Should Fireworks Be Legal During Lunar New Year Celebrations?
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- San Jose's history with illegal fireworks during Vietnamese New Year's is a lot like a 40-foot roll of firecrackers: long and complicated.
On New Year's Eve Wednesday night at a Buddhist temple in San Jose, men lit long strands of firecrackers while parents bought their young children to watch.
However, fireworks are illegal in San Jose. Police were standing by as the fireworks, believed to scare away evil spirits, went off for hours.
The temple hired officers as private security where they kept an eye on the festivities from a distance.
To understand how it all got to this point, we have to go back 15 years.
Back in 2000, Tet celebrations at another Buddhist temple had spilled onto the street. San Jose police responded with a mass of officers in riot gear.
It turned out to be unnecessary because the head monk pleaded with the crowd using a police intercom, and everyone left peacefully.
And so began a years-long exercise in balancing the law with cultural sensitivity.
By 2011, pension reform, pay cuts and the recession shrunk the department. Remaining officers focused on violent crime. The Tet celebrations moved to the Grand Century Mall and grew exponentially.
Here we are at 2015, and it's a boisterous as ever. Which begs the question, is this the new normal?
"We've asked for an ordinance to be brought back next month that makes the property owners themselves, especially when they're complicit, to make them liable," said Santa Clara Co. Board President Dave Cortese. "And to have a structure for fining them, and making them accountable and responsible."
We caught up with newly elected councilmember Tam Nguyen, who is Vietnamese and asked if he would consider a new law to make fireworks legal but only during Tet celebrations.
"That would be a good idea," said San Jose City Councilmember Tam Nguyen. "But I'm concerned more with the safety that would be my top priority."
The big Tet festivals begin tomorrow at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and at Grand Century Mall, at McLaughlin Avenue and Story Road.
