Struggling cities cancel Fourth of July fireworks
Nearly 50 cash-strapped cities nationwide are forgoing fireworks festivities, choosing instead to retain jobs or, in the case of Montebello, Calif., give the money to food banks.By P.J. Huffstutter
June 29, 2009
Reporting from Euclid, Ohio -- Mayor Bill Cervenik has spent a lifetime celebrating the Fourth of July curled up on a blanket in this city's Memorial Park beneath bursts of fireworks across a darkened Ohio sky.
People have long considered the fireworks a treasure of this Cleveland suburb, where flags fly year-round in neighborhoods of bungalows and stores post signs for passersby to "support our troops."
But the fireworks and singing along to "The Star-Spangled Banner" on a warm summer night -- and the police and firefighters needed to manage the 30,000 people who turn out -- don't come cheap.
So this year, Euclid will have no fireworks. "I'm 55 years old and I can't remember not going to one of these," Cervenik said.
As the economic crisis has dragged on, city leaders around the country say fireworks are a luxury they can no longer afford. Big and small, urban and rural, the skies will remain dark over at least four dozen communities nationwide come July 4.
"It came down to this: Did we want to spend $150,000 on something that would be over in a few hours?" Cervenik said. "Or did we want to use that money to keep city workers employed?"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fireworks29-2009jun29,0,2351470.story
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