City Council - Special Meeting

yards to get to your fun time. Also, this really only affects us because it's in our yard. So, please, doesn't it make more sense to listen to us because it's affecting us? Don't listen to them. They don't have a dog in our fight. Thank you for being kind and listening to me. Thank you. Anybody else that would like to come up and speak regarding RL26-25?

Yes. My name is Nadia Lubie. Um I have some supplementary documents that I would like to pass along. Sure. Okay. All right. Awesome. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Nadia Lubie. I've been a resident of Pine Street for two years and I am also the site coordinator of the Pine Street Community Garden. I am in opposition to the fireworks at Morabido Stadium largely because of the environmental and health consequences to the residents of this neighborhood. When I first moved to Pine Street, I thought it was so exciting that I had such a great view of the fireworks from my front porch. But as the show ended and the stadium lights came back on, they illuminated a low, dense cloud of smog creeping through the neighborhood and approaching the garden that I have been entrusted to protect and maintain. My stomach sank. I knew the implications of the noxious cloud could not be good. My fear was confirmed last year when Vines did soil testing in the garden and throughout the neighborhood. Some metals are necessary for plants to grow. And of the compounds tested for, many are astonishingly high, some being nearly 11 times the acceptable range. Those same compounds are ones used in fireworks. And I do not think that that is a coincidence. One neighbor who has a completely unobstructed view of the fireworks has such a high concentration of heavy metals, including lead, that he cannot safely garden in his backyard. Lead has been banned in fireworks in the United States, but lead still makes its way into formulations from crosscontamination during the mining process. Similarly, barerium and strontium, commonly used as colorants, are often contaminated with radium. Many of the compounds used in fireworks are toxic and repeated use has a compounding effect in the soil, in our waterways, and in our bodies. These chemicals contribute to asthma, respiratory damage, kidney damage,

thyroid problems, neurological issues, osteoporosis, hearing loss, and cancer, just to name a few. Vulnerable populations like children and pregnant residents are particularly at risk. This neighborhood is a food desert, so many people rely on gardening to eat. People who have few other options don't have much of a choice but to eat produce grown and coated in contaminants. Last year, I began an ongoing project to remediate the soil, but without cutting back on the source of the pollution, we are shoveling in a snowstorm. As I spoke to my neighbors, the overwhelming consensus was that the shows are loud, disruptive, too frequent, and don't have a set start time. There are also a lot of veterans in the neighborhood, and as a civilian living so close to the source of the fireworks, feels like we are in a war zone being bombed. So, I can only imagine how upsetting that must be for the veterans in the neighborhood. The loud booming causes our houses to shake and because we are not aware of when the show will start, it is always jarring, even on days when the schedule is followed. That being said, Morabo Stadium has taken liberties in the past and done extra shows that were not on their permit. Last year, they canceled two shows for inclement weather, but did four shows that weren't on their permit. Is that an acceptable way to treat your neighbors? This plan needs to be revised. And if If Morabido Stadium cannot comply, they need to be held accountable. If they did fewer shows on important dates like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, that is a compromise that many residents said that they would accept. Maybe instead of fireworks on all of these dates, Moravo could host concerts. The drone shows look cool, too. There are more respectful and

responsible ways to entertain the public. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Does anyone else want to come up and speak? The amount of fireworks that we have in this city. As a resident of someone who lives in Southside East, we uh we can often spoke of not just to the soil but to the water and all of the onflow effects that quite frankly until this came up I had not really thought about. Um I think uh two years ago we had a couple of veterans who came to speak out on public comment about how much this triggered uh was triggering for them. And I think also as we um as our population of refugees um gets higher that they're also uh folks that we should consider the number of firework shows that we have a year. And the thing that upsets me most just being selfish as a parent is the ones that are after 10 o'clock when kids are asleep, dogs passed out on the couch. My dog is actually quite afraid and gets all shaky and tries to hide in the basement. So, that's particularly fun. We're not looking forward to another year of that. We just rescued her last year. So, that was interesting thing to learn last year. Um, but I think there are so many alternatives and if we can do better, especially if it's for the environment, especially if it's about being better neighbors. I mean, this is these are a lot of our tax dollars that the stadium gets as a result of the city's choice uh to invest in it. Um, but if we can do better, why wouldn't we?

