Fantastic idea! I know you are taking a beating in some circles for this. We have to go back to our old house (Ward 14) today for the sole purpose of babysitting our property. Every year (for the past 4 years) we have experienced a near-miss that could have set our house on fire. Last year a full sized (three phase) firecracker landed in our backyard exactly where a 5 year old little girl had been standing 5 minutes earlier. When I approached the property owner I received a mouthful of drunken cuss.

Each and every year, the next door neighbor's brother sits in a lawn chair all afternoon with a soda can filled with bottle rockets, holds his fat little arm into the air like a zombied statue of liberty (drooling, I kid you not) and lets the bottle rockets fly in any direction - for hours on end.

Keep in mind our backyards butt up against each other and are postage stamp sized, we all live adjacent across from an empty football field and a block sized paved parking lot, but they need to set these off in the backyards. Why? Because they are idiots.

Calling the police is futile. There is no response, I'm sure they are busy elsewhere. So we're going to our old "home" today and we'll grill with our neighbors and it will be nice, but it would also be nice not to have to worry and to choose to stay in our real home.

Its too bad Ward 14 is so disfunctional.

well...maybe not. its midnight and the neighbors have been setting off rather large (and very lOUd) fireworks since 9:30. I live in Tremont "proper", just south of Starkweather. I called 621-1234 and they said they have nothing to do with it. Joe's office was a voice machine.

Am I missing something here???????

(hey - grEAT media blitz though!)

The laws might be a bit like Indiana's, where little firecrackers are okay but the big ones,  fireworks, that require launchers, etc. are illegal. Notice that the ordinance only defines "illegal fireworks" which likely means what your neighbors were using were the legal sort.

perhaps, Adam, but I don't think so. They were the sonic boom type, with light that flashed onto our living room walls...

at any rate - and ironically- we left our SoLo estate around 9:30 because it was so quiet. and then we came home and couldn't sleep until after midnight because of the constant fireworks in "patroled" Tremont - hey - whatever!

The officers I spoke with last night said it was a volunteer basis for the increased firework enforcement.

However, none of the officers offered to volunteer for the firework patrol because they were already booked for the heightened security required for the holiday...

check points, extra forces, crowd control... they already had the bikers, cyclists, and mounties out...

they said there was nothing left for a volunteer campaign... which makes sense...

And if you were out and about... you could see that every officer was on patrol...

The explosions in Ward 15 were almost as bad as last year. The rain kept the yahoos at bay for most of the week. The only effect I saw was possibly less fireworks purchased than last year. It may take more time to put this in effect, and it requires constant education. Tremont residents received the information in a newsletter. Ward 15 nada. BTW, common respect and common sense should be understood as also taking a shower before you go into the pool. Yesterday, all the yup parents brought their toddlers to Lincoln Park Pool and not one of them took a shower as posted by City of Cleveland Health Code. Be considerate people. It extends to all income levels. You may think you are clean. Think, again.

well...this sort of sums it up:

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/iscri/1215347411216480.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

but hey - it WAS a great media blitz...sOUnded good for Joe and TWDC....

Typical Cimperman

       all yak, and no shak.

Cleveland Police Union Pres.

    Please read the story in last weeks Scene. Steve Loomis puts it into perspective about the bogus leadership in Cleveland City Council.

 http://www.clevescene.com/2008-07-02/news/a-plan-to-secure-cleveland-sends-the-police-union-s-boss-off-the-deep-end/

swEEt! makes me want to throw back a few with Loomis...

here's another gem - I sat jury duty a few weeks back with a Cleveland cop. He informs me that since 1967ish, all top brass in CPD are appointed by the mayor. (many of you may already know this) Not only is this demoralizing because you have to play politics to know you're ever gonna go anywhere within the department, but it also smacks of cronyism.

Apparently, we can get this changed by getting it on the ballot and voting it out (sorta like the number of councilmen).

dbra, you hit the nail on the head. It is unfortunate the our Council people can influence this Mayor in making appointments.

If we had a proactive councilman you would not be living the nightmare at West 25 and Chatham. Instead of his harassment of Vice officers to lay off La Copa or Envy.

We new voices, Cimperman has become nothing more than a puppet for Sam Miller and other big business. Santiago well that I will leave up to your imagination.

Citizens need to focus on accountability of Federal Tax (HUD) dollars. The rich are getting richer and the poor are being raped by the politicians they are electing.

Some CDC's are not representing the people they are supposed to help, but serve as a political influence base to disenfranchise anyone who has no willingness to drink their brand of Kool-Aid.

well...we have similar opinions, Henry...some call us cynical. I call us realistic.

And I can't stand sycophants.

nice call on the CDCs. I've not been impressed, either. My brief encounter felt like spinning my wheels on a sheet of ice.

In case anyone thinks anti-fireworks sentiment is stupid or uptight, answer this:

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Toledo's fire chief says fireworks caused a weekend fire that swept through an apartment complex and left about 200 people homeless.

The Saturday morning fire destroyed nine buildings at the Hunters Ridge complex. Witnesses said they saw people setting off firecrackers and that some landed on the roof of a building where the fire started.

Fire Chief Mike Wolever said Monday that it had been confirmed that pyrotechnics caused the blaze.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which led Police Chief Mike Navarre (nuh-VAHR') to call for a ban of fireworks sales in Ohio.

The property loss has been estimated at $5 million.

http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=8638226

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lm

Yeah, I've had serious trouble figuring out why that doesn't work.

I am pleased to see all of the dialogue on fireworks, the increased penalty and the extra security hired for Ward 13 fireworks enforcement over the holiday weekend. I’d like to clarify a few things about how the enforcement was carried out and the effects of the enforcement.

The areas enforced were the portions of the following neighborhoods that fall within Ward 13: Tremont, Ohio City, St. Clair Superior, Payne Sterling, Duck Island and Slavic Village. The increased penalty for illegal fireworks was a council-wide legislative decision. The decision to increase enforcement of the penalty in Ward 13 was mine.

Tenable Protective Services was paid to hire off-duty police officers. If Cleveland Police officers were unavailable because they were on duty, that is great. The whole point was to have “all hands on deck” over the holiday weekend.

We used information based on past complaints, as well as “hot spots” provided by neighborhood groups and CDCs to focus increased enforcement. On July 3rd and July 4th, we used a volunteer neighborhood watch to report illegal fireworks use to Tenable who would then dispatch security.

We have received many phone calls from residents who report a decrease in illegal fireworks usage from last year. Additionally we received more than 80 complaints of illegal fireworks in 2007. This year we received less than 10 complaints.

Most importantly, there were zero deaths related to illegal fireworks or homicide in Ward 13 over the holiday weekend. Thanks for your insight. Please keep me informed as to how I can continue to serve our great community.

joecimperman@gmail.com 

 Joe Cimperman

Councilman, Ward 13

Perhaps a more public method for reporting illegal use would be helpful, Joe.

I live smack in the middle of Tremont (though on the edge of Tremont "proper" - Fruit Ave.) and we had sonic booms and light up the sky fireworks in the small alley that runs along the back of the our homes until after midnight.

I was patient about it until about 11pm, when we would have liked to go to sleep. I called both your office and 621-1234. Your office had a voice message and 621-1234 told me there was nothing they could do.

I hate this idea that if you don't immerse yourself in neighborhood politics, you don't deserve to play. Some of us bring plenty of benefit to the neighborhood without joining the groups. I'm sure this wasn't your intention, but it certainly is the end result if the average person has no way to report outside the inside loop. Additionally, we just moved back into Tremont in June and so we, as well as many of our neighbors, are new. Our street is ungoing a good bit of renovation and new build. This particular array of fireworks may not have been around last year.

Dear dbra:

Thanks for your comment. This summer was the first time we tried the increased fireworks enforcement. We have gotten a lot of feedback about what worked and what didn’t work with the pilot program. We did not have enough resources to have a dispatch set up for the increased enforcement and so chose the CDCs, neighborhood watch and previous locations as the next best way to identify trouble areas.  I have made a note of the alley behind Fruit Avenue for next year and I will take your suggestions into account. However, I do encourage you to get involved in the neighborhood as much as possible. Meeting your neighbors, volunteering and joining groups fosters a strong community, prevents misunderstandings and helps to make Tremont the great place that it is.  Feel free to email with any questions or concerns: joecimperman@gmail.com

Joe Cimperman

Councilman, Ward 13

Joe - I am so sorry to hear of this tragedy. I'm glad you and your new family are safe and sound. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/cleveland_councilman_loses_hou.html

So glad to hear that everyone is ok!

Buildings can be re-built.