By CARA LORELLO
Reporter
The city of Medical Lake sent out 1,393 surveys in June asking if citizens wanted to see fireworks banned within the city's corporate boundaries, and results heard by the City Council on Tuesday said of the 427 returned (31 percent), 19 percent said they don't favor a ban, while the remaining 11 percent said yes to it.
While the survey itself doesn't stand as a vote by City Council on the issue, it will be taken into account in a future decision to be made at a later date, as Mayor John Higgins, speaking for City Administrator Doug Ross who was not present at the meeting, said the results and citizen comments will be taken to committee.
Citizens representing the lesser majority of those in favor of a ban that spoke out during the meeting were residents Lahnie Henderson and Barbara Reis. Both asked that council reconsider its current policy on fireworks, saying this year's event produced too much overcrowding, fire dangers and leftover debris, and that an ordinance to ban fireworks completely is the best solution.
Henderson, a longtime vocal advocate for banning fireworks in the city, brought a bag full of debris and photographs from her residence's yard and surrounding fir trees taken on July 5 to indicate to council members the extent of the mess people leave on properties. In a letter statement, Henderson said the cardboard pieces found in the shrubbery beds and grass “were smaller than a dime.”
“On July 4, one could hear the firecrackers off-and-on during the daylight hours, but once it became dark, our experience this year was unreal and we're very angry,” Henderson said of herself and husband Aubrey. The holiday draws not only city residents, but also people living outside Medical Lake who “make there way here” as they know “other Spokane communities have prohibited them [fireworks] as illegal.”
Henderson added that there were more than 12 visiting vehicles adjacent to her home, plus pedestrians and cyclists further blocked streets, making for an unsafe situation for residents or emergency vehicles needing access.
The day after the holiday, a street sweeper crew made three passes down her street to remove debris, but Henderson surveyed a few days later that “considerable evidence remained.”
“We believe it is not a good use of our taxpayer dollars and city's resources… to have to clean up our streets a ‘second' time because of fireworks debris. We are confident that the city's street fund can utilize these monies in a more effective manner,” she added.
For Reis, having issues with fireworks was never the case until this year when crowded streets blocked her from her usual route home that evening, and having fireworks shot over her roof and into a wooded area where a fire nearly started the year before, though not from fireworks.
“I'm having to pick up so much [garbage]. I'm afraid we're going to have a big fire here,” Reis said, suggesting that the city designate “a controlled area—not a residential living area—to have fireworks.”
Residents' statements were counter to what councilman Art Kulibert shared in a report about city street cleaning officials being asked what the worst clean-up areas were for the city. “They said there weren't really any [trouble spots],” Kulibert said, adding he personally felt the city looked cleaner post-holiday than in past years.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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