Watsonville Fire Chief Mark Bisbee (second from left) urges a halt to firework sales in Watsonville Wednesday at an emergency meeting in the Watsonville City Council chambers. The firework sales suspension passed with a 6-0 vote.

On a night when the citizens of Watsonville seemed divided, the City Council was united.

In a 6-0 vote, the council voted for the emergency suspension of the sale and use of fireworks in the city until Fire Chief Mark Bisbee determines that fire conditions have returned to normal from the bone-dry conditions that have contributed to three major fires in the last month.

In addition to the fireworks ban, the council directed Mayor Kimberly Petersen to form an ad-hoc committee to explore alternative fundraising methods for the many nonprofits and athletic groups that rely on the sales of state-approved fireworks for a significant part of their budget.

The vote was taken about

9 p.m., more than three hours after the emergency meeting began. Dozens of citizens spoke out on each side of the issue, and the council chambers, capacity 210, was standing-room only for much of the night.

In the end, members of the City Council said, they had to choose between two priorities — nonprofits and public safety — but public safety was paramount.

“It really is a tough decision and I’m thinking very much of the safety of the community,” Petersen said shortly before the votes were cast. She later said that she would have felt “guilty” if she had voted against suspending fireworks, and a major fire erupted.

Councilmember Dale Skillicorn, who said he had a long history of fundraising for nonprofits, said it was possible for nonprofits to generate money through other avenues. Fellow Councilmember Manuel Bersámin agreed, saying that nonprofits have “learned to rely on that money,” and that ultimately the council has to rely on the experts — fire officials — who argued that “safe and sane” fireworks, not just more powerful illegal fireworks, could cause a major blaze. As he presented the argument to ban sales, Bisbee called this the driest season in 88 years.

Even before the votes were cast, the decision of the council was clear through the members’ comments. That prompted many to leave the chambers — including a large contingent from Watsonville High athletic teams that argued passionately and in numbers against suspending fireworks sales — prior to the actual vote. By the end of the session, less than a third of the crowd remained.

Kelly Klett, a Larkin Valley resident who was evacuated during the Trabing Fire, spoke for suspending the use and sales of fireworks.

“I’m relieved,” she said after the decision. “I believe the City Council was very thoughtful and responsible on this issue. I hope that our community supports the city of Watsonville nonprofit and athletic groups in securing alternate funding.”

The Rev. Dan White of Cornerstone Pentecostal Church, which would have operated a fireworks stand, spoke out against the ban, and after the meeting said he didn’t think the council made “the best decision.”

“Fireworks sales have been about about 75 percent of our yearly budget (for outreach programs),” White said. “As far as helping who we can help, that is obviously not going to be done. This was devastating to us.”

Many on both sides of the issue thanked firefighters and law enforcement, who were honored by the council at the start of the meeting, and said they recognized the council had a tough decision. Rick Stubblefield of the Salsipuedes Little League, which would have run a fireworks stand alongside Watsonville National Little League, said he perfectly understood why the council chose to temporarily ban fireworks.

“I don’t blame them one bit, I really don’t,” he said. “They are not in an enviable position.”

According to the city, the average impact to each nonprofit group was estimated at $6,500. The city stands to lose more than $11,000 if it returns fees for the issuance and processing of firework stands permits and sales, and it would cost the fireworks companies an estimated $273,000.

Dennis Revell, a spokesman for TNT Fireworks, laid out an alternative plan that he proposed on behalf of the 30 nonprofits and school athletic teams that would have sold fireworks from July 1-4.

The highlights of that plan included not suspending sales, but restricting fireworks use to 4-11 p.m. on July 4; amending the city’s code to make it easier to fine users of illegal fireworks; increasing education efforts about the safe use of state-approved fireworks and against illegal fireworks; and putting a surcharge on fireworks sales to pay for additional law enforcement officers to combat illegal fireworks.

That plan, however, failed to impress City Councilmembers. Neither did the argument that suspending the sales of “safe and sane” fireworks would lead people to buy more powerful and more dangerous illegal fireworks. The council instead sided with law enforcement officials, who said it’s easier to combat fireworks when they are all illegal.

Watsonville was the only city in Santa Cruz County that allowed fireworks. Scotts Valley earlier canceled the county’s only fireworks show.

City Manager Carlos Palacios told the thinned-out crowd that he had spoken with Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County officials, and said that they had volunteered to find a consultant to help find alternative funding sources and also to try to find a person, group or agency that would fund the groups involving youth.

The City Council’s decision, which was made with Councilmember Antonio Rivas absent, comes on the heels of the Gilroy City Council’s 5-1 vote Tuesday night to continue to allow community groups to sell “safe and sane” fireworks.

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*Photos by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 6/26/08 edition)

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