Longmont residents sign up to speak
Although Tuesday’s Longmont City Council meeting was not scheduled to be an open forum, in many ways, it played out like one.
By 7 p.m., 24 people had already signed up to speak during the scheduled public comment period — bringing up items close to home and on the other side of the world.
Some residents objected to this year’s proposed Fourth of July event location near the Dickens Farm Nature Area, which the council was scheduled to discuss later during the meeting.
While the city’s latest plans for the Fourth of July have not been finalized, they call for fireworks to be launched from Longmont’s Fire Training Center, 111 First Ave., near Dickens Farm Nature Area.
Longmont resident Shari Malloy expressed her concerns about city workers planning to shoot fireworks so close to a nature area and questioned how the city could prevent the land from being trampled.
“There is nowhere else for people to get close,” Malloy said. “Thousands will flock to this protected open space.”
City officials have proposed holding the annual Fourth of July festival near the fire training center on South Martin Street with food trucks, a beer garden, a stage and other attractions. A drone show has also been discussed as a possibility prior to the fireworks.
As of the Times-call’s print deadline, the City Council had not yet discussed the latest Fourth of July plans.
Steve Altschuler, who previously ran for an at-large Longmont City Council seat, said during public comment that he had no problem with a Fourth of July celebration.
“I do not object, at all, to my tax dollars being used to celebrate the Fourth of July,” Altschuler said. “I love America; celebrating it (on) the Fourth of July every year is fantastic.”
In past years, the Skyline Kiwanis Club has helped raise funds for the Fourth of July fireworks show, which it also plans to do this year. However, city tax dollars would still cover the cost of other offerings at this year’s proposed event. Although the final cost has not yet been determined, it could require funds of up to $85,000, according to a staff memo.
In addition to the city’s Fourth of July planning efforts, several speakers Tuesday called on the Longmont City Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza during Tuesday’s meeting.
Since the Israel-hamas war began in October, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 70,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press has reported. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed across southern Israel on Oct. 7,
killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about
250 others hostage, according to the Associated Press.
Former state representative and Longmont resident Jonathan Singer was one of the speakers to call for a bilateral ceasefire, the release
of detainees and hostages and for basic services to be returned.
“This is a local issue,” Singer said. “If we can’t talk about this, how can we expect there to be peace in the
Middle East?”
A resolution calling for a cease-fire was not on the City Council’s agenda, and the council did not discuss it before the Times-call’s deadline.