Fireworks are an annual fixture around Fourth of July in Seaside, but do its residents still want them?

Every June, makeshift booths pop up throughout Seaside with colorful signs that indicate whatever it is they’re selling goes boom, hiss, pop! Theoretically, that ignition is “safe and sane” – as legal fireworks are euphemistically described, regardless of whether they might drive a neighbor, or their pets, insane.

It’s a tradition that goes back decades in the city, and while there are recurring complaints from scores of residents, there are also vocal, civically active residents who staunchly support the sale of legal fireworks in the city, as they are a fundraising source for local, youth-serving nonprofits. Meanwhile, the issue of illegal fireworks persists.

The Monterey County Civil Grand Jury, after investigating a complaint from a Seaside resident about year-round use of explosive fireworks “and a perceived indifference by city officials to the issue,” published a report in May that took Seaside to task for its handling of fireworks, but mostly included deficiencies in the city’s website in terms of disclosing public information. A lack of Spanish in many parts of the website was called out, as the city’s population is roughly 45-percent Latino.

The report did note, however, that Seaside officers confiscated 100 pounds of illegal fireworks around July 4, 2022, up from 30 pounds in 2020.

And it was during 2020, when most people were homebound due to the pandemic, that momentum started to shift – in August of that year, Seaside City Council passed an ordinance banning the sale and use of so-called “safe and sane” fireworks in the city. But an organized group quickly sprung up to gather enough signatures to force the City Council to repeal the ordinance or send the matter to an election.

Alex Miller, who was elected to Seaside City Council in 2022, recalls seeing the petition at the time. “When the petition was presented to me, it was like, ‘Do you support kids? Do you support nonprofits?’ It was not even clear to me it was a fireworks issue until I read it.”

But there wasn’t enough time for the city to get it onto the November ballot, which meant the City Council either had to rescind the ordinance or approve spending well over $100,000 on an election. On Nov. 5, 2020, the council chose the former. A city report from that time states, “The issue of fireworks has been agendized for discussion by the City Council 40 times over the last five years. A strategy to maximize participation in the ultimate decision while minimizing costs would be to add this item to the November 2022 ballot. Voter turnout is significantly higher during a general municipal election.”

That didn’t happen, but Miller still wants a vote. At a Thursday, Oct. 19 council meeting, he plans to ask if at least two other councilmembers will agree to consider putting the issue of making all fireworks illegal in the city on the November 2024 ballot. A citizen’s group, Seaside Association for a Fireworks Election (SAFE) is already coalescing toward that goal, with or without the council – the latter requires gathering signatures.