[StBernard] Fireworks ban challenged anew in St. Bernard Parish

[Westley Annis]

Fireworks ban challenged anew in St. Bernard Parish
By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
December 02, 2009, 5:21PM

St. Bernard Parish Council member Wayne Landry says fireworks sales could
generate additional sales tax revenue for the cash-strapped parish. This
fireworks stand in Gretna was photographed in June. 
Months after a St. Bernard Parish Council fireworks debate ended with a veto
by Parish President Craig Taffaro, the council this week again voted to
legalize the sale and discharge of fireworks around New Year's and the
Fourth of July.

The council's 4-3 vote Tuesday night came despite safety concerns from the
parish's fire department. Councilmen George Cavignac, Fred Everhardt, Mike
Ginart and Wayne Landry supported lifting the ban - the exact same members
who supported it in March.

The plan allows the shooting and selling of fireworks from Dec. 15 through
Jan. 1 and June 25 through July 5 each year. Sales would be allowed for the
New Year's time period this year.

Taffaro vetoed a similar measure last spring, and the council was unable to
muster the five votes needed to override the veto. Landry resurrected the
matter last month, arguing that fireworks sales could generate additional
sales tax revenue for the cash-strapped parish.

"Number one: we're approaching the holiday season; number two: we're in need
of revenues, no matter how we get them," Landry said. "Number three: the
facts are that people in St. Bernard go to Slidell and get fireworks and
spend their sales tax monies over there."

Selling fireworks is allowed in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish, St. John
the Baptist Parish, Plaquemines Parish and in some of the municipalities of
Jefferson Parish.

Last spring Taffaro argued that the fireworks ban should only be overturned
by a majority vote of parish residents. Fireworks have been illegal in St.
Bernard since 1981, when voters approved a referendum banning their sale
after a series of house fires in Chalmette on New Year's Eve in 1980. The
parish's Police Jury followed up with an ordinance that made sale and
discharge of fireworks illegal.

Taffaro said Wednesday he will likely not veto the measure, because Landry
told him he would try to get it on the ballot sometime next year. Landry
said he was not opposed to putting the fireworks question to voters, but he
did not want it to have priority over other propositions the council may put
on the ballot next year.

"I don't believe you should ever put more than three or four propositions at
one time on the ballot. People get confused; it's too lengthy," Landry said.
"But I'm not opposed to it going on the ballot. I don't want to take the
position that, 'It's passed, it's never going on the ballot."

Fire Chief Thomas Stone has argued that legalizing fireworks would bring
unneeded fire hazards in the parish, still full of abandoned homes. A major
apartment fire last month in the Village Square area required nearly all of
St. Bernard's fire personnel, leaving the rest of the parish at risk.

Voters last month also rejected a proposal for a $20-per-month fire
protection and sanitation fee, giving the department few options for hiring
new firefighters.

Councilman Ray Lauga, who voted against the fireworks measure alongside
Councilmen Frank Auderer and Kenny Henderson, said he believes the potential
revenue generated from fireworks sales is far outweighed by the risk.

"I don't think it's going to be a big revenue-generator," Lauga said. "We'll
spend more fighting one fire than we'll get from the fireworks sales."

He added that, "We put this out to a vote of the people, even though it's 20
years ago, and they said no. They spoke, and I'm going to honor what they
said until they say something different."