Dispensary Charges Public Hearing Process Is Rigged

Dispensary Charges Public Hearing Process Is Rigged

Blogged By Ann Harrison at http://www.ontherecord.org

San Francisco’s Green Cross medical cannabis
dispensary, which had its building permit suspended
June 10th due to neighborhood complaints, is charging
that the city is ignoring its own public hearing
process in a rush to shut the facility down. The
dispensary, which has refused to close, has been the
subject of two neighborhood meetings and a July 15
planning department hearing.

“When we looked at what happened behind the scenes,
the illusion of democracy in our city offices is
dispelled,” wrote dispensary owner Kevin Reed
yesterday in an e-mail to supporters.

Reed says a city supervisor who has been fielding
neighborhood complaints, is attempting to circumvent
the dispensary’s right to due process by pressuring
the planning department to revoke the permit outright.
This dispute demonstrates once more what happens when
a city fails to set up a troubleshooting board or
commission to address concerns from both dispensaries
and their neighbors – a scenario that could be
replicated in cities across the country as more states
vote to permit the use of medical cannabis.

Neighbors of the Green Cross say their complaints
about traffic violations, street reselling of
cannabis, lingering marijuana odors and the
dispensary’s proximity to schools are not being
adequately addressed. They also question why
dispensary patients don’t look outwardly sick. The
dispensary says they have changed their operation to
remedy concerns, but are being held up to an
impossibly high standard of operation by people who
simply don’t want a medical cannabis dispensary in
their neighborhood.

Reed also charges that the dispensary has been a
target of vandalism and racist attacks from patrons at
a nearby bar where neighbors have met to discuss their
complaints. The involvement of bar patrons in this
struggle suggests tension between the alcohol and
cannabis cultures in San Francisco which has more
cannabis dispensaries than any other city in the U.S.

On July 15th, San Francisco’s Zoning Administrator,
Larry Badiner, held a hearing to consider revocation
of the Green Cross’ building permit. Reed says he went
to Badiner’s office the day before to make copies of
letters detailing complaints against the dispensary
submitted as part of the record for the hearing. While
digging through the files, Reed says he found a memo
dated June 8, two days after the second neighborhood
meeting to discuss neighborhood concerns. City planner
Dan Sider, who wrote the memo, sought immediate
revocation of the Green Cross permit because city
supervisor Bevan Dufty had requested that the
dispensary be shut down.

“We need to revoke the Green Cross’ permit. I know
that this doesn’t follow our typical procedures or
policies, but this is a unique case, a unique land use
and we’ve been specifically asked by a supervisor,”
wrote Sider in the memo. “The most likely grounds for
revocation would be Code Section 202 c which states
that – essentially – no noxious use shall be allowed
for operator. Should the operator appeal this decision
to the Board of Appeals so bit it, but we have been
asked to take immediate action. “

“The memo shows that city offices may act on petty
politics, disregarding their internal policies and
making decisions even before the hearing designed to
get input from neighbors,” wrote Reed who has appealed
the suspension of the permit.

Reed says the zoning administrator’s office has agreed
to receive written comments on the dispute until July
26 in preparation for a Board of Appeals hearing on
August 17. The hearing will take place at San
Francisco City Hall in Room 400 at 5 pm. E-mail can be
sent up to July 25 to Larry.Badiner [at] sfgov.org

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding the
dispensary are being urged by Reed to write letters in
support of maintaining the dispensary’s permit. Reed
is also asking that those in Dufty’s district call and
write letters to Dufty because “his actions make a
mockery of the public hearing process.”

Dufty did not return calls for comment on the dispute.
His aid, Amanda Kahn, said the planning department
changed their action on the permit from revocation to
suspension.


Both Dispensary and Its Neighbors Worried About Crime

Eighty-five percent of the Noe Valley neighborhood
where the Green Cross dispensary is located voted for
California’s Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 214) which
allowed the use of medical cannabis. But in the
smaller sub-neighborhood of Fair Oaks adjacent to the
dispensary, both neighbors and dispensary operators
continue to make serious allegations of harassment and
bad judgment. Neighbors have complained that the Green
Cross has attracted crime to the neighborhood that
suffered a rash of burglaries this spring. To help
address security concerns, Reed says the dispensary
invested in $50,000 worth of upgrades installing 16
surveillance cameras to monitor the adjacent street
and alley.

Reed says the dispensary has itself been targeted by
criminals. On May 22nd , the morning after the nearby
Liberties bar held an Irish music festival, Reed says
he arrived at his dispensary to find the locks super
glued and the light bulbs removed from the front of
the building.

