Boston councilor calls for harsher punishments for illegal fireworks
Bostonians need to behave themselves this holiday weekend, Mayor Martin Walsh said about both the coronavirus pandemic and fireworks — and one city councilor says pyrotechnics scofflaws need to face harsher punishments.
City Councilor Ed Flynn, whose district includes South Boston, Chinatown and the South End, said he plans on talking to the city’s legal office about what Boston could do to toughen the laws around fireworks.
“We need to continue making arrests on people who are selling fireworks in our city,” Flynn said. “We need to increase fines and penalties for people who are selling illegal fireworks in our city and state.”
Flynn, who took part in a frustration-filled community meeting Monday in Southie over the issue, said of fireworks, “They’re not only illegal, but they’re dangerous.”
Walsh, speaking at a press conference on Thursday amid a continued surge in reports of illegal fireworks use, reiterated that fireworks are illegal in Massachusetts and that they’ve been very disturbing to communities over the past couple of months.
“This about the people you’re impacting and affecting,” Walsh said.
The city said 12 people have been hospitalized with fireworks-related injuries this year, and at least one house was set ablaze by fireworks. Complaints were up 5,543% over the first 23 days of June from last year.
Walsh also stressed that people need to remain vigilant over COVID-19 as Massachusetts’ numbers remain encouraging — though Sun Belt states are now seeing spikes.
“There should be no large cookouts or house parties this weekend,” Walsh said.
The ongoing bombardment sparked Walsh to create a task force last week to look at how to address illegal fireworks. The mayor on Thursday said they’re focusing on a public-awareness campaign.
At-large City Councilor Michael Flaherty, who’s on the task force, said, “We need to continue to partner with our public safety departments to enforce the current laws as they apply and ramp up our efforts around public awareness about the dangers of fireworks and the current fines and laws. There are many people in our city who have unfortunately sustained lifelong injuries as a result of fireworks, people with PTSD who are retraumatized by the sounds or sights of them and people who lost their homes due to fires caused by fireworks.”
At-large City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, also a member of the task force, said, “My focus is building public awareness about the dangers that fireworks pose to our neighborhoods and penalizing the root cause of this issue. It’s unconscionable for companies to be mailing advertisements knowing they are illegal in Massachusetts.”
Attorney General Maura Healey on Wednesday threatened legal action against Phantom Fireworks, a large pyrotechnics company that had been mailing advertisements to people in Massachusetts. Phantom then announced it would no longer send advertisements to Massachusetts.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2YRGv2q
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