City of Garden Grove Garden Grove William J. Dalton Mayor Mark Rosen Mayor Pro Tem .*

through F-13 and Recommendations R-1 through R-9 as requested by the Grand Jury. Response to Findings

Cities have varying requirements for legal fireworks applicant's liability insurance amounts that need to be re-examined for appropriate coverage. I agree with this finding. The Grand Jury report cites varying insurance amounts ranging from $100,000 up to $1 million. For the past several years, Garden Grove's practice has been to require liability insurance in the amount of $1 million.

Cities do not require legal fireworks sellers to file a post-sales report to the city documenting gross and net sales of fireworks detailing the manner and in what amounts the net profits are spent to benefit the community and ensuring that the cities receive their one percent share of the sales tax. 11222 Acacia Parkway • P.O.Box 3070 • Garden Grove, CA 92842 www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us Honorable Nancy Wieben Stock July 21, 2008 I disagree wholly with this finding. Garden Grove has required all legal fireworks sellers to file post-sales reports with the City since 2000. Sellers must document gross and net sales and declare how the revenue they received was spent. The financial statement also specifies the amount of sales tax paid to the State Board of Equalization. The financial statement from the previous year is a prerequisite for application approval for the following year. Part of the Fireworks Application packet is an affidavit signed by the fireworks stand manager stating that all profits accruing from the sale of fireworks will go to the non-profit community group represented.

Cities do not provide sufficient information and encouragement to fireworks sellers to seek other methods of fundraising. I disagree wholly with this finding. It is not the responsibility of municipal government to provide information to non-profit and community based organizations on how to raise funds for community purposes. Moreover, in Garden Grove there is a long and valued tradition of celebrating Independence Day with safe and sane fireworks. Many of our residents look at safe and sane fireworks as a way of outwardly displaying their patriotism and commemorating the birth of our great nation. Seeking this end by allowing worthy non-profit groups to fundraise is not at all inappropriate. ·F-5 Some cities are reluctant to put the issue of legal fireworks sales to the voters in their cities. I disagree with the use of the term "reluctant", in this finding. Initially, I note that the State of California has determined that the use of safe and sane fireworks is sufficiently safe to allow local communities to permit their use. A range of factors must be considered when determining whether to place items before the voters, including the potential cost of elections, the likely outcome of such an election (based upon the results of similar elections in other communities), the perceived divisiveness of the matter, and the extent to which the matter is of significant community concern as compared with other issues. Candidates for the City Council are elected based upon their positions on various issues, including the sale and use of legal safe and sane fireworks. Therefore, the voters have direct input on this matter. Based upon these factors, there does not appear to be a compelling reason to place this particular matter on the ballot.

Some cities are reluctant to sponsor free public displays of fireworks or to solicit sponsoring partners from businesses or neighboring cities in lieu of the sale of fireworks. I disagree wholly with this finding. One reason Garden Grove allows the use of legal safe and sane fireworks is that there is not a viable venue in the City for a public fireworks display. When the City celebrated its fiftieth Honorable Nancy Wieben Stock July 21, 2008 anniversary with a one-time fireworks display in 2006, approximately 2000 This was a challenging but manageable residents were in attendance. number for the event at Garden Grove Park/Bolsa Grande High School, given space and parking availability. This would not be the case, if the City were to hold an event on the Fourth of July in lieu of the sale of legal safe and sane fireworks. Garden Grove has 172,000 residents, and if safe and sane fireworks were illegal, many thousands of these residents would participate in the public fireworks display as a replacement for home safe and sane fireworks celebrations. There is no single public park or school facility in the City that could sufficiently accommodate a gathering of such a substantial size. In addition, concentrating a large group of people in an inadequate area raises other questions of safety for Police, Fire and the general public.

Firework sellers do not share the financial burden of added law enforcement, fire safety and public works costs incurred by cities, in large part due to the sale of legal fireworks. I disagree wholly with this finding. Garden Grove presently charges a $500 permit fee, which is used for costs associated with the sale of legal safe and sane fireworks.

Cities do not require fireworks sellers to advise all purchasers that it is illegal to detonate legally sold fireworks in any area of Orange County other than in the incorporated city limits of Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Stanton. I agree with this finding. Safe and Sane firework sellers in Garden Grove do provide information to all purchasers regarding what fireworks are legal and illegal in Garden Grove.

Safety officials cannot enforce all laws and municipal ordinances regarding the illegal use of legal fireworks due to the large volume of activity on the Fourth of July. I agree with this finding. To ease this burden, however, in 2007, the City Council passed an ordinance placing an administrative citation process into effect as a tool to deal with illegal fireworks. This ordinance gave Police officers the ability to issue administrative citations with fines up to $1,000 to anyone caught using illegal fireworks. To make sure everyone is aware of the rules, the City launched a full-scale awareness campaign, via banners, signs, and media coverage. On July 4, 2007, and the days immediately preceding and following, 151 citations were On July 4, 2008, the second year of the city's aggressive issued. Honorable Nancy Wieben Stock July 21, 2008 enforcement policy, 67 citations were issued. Along with the 55% drop in citations issued, the City's Police and Fire staff observed a dramatic reduction in the use of illegal fireworks. As the City continues its awareness campaign and aggressive enforcement policy regarding illegal fireworks, it is anticipated the use of illegal fireworks will continue to significantly diminish.

The use of illegal fireworks is significantly greater in cities that allow the sale of legal fireworks. I disagree wholly with this finding. The use of illegal fireworks has increased substantially throughout the County, including in cities that prohibit all fireworks. Garden Grove has implemented an aggressive enforcement program, as described in F-9 above, to address this issue.

The use of legal fireworks can mask the use of illegal fireworks. I agree with this finding. However, given the availability of fireworks on the internet and from other means, I view enforcement as the best approach to minimizing the use of illegal fireworks, not punishing law abiding citizens who use legal safe and sane fireworks. Garden Grove has implemented an aggressive enforcement program, as described in F-9 above, to address this issue.

Safety officials are of the opinion that legal fireworks sales should be banned in the interest of public safety. I agree with this finding. Safety officials are trained to provide the highest level of safety to the public. It is the responsibility of elected officials to balance the need for absolute public safety with the community interest in exercising its right to celebrate July 4 and the freedoms we enjoy.

Safety officials can significantly curb the use of illegal fireworks in these cities within three years if the sale of legal fireworks were banned. I disagree wholly with this finding. There is no evidence of a correlation between a three-year time period and the ability to "significantly curb" the use of illegal fireworks. Many factors in addition to time can either contribute to or impede the ability to curb illegal firework use. In 2007, the City enacted an ordinance and began actively enforcing administrative fines against those who use illegal fireworks. We are optimistic that through these efforts, we can maintain the rights of our citizens to use legal safe and sane fireworks and also curb the use of illegal fireworks. Honorable Nancy Wieben Stock July 21, 2008 Response to Recommendations