After entering through the back and reviewing his
security videos, Reed says he saw one man repeatedly
exit and enter Liberties, is located at the corner of
22nd and Guerrero Streets. The man began his activity
starting at 2:44 am and continued for an hour and a
half. Reed said the man used a bar stool from
Liberties to reach the light bulbs and remove them.
The man also tampered with the locks and pounded on
the windows.

Reed said he called the police who reviewed the
security video. The police then went to Liberties and
informed the owners that damages should be paid to the
Green Cross so the dispensary would not press charges.
Later that evening, Reed said the owner called him to
say that the bar would pay the damages.

The following day, May 23rd, neighbors of the Green
Cross met at the Liberties bar to discuss what they
said was the escalating crime in the neighborhood –
allegedly brought on by the opening of the Green Cross
in July 2004. Neighbors said they were concerned about
increased burglaries and thefts, hostile and
intimidating behavior from nuisance drivers/parkers
and drug dealing.

Residents also complained about loud music and the
smell of marijuana smoke. They asked police to look at
crime records to determine if the dispensary was
attracting crime. Supervisor Dufty and San Francisco
Police Captain John Goldberg from the Mission Police
Station were invited to the meeting – the Green Cross
was not.

Reed says he learned about the meeting from neighbors
who were distraught that the Green Cross had been
excluded from the gathering. Nevertheless, Reed says
he took the neighbor’s complaints seriously and
responded by sealing doors and installing ionizers and
an air filtration system. He also added phone lines to
quickly answer calls from neighbors and a new lock
system to make sure the dispensary’s door would open
and close as quickly as possible. The dispensary
banned on-site cannabis smoking by customers and later
forbid patient staff members from cannabis smoking as
well.

A second neighborhood meeting was held on June 6 at a
nearby church. The Green Cross was invited to speak on
a panel. The meeting was attended by almost 200 people
and went on for two hours. According to minutes of the
meeting, the police determined that there was no
correlation between the opening of the Green Cross and
an increase in crime in the neighborhood. Capt.
Goldberg reported that the overall crime rate for the
neighborhood had actually decreased slightly from last
year and the increase in burglaries did not appear to
be sparked by the club or the people who buy cannabis
there.

Residents expressed concern at the meeting about
dispensary patrons allegedly smoking cannabis outside
the club and reselling their cannabis in the
neighborhood. Goldberg said at the meeting that on one
weekend evening, dispensary customers were seen
blocking driveways, crosswalks and fire hydrants.
Goldberg also alleged that officers saw people
distributing marijuana in their cars after returning
from the club - but never saw money changing hands. He
said sixty to seventy people were observed going in
and out of the club.

According to the minutes, neighbors complained that
“this business does not benefit the neighborhood”,
creates “the potential for drug dealing and theft” and
does not “foster a spirit of local community.”
Residents also charge that although at least one
neighbor requested a hearing when the dispensary
applied for its permit, none was granted.

"It seemed like things were getting out of control,"
Fair Oaks Street resident Veronica Gaynor told the Noe
Valley Voice. "People felt like they were losing their
neighborhood."

Karen Saux, who with Gaynor helped organize the
meeting, told the Noe Valley Voice that dispensary
patrons were upsetting residents. "Some of their
customers are intimidating," said Saux. "Anyone who
dares to ask someone not to park in their driveway
gets verbally abused."
Among the people commenting at the June 6th meeting
was Craig Morton who ran the Shear Delight hair salon
next door to the Green Cross for more than ten years.
Morton said the noise and smell of marijuana from the
club forced him to sell his business.

"It reached the point where I felt I was run out,"
Morton told the Noe Valley Voice. "I did vote for
Proposition 215 because I am a person with HIV and I
thought I might need it someday. But I had a very
negative experience with the whole thing. There were
no regulations in place to protect me.”
Reed counters that the hair salon, which moved into
Morton’s former location, has benefited from
dispensary patrons and is thriving. He says he
purchased the business a television as gift to help
block any residual sound from the dispensary.

Many of the complaints by neighbors at the meeting
seem to indicate a discomfort with medical cannabis
patients in general and lack of regulations. Residents
note that there are two schools and a youth center
within 1,000 feet of the dispensary. Despite the fact
that the city issued patient ID cards on the
recommendation of doctors as provided for by state
law, neighbors claim that the city has provided “no
oversight to ensure the legitimacy of who is and who
is not a medical cannabis patient.”

Neighborhood resident and medical cannabis patient
Jason Coben, who says he suffers from chronic neve and
cartilage deterioration, sent a June 16th message to a
neighborhood e-mail list which read, "I am one of
those people that many of you like to refer to as 'not
looking very sick.' All this talk of shutting [the
Green Cross] down is an extreme overreaction, and
smacks of politicians pandering to a vocal minority.
They are providing a valuable service in a
professional manner, and it would be to the detriment
of a lot of us if they were to close.”

But most of the neighbors attending the meeting said
they want they dispensary gone. “The Green Cross has
made superficial improvements to its operations, but
it has not addressed the ethical issues,” concludes
the minutes of the meeting. “The majority of neighbors
who have voiced their concerns asks that the Green
Cross behave as a responsible neighbor and move out of
this neighborhood to a more appropriate location.”


Green Cross Adjustments Deemed Insufficient

After the June 6 meeting, the Green Cross says it made
more changes to its policies. A full-time security
guard was hired to patrol outside the dispensary
during the business day and deny access to customers
who are double parked, parked illegally or blast loud
music. To address concerns that out-of-town patients
were crowding the neighborhood, the Green Cross also
limited entry to patients who carry Green Cross
patient ID cards or those issued by the San Francisco
Health Department.

The dispensary also attempted to get supervisor Dufty
to mediate. After the June 6th meeting, Dufty handed a
note to Green Cross representative Paige Mullins
indicating that Dufty wanted to meet with her. But
Reed says repeated calls to the supervisor have been
ignored.

“Did you honestly mean anything you wrote in that
note,?” asked Reed’s attorney Arcolina Panto in a
letter to Dufty. “Did you know that Liberties was
involved in the crime of vandalizing the Green Cross?
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that the
unverified complains of neighbors are true? What have
you seen with your own eyes?”

Dufty has not returned phone calls for comment on the
dispute. But he told the Noe Valley Voice that “The
Planning Department did not do its due diligence. The
Green Cross has an inordinate impact. I don’t think
any business with that kind of intense activity could
exist in that location.”
After the June 6 meeting, Dufty asked city zoning
administrator Larry Badiner to suspend or revoke the
dispensary’s permit. Badiner forwarded the request to
the Department of Building Inspection which suspended
the permit on June 10.

The dispensary’s permit was suspended due to violation
of the Planning Code section that forbids “A use that
creates conditions that are hazardous, noxious or
offensive through emission of odor, fumes, smoke,
cinders, gas, vibrations, glare, refuse, water-carried
waste or excessive noise.”

The Green Cross appealed the suspension on June 22.
Reed says the suspension violated his due process
rights and refused to close. He says his successful
business is being held to an unfair standard by
neighbors who simply don’t like his customers and have
few new complaints aside from the parking concerns.

According to Reed, some people who disapprove of the
Green Cross continue to harass the dispensary and its
employees. While neighborhood meetings have been
respectful, Reed says some opposition has sometimes
been hateful and racist. Some of the objections seem
to echo fears of hippies that the city’s conservative
residents had back in the 1960’s.

"You have ruined the neighborhood with your little
marijuana nightclub, posing as a health care clinic,"
reads an anonymous e-mail message received by Reed on
June 16th. "Most of your customers fit the same
profile: male, under 30, non-white, skater punk/home
boy/gang-banger aesthetic. Since when do so many
members of this demographic have such serious medical
conditions?"

"The truth, as I see it from 22nd and Guerrero, is
that the patients, young and old, come and go without
posing a threat to anyone here, and I fear that the
main offense they have committed is embodying a look
that we are conditioned to believe is threatening,"
long time neighborhood resident Charlie Pizarro told
the Noe Valley Voice. "With the Green Cross, we have a
locally owned small business that is filling a need in
our community, and is doing so in a way that I believe
is respectful of all of us who live here….Unlike the
patrons of the bars and restaurants around here, the
patients of the Green Cross do not scream through the
neighborhood drunk at 2 a.m. They do not urinate on my
house or turn over garbage cans.”

Reed says patrons of the Liberties bar continue to be
abusive. On June 26th, Reed says a man drove by the
Green Cross several times in a black Range Rover and
made incomprehensible comments to the security guard
outside the dispensary. Eventually, the man parked and
entered the Liberties bar. When he exited, the man
allegedly began to yell at the security guard and
accused the guard of attacking him. He told the guard
that he was calling police and said into his cell
phone, “an African American just shot me.”

Reed said the Green Cross guard did not respond to the
man who went back into Liberties. About an hour later,
the man left Liberties and approached the security
officer again. When another Green Cross employee left
the dispensary to assist the guard, the man saw a
black woman sitting at a table outside Liberties.
According to Reed, the man began screaming at her,
using profanity and the word “nigger” several times.
The man allegedly had his arm raised above her as if
he was about to hit her.

A neighbor, who lives across the street from the Green
Cross, ran outside to assist the woman. Reed says the
man swung at the neighbor throwing him to the ground.
The police arrived shortly and arrested the man.

