July 5, 2007
DIY Fireworks Shows Spark Complaints
Long after the official fireworks display had ended last night, the District's neighborhoods cracked and popped as residents of all types took to the streets with fireworks of their own. The city's DIY fireworks culture isn't anything new -- we reported on it last year -- but its opponents seem to have gotten much more vocal.
Over the last week, residents have taken to neighborhood listservs to decry the July 4th tradition, arguing that the sale and use of fireworks -- both illegal and otherwise -- has become a nuisance and a threat. The MPD-1D listserv, which addresses crime and safety issues in the First District, was witness to numerous complaints of fireworks shows, both legal and otherwise. The complaints got so intense that both the police and fire departments were forced to respond -- prior to the 4th, police reported having arrested various individuals and confiscated hundreds of boxes of illegal fireworks; a tip line was set up to report fireworks-related disturbances and police officers were assigned to the task of shutting down illegal shows throughout the city. And though the worst has ended, this morning various residents echoed another complaint -- the fireworks debris littering their neighborhoods.
Photo by Intangible Arts.
In response, some have thrown out the idea of a total ban on fireworks. While pretty much anything above the level of a sparkler is currently illegal -- anything that explodes, propels and spins is a no-no -- some residents have argued that the D.C. Council should consider a prohibition on the sale of fireworks within the District. Improvised stands throughout the city offer legal fireworks, but have also been accused of serving as conduits for the stuff that's noisier and more dangerous. The call for a ban even has official support -- Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin has backed it.
Does a total ban go too far? Are some residents complaining too loudly about something that is to be expected in an urban environment? Or are we simply lucky enough that only a few people have gotten seriously hurt by illegal fireworks so far, and that it's only a matter of time before something deadly happens? How did your neighborhood fare last night?
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Wow could you yuppies be any more lame?
The Mall's fireworks have nothing on the neighborhood shows. They are best part of 4th of July. I sat on a Columbia Heights rooftop for the first time and watch coolest 4th I've ever seen, as thousands of m-60s, black cats, and saturn missiles were unloaded.
This year more people have been hurt by legal professional firework shows than DIY hacks. And what kind of ban can you do when PA is just a short drive away; plus VA has tons of lesser fireworks too. Also when you have the majority of DCPD doing traffic and mall duty for the 4th, whose going to enforce anything?
I think the fireworks laws in DC should be harmonized with surrounding jurisdictions. If bottle rockets and cherry bombs are illegal in Arlington, PG and MoCo, they should be illegal here. Columbia Heights sounds and looks like a war zone this time of year and while I could care less if kids hurt themselves, it's only a matter of time before fireworks landing on an apartment building roof ignite a serious fire. The last couple of years we have been spared by soakings from rainstorms, but next year we may not be so lucky. And yes, the debris left over on the streets has to be cleaned up by someone...
Appropos of nothing on fireworks, I love that the map on the MPD 1D page you link to shows "South Capitol Street" as "North Capitol Street."
Until you have lived on a block taken over by fireworks-weilding kids (in full view of their parents mind you) you don't realize how bad the problem is. My entire block was essentially a war zone from the time the rain stopped yesterday until about 2am. I'm not just talking about firing the few odd fireworks into the air, I'm talking about firing rockets directly at cars, at houses, and even at other people. The cloud of smoke and sulfur was so thick that it set off my smoke detector.
Not only is it a wonder that more people aren't hurt each year, but it is a wonder that there aren't more fires. I watched as multiple fireworks landed mere inches from my wooden deck.
I called the police, they said they would send a car around, but never did. It would have done little use anyway as it was nearly impossible to safely drive the street and I doubt two cops would be willing to risk injury or burns to run the gauntlet set-up by my neighbors.
Today the streets and lawns are littered with debris. I guess I shouldn't count on the neighborhood kids having the common courtesy to clean up after themselves.
I guess what amazes me most about all of this is how so many adults in the city simply accept this as a fact of life, some sort of "rite of passage" that their kids, some as young as 10, should go through. These parents buy kids dangerous and illegal fireworks, then stand by while they terrorize a neighborhood with them. It is truly incredible.
Its a shame, but I don't think I will stick around for this next year. July 4th will find me out of town, maybe at the beach or the mountains. It really is a shame that as a tax-paying citizen of the District of Columbia, I am essentially deprived of my right to walk a few blocks from my house to the National Mall to watch the concert and fireworks.
I, for one, love the unregulated, anarchic, dangerous neighborhood show at Lincoln Park, and contribute generously to the mayhem.
Seriously, as long as no one is hurting bystanders, calm the F down. It's supposed to be a festive day people. It's once a year. You can return to your boring and quiet existence for the other 364 days.
Guest 6, a war zone? A shame? You're getting a little dramatic.