In a time where everything seems topsyturvy, I just don't understand why this is such a sticking point. I am so sick of hearing this is the way we've always done it. from the schools to the city council, from the mayor's office. If I'm sorry, but we've got a lot of work to do. This seems like it's lowhanging fruit. It's fairly simple. There are a lot of other alternatives rather than terrifying the neighborhoods and waking us up at all hours of the night. So, please reconsider some alternatives. There are plenty out there that other cities use. Um, I think that our I think that we deserve that in our city as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to come up and speak regarding RL26-25? Oh, yeah. Thanks, babe. Hello, my name is David and I live on the southside east. I'm here tonight to ask the city council to reconsider how much fireworks are used in the city. When they are late, I get woken up and it takes quite a long time to get back to sleep. My dog, who is a rescue, is quite afraid of the loud noises and is quite scared of them and it usually takes them about 20 minutes to settle down. As well as disrupting me, my family, and our neighbors, it is also bad for the environment. As the speaker for before me said, it uh can add lots of things to the ground that prevent plant growth and make water not safe to drink. So I think there are lots of other alternatives such as laser show who's drone shows or just limiting the amount of firework shows and making them end earlier. Um that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And uh clerk, we have an email to read into the record. Thank you.

From Cam Windsinger. Hi there. I read online that city council will be voting tomorrow evening on whether or not to approve Arabos Stadium's fireworks application for the summer. I am unable to attend the meeting due to prior obligations, but would like to submit a public comment stating my opposition to the fireworks due to questions regarding their impact on local environmental health and safety. Additionally, the noise pollution caused by the weekly firework displays brings stress to the local community, especially those with prior traumas associated with the loud noises, including veterans. In addition to many children and pets in the area from experience, my own dog panics, pants, and hides for upwards of an hour every Friday in the summers due to these shows. Thanks for your time, Cam. Thank you. Okay. So, uh we are going to do introductory resolution R26-25 uh considered in municipal and public affairs. Council member Rathmemell. I actually don't have it in front of me, but I'd like to thank you. I'd like to make a motion to adopt R26-25, a resolution to authorize 2026 Rumble Ponies fireworks.

I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second.

A motion and a second. Discussion. I guess I'll start I'll start really quick. Um, first I just wanted to thank every single person for coming down to um talk about the fireworks. Um I do know in the past people have complained but thank you so much for this information. It gives the new insight on how people feel living down there and it makes uh you know think about different alter different alternatives. So thank you for every single person that spoke especially the young man. Thank you. Um just wanted to start with I think we have one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 14 or maybe 13 or 14 dates are there for um for the fireworks this year. Um so those are the dates that uh will be on there. I'm going to vote yes on this only because I guess things were pre-planned. However, as this being in my committee, I do promise to bring this back to the table and have some discussion on it. So that way going forward and also uh I want to also hold you know the um you know the rumble ponies accountable too. So I think uh to me I'm going to vote yes because it's going to mess up whatever whatever they have already planned. However, I'm I am going to set up a public a public uh town hall or a committee meeting and I welcome everyone to come back for that. Um uh one of the things that immediately comes to mind is that we need a longer timeline between uh submission of a permit request

and uh it seems unreasonable that advertisements for an event would go out prior to having approval. Um, so I I want to make sure we call that out.

