The Compton City Council has voted almost unanimously to suspend the issuance of permits for the sale of fireworks, citing its authority under the municipal code. Fireworks have been a long-standing point of contention within the Compton community for at least the past decade.
In 2017, the City Council placed a Charter Amendment on the ballot that proposed a ban on all firework sales and voters at the time rejected said charter amendment.
Prior to this recent decision, the City Council held a public hearing within the last month to allow community members to express their views on the presence of fireworks in the city. The municipal code grants the council the discretion to revisit this decision and potentially reinstate the sale of fireworks in the future.
During the meeting where the suspension was enacted, City Clerk Satra Zurita reported receiving ten applications for firework stands from the vendor TNT Fireworks on April 1st.
Mayor Emma Sharif expressed surprise, requesting the City Clerk to repeat her statement. It was noted that the City of Compton had not yet initiated the application process for organizations interested in operating firework stands.
Despite this, the firework vendor had already submitted applications on behalf of select organizations to the City Clerk’s office.
Councilmember Spicer abstained from the vote, while the remaining Compton Councilmembers voted unanimously in favor of suspending firework sales until further notice.