I pay taxes too, and I feel far from terrorized when I see Mount Pleasant living up to its name for once with light shows on every other stoop. If someone wanted to terrorize you, there are much cheaper and easier ways of doing it than with sparklers and roman candles, used, as you say, under parent supervision.
Guest 9, unlike you, I own my house. When it goes up in flames because some kids are lighting off fireworks off of my porch, are you going to come by and help me rebuild?
Didn't think so.
I was on the bus up 14th Str yesterday and saw two kids aiming and firing roman candles at eachother oblivious to the danger to themselves and the bus passangers as the sparks wizzed by.
I agree with Guest 6. There's fun and there's recklessness. Hate to be the thirty-something killjoy, but one trip to the ER is all it takes to make a night really lame. (I know, I know, it's all fun and games until someone losses an eye. Makes a great pirate costume on those 364.)
As for parental "supervision": it's fine when it's excercised, that is, a chance to teach kids about safety and respect for others.
...oh yeah, and
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/07/03/hscout604825.html
Plus, those professionals getting injured have the workers comp to pay for it...
Seriously, are we defending people who shoot fireworks at other people? I don't mind the noise or the show or even the kids whose parents obviously don't care that their 10 year old could blow her face off, but there's a big difference between playful fun and that kind of malice.
Guest 10 and 6,
If your deck was built and maintained worth a damn, its going to take a whole lot more than a spark from a roman candle to light up pressure treated lumber. Anyways you should be using compost material for your deck, last longer and environmentally friendly.
Composite nor compost.
I totally agree with Guest 6. Unlike many of the cretins setting off the fireworks, and quite possibly their parents, I have to wake up at 5:00am every day to "work" at my "job." Because of the debacle going on outside my door last night, I'm super tired today.
Besides all that, however, how does it make any sense that in DC, in this time of heightened security, we would make it EASY for someone to obtain explosive devices?
Loganite - I really hope you're writing that comment from work right now. Haha.
If you don't support roman candle death-matches then you hate America.
My HOUSE alarm was set off twice (until I turned it off) after 11pm last night due to the explosions outside of my house.
No matter what, that's just not too cool.
I live on 14th and Belmont, and there were a ton of fireworks going off pre and post show. I wanted to get to bed early, but the noise was ridiculous. I have to say though, it's not an every day occurence. Maybe it's that I'm not so far removed from the time when summer vacation meant goofing off, but it doesn't really bother me so much.
That being said, shooting fireworks AT people is never okay.
Oh for the love of pete! It's one bloody night, get over yourselves.
So is "I wanted to get to bed early" the new "you kids get off my lawn?"
I'm with #8, most of these kids are going to be dead, in jail, or being beaten in juvie in a couple of years anyway. Let them have their fun. And so what if they burn half their face off? That's some serious street cred, right there. They idolize Scarface anyway. All they need is one of those creepy Falseface masks, learn to talk like Malachi Throne, and they'll rule the streets with their henchmen. That is, until Commissioner Gordon turns on the Batsignal.
You guests are gonna be real pissed when these kids come to your door on Halloween dressed in their day clothes, yelling, "Gimme some candy, white muthaf***er!"
The Fourth of July is a day when we celebrate casting off tyranny. The last thing we should do is indulge all the nouveaux mini-tyrants carping about the noise, the smell, the (still quite small) risk to their property, the risk to (mostly other people's) safety, and so on, and so on, and so on. They would undo our freedoms (to do more than light fireworks) with their endless piss-ant complaints.
Regulating fireworks on the Fourth of July is an attack on the rule of law: No good American should obey. Viva the American Revolution!
The gathering near Cardozo was great. Plenty of fireworks (apparently strong enough to be illegal) going off in what seemed to be a relatively safe manner--the dozen or so police officers on motorcycles didn't seem to mind (and neither did anyone else)! Everyone out there--regardless of race, age, etc--seemed to be having a lot of fun and chatted with each other. Frankly, that was the best part of the holiday in my opinion.
"What better way to celebrate the birth of your country than by blowing up a small part of it."
-The Simpsons
On that note, let's be reasonable: firecrackers and bottle rockets? Feh. Let 'em have their fun. Stuff that's powerful to blow a crater in the street? Not so much. Nuts to banning everything, but let's enforce some common sense on people.
Cardozo was indeed great. God forbid our city indulge in something spontaneous once a year!!
This is America after all, and if parents are okay with their children risking burns to partake in the celebration, that's their decision--not ours. Jeez, my mom always told me never to use fireworks, but do you think that stopped me?
And you don't like the noise on a day of celebration? Cry me a river.
I sat upon my roof and watched the real show take place - simultaneous fireworks shows to the east (Col Hts, Petworth, Shaw, etc) and NOTHING to the west (Rock Creek and all points west). There was also a nice show on the steps of the Masonic temple on 16th. It was all pretty impressive. Can't say the same for those punks who were throwing strings of firecrackers at the bum who was sitting on the street, though. That was just fucked.
