Fireworks are a dud for some

Marisa O’Neil

Depending on who you talk to, this year’s Fourth of July was a horror

of loud fireworks and the messy debris they leave behind, or it was

one of the more civilized and clean Independence Day celebrations the

city has seen.

The city had drastically reduced the number of fireworks stands

allowed, and volunteers helped clean up the parks and school campuses

on Monday. But for some residents, that wasn’t enough.

“It’s gotten beyond being controllable,” Eastside Costa Mesa

resident Helen Evers said. “This is so dangerous, it’s an accident

waiting to happen. This year has to be the last, or I’m going to have

to move.”

Although the so-called safe-and-sane fireworks are legal in Costa

Mesa, Evers said she feels they encourage the use of illegal

fireworks. When police receive calls about fireworks going off,

there’s usually no way to tell if they are legal or illegal, she

said.

Without the legal ones, the illegal devices will eventually go

away, Evers said.

Other residents complained about the mess left behind after the

explosions.

“Merrill Place was filled [with debris],” said Eastside Costa Mesa

resident Anne Hogan-Shereshevsky. “The next morning, when I went to

church at 8:30, there was so much stuff in the street.”

Hogan-Shereshevsky said she is concerned about the trash,

pollution and fire hazards that even safe-and-sane fireworks produce.

She worries even more about people who set off illegal fireworks or

who “doctor” safe-and-sane fireworks to make them “insane,” she said.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, at least three residents

aired their concerns about legal and illegal fireworks in the city.

“There were illegal fireworks all over the place,” Beth Refakes

said. “We had one land in our back yard. We really need to think this

[issue] through.”

Those on the other side of the issue see fireworks as a way to

raise needed funds for cash-strapped school teams and clubs. High

school athletic teams need some way to cover equipment costs and

tournament fees, said Gary Spencer, whose son is on the Costa Mesa

High School water polo team.

Parents from that team helped operate a fireworks stand this year,

but the students also pitched in to clean the city’s parks.

“We were shocked because we’ve heard such horror stories at City

Council meetings about all the trash left over in the parks,” Spencer

said. “We got 60 people and went to every park, every school. The

biggest mess I picked up was in TeWinkle Park where somebody had a

big Taco Bell party.”

An apparent decreased use of fireworks in parks this year may have

been in part because of signs posted by the city, warning residents

not to set them off there, said maintenance worker Bruce Lindemann.

Five city workers helped clean up the debris on Monday, Lindemann

said. “I think the streets were cleaner this year,” said Lindemann,

who worked that day. “It seemed like people cleaned up a lot more in

front of their own yards.”

Because fireworks are such a hot-button issue with residents, they

will always cause controversy, Mayor Gary Monahan said.

“This was no different than any other year,” Monahan said. “Every

year at the first City Council meeting after the Fourth of July we

get a handful of people coming down and complaining about them. But

it appears to have gone a little more smoothly [this year]. The

majority of the City Council and, I believe, a majority of residents

in Costa Mesa are supportive of allowing fireworks.”

Evers, however, sees the legality of fireworks as a bigger

problem.

“I think people have had it,” she said. “From all the people I’ve

talked to, people have finally said enough is enough. We live too

close together for this nonsense. I believe this year will be the

last year. I think they’re in for a big surprise at how many people

are going to protest it.”

* Deirdre Newman contributed to this story.