Cathedral City fireworks ban fails to pass

“It’s an environmental danger, we’re in the middle of the worst drought in history,” said Valerie Schechter of Cathedral City.

Schechter is among a group of outspoken residents who want the city to pass an ordinance banning all fireworks. They’re at odds with the organizations who depend on the sale of fireworks to fund their non-profits.

“They’re a tradition,” said Jeanette Rosas, a church leader at St. Louis Parish. “I’ve heard it’s never been a problem before and I don’t see why we need to change it now.”

Rosas says the sparklers represent one of the parish’s biggest annual fundraisers.

“Helps us promote more programs and activities for the youth in our community,” Rosas said.

Currently, the city permits six organizations to sell “safe and sane” fireworks for just one week out of the year. Three of the organizations were grandfathered in, and the other three each year are chosen through a lottery system.

But some residents want to shut down sales entirely.

“We don’t need it, we’ve got gorgeous fireworks displays within five minutes,” said Schechter, whose brother almost lost a finger in a fireworks incident when he was young. “And also, I think we can do better than that for our charities.”

After about an hour of heated public comment, the motion to establish the ordinance fizzled.

A subsequent motion to increase the number of organization selling the fireworks to eight, also failed to pass.