@ Guest #27. Either you haven't lived here long, are totally ignorant, or are just super PC. Monkeyrotica is one of the few posters on this board with the cajones to call it like it is. The examples you label racist are a part of many DC citizens' everyday life. BTW, Monkey, I knew about the MFer part, but I didn't know you were overweight. Oprah can help you with that.--dodgecitydave
Is it just me or have the "guests" been particularly troll-o-rific lately? Obviously not all of them are, but it just seems like there are more dickheads posting needless ad hominems since the advent of the new commenting system.
Ok, I'm agreed with most of the crowd here -- fireworks in general fun, they're pretty, and if you're the one using them, you assume the danger of getting your arm/hand/face blown off. In fact, I'm all for neighborhood gatherings where adults (who know better than to run around holding them and throw them at things) are setting them off in a controlled environment like a parking lot, where there are a lot fewer cars/homes/people to set on fire. If you want to do that, go for it, even if it IS until 2am.
That being said, setting off fireworks on a narrow DC street near a lot of old buildings, thowing them AT people, and setting off the kind of things that can blow a small crater in the street while there are other kids around are things that, in my opinion, should be more tightly controlled.
Also, I think people are just grumpy about it this 5th of July because instead of taking a long weekend, most folks had to work.
we never would have defeated england without blowing some shit up.
Shooting firecrackers at other people is as disenheartening as not being able to post view-points without name calling.
Everyone thinks those who don't agree with them are wrong. That's why they call them opinions.
Man, this is some rich shit.
As a general rule, DCist commenters believe that teenagers in the city tend to be excessively thuggish, and believe that the police rarely do anything to do with teens fucking around.
BUT, almost every time someone suggests creating prohibitions on some product used disproportionately by teens (and, really, how many 50 year olds are the users of 2 a.m. fireworks?), those same DCist commenters can't believe that, y'know, fucking yuppies are being such uptight squares, and c'mon man, lighten up, and City Living! Great! Rich!
Seems like forbidding some fireworks would allow quality-of-life policing. Or we can bitch about about it for a few more years.
the peeps who write nasty comments towards other readers are always the rat faced jerks who are too afraid to show their name, lest someone be able to identify them.
Monkey is totally right. The people who were up last night setting stuff off are the same people who aren't going to work today and who pick up the checks paid for (in part) by my tax money--the same money I am earning at work right now and for which I had to get up super early.
Any parent worth their spit wouldn't allow their kids to be outside at 1am setting off explosives.
#32 hit it right on the head. But when you live in a city where the idea of fun for many is throwing rocks at bicyclists and mugging people, it's reasonable to be nervous about the idea that some of those same braintrusts have access to low-grade incendiary devices.
Personally, I loved the mayhem. Then again, nobody shot or threw anything at my property or my person. But I remember when I was young, doing the same kind of stuff. The sound of bottle rockets going off in the night and that distinctive smell of sulphur just takes me back.
Yes, I am tired at work today, but so what. It was a fucking celebration. I'd like to see an equal amount of bitching next time there's a 3 AM thunderstorm that rolls through the area.
I expect some celebration on the 4th. I live in a major city for a reason. If I wanted peace and quiet 365 days a year, I'd live in a bumfracking rural shack. A little craziness every once in a while is part of life in the city.
If people could use fireworks responsibly and keep them out of the hands of small children, I wouldn't mind but I spent most of last night clenching my teeth while looking out the window at children ages 5-12 shooting rockets directly at one another while their parents, ages 13-19 looked on. Everybody just thought it was hilarious watching toddlers with limited motor skills shoot explosives just feet away from other toddlers, cars, people, animals and homes.
Yes, it was fun to go up on my roof and see the show, but it wasn't worth it. And of course, now I have to pick up the mess that's littered on my street, cause none of the kids that did it will.
I must be the last guy left who doesn't mind paying his taxes, and frankly, I'd rather they go to someone blowing off firecrackers on my street than someone blowing off bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And once again, if there are too many black people in this city holding down your property values on your $739,000 home, move to motherfucking Virginia and shut the fuck up. And as a bonus, you'll find that their tax rate is much lower than DC's. Go one jurisdiction south and vote the hell out of the Republican primary, mkay?
I might just have to light a few fireworks tonight in protest of the dumbass guest comments.
Why is everybody so celebratory about this holiday, anyway? Quite frankly, I'd rather we remained part of the British empire until a more natural breaking away, like Canada did. What was it all abotu anyway? Some stamp and tea taxes? BFD! It wasn't about "freedom" - we had slavery until the Civil War! England did not. It's too late to turn back the clock, but why bother celebrate, anyway. Nothing but stupid, over-the-top revelry about a misguided rebellion against a legitimate government over 200 years ago.
