Rohnert Park closes in on fireworks ban, with residents divided over loss for nonprofits, gains for public safety

For each of the six years that Tracy Poueu-Guerrero has been head coach of the Rancho Cotate High School softball team, she’s relied on the sale of Fourth of July fireworks to fund her team’s budget.

Uniforms, field maintenance and helping families with travel costs for away games all are paid for with the money that comes in at the team’s annual booth in the parking lot of Rohnert Park’s Mattress Firm on Redwood Drive.

“This fundraiser raises more money than we could ever make in a bake sale or running a booth selling snow cones,” Poueu-Guerrero said. “And I know because I’ve done that.”

Profits range from $8,000 to a record $20,000 last year, she said. Whatever they make they split with the school’s baseball team.

But fresh uncertainty over the future of firework sales has pushed Poueu-Guerrero and other sports team coaches and nonprofits to speak up after the City Council in a split vote earlier this month gave initial approval to a ban on fireworks, including the July 4 sales that have long buoyed community causes and nonprofit budgets.

Before a pending final council vote on that ban, Rohnert Park has been roiled by opposing views on the merits and risks of continued firework sales. It is one of the last cities in fire-prone Sonoma County where such private pyrotechnics are allowed.

The dispute has pitted concerns about increased fire risk and strain on police and fire services against the loss of Independence Day tradition and a key revenue stream for programs spanning a range of local clubs.

But both ban opponents and proponents agree that deeper questions are at play in the city.

“It definitely feels like everybody’s coming at this from different perspectives,” said Nichole Niklewicz, who started a Save Rohnert Park Fireworks petition and group on Facebook. The dispute, she said, is “so much bigger than just the fireworks.”

“I think there’s about 10% that are truly upset about the fireworks,” said Julie Royes, who favors the ban. But among ban opponents, she said, “most of the other 90% are really upset about the November election and who is on our City Council right now.”

The 3-2 vote on March 9 featured the city’s newest elected leaders lining up in favor of the permanent fireworks ban. For that majority, made up of Mayor Gerard Guidice, Vice Mayor Jackie Elward and Councilman Willy Linares, it has proved to be the most high-profile decision since the trio took their seats late last year.

All three ran on progressive platforms, and the wins for Elward and Linares, particularly, handed power to the most diverse and liberal council Rohnert Park has seen perhaps since its incorporation 59 years ago.

The trio rode a new wave of political engagement in the city, campaigning amid summer Black Lives Matter protests. They also competed in the first district-based contests for council seats, in a switch from at-large races that critics said disenfranchised the city’s sizable Latino population.

In the weeks since Giudice, Elward and Linares took office, they have staked out new, ambitious priorities for the city of 42,000, including combating climate change and homelessness and giving greater weight to police oversight. The two incumbent councilwomen remaining since last year, Pam Stafford and Susan Hollingsworth Adams, have joined them on those decisions.

But they voted against the fireworks ban.

“I certainly didn’t realize this would wake up a sleeping giant,” Hollingsworth Adams said.

Ahead of the next council vote, which could come as soon as Tuesday, ban supporters and opponents are rallying to make their voices heard.

Firework vendors and fans are lobbying the council to drop the ban in a flood of emails and phone calls. They are gathering petition signatures — with more than 2,000 names Thursday in one online effort — and are planning a Saturday march to spread their message.

“We’re hoping to sway (council members) by sheer volume of support,” Niklewicz said. “But at the same time, I think that it is something that should be voted on by we the people rather than the City Council.”

Supporters of the ban are mounting rival efforts to bolster the council’s early stance. Royes created an online petition last week that had over 200 names by Thursday, she said.

“For many, many years, in my opinion, we’ve heard the same very loud voices in Rohnert Park,” Royes said. “Many have been able to create policy and would like to maintain the status quo. I think for the first time ever we’re seeing, especially after the November election, there are residents that want change. And they have finally found their collective voice.”

Among their ranks, however, some are leery about outward support of the ban, given the heated debate so far. Some ban opponents have threatened to boycott the businesses of any ban supporters, Royes said.

Sally Tomatoes, Giudice’s restaurant, has been the subject of such threats. More personal attacks also have surfaced.

Elward, the vice mayor and the city’s first Black councilwoman, earlier this week disclosed that she had been subjected to a tirade of racist slurs from an anonymous caller who was opposed to the ban.

“Did it surprise me? No,” Elward said. “But this happening over fireworks? Yes.”

Elected officials and residents have since reached out to support Elward and stepped in to denounce the racist verbal abuse she endured.

“We condemn all threats and racist behavior used as weapons to intimidate any member of our community including our locally elected officials,” read a Thursday letter signed by the mayors of Sonoma County’s nine cities and Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors.

“It’s awful,” said Miklewicz, the organizer of the Save Rohnert Park Fireworks group, who condemned the attack in a post on the group’s Facebook page.

Hollingsworth Adams said she hopes that in the time remaining before the next vote the council can forge a new compromise that will both preserve fireworks as a valued tradition but tackle the fire danger concerns that are shared across Sonoma County.

The county, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Cotati, Windsor and Sonoma have banned private use and sale of fireworks in their jurisdictions. Cloverdale rejected an effort to ban fireworks for a year in 2020, and Sebastopol instituted a one-year ban last year that officials have not yet revisited.

Supporters of the ban have pointed to the possibility of creating a revenue stream for affected nonprofits by way of the City of Rohnert Park Foundation.

“I think the natural flow of this should be from the foundation,” Giudice said. “It has to be distributed in our community to do works of charity.”

But filling a hole in independent fundraising with government money isn’t a wholly popular idea.

“What happens if in two years, the economy turns south and we’re unable to continue funding to them?” wondered Hollingsworth Adams. “What do we tell the rest of the nonprofits in town?”

Giudice said he couldn’t confirm Thursday evening whether or not a final vote had been set for next week. The council’s agenda comes out on Friday.

In the meantime, city staff are preparing more information about the potential cost and logistics involved with planning a July 4 celebration that could include fundraising space for nonprofits.

“It’s a very interesting time that we live in with this pandemic and folks struggling to get back to some sense of normalcy,” Giudice said. “We’re getting massive community input and I get it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ka_tornay.