No more fireworks in SM
There will be no fireworks in Santa Monica this Fourth of July.
Santa Monica College announced Thursday that a looming budget deficit has forced the cancellation of this year’s “Celebrate America” Independence Day festival.
The event, which for more than a decade has been the only Fourth of July celebration in Santa Monica, attracted 20,000 people last year. It has been held every year since 1982 and has grown into a community-wide celebration and festival complete with music and other entertainment.
“This is not the year,” said Herb Roney, chair of SMC’s board of trustees. “We’re just going to hold off and next year hopefully bring it back bigger and better.
“I just loved it,” he added. “It’s been a wonderful program.”
The celebration at SMC’s Corsair Stadium has been one-of-a-kind since the city canceled its popular Fourth of July event in 1991, citing liability concerns. Controlling the hundreds of thousands of revelers that converged each year on Palisades Park and the beaches below became too difficult, they said.
647,SMC spokesman Bruce Smith said the school simply couldn’t afford to put on the $50,000 event this year, even though much of the bill is footed by private donations and a $15,000 check from the city.
“We’re facing historically high cuts,” he said. “In the face of that, it just wouldn’t be right to be launching a celebration.”
“We’re facing historically high cuts. In the face of that, it just wouldn’t be right to be launching a celebration.” — — BRUCE SMITH SMC spokesman
SMC cut $13 million from its budget and 7.5 percent of its classes in the 2002-2003 school year. It faces an additional $15 million in cuts and 30 percent reduction in classes for 2003-2004, Smith said.
SMC’s entire budget is about $115 million and 85 percent of it is state funded, he added.
As entire departments are eliminated because of the economic crisis, outraged students have organized in protest. Last month, about 200 SMC students joined 8,500 in Sacramento to ask the state for more money.
Gov. Gray Davis is expected to issue a revised budget May 15. Smith said California’s community college students have already been successful in bringing the statewide cuts for community colleges down to $161 million from Davis’ original proposal of $288 million.
“The students have galvanized,” Smith said. “They’ve really been organized and I think it’s had an enormous effect.”
Though SMC will be quiet July 4, celebrations in neighboring communities are expected to go an as scheduled. Last year, several West-L.A. cities, including Marina del Rey, sponsored events featuring fireworks.
— Bruce Smith, SMC spokesman
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 2, 2003. Read the original PDF.