The July 15th public hearing held by the San Francisco
Planning Department and the Department of Building
Inspection considered passionate arguments for and
against the dispensary - and reviewed how the club has
changed its operations to address neighborhood
concerns. Each person got two minutes to speak and
people were asked to submit suggestions for what the
Green Cross could do to further address neighborhood
concerns short of closing down. Badiner declined to
have Sider’s memo read aloud at the meeting insisting
it was already part of the record.

According to an account by Green Cross member Madge
Van Orden, both sides in the dispute made emotional
arguments in the dispute. One angry neighborhood
resident focused on the alleged negative impact of the
dispensary on her grandchildren and displayed one of
her children at the podium, while Green Cross
supporters offered “drawn-out tales of their suffering
and pain.”

Van Orden notes that San Francisco police “appear
suspiciously unresponsive to the neighborhood
problems” and such lack of enforcement on issues such
as illegal parking “allows quality-of-life crimes to
force closure of medical cannabis dispensaries.” She
further notes that “ineffective attention from legal
administrators who supposedly support medical
marijuana has had a large hand in the problems for
which the Green Cross is being held responsible. The
club is under fire because it attracts excessive
traffic due in part to stranded customers from other
area clubs shut down by public annoyance issues.”

Reed said there were no new complaints aired against
the dispensary and bought up the ongoing harassment by
Liberties patrons. While he has responded to community
concerns, Reed says Liberties is not held to the same
high standards. “I think it was a fair hearing of
thoughts!” writes Reed.

Reed also noted that crimes against the dispensaries
continue. The same week that the hearing took place,
Reed noted that a dispensary at 10th and Mission
Streets was held up by three armed robbers. Some of
the other forty some dispensaries in the city who are
following the Green Cross dispute, fear that even if
they secure permits like the Green Cross has done,
they could still be targeted for shut down by a group
of neighbors and a sympathetic supervisor.
The patients group Americans for Safe Access described
the permit revocation process as a “witch hunt” and
pointed out that the timing corresponded with federal
raids and court decisions against medical cannabis
supporters.

Badiner said at the hearing that his decision to
revoke the permit came down to whether the club is
located in an appropriate neighborhood and whether it
can be run in a way that addresses concerns of
residents. According to Van Orden, Badiner was
especially concerned about how many customers the
Green Cross attracted from outside the neighborhood.

“Badiner agreed that the character of the neighborhood
has changed, but acknowledged that Reed is working
hard to address concerns,” writes Van Orden. “He
claimed Reed has some amount of responsibility for the
actions of his cliental, but wasn’t sure how much. He
expressed doubt that any amount of effort could
satisfy the problems, but claimed to be open to
suggestions for constructive solutions, at least until
Monday’s deadline for fact-gathering and comments.

In her account of the hearing, Saux said via e-mail
that, “it was clear by the presence of the patients
that the Green Cross does provide a great service to
people with illnesses. They emphasized that they need
a safe dispensary in a safe neighborhood, and I
completely understand and sympathize with that.”

But Saux added that the address ongoing nuisances
created by the dispensary. She said several people in
the building above the Green Cross wrote letters
documenting their continuing problems with odors “So
on the smoking issue, I don’t think that the Green
Cross has adequately addressed the problem,” wrote
Saux. “Staff continue to smoke on the premises, which
is affecting upstairs neighbors, pedestrians on 22nd
Street, and clients seated outdoors at the Liberties.”

Saux said problems in front of the dispensary have
abated, but traffic problems have moved to other parts
of the neighborhood. She said that she and her fellow
neighborhood activists get e-mails every day with
additional complaints and observations about the club.
“The parking issue has been addressed by the presence
of the security guard on 22nd Street,” writes Saux.
“The guard does not patrol Fair Oaks, however, which
is where the problem has moved.

Saux says neighbors also testified to drug dealing and
other crime on Fair Oaks Street and Guerrero Street.
According to Saux, neighbors provided their police
report numbers and verified that these incidents were
directly related to Green Cross patrons. “I don’t
believe that these events would be happening on Fair
Oaks Street if the Green Cross were not in its present
location,” wrote Saux. “This is not to say that we do
not have crime, we do. But there is a constant level
of activity: people smoking pot in parked cars, people
doling out what they’ve just purchased at the Green
Cross, and the more serious incidences that were
relayed at the meeting.”

Saux says that both sides are still angry and upset
with the City for allowing a situation like this to
develop. “I would have to say that we acknowledge that
an effort has been made to address the issues since
the June 6 neighborhood meeting,” wrote Saux. “But the
neighbors are not satisfied with the results.”