OPINION: Fireworks no show
City officials decided with a budget cut that residents of Colorado Springs will enjoy no fireworks July 4 in Memorial Park.
Next year, let's not let city leaders control our lives. Let's have a real Independence Day, watching fireworks funded entirely with private funds.
This should not be a decision that can be made in the city's budgeting process. Fireworks displays should be private affairs, in no way dependent on city subsidy. The whole point of a fireworks display is to celebrate independence from unreasonable government constraints.
The fireworks display here, as in other cities, has not traditionally been paid for out of the city government budget. Instead, it has been paid for with money raised privately by the mayor and other city leaders.
The real reason we won't have fireworks in Memorial Park is the fact Mayor Lionel Rivera and other city leaders didn't raise the money, as they have in the past. City leaders decided they could kill the display this year by refusing to provide the event with fire and police protection, which had been donated by the city, and by neglecting to raise adequate funds.
If the city has paid the cost of police and fire protection for this special event in the past, it means past fundraising efforts have fallen short of paying for the true costs of the entire event. Most other special events that require enhanced police and fire protection must pay for it.
A fireworks display is a wonderful thing and a major tradition on the Fourth of July. But it's a party. It's not an essential service that's worthy of city subsidy, even in the form of fire and police protection. And why would anyone want the city to help pay for it, considering the willingness of city leaders to simply shut it down with little discussion?
If the fireworks display at Memorial Park is genuinely missed this year, then those who miss it most should immediately spearhead a fundraising effort to pay for a celebration in 2010. They should raise enough funds to pay for the all the costs involved, including the additional fire and safety services the event will require. The Gazette's editorial pages will assist with fundraising efforts by publicizing them. If fundraisers generate something in the ballpark of $100,000, the event will go on with or without the approval of our elected city leaders.
Until then, take pleasure in the fact fireworks displays are abundant all along the Front Range, on and around the Fourth of July.
