Today's Most Clicked POSTS - BNN California Statewide Ranker (6/6/09)
- 1. Zuma Dogg Sunday TWITTER Rantings (Better Than UFC Showdown: Obama vs Villaraigosa, Coming Soon To Cable News?)
- 2. Lois Kazakoff: Coast Guard prepares for global warming
- 3. Starry, Starry Night at Mount Rushmore: The Night Vision of Wally Pacholka
- 4. Gary Kamiya On The Crisis
- 5. Palin Is Not A Defeated Woman, Not A Beaten Politician
Posts
ZD ON CITY EVER LISTENING TO COMMUNITY: As far as I have seen over the past three years, and sad to say it will probably remain so, the only way to get the city’s attention on an issue to demand legal compliance where there is not (Aka: When you are being screwed by the city) is to file a lawsuit. Public comment is great, but if I were an attorney, or had one to represent me, you may as well stay home, don’t contact your councilmember, just go straight to lawsuit. It’s the only way I have seen for the most part. They will keep talking and talking and talking and telling you whatever you want to hear…UNTIL THEY LOSE IN COURT. CIVIL ATTORNEYS…START YOUR ENGINES!
MEDICAL MARIJUANA COLLECTIVES: The July issue of LA JEMM is bigger than the last issue, which intially caught my attention how out of control the collective situation has become. The city let this mess get out of hand. Now it will be up to new City Attorney Carmen Truanich to take action to shut down the illegal ones.
ZD and the City will NEVER agree/see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff; however a bunch of these collectives DID open up while waiting for hardship exemption approval, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO.
People knew the old city attorney (Rocky Delgadillo) wasn't doing anything about it, cause he was too busy cashing his "pay to play" checks and cutting those rollover deals...so they opened up, since they knew the city wasn't doing anything about it.
WELL, now that it is ABOVE the radar, instead of below, the city is going to have to get up out of it's seat and start swatting the flies back. Letters have already gone out to some collectives who have been denied the hardship exeptions recently, notifiying them the meter is ticking on a $1000 a day "violation" ticket they could be called onto the carpet at anytime for if they do not shut down immediately.
I don't feel sorry for these collectives that opened up "under the radar" operating under the guise nothing was going to happen. That's the chance you take and I hope you made out alright and didn't get burnt too bad if you have to close (hope you didn't invest in expensive furniture and decorations and whatnot); but...although the battle is just beginning, and the city attorney's office is spread pretty thin...looks like the city is at least starting the process of going through the motions to try and shut down the collectives that opened up illegally in violation of the ICO.
I THINK THE PROBLEM HERE IS THAT THE CITY STILL DOES NOT HAVE ANY RULES AND REGULATIONS IN PLACE. IF THE DUMB CITY WOULD JUST APPROVE SOME RULES, THEN THEY COULD START ENFORCING THE LAW AND MANY OF THESE CO-OPS WILL JUST GO AWAY CAUSE THEY WON'T EVEN WANT TO TRY AND COMPY WITH ALL THE STUFF/WON'T BE ABLE TO AND THEY WILL EITHER CLOSE OR BE BUSTED EASILY.
So my advice is, don't get too caught up in certain micro details that will keep it from being passed easily. Don't get too caught up in the 1000 feet rule. If you get the basic rules and regulations put into place, a lot of them will close up, like I said, and that will take care of it.
And remember, the problem here also is that doctors wrote too many prescriptions and the demand is now there and the city cannot get into the mindreading business and decide that "people aren't really sick/don't really need the medication." If you close too many for the wrong reasons, you will really start to see problems at the exitisitng collectives with too much patient traffic causing too many REAL problems.
(I JUST KNOW THE CITY IS GONNA SCREW THIS UP.)
I DO THINK IT IS B.S. THAT THE CITY IS USING THE ARGUMENT, "Gee, Zuma Dogg, even the 'So and So Association of Marijuana' agrees the collectives should be at least 1000 feet apart and that there are too many." YEAH, it's called wanting the biggest piece of the pie! Of course they don't want to added competition and want the other guys shut down. DON'T BE SPUN CITY COUNCILMEMBERS...you're dumb, remember?
AND, To: L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, THE CITY IS SENDING OUT LETTERS TO THESE COLLECTIVES THAT THEY DO NOT RECEIVE UNTIL SATURDAY (THE EARLIEST THOSE WHO RECIEVEDTHEM GOT THEM, FOR A MONDAY MEETING!) Is that LEGAL?
SCENARIO: You have an 8:30 AM hearing on a MONDAY, in which you are fighting for the right of your business, requiring legal documents, attorneys to be present and the entire matter -- IN WHICH THERE IS NO APPEAL PROCESS...AND YOU SEND THE LETTERS OUT ON FRIDAY, AND THE EARLIEST PEOPLE GO THEM WAS ON SATURDAY...A NON-BUSINESS DAY. So you walk into your office on Monday morning at 9am or 10am or whenever...and you open your letter you got on Saturday, telling you that your hearing is at 8:30am on Monday.
FUCK YOU CITY HALL..AND COUNCILMEMBER JOSE HUIZAR WAS, ONCE AGAIN, MENTIONED BY NAME TO ZUMA DOGG AS BEING AN ESPECAILLY UNATTENTIVE, NON-ATTENTION PAYING, FINGERNAIL CLIPPING, JUST WANTING TO HURRY IT ALONG DICK. (Sorry Jose, I know we run in the same social circles and we have a nice relationship as gadfly/councilwrecker...BUT WHY DOES YOUR NAME ALWAYS COME UP.
I WAS JUST TALKING TO SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHO I HAVE NEVER MET, AND IS NOT A CD 14 ACTIVIST, AND HE DIDN'T LIKE YOU AT MONDAY'S MEETING, AT ALL. NEITHER DID THE PERSON I SPOKE WITH FROM THE LAST MEETING. Jose, you are making me look bad. I cannot keep sticking up for you and saying, "He's not that bad, he's just stuck with all of Villar's illegal corruption that he has to deal with, but he's alright." I CAN'T GO TO BAT FOR YOU ANYMORE. You should step down, Jose Huizar, I don't think you have what it takes to run a council office or do your job at a PLUM meeting.
So to summarize, although ZD sees it is a joke how these medical marijuana collectives have popped up all over the place without any regulation; I DO NOT LIKE SOME OF THE PROPAGANDA BULLSHIT THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE CO-OPS ARE PUTTING OUT THERE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, I DO NOT CARE THAT A BUNCH OF CO-OPS TELL THE COUNCILMEMBERS "EVEN WE THINK THERE ARE TOO MANY AND SHOULDN'T BE WITHIN 1000 FEET OF EACH OTHER." ....OF COURSE THESE PEOPLE WANT LESS COMPETITION.
So looks like ZD may once again be the only person who has a fair, unbiased opinion in this topic of which I am very familiar with on a citywide level.
AND I KNOW ONE THING...THESE 28 DISPENSARIES THAT WERE DISPENSED WITH BY THE CITY LAST MONDAY DURING THE PLUM MEETING SHOULD LOOK INTO WHETHER IT IS LEGAL TO SEND OUT A LETTER ON FRIDAY, THAT YOU GET ON SATURDAY...AT THE EARLIEST, FOR A MONDAY 8:30AM CITY HEARING.