Fireworks Canceled Electrical Failure

[Ryan Salo]

http://onelakewood.com/News.aspx?NewsID=222

The show may be rescheduled, we will find out tomorrow.

[Jeff Dreger]

We're not the only ones:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/us/califo ... ?hpt=hp_t2

[Charlie Page]

Well, these things happen. It's unfortunate but you can't get upset over these things. The word got around to us around 10:30ish as we were in the back of Lakewood Park near the bandstand. With two kids, we were already packing it in and on our way home. On the bright side, since people weren't leaving all at the same time, the bike ride home wasn't bad. A disappointing end to an otherwise great day.

I would hope they reschedule but not for tonight as we can't (shouldn't) keep our 6 and 8 year old up to 11pm two nights in a row.

BTW, I'm somewhat surprised the fireworks people didn't have a manual backup or another PC to get things going again.

[Edward Favre]

This is unfortunate, but with fireworks things can go wrong. Many of us remember 1982 when the entire display was set off in a matter of seconds by stray debris. People were injured and everybody was disappointed. Some people felt they had been cheated.

Last night, a mishap in San Diego set off their whole dispaly in mere seconds. Surely there are many disappointed folks there.

Mayor Summers offered an appology and I'm sure nobody in the City wanted this to happen and wish it had not. The public may have bveen inconvenienced, but safety was maintained. Rest assured this will be a major topic at City Hall today.

[Myra Beckrest]

Someone posted on cleveland.com stating that people's cars were getting towed from the old Giant Eagle parking lot while they went to the park for the show.

Can someone confirm this and confirm why?

[Ryan Salo]

Myra,

They probably did get towed. It is private property, the owners can tow cars parked illegally.

It happens during football games as well.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8657

[Betsy Voinovich]

http://onelakewood.com/News.aspx?NewsID=222

The show may be rescheduled, we will find out tomorrow.

Hi Ryan and all,

I'm really hoping the fireworks will be rescheduled. I mean they're paid for, according to reports it wasn't the City's fault that they didn't work-- I'm sure the company that was hired will have to make good-- we paid for them right (all part of the discussion held with children under ten last night.) They were so disappointed and worn out. It didn't occur to me that there was a possibility that they wouldn't be rescheduled so I told the kids that it would be in the next couple of days for sure. It is a huge deal to them-- something that gets talked about all year, and one of the highlights of living here.

I was just at CVS a couple of minutes ago buying a paper and a lady there asked if we had been waiting for fireworks last night-- I said yeah, and now I'm worried that they won't be rescheduled. She said, "the City will probably get a refund and use the money on something else. They'll put an "L" on the other side of the signs that we're already paying for but nobody asked us about."

Anyway, I told her I had high hopes for the fireworks. It was a beautiful Lakewood day yesterday, we ended it at the lawn at the School Board building, hearing Edgewater quite clearly including what sounded like an amazing finale. "Where are OUR fireworks?" my youngest kept saying. I'm hoping that they get to be our fireworks. This is one of the things our city does wonderfully.

Betsy Voinovich

[Paul Schrimpf]

If weather had cancelled the fireworks then we would not have already invested a significant amount of money in police overtime and crowd control. But those dollars were spent and I imagine they would need to be spent again, unless we had some sort of insurance. If we're talking about spending all that money twice I'd prefer we don't.

[Jim O'Bryan]

If weather had cancelled the fireworks then we would not have already invested a significant amount of money in police overtime and crowd control. But those dollars were spent and I imagine they would need to be spent again, unless we had some sort of insurance. If we're talking about spending all that money twice I'd prefer we don't.

Paul

Why wouldn't the city carry a policy on something they are spending $40,000 on, that can be thrown into
turmoil by so many things. It would only make common sense to have that policy.

Hell, we carried policies for event problems at every club I had worked in where the band cost more than
$800, and we spent money advertising them. Policies are but a fraction.

Let's be honest the times it has rained in or near the Fourth of July is so often, it only makes sense.

It is my understanding that there may be no provision in the contract for if the provider fails. We shall see in
the coming days if the residents get the one show they look forward to each year or not.

.

[Paul Schrimpf]

That's all I was saying, if the insurance was adequate and the dollars are a wash that's fine. The fact that they did not have an immediate answer to the reschedule question is not a good harbinger.

[Jim O'Bryan]

That's all I was saying, if the insurance was adequate and the dollars are a wash that's fine. The fact that they did not have an immediate answer to the reschedule question is not a good harbinger.

Again, why enter an event without the contract in your pocket?

On a lighter note, I got a call today that Lakewood Park was a mess just like Woodstock!



And people think I am prone to hyperbole!

What I found at 10am was 3/4s of the park cleaned up, and the crew of 5 that I could see working pretty hard
to get the rest cleaned up before the next rain.

Good work city crews.

.

[Peter Grossetti]

... a good harbinger.

Wasn't "Harbinger" Mayor of Lakewood in the early 1990's?

It's a shame the malfunction ended up causing such disappointment. But really, isn't this all just that ... a disappointment. If this is the worst thing to happen to us on Independence Day, then relatively speaking, we had a pretty good day, eh?

An aside note ... because of the oppressive heat, this would have been the first time Jeanne and I missed Our City's fireworks since moving here in 1985. Does this mean our record is still intact?

