SOUNDING OFF:

Every year my family throws a raging Fourth of July party on the Eastside.

It is legendary.

I mean legendary to both the Costa Mesa Fire Department and Costa Mesa police. Legal fireworks, barbecue, kids, family and a throng of fun.

We spend thousands at various booths around town to support the good causes in need of fundraising dollars amid hard times for all of us that really dates back to the second term of George W. Bush and his misguided presidency that trickled down to now and left the world on all fronts, in war, with the economy, with race relations, with fundraising, with charities, in a shambles.

And I know Councilwoman Wendy Leece well with many past efforts we mutually were supportive of in the realm of conservative causes that date back to the late 1980s and even to my service on the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, where I view two of my votes to be historical:

1) Being the swing vote on the Planning Commission to grant SOS continued presence at its current location.

2) Warning the city and voting against an attempt to conditional use permit all of Zeb Zeimer’s famous Goat Hill Tavern and use of city dollars to fight Goat Hill all the way to the Supreme Court, of which the city lost and we lost thousands in tax dollars to legal fees.

Now again, I will venture out and say that Leece will lose this misguided attempt to tax one of our thousand points of light in fundraising — that being the sale of fireworks by good causes that help our youth and schools.

Leece, leave my Piccolo Petes alone. Let Costa Mesa remain a city where we celebrate in a safe and sane way, and find another way to save your $29,000 in estimated police and fire fees to handle the Fourth of July.

Why not have a City Council bake sale where you set up a booth and sell baked goods to cover these fees year round, outside Council Chambers, etc.?

Be creative, not an inhibitor to our youth and schools groups.

BRIAN THERIOT is a Costa Mesa resident.