Coastside fireworks cancelled

Well, that was a really bright decision. What the cancellation did was create a further hole in the coastside economy. I have been here for 16 Fourth of July celebrations, and I have never seen less excitement and less people. And less people means less Coastside revenue.

In a time when the Coastside is suffering its own economic downturn due to the slide closure, a handful of people decided to make the decision to make the Coastside feel more isolated and less attractive than ever. Even New Orleans had a Mardi Gras this year. It may have been smaller than usual, but Katrina didn’t stop them from carrying on a tradition that has stood for generations. But let Devil’s Slide close for a while, and life on the Coast must cease to have the same quality as it has in previous years. I know our Coastside fireworks tradition only dates to the 80’s, but the cancellation only seemed to emphasize how the world is beginning to forget that this is a wonderful little area with lots to offer.

The sad thing about no fireworks is that this year there was no fog. You could see the entire coastline on Tue night.

A major part of the expense for Light Up the Sky Fourth of July is permits for closing SR 1 and especially for law enforcement to deal with doing so. My understanding is that almost half of the budget goes to these items.

Could someone from the organization post a followup comment here with your full line-by-line budget? Thanks.

The claim is that the highway has to be closed for safety reasons. Of course, nobody cares about the huge mess this creates in El Granada, particularly when the fireworks are over and traffic is at a standstill for an hour afterwards. One year, 911 was called to attend to a local resident, and the medical personnel who came from the fire station a block away had great difficulty getting there due to the totally jammed traffic. Drivers had no place to go to get out of the way of the fire engine. They literally could have walked to the location faster than they were able to drive there.

When the signal at Coronado was being considered, some people insisted that it was necessary in order to provide safe crossing for pedestrians. So I have to ask, why is it still necessary to close the highway for fireworks? How many of the Light Up the Sky Fourth of July decisionmakers live in El Granada? Seriously — this is not a rhetorical question; I want to know.

I propose that they discontinue closing the highway and save that money. If they only have to raise half as much money for the event, it would be a lot easier to do so.