Anyone else following this? (legalization of Fireworks in Iowa)

[CycloneErik]

From everything I've read in this thread, this is more of a neighbor problem than a fireworks problem. Some of you just happen to live next to some really stupid and inconsiderate people. I'm glad I'm in the country. Our fireworks show was large, safe, and amazing and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Agreed.
I don't have any love or hate for fireworks, and this didn't seem like a great idea to me.

That said, there was a little more noise for a couple hours on the 4th in my neighborhood. I have trouble being upset about that.

 

[cycloner29]

This is what it looked like at Ada Hayden. Picture was off Ames People on Facebook.

 

[Cycsk]

This is what it looked like at Ada Hayden. Picture was off Ames People on Facebook.

View attachment 48722

That looks like the garbage of a single group. Bad, but not as bad as I was expecting.

All in all, West Ames has been much more quiet than I expected. I don't think I've been awakened even once this week.

 

[cycloner29]

How about now? This is what one guy picked up out there!

 

[Cycsk]

You haven't seen anything if you haven't been somewhere like Chennai, India during the Devali Festival of Lights. You have this for hours at night in any direction from a typical rooftop.

 

[Knownothing]

I thought the fireworks were great this year. I thought they were great every year. There were more than normal but not dramatically more in my opinion.

Seems like everyone gets outraged at everything these days. If someone blows off there finger and it's not you or effect you. Who cares.

Just be considerate and thoughtfull to your neighbors and it's fine. Most of my neighbors were done by 11:00 at night on all the nights this weekend. My daughter slept right through everything.

 

[Cycsk]

How about now? This is what one guy picked up out there!

View attachment 48725

OK, that's a lot. Kudos to that guy for cleaning it up.

 

[CyCrazy]

How about now? This is what one guy picked up out there!

View attachment 48725

Ames people is my favorite FB page.

 

[3TrueFans]

Ames people is my favorite FB page.

Read Ames People for 5 minutes and you'll see exactly the kind of people that think fireworks are awesome.

 

[CyCrazy]

I am indifferent about fireworks, but you are right.

 

[cycloner29]

Read Ames People for 5 minutes and you'll see exactly the kind of people that think fireworks are awesome.

Less than 5 minutes. All you have to mention are lost/found animals, Olive Garden, Menard's, auto parts stores, South Duff, swimming pools, mattress stores and now fireworks. The torch and pitchforks come out!!

 

[alarson]

Far too many people complaining just to complain.

I also think that many cities knee jerk reactions likely made it worse. A large number of people think it is absolutely ridiculous that fireworks should be illegal (most people's complaints center around 'they annoy me', which is a pretty ****** bar for legality), and instead of establishing reasonable windows they ban them entirely, which means instead of focusing the use to mostly being in a smaller timeframe, it just happens all the time.

This year was probably the peak it will be though, as it was a 'big deal' because its legal to buy them in iowa now.

 

[YeahBuddy]

Far too many people complaining just to complain.

I also think that many cities knee jerk reactions likely made it worse. A large number of people think it is absolutely ridiculous that fireworks should be illegal (most people's complaints center around 'they annoy me', which is a pretty ****** bar for legality), and instead of establishing reasonable windows they ban them entirely, which means instead of focusing the use to mostly being in a smaller timeframe, it just happens all the time.

This year was probably the peak it will be though, as it was a 'big deal' because its legal to buy them in iowa now.

Disagree. The problem comes down to obeying the law and how hard it is to enforce.

The city I live in allowed it until 10 PM on the 3rd and 11 PM on the 4th. For a whole week before the 4th, it was a free for all from sundown until about 10:30 or 11 PM.

The cities allowed 2 days to legally light off fireworks and people take a week.

I give it a little bit of a pass this year because people can be confused as the state law says one thing and cities can limit the lighting of the fireworks even more but have no ability to limit the time frame that you can purchase them in.

I would agree that it may calm down in future years if this was allowed year round but these people are going to get their jollies for 2 weeks around the 4th and another week around NYD and then be ready to go crazy again by the time the 4th of July rolls around again.

 

[jkclone]

Disagree. The problem comes down to obeying the law and how hard it is to enforce.

The city I live in allowed it until 10 PM on the 3rd and 11 PM on the 4th. For a whole week before the 4th, it was a free for all from sundown until about 10:30 or 11 PM.