If this were only going on on the 4th, and if people weren't aiming fireworks at other cars and people, I'd have no problem with it. However, where I live in Capitol Hill, the residents in the apartment complex across the street from my house have been setting off fireworks since LATE APRIL!!! Every single day, day and night, fireworks were set off. Instead of 364 days of quiet, we get more like 275.
In this particular area, kids add fireworks to the rocks, bottles, and cans they throw at passers by just for the hell of it. Even worse, these fireworks are being used to mask shootings. There have been several shootings in the last few months where either fireworks were deliberately used to mask the gunshots, or residents literally across the street from the shooting had no idea that it took place- they just thought it was another firecracker.
I don't know what the solution is, but personally, I would like to know when to hit the deck if there's a shootout. People are being irresponsible enough that I think an all-out ban would be just, but realistically, the people we really have to worry about would just go above and beyond to find illegal fireworks.
I, too, am "lucky" to live on one of those blocks completely overrun by kids and fireworks on the fourth of July. I am certainly happy to see the kids having so much fun, but in response to guest 6, it is NOT a one-day event. These kids gear up a week in advance, setting off fireworks at all hours of the night and I'm sure, like last year, will continue over the next few days. Yes, typically the fourth of July is one night and I can deal with that, but in my neck of the woods it becomes a week(s)-long war-zone.
Lighten up, people. It's the Fourth of effin' July.
I live right near Cardozo, am also a homeowner and wouldn't have minded the street fireworks stopping earlier, too, but once again, it's the Fourth of July!
When was the last time you heard of a kid burning down a house with fireworks. Hmmm...I can't recall ever hearing that. So you're really just concerned for the kids' safety? Yeah, right.
I think you're just too easily irritated. Chill.
And for those with the "cracker" comments and other comments with racial overtones: must EVERYTHING be made to be about race in this city?
Yeah. Stupid question, I know.
Well, I have now experienced my first Columbia Heights 4th of July and I loved it!!!
First, I will agree that the trash that has been left on the streets, sidewalks, schools and medians is disgusting, but that's a complaint I have about the neighborhood in general, every day of the year.
But, the scene itself was a blast (no pun intended)!
Everyone out on their stoops, porches and yards, enjoying themselves, laughing, the very pretty fireworks (it's amazing how beautiful some of the stand-bought fireworks can be), even dancing!
I guess if i had an early morning meeting today I would have not liked the noise until 1 am, but since I didn't, I sat out on my porch until late taking in the scene and enjoying it.
Shooting firecrackers at other people is as disenheartening as not being able to post view-points without name calling.
You mean like calling someone a "racist fat motherfucker"?
I'm of the opinion that people of goodwill can and, perhaps more importantly, should have differences of opinion. But people who are slathered in that courage.com and allow their -isms out in the form of anonymous guest postings don't deserve to be taken seriously.
I used to live right by Cardoza High. By and large, you have wide streets up there and it is not nearly as crazy at it is in northeast on the 4th. We have really narrow streets with cars on both sides, and I'm telling you, tiny children shooting these things AT EACH OTHER. In one instance, I saw a girl chasing a group of kids down the street shooting one of those repeating rockets directly at them. It's insane.
Oh boy. A bunch of racism in this thread... in all directions. Truly though, it's not a race issue. It's a lot more than black and white. It's more about common sense, self-respect, and community awareness. Where I am originally from, the people doing stupid shit with explosives on the fourth were not exclusively black OR white; but they were exclusively stupid.
When I lived at 17th and Euclid, the "local" fireworks shows would start a few days before the 4th and end a few days after the 4th. So, the 4th of July generally lasted for about a week!
Keep in mind, the only people that were critically hurt yesterday were spectators and workers of organized, state-sponsored fireworks shows. If the real issue is safety, logic apparently dictates that the organized shows are the problem -- not the ones on the street.
Reasonable: Fireworks are great and all, but maybe 10 year olds shouldn't be shooting them at people and cars while their parents look on and laugh at 1 am. Maybe we should look at the possibility of restricting fireworks usage for the greater protection and reasonable enjoyment of all.
Unreasonable: Fuck you, you nazi fascist racist prick! Move to Virginia! You're a Republican! You're a Democrat! You're a yuppie! This is the city, MAAAAAAAAN! This is how we do things here! You're a racist and probably a homo too! Asshole!
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Salvadorians will use any - and I mean ANY - excuse to blow shit up. Never before in my life have I seen fireworks on Easter!
If anybody was at Cardozo High School around 7p.m., then they could not miss the crowd of young boys shooting off roman candles at people walking by. In addition, they also shot at the apartment buildings across the street and actually struck the building. Those people that were on the balcony actually had to take cover. The boys ran off after somebody yelled that he called the police. I'm all for fun and games especially enjoying fireworks but it was ridiculous. Let us just enjoy a holiday without having to worry about violence in our backyards!
