved in youth football, track basketball. PETA's every organization dealing with our youth community based organization today are not raising enough money to meet their needs today. And I'm sure that something like this could serve as a shot in the arm for those those organizations. Now, listen, I'm not this is this is not something that I'm going to die on a sword over. You know what I mean? If the voters in the city of Long Beach say no to circus and fireworks, I'm fine. I'll move on. But I think it's worthy of their consideration. But with that, I. I'm going to second the motion to oversee the vote. Also, I want to just just point out that the the image here on the beach, on our shores was was deplorable. The sea, the bottle rockets, the sea, the fireworks, the see, the blatant disregard for our law and our ordinance right there in our face, on our beach, was not a pretty sight and it's not a pretty sight. Each and every year, let's focus our police officers where they can do their jobs, where they can actually go after it. Protect our resources, protect our shores, protect our beaches, protect our assets in the city of Long Beach. That's what I like to see our police officers focused on doing and not running around the city chasing fountains, you know, fountains that are harmless in our neighborhoods. I spent the 4th of July last, last year in a bank parking lot in Lakewood and firing off fireworks with my kids and feeling really guilty about it. You know, like I was doing something wrong, you know, I was doing something wrong. I mean, I don't think I was violating the law in Lakewood, number one. But when. My next door neighbor shoots in my. House, Mr. Austin has the floor. We don't need exchange back and forth. Well, thank you. But but I think I mean, I'm a law abiding citizen, and there are several other law abiding citizens throughout this city who ask the same question each and every year. Why do I have to feel guilty or. Or Why do I have to go to another city to do something that is illegal, that is legal in the state of California, but illegal in our city? You know, and so that's the question. Again, it's about enforcement. It's about being smart with our resources, focusing our resources on the issues that truly matter. I heard from Chief Luna, and I appreciate that our police officers are dealing with crowd control issues. They're dealing with illegal fireworks. They're dealing with gunfire. They're dealing with violence. Those are the issues that I want to see our police officers focused on and not, you know, breaking up block parties and, you know, family, family fun on the 4th of July. I want to remind you that fireworks are an American tradition. It's something to celebrate it. We gather in big places throughout this city to to watch firework displays and celebrate that. And so I think in some ways, we are we're we're backpedaling and depriving our children, our neighborhoods, our citizens from a liberty that is enjoyed by most other Americans. Thank you, Mr. Orson. Rather passionate. Councilmember Lipski. What can I say? I'm opposed to actually making it legal. I do think that it's fraught with all kinds of problems, not only from the nursing standpoint of what it does to kids and the injuries that it causes. But also, quite honestly, I do think would make it much more difficult for fire and police to respond to legitimate concerns of gunfire and other things that do happen around the 4th of July. What? Mr. Johnston Actually, what I'm I'm curious, though, why isn't why wouldn't you just write an ordinance, see if you've got the votes on council? You can always take it out to the voters for ratification. You can always ask them after the fact if this council approves it, which it may or may not. Then you can go back and ask the citizens if they support it. But I think to spend the money, energy and time to go ask an advisory doesn't move this issue anyplace. It just simply sets up a lot of campaign contributions. But it certainly doesn't do anything to get the issue. You probably could benefit from that. I'm not running. I won't do anything right now. Just to be clear, was that a question? Yes, ma'am. Orlando Councilmember Lipski has the floor. My question is that if you feel this passionate about it, why not just bring it forth as a council item for an ordinance? Let the council vote up or down on it. You can always take the results to the voters afterwards. But I just think let's you know, let's move forward on it. Can I just ask a point of clarification. On how you would do that, write the ordinance and then take it to the voters for even for people. Mr. Perkins, you can clarify this. If, in fact, this council does pass something, we can ask for it to be. Is that correct? We can ask for the. Mr. Parking. Could you opine on that? Yes. Mayor of members council member on down members of the council. The. It's similar to asking for an advisory opinion on an ordinance you've already adopted. But the the benefit, I guess, would be is that you have an actual ordinance that you're asking them to opine on. Right. But it's similar. It's an advisory opinion on your ordinance or you could worded as its own initiative ordinance or as a council member indicated, you could adopt your own ordinance on on a Tuesday. That's correct. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Parking ships here. Go ahead and finish up. More importantly, I think we've stepped up and dealt with the issue as the elected officials and, you know, taken taken the consequences of it. I don't think it does any good to send it out to the voters on an advisory opinion on something that is not detailed and specific. And so on that basis, I will support the receive and file and and hope that's the end of it. Thank you. Council members, item number 18, go ahead and cast your vote. Item number 18, O'Donnell's a yes. Motion carry seven votes. Yes. All right. Thank you. We're on item number 19, correct? Actually. I'm 12. All right. Let's get moving here. Item number 12. And item number 12 is a recommendation from the office. Complimentary shift key to request city manager to provide information on to the City Council regarding the cost and feasibility of utilizing a the government the open government platform or equivalent to make city expenditures available online.