Newsletter: Is it the beginning of the end for July Fourth fireworks?

Good morning. I’m Mariel Garza, deputy editorial page editor, filling in for Paul Thornton. It is Saturday, July 1, the beginning of the extra-long (for some people) Independence Day weekend. Let the fireworks commence.

Or let them continue, as is likely the case. In Los Angeles, the fireworks begin long before July 4. But this year may be noticeably less boomy. There are two reasons for that. First, several coastal fireworks shows have been canceled this year because a company operating the shows chose not to comply with new rules for protecting water quality. Fireworks don’t just muck up the air, they leave debris in the water.

If you love the sight of pyrotechnics over the ocean, don’t despair; several shows are expected to get the necessary permits in time, including those in Long Beach and Santa Monica.

But there’s another reason for the change that gives me hope that we may finally be able to quit the destructive yet oddly satisfying tradition of blowing things up to mark the day in 1776 that the Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. Many traditional fireworks shows have been replaced by quieter, less environmentally destructive drone light shows. In Los Angeles, City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez will host a second pyrotechnics-free Independence Day celebration on Sunday at Hansen Dam using drones to light up the skies. The change was made for environmental reasons as well as because launching fireworks in the hot, dry northeast San Fernando Valley poses a fire risk.

Other communities around the state and nation have opted to send up the drones instead of bombs bursting in air. This is a hopeful trend. While drone shows might not provide the same primal experience, they also don’t leave us with dirty air, terrified dogs and scorched earth. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

Meet André Chambers, the Merman. This film is the first this season from L.A. Times Short Docs, and it’s an apt finale to Pride Month. Chambers is a queer Black man who shares his story of growing up in a Southern California beach town, overcoming bigotry and finding his community. It’s ultimately a story about self-acceptance and allowing oneself to be and feel beautiful. L.A. Times Short Docs is a series that celebrates filmmaking with a West Coast perspective, with new releases each month at latimes.com/shortdocs.

Turning office buildings into apartments is how California eases the housing crisis. Every week it seems there is more bad news from the commercial real estate sector. But The Times’ editorial board said that with zoning reform and looser land-use laws, those struggling suburban strip malls and empty downtown office buildings present a tremendous opportunity for California to address one of its most pressing problems: the crippling shortage of housing that has driven up rents and home prices to unaffordable levels.

A wet winter began to replenish Mono Lake. L.A. should let it be a lake again. Los Angeles’ thirst for water led to the near-collapse of Mono Lake’s fragile ecosystem in the 1970s. Reduced diversions over decades have helped begin to repair the damage, but this wet year presents an opportunity, writes Bruce Reznik, executive director of Los Angeles Waterkeeper. “Water diverted from the lake accounts for only about 1% to 3% of L.A.’s water. Keeping it in Mono Lake will protect the ecosystem and, as importantly, fulfill L.A.’s commitment to do so.”

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Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban is a catastrophic blow to the American dream. Banning affirmative action in college admissions hardly makes America race-blind, the editorial board writes. U.S. institutions are still steeped in racial and economic inequities. Now, the Supreme Court has made it more difficult for the nation to address these inequities.

How California’s law against red states is hurting Black academic freedom. California’s ban on state-funded travel to states with laws that discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons has effectively made the South off-limits to scholars who study Black American life, professors Keenan Norris and A. Lamont Williams write. “Black life and culture cannot be understood through a red state-blue state political lens. Black culture flows in fundamental ways from Georgia to California, Alabama to Arizona. AB 1887 is walling off scholars like us from the majority of Black LGBTQ+ people, who predominantly live in Southern states, the places on the ban list.”

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