Keep in mind, the only people that were critically hurt yesterday were spectators and workers of organized, state-sponsored fireworks shows.
I guess you didn't hear about the woman who managed to blow herself up right in front of her fiancee and her kids, huh?
OK guys, the name calling and threats have to stop or I'll shut this thread down. I've already removed a couple of comments for this type of language. Let's treat each other like human beings, please.
I too live on one of those narrow NE blocks where people start letting off fireworks in April and the 4th of July is an insane free-for-all with toddlers wielding Roman candles and M-80s going off at 2 a.m. The first year we lived there I thought it was kind of amazing, and this year I thought it was annoying as shit (some of us in my house have a little PTSD stemming from a shooting on our property last fall).
Reading these comments, though, I have to say that I hate to complain about any quality of life annoyances anymore--illegal fireworks and drinking singles come to mind--because I hate being lumped in with all of the DC yuppie gentrifiers' thinly veiled racism.
When some kids started lighting roman candles and other sparkly things about 6 inches from where I'd locked my bike outside my friend's place near Cardozo, I was at first worried they might burn/melt/otherwise damage it. When I realized the sparks were flying off it harmlessly, I sat back and enjoyed the show while I sat on the steps. And when I got home (yes, to the apartment I own) to Mt. Pleasant, I was at first concerned that someone seemed to be shooting off firecrackers directly outside my first floor window, but soon fell asleep anyway. And yes, getting up for work this morning was no fun, but that was pretty much going to be the case no matter what after a day off.
These fireworks displays are going to happen, and the best thing to do about it is probably, to paraphrase Kubrick, to stop worrying and learn to love them.
Since no one's on here posting about the terrible house fires the fireworks started last night, it seems like nearly everyone who's upset about potential risk to their property has little in the way of an actual gripe. Or am I wrong? Does anyone have any actual tangible evidence that this is harmful behavior?
Apparently nobody noticed the harmful behavior I mentioned that has been taking place with fireworks since April:
1.) Aiming them at people
2.) Using them to mask gunshots
Again, if it were just displays and a little craziness ON JULY 4TH, I'd have no gripes. But three months of noise, harassment, and facilitation of much more serious crimes? That's a little much.
it's not the safety issue that's the problem with these comments -- it's the consistent, privileged position of the "they" who might wreck someone's home, deck, etc., the "this is MY city" mentality that keeps getting expresed in the anonymous comments that's the issue here, at least for me.
and I haven't read anywhere credible that people are using fireworks to mask gunshots. so I'm thinking that that's just urban legend.
finally, I don't lump racists and homosexuals together. homoPHOBES, yes., but it's not cool to use homos as a synonym for a messed up person. or did that not get taught in high school? oh, wait. of course it didn't.
this is an example of why gentrifiers are not liked. They move into a new neighborhood and immediately try to ban anything they dislike or don't understand, rather than getting to know the neighborhood.
To those who act this way, as you live your life keep it in the back of your mind that you are not welcome in your new home, even by some of your fellow white folk who have lived here a little longer than you have. Forcing your way on your neighborhood may seem to reap rewards in the short term, but there will come a day when you will need your neighbors. Will they be there for you?
There was such a gluttony of fireworks going off last evening that I can only surmise that the drug dealers have had a profitable year so far.
And before I close, the comment regarding fireworks being illegal in Maryland and Virginia and thus should be illegal in DC -- guns are legal in both states so why doesn't DC make them legal?
" ohh... my deck, I don't like noise, maybe I'll go to my vacation house in the mountains or the one at the beach... poor me. God you suck. Just uptight yuppie gentrifiers who don't like it when the neighborhood kids do something that they have been doing since way before you moved into your newly "safe" neighborhood and drove out their grandma with skyrocketing property values.
"They move into a new neighborhood and immediately try to ban anything they dislike or don't understand."
Um, no one's trying to ban anything or force their way. What part of "I'd rather not have fireworks shot directly at my body or house" don't you people understand? Just because certain kinds of behavior was accepted in the bad old days doesn't mean it should continue to be.
I think the more important issue here is that some yuppie assholes fucked up my entire apartment building's mojo by acting like yuppie assholes and getting our roof deck shut down. That's right, some trust fund toting, ass eating (I mean that in a bad way), thinly veiled racist has destroyed the only thing that makes my 400 sq./ft apartment worth the $1200 rent (hey, I'm new and I didn't want to get mugged). So I say, FUCK YOU, to people that think you're entitled to stake your claim and impose your delusional unwritten rules of "society".
To those who act this way, as you live your life keep it in the back of your mind that you are not welcome in your new home, even by some of your fellow white folk who have lived here a little longer than you have.
Translation: Sure I'm white and I've lived in Columbia Heights for 18 months, but I'M DOWN! My neighbors know this!
also, please register so you don't sound like a "guest" asshole.
If the offenders were white, you would probably know who they were because you wouldn't have been scared to approach and befriend the residents of your own community when you moved in.
If the teens were white, you wouldn't be so afraid to confront their parents about their behavior. If you sought to become a part of the community you moved into, perhaps you would know the names of the offenders, know their families, and wouldn't hesitate to call authorities if all other avenues had failed.
Too often, newcomers seek legal, criminal and political solutions instead of community solutions, and the cause of this disconnect is race.
The masking of gunshots is NOT an urban legend. It is something that we were advised of on the MPD-1A listserv BY THE POLICE. I was also home one day when someone was shot with a shotgun across the street from my house and I (and several neighbors) thought nothing of (thinking it was fireworks) until we saw the incident reported on the listerv BY THE POLICE the next day.
The police don't urge people to call 311 to report urban legends.
Fireworks are very much legal in VA and to a lesser degree in MD. Only restriction is that they don’t shoot up more than a few feet or explode. Most of the heavy-duty stuff is coming from PA. Where almost everything is legal including professional mortars. They are cheap, powerful and awesome. Best part is that they carter to out of state customers. PA law states that as long as you are a whole seller and are buying fireworks for immediate export out of the state you can have all and whatever you want. Oh you are a whole seller if you buy $50 or more.
Forcing your way on your neighborhood may seem to reap rewards in the short term, but there will come a day when you will need your neighbors. Will they be there for you?
When would I ever need my neighbors? When their kids break into my car for fun?
When one of their "meeeen" comes back from prison and they throw a party to celebrate his release?
When they park one of their "Eastern Market-special" blinged out luxury cars they can't afford illegally and blast the stereo at all hours?
When they use the "ghetto doorbell" (shouting ebonics from the street to the 5th floor) to alert their friend that they want to be buzzed into the building?
Bottom line, we will WIN this battle. It is only a matter of time. The city is changing, for the better. The days of the perpetual ghetto culture of failure are over.
Enjoy your fireworks now. In five years you will be forced out of this city for good and finally, DC will be a safe and decent place to live.
come on, don't let this anonymous coward go unmasked. post with meaning, and a name. you wouldn't do so in real life.
"When was the last time you heard of a kid burning down a house with fireworks[?]" (question mark added, since you made an assertion)
I tell ya what, Magoo, you go drop "fireworks house fire" into Google News. There were house fires, started by fireworks, in Nebraska, Washington state, California, Oregon, Michigan, New York and Louisiana yesterday. And that's just the first 10 results on the page. So your pithy rejoinder is not so pithy, and not particularly cogent.
And Everett, while I'm happy they just got the summer Internet hooked up in the dorms, other people have also lived in D.C. for a while, and - SUPRISE! - we do not all own big homes, and are not yuppies. You should learn some reading and debating skills if you want to carry on comment back-and-forth here. Because "if there are too many black people in this city holding down your property values" is a little too much ad hominem, and a little too little substance.
Some of the most vocal anti-neighborhood fireworks types are the African American grandmothers. Sure, their grandkids (and great grandkids) use them but, if you take the time to get to know and speak with them, they'll tell you just who's selling in the hope you'll have better luck shutting the sellers down than they have for these past 20+ years.
And BTW- DCist- some of these "guest" commentators are asses. #68 is just a facile example. Just STFU about the race and class war already, alright? You wouldn't talk like that on the street, would you?
guest #68 - I guess my first question is who is this "we" you speak of and what the hell does Eastern Market have to do with cars?
Obviously you're entitled to whatever ridiculous opinion you want to espouse, but what do you think you're accomplishing with a post like this; I mean, do you think that's going to be a jumping off point for some critical and thoughtful debate? Would you dare to say any of that to someone's face?
Please give me your address so I can light a huge bottle rocket on your front doorstep. Move to the Burbs is you can't deal with a COUPLE of days of loud firecrackers... IT's better than kids shooting .22s, .380s or 9mms in the air like everyone used to do in the early 80s-late 90s....
Address please???? ROTFLMAO
My experience last night:
Two separate families across the street from my house set off about $2k worth of legal fireworks each all night, swept up all the mess meticulously with push brooms and disposed of all litter in plastic bags. It was a great time for all involved, no one got hurt or threatened, and everyone in the neighborhood was treated with respect. VERY GOOD!
Watching the mall fireworks from Maryland Ave. NE with friends, some kids approached the gathered crowd shooting roman candles at each other, which they quickly turned on the crowd. A couple times the blasts went off less then 10 feet from someone's head. VERY BAD!!
Dearest Jim--
1. Thank you for taking 15 years off my age. I recently had a birthday and I'm grateful to roll back the ole odometer a bit!
2. I did not say that everybody on the list was a white supremacist luxury homeowner, but thanks for generalizing. If you don't see yourself in my comments, then great! But reading some of these, most recently guest #68, I stand by what I said earlier.
2a. That generalizing bit of yours, Jim -- that's like Tactics to Avoid, Rhetoric and Debate 101. At least it was when I taught college-level rhetoric.
3. You're so helpful in pointing out my particular weaknesses of logic and argument, because you know, the DCist COMMENT BOARD is the bastion, nay, the cornerstone of rigorous thought and intellectual prowress.
Cheers!
Ev
I love how some people actually think that (1) this is an issue that only affects DC, and not ever city, town and suburb in the country, and (2) that it actually has ANYTHING to do with race, like all black people set off fireworks or something. Give me a break.
If the offenders were white, you would probably know who they were because you wouldn't have been scared to approach and befriend the residents of your own community when you moved in.
That's a pretty big assumption, isn't it, Guest 65? Meeting your neighbors and fostering relationships takes time. I live in a mostly white city neighborhood, and I don't know any of my neighbors, and there's really no sense of community here. I might get a nod when I enter my apartment building, but that's about it. The rule is: don't mess with me, and I won't mess with you. So I would be very surprised if the brisk young professionals who live in these gentrifying neighborhoods are actually terrified of black people. They just don't want to take the time to be a friend to everyone, and to be honest, I don't blame them. People shouldn't be obliged to be sociable. If you want to foster a sense of community, that's wonderful. But to force yourself to do so because you're afraid of the teenagers in your neighborhood--that's ridiculous.
#76, it's called "the double standard." It's one thing for Huck and Tom to shoot off bottle rockets at the local gazebo under the shadow of the elms, it's quite another for Antwayne and Lysol to throw M80s at eachother. The former is just kids indulging in time-honored summer tradition, the latter is part of an urban underculture youth violence gang initiation and criminal conditioning.
All you people who are so concerned for the children's welfare should immediately contact Rep. Jim "Never Met a Club Shutdown He Didn't Like" Graham and insist he push for emergency legislation to put DC's bicycle laws in line with the suburbs. It should be illegal for children to ride bikes without helmets, gloves, kneepads, elbowpads, facemasks, and inflatable Michelin Man suits. This has the added advantage of making bike-riding roman candle war flameouts on Euclid Street much more entertaining for all involved, particularly if we can convince them to mandate the use of hydrogen in the Michelin Man suits.
#68, I always thought the "Eastern Market special" was the Market Lunch breakfast sandwich with double scrapple and extra cheese. Learn something new on dcist every damn day!
#68, I always thought the "Eastern Market special" was the Market Lunch breakfast sandwich with double scrapple and extra cheese. Learn something new on dcist every damn day!
Mmmmm, scrapple! I need to make a trip to Blue & White.
i think g68 meant eastern motors special.
you know, your job's your credit (credit)!
Yeah, my partner and I were discussing the "Eastern Market special" last night and thought that referred to the crepes. Silly us!
I may have to comb through the DCist Flickr files to find one of these cars, having never seen one despite going to Eastern Market twice a week.
i think g68 meant eastern motors special.
you know, your job's your credit (credit)!
and not to throw fire on the fireworks discussion, but...
http://sfist.com/2007/07/05/there_was_indee.php
Ok, I signed in. I'm not cowardly, just lazy and dumb.
For the record I was guest post 11,12,32.
whom we can later refer to as the thirtysomething killjoy, if you like. There's my new tactic, calling myself names so you don't have to.
I do feel better now, like I can look my fellow dcist commenters in the eye! It's not so bad, everybody, the water's fine!
But to get back to one bit of two cents... crap how many cents does that make? AH, I'm not making sense anyway. The professionals. Yes, yes, it's laughable that they got hurt, but it "just goes to show you" how dangerous fireworks are if the trained professionals injure themselves. SURE there's a happy medium. Yes there should be celebration, but safe ones.
I totally get where penniless bison is coming from, too.
Ok... I guess one bit and two cents would be 14.5 cents
http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_digest_05/stott070705.html
monkeyerotica, if you honestly believe half the crap you spew out here, you're quite possibly the most self-deluded person on this site. first off, huck and tom are too busy with their meth lab to bother set off fireworks. second off, as was pointed out, the exact same shit that people are complaining about - fireworks being shot off without regard to the personal safety of others (fireworks fired at people and moving cars), a lack of cleanup, and a total lack of parental supervision - don't just happen in the cities and are just as much a complained-about problem, which was the point.
And as for the people who want to stereotype and assume that anyone who was annoyed by the fireworks is a white-bread yuppie popped-collar republican asshole who should really move to the suburbs, fuck you. I know my neighbors. I barbeque with them. They watch my cats for me. And they were almost ALL as annoyed by the fireworks as I was. Hell, I helped some little kids a few houses down safely light their fireworks even though I didn't want to, because god knows their parents weren't around to do it. Then I cleaned up after them, which I didn't particularly mind, at least not as much as I would have minded the mess being left there to blow around the street.
Jesus fucking christ, enough with the acidic tone already. We get it, you're down with the brothas, you know how the slum's got so much soul. But your horrifying assumptions of whites AND blacks in this city are just way too much. Good for you, you went to a liberal arts school and had your eyes opened. Try some of this communications you keep harping on about, instead of just randomly calling people named a la Ann Coulter. It might do you some good. It might do all of us some good.
This guest commenter thing is an interesting case study. Guess what folks, posting under a pseudonym like Disco Stu or Everett does not make you any less anonymous on the internet than a "guest". Personal identifiers in either case are optional, email addresses are disposable, and regardless DCist can track you by your IP address, which is the only tangible way of identifying someone making a blog post. You are all anonymous to everyone else. The funny part is that guest posters somehow feel more free to post inflamatory crap from what I've seen the last few days. Will the registration option help or hurt the dialogue on DCist comment boards? Stay tuned and find out!
#86, WTF do you mean "quite possibly?"
Well, jonathan reese may still be around.
Guess what folks, posting under a pseudonym like Disco Stu or Everett does not make you any less anonymous on the internet than a "guest".
I know that Monkey is a Libertarian on acid and Everett is somewhere to the left of Chairman Mao. I'm a fratty douche meathead, Hillman gets really bent out of shape about being smoked on, and Chris Lee is the bastard son of Ward Connerly & Shelby Steele.
But Everett IS my name! I may be the only one using their actual name on this site, but well, I'm an open book.
Left of Chairman Mao, eh? That got me laughing out loud.
And once again, let me just say that it's not the complaining about the fireworks that I'm taking issue with, it's HOW some people are complaining about it, and what gets wrapped up in that. Perhaps the Internets are just too dull and crude to draw finer lines than your virtual bumper sticker slogans provide, but I'd like to at least try.
What I have been wondering this last week is if any of the named commentators are also posting anonymously. I'll have to pull out my linguistic and semantic code-breaker to run an algorithm on the entries to figure that one out.
Under the old system (once in a great while) I would throw on the old sock puppet, but not since the new login was put in place.
It's a cinch Everett smells better than Mao. Sumbitch didn't take a bath for 27 years. Here's a guy who said, "My genitals were washed inside the bodies of my women." Gonna try that line on Mrs. Monkey tonight while I'm waving my junk in her face.
I only go anonymous idiot when the thread gets really boring and I feel like being an asshole. Fortunately, our new guests have taken over that role quite nicely.
Can't wait for the next rock-chucking episode, or twee emo band from Portland playing Velvet Lounge. We'll be getting more asses than a Port-o-Let at the chili cookoff.
i, shaggy 3000blk georgia ave and heights stalking youngster...
only support fireworks busting at the yuppies and they hipster allies.
dont support wasted bangs and flashes.
roman candle for the people
a hard revolution's gonna come...
Columbia Heights was mostly white until the 1968 riots...
keep pushing your fireworks bans and your dog parks on the neighborhoods you're taking over, and watch your million dollar condo's value disappear overnight...
Yeah, #95, because fighting for the freedom to shoot off fireworks in the street is really worth rioting and destroying your own neighborhood over.
The impact of the 1968 riots was unfortunate, but at least back then the issues were civil rights and the assasination of Martin Luther King. Now, all the vacant lots left behind are being filled with new residents, and you're planing a "hard revolution" because they want a little peace and quite? BFD, my friend, deal with it and put it in some perspective.
You guys on this site amuse me...#1 if you tink all the kids are thugs and are going to die then leave. #2 YOU live in a CITY, where crime happens!
My mother used to buy us fireworks when I was a kid and we would set them off on THE FOURTH OF JULY all the time. It has been going on forever. Newcomers to this city want it to be a suburb so bad...I do not understand why you guys who hate the city do not just move to the surrounding suburbs so that you can have a quiet peaceful night 365 days out of the year.
Its a day of celebration and I do not mind kids or adults having fun.
Personally, I look forward to a time when I can be reasonably confident that any loud bang I hear is a gunshot. I don't mind the fireworks, but the last time I thought I heard a string of firecrackers, a twelve-year-old girl got shot down the street.
But if you don't like the hubbub on the fourth, stay indoors. No one's forcing you to be out on the street where kids can throw strings of firecrackers at your grimacing ass.
If all these Roman candles and firecrackers are already illegal, how will banning sparklers help? Seems to this old DC boy that using a few fireworks on the Fourth is only appropriate since we reside in our nations's capital. I say "Light those fountains and sparklers on the holiday and make a joyous noise! We're free people, for God's sake!"
Monkey [78], too late, DC law already requires kids under 16 to wear helmets (DC Code 50-1651), not that anyone enforces the law there.