Rohnert Park has become the latest Bay Area city to ban the sale and use of fireworks, after years of complaints over the noise and fire danger.
Many public comments came in from both sides of the argument, and all of them were read by city staff.
“Please don’t take this away from us, especially this year when we really did not get to fundraise,” one commenter said.
Other comments brought up the danger of fireworks being set off in a region that has already endured so many terrible blazes.
“I love fireworks, but not enough to have careless individual actors increase the odds of burning down parts of our community,” one resident said.
It was the fires that swayed Vice Mayor Jackie Elward.
“We have a threat,” she said. “We have a real threat. If you go on Snyder [Lane], the trees are not green the way they used to be 10 years ago.”
But Councilmember Pam Stafford argued that the fire danger – and extremely loud noises that scare dogs and people – are from fireworks that are already illegal.
“I just don’t think we should be punishing the whole community for those people who are bad actors and don’t do what they’re supposed to be doing, and use illegal fireworks,” she noted.
The vote to ban fireworks sales was 3-2.
The city is now looking into starting new traditions for the Fourth of July, like perhaps parades or festivals, and looking into hiring professionals to put on a big fireworks show.
They also vowed to try to help non-profits that will lose thousands of dollars in sales because of the ban.
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