Um, because that obviously puts everybody in a weird position. Um, especially since the city owns the stadium as was mentioned. Um, and our the permit relates to our tenant. Um, and so we are it it's uh it's certainly a complicated matter, but I I don't know if if we don't have our attorney with us tonight, but um how we can set up a mandatory longer time frame um to make sure that we don't see this situation again. Absolutely. And again, I I I'm grateful to um C uh council prom long title. uh Middleton um for uh agreeing to host either a town hall or a committee meeting. I think we know we need to sit down um with with uh with the folks from Rumble Ponies, make sure that we have timelines for making sure we can have these discussions. One of the things that didn't come up with the speakers tonight, but came up um in a conversation I had with one of my constituents today um was at least the from her perspective the perceived duration of the fireworks. I don't know if um if this is factual or emotional, but there was a feeling that they've gotten longer over time. And I do want to say we do hear the as the southsiders are aware we do hear it echo and reverberate um in the in the hills of the southside as well. Um but uh we need to have a discussion on duration frequency um and uh types and environmental consequences. This is something that um I brought up to our environmental commission um at our last meeting um and requested that they follow up on as well um looking at

you know if even if there are going to continue to do some amount of fireworks um what type of fireworks they are um how many all that um matters do dosage matters as we all I'm sure everybody who has spoken here tonight knows Um, so I'm I'm certainly um thinking about this. Um, there was another um story that was shared with me relating to um a dog um in that neighborhood. It was shared with my constituent who related to me um that the the dog freaks out so much that it smashes the the walls every time um the fireworks go off. Um it's like completely terrifying. Um I spoke to one of Councilwoman Rathmill's con constituents because I live over on Southside West and Councilwoman Rathmol lives on Southside East. So, the people I bump into at the cafe and stuff are often um Councilman Rathmol's uh constituents and and he he talked about how uh while he generally supported, you know, and liked the idea of there being fun in the city, um that it was also what he called therapy time for his dog. he sits sits down with his dog and calms him and tries to give him a lot of love because it's and that's in Southside West. So again, I I can only imagine what it's like um living in the stadium district. Um I Yeah, I mean I I as mentioned I think we're in a total bind um intentional or otherwise. Um so and and this is It's 12. I counted it. So, it's it's uh 12 this year, which as I mentioned at the previous meeting, uh is my understanding based on an email from the the mayor sent council is is less than previous years, but it's still a lot looking at

the schedule. Um so, there's all that. I don't know if we can modify the schedule at this date, but I do feel like we need to put in requirements after investigation and looking at what other municipalities are doing relating to um yeah, these types of things to put in the guidelines for going forward. Yeah, that can all happen um when we meet. we could discuss all those those different things and everybody's concerns. Anybody else?

Oh, and a shout out our um so we have general general code and um you can actually request to get access to have the multicode searchable system. So, if people want to look and see and help us out, because we're all part-time at this work, um to see if there's other fireworks related laws in other municipalities that you feel might better represent, uh you know, please uh reach out to the clerk's office. They can give you the um access so that you can easily search. I think it's like 3,000 municipalities, something like that. Um, and all of their laws all at once. Um, and help move the discussion along. Thank you.

Am I good to go? So, I'm I'm still opposed to um this fireworks schedule. I think we we know that it actively causes harm for for folks in that district or in the closer vicinity on Pine Street, Enry Street um as well as Eldridge Street, Double Day um in Wales. I I think during Dr. Kirby's comment um she alluded to a previous comment that I really remember vividly and it stuck with me and it eats away at me every single time. um we vote on this um fireworks permit is that there's just these veterans that can't get any relief for anybody to to listen to them about how it is it's it's literally a a trauma-inducing cycle of when we have these um firework displays in that district. Um so I'm opposed for that reason. I'm also imposed for the environmental reasons. Um, I think we're essentially creating a a plume like around the stadium of different um toxins. I I wouldn't go as far as saying that they're carcinogens because I have to look at this further, but it's just like it's it it's unhealthy for the folks that like live in that area and there's this whole stadium district plan to try to get more investment and more people living there. Um, so it seems that the fireworks are kind of counterintuitive to that whole plan um or counterproductive, excuse me. But I I think I'm encouraged that there's drone show. So, we're already seeking alternatives to fireworks for the entertainment after games. Um and I I'm happy to approve that even though there's no permit for it. You can do it anyways. Um, also there's just it seems I was just

