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Ms. Taylor wished to consider Council Option 2, Engage Lane County and the City of Springfield in <br />developing regional strategy now for next year. She thought a regional policy and a time limitation would <br />be good. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, Mr. Zaludek said in Flagstaff, Arizona, an extravagant <br />professional laser light show took place, in lieu of fire works, eliminating the loud noise and fire danger. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka had no problem with legal fireworks, but opined the illegal ones were getting out of hand. In <br />the past, fireworks were heard on the Fourth of July, but they had expanded to the week before and the <br />week after, and much later than the 10:00 p.m. hour when people were supposed to be quiet. He asked if <br />there were ways to increase the cost of fireworks by one cent to raise funds to cover the costs of additional <br />enforcement. He was also concerned about fire potential in the south hills and asked if fireworks could be <br />banned. <br /> <br />Mr. Zaludek said it did not appear there was a need for a ban this year, but the Fire and EMS staff should <br />come to the council if it thought there was a severe fire danger due to draught or other conditions. He was <br />interested in exploring enforcement and a regional strategy. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Fire Chief Randy Groves confirmed that fireworks in the <br />th <br />south hills, south of 18 Avenue, had been banned in 1995 due to severe draught conditions. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz said although she had problems with illegal fireworks, she was challenged with the enforcement <br />issue. In her neighborhood, as in others, there were problems with the big booms spread over many days. <br />Returning veterans had problems and many people left town for a week or so to get away from the noise. <br />She wondered if Springfield would be willing to talk about this, and if Springfield would have the same <br />feeling. She was willing to investigate the issue with Springfield. She added the use of legal fireworks by <br />children should be monitored by adults. She cautioned about going down the road of expecting the police <br />to enforce numerous complaints. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling concurred no action should be taken this year, but was in favor of exploring the regional <br />approach. As a former law enforcement officer, he knew the nightmare of navigating the patchwork of <br />jurisdictions. He concurred the problem was not the legal fireworks, but rather the illegal fireworks and the <br />people that use them. He said the council was missing the point when considering limiting the time during <br />which fireworks could be used. He said we were not the only culture that celebrated holidays by use of <br />fireworks and it was wrong to limit when legal fireworks could be used. The vendors generally did a good <br />job of monitoring the sale of fireworks. <br /> <br />Mr. Zaludek explained that any firework which could rise higher than six feet and explode was illegal. The <br />challenge was that such fireworks could be purchased legally in Washington and Idaho, and transported <br />across state lines into Oregon. <br /> <br />th <br />Mr. Clark understood officers were swamped around July 4, but thought there needed to be a coordinated, <br />extra response. He wanted to look at creative ways to address the issue this year if possible. He also <br />wanted to turn this into a positive community celebration, with the City of Eugene encouraging people to go <br />to the larger celebrations, rather than staying in their neighborhoods, and by creating a broad, open area for <br />people to use their fireworks which could be well-monitored. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 27, 2008 Page 12 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />