Environmental advocates are celebrating in Laguna Beach—but it won't be with balloons. The hilly seaside city known for stunning ocean views and rolling bluffs is banning the sale and public use of balloons to curtail the risk of devastating wildfires and eliminate a major source of trash floating near the community's scenic shores. The Laguna Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to ban in public the popular mainstay of birthday and graduation parties, whether inflated with helium or not. Beginning in 2024, the balloons can't be used on public property or at city events, reports the AP. They can still be used by residents at home.
The move in the community of 23,000 people 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles comes as several California beach cities have limited balloons and the state enacted a law to regulate the types made of foil. California fire officials have long warned against foil balloons that can tangle with power lines, possibly causing power outages and fire hazards. Southern California Edison, one of the state's major utilities, reported more than 1,000 foil balloon-related power outages in 2017, affecting more than 1 million customers, according to a state legislative analysis.
Officials in Laguna Beach, which has miles of pristine shoreline and hilltop neighborhoods at risk of wildfires, have long discussed the idea. Lawmakers held an initial, unanimous vote in January to phase out the public use of all balloons. The second and final vote took place Tuesday. The penalty would be a $100 fine for a first violation, $200 for a second, and $500 for each additional violation within a year. In addition, a business that repeatedly violates the ordinance could lose its business license.
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Chad Nelsen, CEO of the nonprofit environmental organization Surfrider Foundation, likened the balloon-ban movement to the effort to phase out single-use plastic bags. "We're chipping away at all these things we find and trying to clean up the ocean one item at a time," he said. Treb Heining, who began selling balloons at Disneyland when he was 15 years old and now works internationally in the balloon industry, was critical of the move, saying Laguna Beach officials refused to come to the table for a compromise. "They're doing anything they can to make balloons into this evil, horrible thing. And they're not," he said.
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