At approximately 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, my neighborhood once again became a war zone. My wife and I had barely finished dinner when one of our not-so-neighborly neighbors decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the holiday by setting off high-powered fireworks about 150 feet from our back door.
As the night went on, it became painfully obvious that this man had no intentions of letting us celebrate our holiday in a manner of our choosing. Instead, he made the decision to force us to celebrate in a manner of his.
For the next five and a half hours, this misguided individual proceeded to set off his arsenal of high-powered explosives every few minutes until nearly 1 a.m. It seems that I need to remind certain people (as if this isn’t common sense) that your neighbors do not want to hear explosions outside their home for the entire evening.
It is criminal, in my opinion, that this man was able to disturb the peace of our neighborhood (and yes, it is disturbing the peace) with no fear of being cited for disturbing the peace. Why does the City and Borough of Juneau and Juneau Police Department turn a blind eye to this huge problem? What is it going to take for somebody to wake up?
At the same time, I can have a celebration in my home tonight, and if I play my music loud, our neighbor can call the police and I can be cited for violating a CBJ ordinance.
I would like to ask all of the wonderful people on our Assembly if this makes any sense to them whatsoever?
Happy New Year!
Ian Martin,
Juneau