Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Fizzle for shizzle in La Jolla

City to settle fireworks lawsuit, but too late to plan for display

The city's decision to fight the lawsuits over fireworks at La Jolla Cove has officially backfired. On Tuesday, June 17, city councilmembers were asked to approve doling out $250,000 to the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation for costs associated with the four-year-long legal battle in exchange for calling an end to the four lawsuits.

The lawsuits, filed in 2010, alleged that the city failed to address environmental impacts of fireworks at La Jolla Cove. In addition, the suits claimed that no permits were ever obtained and it was yet another instance of the city failing to follow California's Environmental Quality Act.

The lawsuits themselves didn’t threaten a planned Fourth of July fireworks display in La Jolla this year, says the website for the nonprofit La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation, the group in charge of raising money. According to their message, the organization "raised sufficient funding for the 2014 show; however, the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation regrets to inform the community that this year's 2014 Fourth of July event has been unable to retain a fireworks company at this late juncture.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“The 2014 Fourth of July Fireworks at La Jolla Cove will need to be cancelled because of the lack of any available licensed fireworks companies to perform the show. The litigation by activists had unfortunately significantly delayed the necessary 2014 funding to the point where all available fireworks companies have become committed to other events. The City of San Diego has been wonderfully supportive in continuing the La Jolla event and has incurred substantial expense in settling the four years of litigation by environmental activists."

"Substantial expense" is correct. In fact, the $250,000 settlement is just a small portion of the city’s bill for fighting these suits. Throughout the four-year-long legal battle, judges ruled against the city in three of the cases already decided on (those three are currently under appeal). Yet, despite the rulings, in 2012 the city — with the approval of the city council and city attorney — spent $157,984 to hire outside legal counsel, as first reported by the Reader.

At the time, city attorney Jan Goldsmith defended his decision to ask for outside help. “There is a role for outside private law firms assisting the City in cases where it is impossible or impracticable for the City Attorney’s Office to act as the City’s lawyers. These are situations involving conflicts of interests or special areas of practice.”

To some, the case is about more than the environmental hazards of fireworks: it reveals how guidelines as laid out by the California Environmental Quality Act still fail to be implemented.

"What people may not understand is the way [the California Environmental Quality Act] works is to provide a transparent process for projects that impact the environment," says attorney Bryan Pease, who specializes in CEQA litigation.

"The law does not mandate a result. So as long as the decision-makers have identified all the environmental impacts so the public is aware, they can still vote to approve a project that may negatively affect the environment. The point is just to have transparency in the process so people are aware of what's really going on.

“Nobody is saying the city can't have fireworks. The point of the litigation was to require them to comply with the CEQA process so that people can see the impact of the fireworks, which includes chemicals and debris falling into La Jolla Cove, as well as noise and air pollution. Once those impacts are identified and quantified, the decision-making body can still go ahead and vote for the project. They just can't vote for it without conducting a review to allow the public to know what the decision-makers are voting for exactly."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Crimes against San Diego pets

Kensington, Little Italy, Ocean Beach, City Heights, Tijuana, Prescott, Arizona
Next Article

Imperial Beach renters scramble

Hawaiian Gardens and Sussex Gardens inhabitants fear remodel evictions

The city's decision to fight the lawsuits over fireworks at La Jolla Cove has officially backfired. On Tuesday, June 17, city councilmembers were asked to approve doling out $250,000 to the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation for costs associated with the four-year-long legal battle in exchange for calling an end to the four lawsuits.

The lawsuits, filed in 2010, alleged that the city failed to address environmental impacts of fireworks at La Jolla Cove. In addition, the suits claimed that no permits were ever obtained and it was yet another instance of the city failing to follow California's Environmental Quality Act.

The lawsuits themselves didn’t threaten a planned Fourth of July fireworks display in La Jolla this year, says the website for the nonprofit La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation, the group in charge of raising money. According to their message, the organization "raised sufficient funding for the 2014 show; however, the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation regrets to inform the community that this year's 2014 Fourth of July event has been unable to retain a fireworks company at this late juncture.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“The 2014 Fourth of July Fireworks at La Jolla Cove will need to be cancelled because of the lack of any available licensed fireworks companies to perform the show. The litigation by activists had unfortunately significantly delayed the necessary 2014 funding to the point where all available fireworks companies have become committed to other events. The City of San Diego has been wonderfully supportive in continuing the La Jolla event and has incurred substantial expense in settling the four years of litigation by environmental activists."

"Substantial expense" is correct. In fact, the $250,000 settlement is just a small portion of the city’s bill for fighting these suits. Throughout the four-year-long legal battle, judges ruled against the city in three of the cases already decided on (those three are currently under appeal). Yet, despite the rulings, in 2012 the city — with the approval of the city council and city attorney — spent $157,984 to hire outside legal counsel, as first reported by the Reader.

At the time, city attorney Jan Goldsmith defended his decision to ask for outside help. “There is a role for outside private law firms assisting the City in cases where it is impossible or impracticable for the City Attorney’s Office to act as the City’s lawyers. These are situations involving conflicts of interests or special areas of practice.”

To some, the case is about more than the environmental hazards of fireworks: it reveals how guidelines as laid out by the California Environmental Quality Act still fail to be implemented.

"What people may not understand is the way [the California Environmental Quality Act] works is to provide a transparent process for projects that impact the environment," says attorney Bryan Pease, who specializes in CEQA litigation.

"The law does not mandate a result. So as long as the decision-makers have identified all the environmental impacts so the public is aware, they can still vote to approve a project that may negatively affect the environment. The point is just to have transparency in the process so people are aware of what's really going on.

“Nobody is saying the city can't have fireworks. The point of the litigation was to require them to comply with the CEQA process so that people can see the impact of the fireworks, which includes chemicals and debris falling into La Jolla Cove, as well as noise and air pollution. Once those impacts are identified and quantified, the decision-making body can still go ahead and vote for the project. They just can't vote for it without conducting a review to allow the public to know what the decision-makers are voting for exactly."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Will Carlsbad re-open door to drive-thru eateries?

Chick-fil-A now compensates by using curbside mobil ordering
Next Article

Pastor Lisa Perry finds God in dive bars

Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader