An email thread between a former Guadalupe mayor and current city leaders on illegal fireworks kindled public attention less than 48 hours after the convo began.
On July 8, Guadalupe resident Frances Romero copied a handful of city staffers and elected officials on a Public Records Act (PRA) request regarding information on illegal fireworks citations issued in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The following day, Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety Michael Cash included the request in a report presented to the Guadalupe City Council.
“It is ridiculous that this illegal activity persists year after year, getting progressively worse,” Romero wrote in one of the emails, included as items distributed during the City Council’s July 9 meeting.
“We have historically had to exit our home for the weekend closest to [July 4] for many years for the sanity of our dogs,” said Romero, who also recounted past dog kenneling fees in the email. “We should not have to incur these expenses and inconveniences because of the city’s lack of action.”
In Romero’s first message, the former mayor included “PRA Request” in the subject line and asked how many illegal fireworks citations were issued each year between 2021 and 2024 and how many of the fines dated between 2021 and 2023 were paid in full.
“I would have thought that since prior to 2020 this topic has been raised … that this information would have already been tracked,” Romero said in a separate email after Cash replied that compiling the requested info could take more than 10 days.
“If you don’t measure outcomes, how can you determine if you are achieving anything?” Romero wrote in the same message.
At the City Council’s July 9 meeting, Cash addressed Romero’s initial questions and said that 24 illegal fireworks citations were issued in Guadalupe between 2021 and 2023. Fourteen citations have been paid in full, while nine remain “in collections,” said Cash, who added that the fines are $1,000 each.
One citation in 2022 was dismissed, according to the staff report.
Thanks to recently reviewed drone footage, Cash added that 15 citations will be issued in response to illegal fireworks that were lit in Guadalupe on July 4 this year.
“Some people think that we go and give a ticket directly to the people. We’ve tried that before and … usually it comes to a confrontation,” Cash said at the July 9 meeting.
“There’s a lot of people drinking that night. … People are barbecuing. They’re in their driveways. Between 20 and 30 people are there, and you can only imagine if we tried to make a physical arrest with only two officers,” Cash added. “It is unsafe.”
Cash explained that Guadalupe’s police department uses a drone “to pinpoint what the activity is, and then we send letters of compliance to the houses” where illegal fireworks are spotted.
“That’s how we do the enforcement,” Cash said. “That way we don’t have confrontations, and we’re there to deal with … if there’s any fires or anything else as far as public safety [on July 4].”
While able to catch footage of fireworks at night, Guadalupe’s police drone is usually restricted to day use, Cash explained.
“We’re going to be asking [the Finance Department] for a night drone. The drone we have is for daytime and doesn’t have lights,” Cash said. “So, we can’t really see a whole lot when it gets super dark, unless people light things up.”
This article appears in Jul 18-28, 2024.