trying to think like is all these other sporting events that we have in the city like hockey games. I know there's like uh there's football games for like youth um and like the high school age and I don't think any of the sporting events at the university end in fireworks. So it's just like it's completely unique to baseball. um don't know why we're um it's the single outlier. So, and I think that I know that it could exist and they could still have a successful season without having the firework displays. So, um for representing people that are opposed to this in the district, I'm I'm I'm going to vote no. But thank you guys for for hearing constituents on how they actually feel about this.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Sure. Might as well I'll all chime in. Um as all my colleagues have said, I appreciate the viewpoints of everyone that's come out and spoken. Uh I've also received uh uh a number of comments from various uh committee members and stakeholders on on both sides of the issue. Um, I would like to point out as Councilwoman Adabetski said, uh, there's been kind of a natural attrition already to the number of of, uh, fireworks events from the Rumble Ponies, uh, from the low 20s now to about a dozen. Um, there was an issue, I believe, a couple of times last year with double overt extra innings that were significant problem. Uh the normal ponies have been uh spoken to and there was some abuse of the rain rescheduling and I think we've clerk they we had words with them about the rain dates correct and what would be an acceptable

my understanding is that the mayor's office engaged in those discussions. Okay. So, we have done some push back as far as rain dates and number of things you can reschedule uh as particularly without letting the uh city have forewarning. Um so I I think what we're left with is 20 minute uh part of a Friday night 12 times this summer. uh being part of living in an urban environment are these community events that are not to everyone's tastes. Um, I understand that there's potential triggering for some people with fireworks that might be in excess of something that that uh, you know, community concerts um, or many races we have that interrupt Friday and Saturday mornings or the tree that the city was cutting down in front of my house this morning. Um, but part of living in an urban environment is putting up with some of the things that we don't necessarily love in order to appreciate the other things that we do love about living in the city. So, um, I think council sort of our my colleagues here are committed to doing more study uh into fireworks dates and frequency in further years. I think we're all in favor of promoting other sorts of group entertainment, whether that be concerts, whether that be drone shows, whether it be laser shows, other options, um, to try to

mitigate this impact. But I think already cutting in half essentially from prior years is a step in that direction. And uh, we can, you know, look to make take more steps, but uh, I I think um for this year. That's a that's a good enough progress. Rebecca,

I think I would just ask so moving forward, if we're talking about holding stadium owners accountable to the schedule as it's been approved as the chair of the municipal and public affairs committee. Is that something and we can certainly support as members um that you'd be willing to reiterate to the mayor's office in the context of it is not simply his decision to approve rain dates or be the sole entity in conversation. Um you know it is this body hearing concerns, receiving concerns. It is this body doing deliberation. I think that accountability for me is primary. Um, I will say on the issue itself, it's it's certainly not an area of expertise for me. It's not an area where I've been able to dig into. Um, largely because I and I would say largely because of the time frame we've been given, but that's I mean, it's also on me for not doing the research since last year when we talked about it. Um, I do think we've made progress and we can continue to identify alternatives um and ways to hold some accountability so that the concerns are better considered.

Well, thank you. Yeah. Yes, I can send out an email to him and I'll call Jared directly, but I'll send an email so we have it as something concrete and I'll have a conversation um with him regarding that. And like I said also um I think the continuing discussion like I said I wasn't aware of this like how this really really um affects people and environment. I think this is the first time we actually had like people have talked about it but I think this is the first time we've had people come and really speak out against it. So it's definitely an eyeopener and like I said um thank you everyone for uh your comments and if I don't have any other comments clerk can you please call the role.

Council member Rathmemell I council Mavetski I council member Hodkus nay. Council Kavanagh I. Council members Murray and Dundan are absent. Council President Prom Middleton I. Thank you. That is 41. Thank you. And I'd like to make a motion. I'll make ask for a motion. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All All in favor? I I Thank you.