Lacey mayor calls city’s fireworks ban ‘a joke,’ says county could help
Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder called the city’s fireworks ordinance “a joke” on Tuesday, saying residents continue to complain and that it’s difficult to enforce.
Ryder made his remarks during a Lacey City Council general government committee meeting, which also was attended by Deputy Mayor Cynthia Pratt, Councilman Lenny Greenstein, City Manager Scott Spence and Police Chief Robert Almada.
After July 4, Ryder said he was inundated with complaints about fireworks, with some residents accusing him of “dereliction of duty” or that he should be “thrown out of office.”
Ryder acknowledged that the ordinance is not easy to enforce.
“Our current fireworks ban is a joke,” he said. “We need to figure something out, something needs to change. If the county would have an ordinance (banning fireworks), that would solve a lot of problems.”
Thurston County doesn’t have a fireworks ban like Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater, but the commission can enact a ban if there is extreme fire danger.
“It’s unenforceable,” said Greenstein about the city’s fireworks ban. “As long as the county doesn’t have an ordinance, it’s going to be impossible to control.”
Why? That answer is about geography. The city of Lacey boundary is long and narrow, which means residents can pass through the city into unincorporated areas of the county and not realize it. For example: The Tanglewilde-Thompson Place neighborhood is in the county, although it’s surrounded by Lacey.
Greenstein said some residents complained to him, and asked why, if Lacey has a fireworks ban, fireworks are sold in Lacey?
Greenstein said he had to explain that those sellers were in the county, not Lacey.
Police Chief Almada said that there also are those who obey the ban and those who don’t.
On July 4, officers responded to 60 calls about fireworks, either to advise people about the ordinance or to do a drive by, he said. They wrote no citations and seized a minimal amount of fireworks, Almada said.
The challenge for police, he said, is that they need to see a person “apply an open flame to fireworks, discharge them, and make contact with the individual.”
“We’re not going to be hiding in the bushes looking for this kind of stuff,” he said.
City Manager Scott Spence said they could make the ordinance more enforceable through a “possession-type penalty,” although Mayor Ryder said he was not comfortable with that.
Ryder said he wants to have a regional conversation about a fireworks ban.
Almada said he supports that idea. He also encouraged residents to be more socially responsible, and perhaps Homeowners’ Associations could help with enforcement.
Greenstein also offered some perspective on the fireworks ban: “There are a thousand things that rank as more important than this,” he said.
But Ryder added: “People are passionate about it.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
