One reader named Dudeman left this comment on our blogs:
“‘Costa Mesa looked like a war zone last year.’ That’s what it is supposed to look like on the Fourth! I hope there are a lot more this year. The Fourth without fireworks is like Christmas without a tree! This is America for Chrissake, let’s take away some more freedom, California is becoming more like a police state by the minute.... ”
Nonsense, say fireworks opponents. Fireworks are dangerous, they say. The safe and sane version are just a catalyst for the illegal kind, making Costa Mesa streets a fiery, sparks-flying, ash-filled inferno. And if they didn’t exist, the youth groups would find other ways to make money, just like all the other cities in the county that have banned them.
Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece believes a fireworks moratorium is inevitable.
“We met many of the people who have the stands, and I think that they’re pretty aware that their time is limited,” Leece told reporter Alan Blank this week.
The problem here is that both sides are right.
As a kid, I remember living for three main holidays: Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July.
They couldn’t build those fireworks stands fast enough for me and my friends, who would cruise to the stand on our bikes and buy Piccalo Petes, fountains, spinning flowers, stink bombs, ash worms and sparklers. And, oh yeah, if we could get our hands on some underground source of firecrackers and skyrockets we’d shoot those off too.
So it’s hard for me to be in favor of banning fireworks.
