Why do I have to leave town for some fireworks?

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

I was in Las Vegas on the Fourth of July last year. My friends and I

bought tall frozen drinks and plopped down on a strip of grass with

dozens of others, anxiously awaiting the fireworks display.

The next day, we were headed out to Lake Mead to spend four days

on a house boat, but we stopped off in Vegas to catch a fireworks

show and a little Independence Day spirit.

Everyone was chatting happily and looking eagerly toward the sky.

Nothing.

Somehow, all of us were in the wrong spot, or something, because

we missed the fireworks altogether. The disappointment was almost

palpable. With grumbles and drooping shoulders, most shuffled off to

gamble.

My friend Kendra and I refused to leave Sin City without some sort

of patriotic display, and so stood in front of the Bellagio fountain

listening to Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American.”

Although the water does shoot high into the night sky, it is a

poor substitute for fireworks.

That brings us to this Fourth of July and my and many other

people’s foiled plans to celebrate Independence Day in Surf City.

There will be no trooping down to Dwyer Middle School to watch the

fireworks set off at the high school down the street.

Unwilling to bear another Fourth without fireworks, I will be

forced to leave Huntington Beach, as will anyone else wishing to

partake of this tradition, which stems back to July 4, 1776. On that

day when the Declaration of Independence was signed, fireworks were

set off to celebrate.

In a city in where one of the biggest concerns is residents

spending their money elsewhere, they sure are pushing us out. The

Fourth of July is the one day the city draws crowds of more than

300,000. Once the parade ends, they will have no reason to stay this

year. Neither will residents.

The dumbest part, truly, is that the City Council was afraid to

have fireworks at the beach, as the Fourth of July Committee

recommended, because they were fearful of unrest. I predict there

will be more unrest and illegal fireworks this year than in years

past.

*

Sometimes, I think I must be crazy. I called City Hall this week

and asked what was the cost of bike safety classes -- a line item on

the much-publicized budget survey.

No idea, said the woman I spoke with. She had no idea.

I was told there aren’t necessarily costs broken down for all the

items the city asked residents to rank by importance. They just

wanted to know what services the residents valued.

Why in the world would you put something on a budget survey if

there was no cost associated with it? Did they just throw things in

there arbitrarily? Or perhaps they were there to distract residents

from items they didn’t want to see bumped.

What nonsense. You might as well ask residents if they enjoy the

sunsets. If enough residents say sunsets are not important, you can

offer to do away with them.

It seems, those bike safety classes cost the city about $3,000 a

year. Guess that should have been listed on the survey -- it would be

gone for sure.

If I thought the city’s online budget survey was waste of time

before, now I’m sure of it.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].