The cities allowed 2 days to legally light off fireworks and people take a week.

I give it a little bit of a pass this year because people can be confused as the state law says one thing and cities can limit the lighting of the fireworks even more but have no ability to limit the time frame that you can purchase them in.

I would agree that it may calm down in future years if this was allowed year round but these people are going to get their jollies for 2 weeks around the 4th and another week around NYD and then be ready to go crazy again by the time the 4th of July rolls around again.

I think the confusion from state law to local ordinance is a bi thing. I also think that some cities such as Urbandale and Johnston screwed it up for some of the cities that did test the waters by saying no completely. I think those cities saw people saying you can't at all and just ignored the rules. I think education on the laws is going to be an important thing moving forward as well as dialogue. This year a lot of places just said FU.

 

[Tailg8er]

Disagree. The problem comes down to obeying the law and how hard it is to enforce.

Why is it that hard to enforce, though? Can you really not have 2, 3, 5 extra officers on duty for a couple nights doing nothing but cruising around & stopping when they see mortars going off? Make the fine whatever you need to, I bet they could even help their budget quite a bit if they would be more proactive at enforcement.

I understand most officers would want these nights off, offer a higher pay or something (which again, they should be able to afford if they issue enough citations).

Just my thoughts. I agree with the others that don't think the fireworks are the issue, inconsiderate a holes are the issue.

 

[YeahBuddy]

Why is it that hard to enforce, though? Can you really not have 2, 3, 5 extra officers on duty for a couple nights doing nothing but cruising around & stopping when they see mortars going off? Make the fine whatever you need to, I bet they could even help their budget quite a bit if they would be more proactive at enforcement.

I understand most officers would want these nights off, offer a higher pay or something (which again, they should be able to afford if they issue enough citations).

Just my thoughts. I agree with the others that don't think the fireworks are the issue, inconsiderate a holes are the issue.

They actually have to see the person light the fireworks at an illegal time to issue a citation. Possession of them is no longer illegal so it's not as easy as just busting them while holding a firework.

I suppose they could cite the property owner but then they could fight that and the city would be blowing OT wages for a cop to show up to court to testify for a fireworks citation.

Because of how hard it is to enforce, it isn't worth paying 3-5 officers OT to look for this.

 

[3TrueFans]

Why is it that hard to enforce, though? Can you really not have 2, 3, 5 extra officers on duty for a couple nights doing nothing but cruising around & stopping when they see mortars going off? Make the fine whatever you need to, I bet they could even help their budget quite a bit if they would be more proactive at enforcement.

I understand most officers would want these nights off, offer a higher pay or something (which again, they should be able to afford if they issue enough citations).

Just my thoughts. I agree with the others that don't think the fireworks are the issue, inconsiderate a holes are the issue.

I'd imagine it's not always easy to tell where they're coming from unless you get a call from a neighbor or something.

 

[Tailg8er]

They actually have to see the person light the fireworks at an illegal time to issue a citation. Possession of them is no longer illegal so it's not as easy as just busting them while holding a firework.

I suppose they could cite the property owner but then they could fight that and the city would be blowing OT wages for a cop to show up to court to testify for a fireworks citation.

Because of how hard it is to enforce, it isn't worth paying 3-5 officers OT to look for this.

I'd imagine it's not always easy to tell where they're coming from unless you get a call from a neighbor or something.

But what I'm saying is that sometimes, maybe even MANY times, it's not that difficult to see exactly which house or yard one comes from. And the vast majority of people are going to light more than 1 off at a time. I'm obviously not saying they'll drive down every block & catch everyone, but c'mon. I thought someone said Urbandale's fine is like $500 or $600 bucks. If they catch even a fraction of the complaints they got they'd pay for their hours & then some.

 

[chuckd4735]

They had Brad Zaun on Channel 13 news last night and he mentioned he was disappointed in the city's limiting where fireworks can be sold and said he hopes they can fix that in the next session. So look for the fireworks to stay around and maybe even more predominate next year.

Zero chance local control of fireworks is taken away with the complaints that I've seen everywhere.

 

[isu22andy]

Everyone so worked up last week I haven't heard even one black cat all day . The " horror " is over here .