Board of Aldermen 5-26-2020 Page 22
And | feel comfortable with this, because | fully trust the Fire Marshall if they want to do this, that if they want
to come out, if somebody is getting a permit, that’s a far cry from somebody doing it illegally. And there is a
lot of illegal activity and that’s where we get into trouble. That’s where we had the fire that had four buildings
and four alarms several years ago by children playing with fireworks illegally. But in this type of situation, if
the person gets the permit, that means the Fire Marshall has the right to establish a certain amount of
criteria that needs to be followed in order for them to have this particular display. And that goes across the
board for many different groups or social groups. Some permits may be denied because of a close
proximity to other structures, combustible structures, and everything such as less than 25 feet away from
combustibles when you have a fire pit.
The other good thing with a permit is you are asking permission to have the fire. So therefore, as the same
rules with a fire permit, if a neighbor calls up and complaints that the smoke and everything from the fire
permit is a nuisance, then the engine company goes out and terminates the permit. And if this is a case
where neighbors call up, they are able to, I’m sure the call will go back to the Fire Marshall to which they will
immediately cease the display from it to be done. So it seems with a permit, seems better than somebody
going out and doing it. If the Fire Marshalls want to take that type of responsibility, | fully entrust them with
the safety of the City and | feel that they are capable of doing that. It will do a lot of work, | understand, but it
is one of those things that they are capable of doing if they so wish. And | feel a lot more comfortable if it’s
permitted. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you, Alderman O’Brien. Alderman Tencza?
Alderman Tencza
Thank you, Madam President. Just to bring up one thing that Alderman Jette said about the Fire Marshall
having or saying that it is safe and that would be enough. | would just have to disagree with that. | think
there is a State Law on what is safe and what people are able to do as far as fireworks are concemed,
especially in a private display. The State Fire Marshall's Office also has regulations that the City Fire
Marshall would abide by so it wouldn’t be left up to the opinion of the City’s Fire Marshall it would be in
guidance according to the regulations to State Law. And then, you know, a lot of the issues that people are
talking about, | think Alderman O’Brien just hit on this but the people who are letting off fireworks in our
neighborhoods are not going to get a permit, they are not going to go through the insurance requirements,
but if there are other groups that may this 4"" of July, you know, private groups or public groups be able to
get a safe display together for their group and are able to go through the permitting process, | think it may be
a good thing even though it is, as someone said, the 4"" of July will be here before we know it so | think we
may be overthinking this a little bit too much. It seems like people want Bishop Guertin to be able to do this,
so hopefully we can pass this tonight for them, because if not they will lose that opportunity.
Alderman Clemons
Thank you. | have a question through you to Corporation Counsel. Would it be possible under your, do you
think that it would overly discriminating if the City were to put a limit on how many of these could apply? So
in other words let’s say the City set a limit of 10 permits and it was first come first serve?
Attorney Bolton
There’s nothing on the face of that that’s discriminatory. If it turns out that every year 10 Irish Groups apply
for St. Patrick’s Day and that ends up with — those are all the permits folks. And when Bastille Day comes
along the Lafayette Club has been held out, | think that becomes a problem. So maybe you want to do so
me kind of rotating system or something like that so it’s not the same group every year. So it becomes, you
know, how does it work in actuality as opposed to on the face of it. But if you want to say that there will be
10 permits and in and of itself, | don’t think that’s wrong but we would have to monitor to it as experience
shows.
