Tacoma doubles down on fireworks ban but won’t host July 4 show. Good law, bad timing
More bucks for your bangs.
That’s the slogan used by Tacoma City Council member Lillian Hunter to describe her change to the city’s fireworks regulations. It doubles fines and fees for amateur pyrotechnicians from $257 to $513 per incident.
And it comes just in time for this year’s Fourth of July weekend revelry, sure to be extra frenetic due to 16 months of pent-up pandemic adrenaline.
Perhaps the best thing about the revised law, adopted by the City Council Tuesday evening, is how it galvanized fireworks-weary activists in one neighborhood, prompting them to take the lead in community education and outreach.
The worst thing about it, in our view, is the unfavorable timing. A city official confirmed there will be no holiday fireworks show over Commencement Bay again this year.
Faced with their fireworks supplier’s deadline, the city pulled the plug last month after being warned by the governor’s office that COVID-19 crowd restrictions were still “highly likely” to be in effect July 4, Tacoma’s venue and events executive, Kim Bedier, told us by email Thursday.
Although prospects have since brightened for Washington to reopen before the holiday, “we had to make a decision based on the information we had at the time,” Bedier said.
That means the city will preach a message of harsher consequences for personal fireworks use at a time when folks have few options to watch the professionals do it.
Fireworks have been illegal in Tacoma since 1992, but the ban is widely ignored. Beefing up penalties is an act of sound judgment, easy on the ears of sleeping infants, anxious house pets and military veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress.
It also may help reduce fires that have increasingly erupted out of control. An urban brush fire last summer at Wapato Hills Park near Tacoma Mall Boulevard served as a terrifying wakeup call for evacuees. In a 10-day period around the holiday last year, Tacoma firefighters responded to 32 fireworks-related calls with nearly a half million dollars total estimated damage. They also treated six fireworks-injured patients.
The change is consistent with fireworks crackdowns in other South Sound communities. Lakewood and Gig Harbor adopted ordinances that will limit legal ignition to a single day, the actual July 4 holiday, starting in 2022.
The burning question: Will any of this make a difference in taming people’s do-it-yourself patriotic fervor?
Those who expect enforcement of Tacoma’s ban have historically wound up frustrated. Last year, Tacoma police issued 64 warnings and no infractions. One suspects that a cop reluctant to slap an overzealous celebrant with a $250 fine will be even more leery when it doubles.
Hunter says success won’t be measured by racking up scores of citations; rather, the goal is to educate more Tacomans about the serious risks of blowing up fireworks, and communicate the potentially serious consequences of blowing off the law.
“We want people to know that if the hammer does fall, it’s going to fall harder,” she told us.
That’s where neighbors of Alling Park in Tacoma’s South End enter the picture. In addition to elevating fireworks violations from a Class 2 to a Class 1 civil infraction, the Council Tuesday awarded $1,500 to subsidize neighbors’ education efforts, in tandem with Tacoma’s Safe Streets organization.
The money will be used to circulate fliers in and around the park, support doorbelling and do other outreach, said Athena Brewer, chair of the South End Neighborhood Council. “The main point is getting the word out and making it more visible,” she told us.
If all goes well, it’s a model that could later be replicated in other parts of the city.
The law change and stipend proposal were co-sponsored by Hunter and Chris Beale, a pair of first-term council members who wanted to address a chronic concern among shellshocked Tacomans before both leave office at the end of 2021.
The momentum to fix fireworks rules tends to fade a few weeks after July 4, Hunter said.
Not this year, thanks to the tenacious neighbors of one of Tacoma’s oldest parks.
“This little community group did more to advance the cause than we ever did as a City Council, and I really admire that,” Hunter said.
Tacoma may never have a fireworks ban as tough (on paper) as in Seattle, where scofflaws face potential penalties up to $5,000 and a year in jail.
But if South Sound communities can reduce fires, emergency room visits and long, sleepless summer nights, we all could share an Independence Day to treasure, not regret.
And next year? We’ll lift our eyes to the skies while gathered on the waterfront for the twice-canceled T-Town Family 4th. Knock on wood.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com