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Marijuana Dispensary (Denied)
As
most of Del Aire knows by now, there is an effort to prevent the
placement of a marijuana dispensary on 118th and Aviation. The first of 2 public hearings was
held on November 5, 2007 in Del Aire.
The turnout was terrific and all those opposed made excellent
points and were very well spoken. There were only 5 who spoke in favor
of the dispensary out of approximately 200 in attendance. Only 2 people
in support actually live in Del Aire.
The other 3 live as far away as
Silver Lake. We are confident that we will be
successful in stopping the County from issuing the permit however;
there is still work to be done.
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Send a letter to Supervisor Yvonne Burke’s Assistant
Chief of Staff Mike Bohlke
at 500 West Temple Street,
Room 866, Los
Angeles, CA
90012 or email him at
mbohlke@lacbos.org. Tell him why
this is not a good idea in Del Aire. Be brief and polite.
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Important: Join us at the green line
at 7:00 am on Wednesday the 5th to attend the final hearing downtown Los Angeles, which
is at 9:00 am.
We
would also like to acknowledge the support of the Wiseburn
Watch and the Hollyglen Homeowners Assoc. We need to stick together on
these issues and Del Aire appreciates the support.
Update
I would like to thank Del Aire residents for their time
and support in preventing the marijuana dispensary from opening in Del
Aire. Had it not been for our community participating and
sticking together, this would surely have been forced upon
us. This was a difficult battle and thankfully, Del Aire
won. Please see article below.
John Koppelman, President
Del Aire Neighborhood Assoc.
Marijuana
Dispensary Turned Down
Panel
rejects proposed Del Aire facility, citing a nearby child-care
facility.
By
Sandy Mazza, December 6, 2007
County
regional planning commissioners Wednesday turned down a permit
application that would have allowed a medical marijuana dispensary near
Los Angeles
International
Airport.
The
decision came after Del Aire residents complained that the store would
contribute to the area's seedy atmosphere and be too close to a
child-care facility.
A
closed bar, check-cashing business, strip club and motel stand near the
vacant building at 11816Aviation Blvd. in the unincorporated
neighborhood of Del Aire.
Del
Aire Neighborhood Association President John Koppelman said the LAX
Suites motel and Ye Olde Shack bar - which
has been closed for three years partially due to his efforts - bring
prostitution, drugs and violence to the neighborhood. He believes the
marijuana dispensary would only exacerbate that.
"It
costs $150 to get a doctor's recommendation for marijuana,"
Koppelman said. "That's all it takes. You don't have to be sick.
If you live in the motel and sell dope, you could go next door and get
the dope. If you have a dope house, you're going to get dope
activity."
Lawrence
Epstein, chief executive officer of the collective that wants to
operate the dispensary, applied for a conditional-use permit to open
it.
Epstein
helped establish the Marina Caregivers dispensary in Marina del Rey in 2005, and said it has grown to more than 100
customers a day.
"We
do have more competition now," Epstein told the commission Wednesday.
"When we opened in 2005, this was something very new. … Patients
coming from the South
Bay area would
come to this (proposed) facility."
The
South Bay
is currently served by at least eight door-to-door marijuana delivery
services and a few dispensaries that opened before Torrance,
Carson, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling
Hills Estates, Redondo Beach,
Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach,
Hawthorne and
Gardena instituted moratoriums on
them.
California approved the use of medical
marijuana more than 10 years ago, but it is still illegal under federal
law. Still, more than 200 medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in
Los Angeles
County since
then.
Though
the county allows dispensaries that adhere to certain regulations,
members of the Regional Planning Commission questioned whether they
should go against federal law, which maintains that marijuana is an
illegal narcotic.
"The
U.S. Constitution is a guideline that reigns supreme," Regional
Planning Commissioner Pat Modugno said
Wednesday, when considering the application.
But
the sticking point for commissioners was a home child-care center a few
blocks away. County code regulating dispensaries says day-care centers
must be at least 1,000 square feet away.
"I've
had a lot of thought on this issue, on both sides," Commissioner
Leslie Bellamy said before voting down the permit. "I didn't know
child-care facilities were in the area. … This is a small community,
and the community stated there are crime issues across the street -
prostitution and drugs."
Epstein,
who is leasing the building, said he plans to appeal the commission's
decision.
"This
has been a very eye-opening process for me," Epstein said.
"It's the first time I've been through a conditional-use permit
process, angry residents, newspaper reporters.
I don't know anything about this.
"I
am disappointed in the decision. I've put a lot of time and energy into
this. I thought it was going to go the other way."
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