[Betsy Voinovich]

... a good harbinger.

Wasn't "Harbinger" Mayor of Lakewood in the early 1990's?

It's a shame the malfunction ended up causing such disappointment. But really, isn't this all just that ... a disappointment. If this is the worst thing to happen to us on Independence Day, then relatively speaking, we had a pretty good day, eh?

Hi Peter,

No it isn't the "worst thing" to happen, but it's more than a disappointment. This is our tax dollars at work. A company was hired to do a job, to perform a service, the City is in charge of that. The company did not deliver on this service. Do we shrug our shoulders and say, "We could have had a tornado"? Yeah, that would have been worse but it's not particularly relevant.

We have fireworks in Lakewood on the 4th. It's not as important as making sure that our trash is picked up, or that our police department is top-of-the-line, which it is-- but this is a service delivered by our City to us.

Things happen, like rain on a night for fireworks--- and malfunctions, like the crazy one in San Diego where they all the fireworks went off at once. But when a company does not honor their contract, the City must respond to make sure this situation is remedied, not say, "oh sorry, how embarrassing," and move on. What if they did this with other things they are in charge of?

This is important besides this or in addition to this, because all of us coming together to watch fireworks is one of the things that makes Lakewood, Lakewood. That we do a great job of this stuff, and if things go wrong, we roll with it, and make it even better. Our residents, some of us, are going through a lot this summer, being in the "target area" working hard to bring our homes up to code, with guns to our heads: "Housing Court" etc. The fireworks on the 4th are a time to relax, to take a break with our neighbors and our community. A time to remember why we live here. A time to be glad that we're hustling to make sure our homes will be here for our families for the next hundred years.

We are fully expected to respond to the documents given to us by the housing inspectors, with consequences if we do not. It is correct that we expect our City to honor its obligations to us in the same way-- it is our responsibility as citizens to make sure that they do. It's for our safety-- in the case of police, for our cleanliness-- in the case of our garbage workers-- and our quality of life and living-- in the case of the fireworks.


Betsy Voinovich

[J Hrlec]

Lakewood Fireworks Will Not Be Rescheduled For Tonight

Thursday, July 05, 2012


Technical difficulties last night prevented Lakewood’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display from happening as planned.

“We, like so many of our residents, were disappointed with the cancellation,” stated Mayor Mike Summers. “Unfortunately, our vendor had some electrical issues which they tried to resolve, but they were unable to do so in order to resume the show.”

They city has made the decision not to reschedule the fireworks display for Thursday, July 5, due to questionable weather and safety concerns.

The city has been in close contact with officials from Pyrotecnico, the city’s fireworks vendor based in New Castle, Pa.

“We are exploring all our options with our vendor, including a full refund and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses associated with the event,” Summers said. “We will continue to work with Pyrotecnico until these issues are resolved.”

This is the third year the city has contracted with Pyrotecnico for its fireworks display. The prior two displays were successful parts of Lakewood’s renowned Fourth of July festivities.

[J Hrlec]

... a good harbinger.

Wasn't "Harbinger" Mayor of Lakewood in the early 1990's?

It's a shame the malfunction ended up causing such disappointment. But really, isn't this all just that ... a disappointment. If this is the worst thing to happen to us on Independence Day, then relatively speaking, we had a pretty good day, eh?

Hi Peter,

No it isn't the "worst thing" to happen, but it's more than a disappointment. This is our tax dollars at work. A company was hired to do a job, to perform a service, the City is in charge of that. The company did not deliver on this service. Do we shrug our shoulders and say, "We could have had a tornado"? Yeah, that would have been worse but it's not particularly relevant.

We have fireworks in Lakewood on the 4th. It's not as important as making sure that our trash is picked up, or that our police department is top-of-the-line, which it is-- but this is a service delivered by our City to us.

Things happen, like rain on a night for fireworks--- and malfunctions, like the crazy one in San Diego where they all the fireworks went off at once. But when a company does not honor their contract, the City must respond to make sure this situation is remedied, not say, "oh sorry, how embarrassing," and move on. What if they did this with other things they are in charge of?

This is important besides this or in addition to this, because all of us coming together to watch fireworks is one of the things that makes Lakewood, Lakewood. That we do a great job of this stuff, and if things go wrong, we roll with it, and make it even better. Our residents, some of us, are going through a lot this summer, being in the "target area" working hard to bring our homes up to code, with guns to our heads: "Housing Court" etc. The fireworks on the 4th are a time to relax, to take a break with our neighbors and our community. A time to remember why we live here. A time to be glad that we're hustling to make sure our homes will be here for our families for the next hundred years.

We are fully expected to respond to the documents given to us by the housing inspectors, with consequences if we do not. It is correct that we expect our City to honor its obligations to us in the same way-- it is our responsibility as citizens to make sure that they do. It's for our safety-- in the case of police, for our cleanliness-- in the case of our garbage workers-- and our quality of life and living-- in the case of the fireworks.

Betsy Voinovich

I would agree that the city should take action, and they probably will. Let's remember that it is the morning after it occurred (well now afternoon) ...so it may be useful to give the city officials a few minutes to follow-up on the disappointing failure for us and for them. From what I read they will be in talks with the vendor and actions will be taken and I am sure they would welcome any input.

Disappointing sure, but I would agree, in the big picture... not that horrible.