Laserfiche WebLink
Mr. Zaludek stated the Eugene Police Department (EPD) recently conducted a training session regarding <br />the applicable Eugene Code and Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). Although EPD would enforce applicable <br />laws, they had a limited enforcement capacity on the streets, particularly with the Olympic Trials occurring <br />during the same time period. The City of Portland invested approximately $10,000 annually for the Fire <br />Marshal and police officers to team up to provide enforcement in the Portland area. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said it was too late to do anything this year, but she received many complaints from south <br />Eugene and other areas because people are concerned about a fire in the south hills area. She was <br />disappointed the issue had not come to the council sooner, as she had hoped fireworks could be limited to <br />one day this year. She asked if legal fireworks were quiet? <br /> <br />Mr. Zaludek said the legal fireworks were not always quiet, but many of the extremely loud ones heard for <br />days were either remanufactured from legal fireworks or illegal fireworks that caused many of the very <br />loud percussion booms that had a negative impact on people and animals. <br /> <br />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 /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 27, 2008 Page 12 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />