"Thank You, Sunset District," reads the white banner tacked over the nondescript storefront on Taraval Street. "The Tide Has Turned."
That's not the way neighbors see it. They've bombarded planners and their representative, Supervisor Carmen Chu, with thousands of letters, e-mails, phone calls and petitions, almost all opposed to turning that shop, tucked between the Bay Area Bird Hospital and the tiny Chinese Gospel Church at 31st Avenue, into the neighborhood's first medical marijuana dispensary.
For Greg Schoepp, there's a huge dollop of hope in that sentiment above the shop as he goes before the Planning Commission this evening to seek approval of his plan to open the Bay Area Compassion Health Center on a busy commercial street. In a wheelchair since he was shot by a burglar in 1982, the San Francisco businessman argues that he's providing a legal service in an area that's safe for customers, many of them disabled, to visit.
"I want to open the type of place where I'd be willing to send my mother, and I wouldn't send her to the Tenderloin," he said. "There are sick people all over the city, including in the Sunset, and this dispensary will help people who really need it."
Meets requirements
Schoepp, whose family has owned Crown Lock in the Richmond District since 1957, has already cleared the first hurdle for his new business. The Planning Department has recommended approval of the project, saying it meets the city's requirements as a site for a medical cannabis dispensary.
But the city's rules regulating pot clubs don't take into consideration the problems those businesses can bring to a neighborhood, opponents argue.
"Nothing personal against the owner, but we don't want that type of business here," said Dallas Udovich of Oceanside Sheet Metal, president of the Taraval Parkside Merchants Association. "People want to come to Taraval because it's safe. Well, there's a reason it's safe."
Lincoln High School, Dianne Feinstein and Robert Louis Stevenson elementary schools, St. Gabriel School and St. Ignatius College Preparatory are all less than a mile from the proposed dispensary, but beyond the 1,000-foot boundary that would bar the business from opening. Various tutoring businesses, dance studios, preschools and child-serving facilities also are nearby.
That 1,000-foot exclusion zone isn't nearly large enough, said Bill Gotch, dean of students at St. Ignatius. Pot clubs bring a criminal element to the neighborhood, he argued.
"There are tons of kids who walk by there every day," he said. "To us, (the shop) presents a real danger or at least an attractive nuisance."
Police Capt. Denise Schmitt, commander of nearby Taraval Station, said in a February letter to the Planning Commission that the largely residential character of the neighborhood, along with the many children in the area, "make this a poor location" for a marijuana dispensary.
Complaints pour in
Chu's office has been inundated with complaints about Schoepp's project. Counting petition signatures, more than 3,000 people have made their feelings known, "and more than 99 percent of them have been opposed," she said.
"I hear about this issue all around the district," said the supervisor, who is against the dispensary. "When so many come out and say they're opposed, it's a concern."
Schoepp has been meeting Wednesday evenings with people from the community and believes he's making headway, especially when he talks about the strict rules he will enforce.
"This is a dispensary, not a pot club, where people will sit around, smoke and socialize," he said. "It's like a dentist's office. You'll get your medicine and go home."
But Schoepp knows he's fighting the public image of pot clubs as supermarkets for drug users rather than pharmacies designed to serve the sick.
"I know there are some people abusing, but there are a lot of people like me, using medical cannabis because they have to," Schoepp said. "This is the only way to make sure those people have access to the medicine they need."
Review
The Planning Commission will review the plan to allow a medical cannabis dispensary at 2139 Taraval St. during its regular meeting at 5:30 tonight in Room 400 of City Hall.
News Hawk: Warbux 420 MAGAZINE
Source: SFGate.com
Author: John Wildermuth
Contact: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com
Copyright: 2010 The San Fransisco Chronical
Website: Neighbors fight Sunset District pot dispensary
That's not the way neighbors see it. They've bombarded planners and their representative, Supervisor Carmen Chu, with thousands of letters, e-mails, phone calls and petitions, almost all opposed to turning that shop, tucked between the Bay Area Bird Hospital and the tiny Chinese Gospel Church at 31st Avenue, into the neighborhood's first medical marijuana dispensary.
For Greg Schoepp, there's a huge dollop of hope in that sentiment above the shop as he goes before the Planning Commission this evening to seek approval of his plan to open the Bay Area Compassion Health Center on a busy commercial street. In a wheelchair since he was shot by a burglar in 1982, the San Francisco businessman argues that he's providing a legal service in an area that's safe for customers, many of them disabled, to visit.
"I want to open the type of place where I'd be willing to send my mother, and I wouldn't send her to the Tenderloin," he said. "There are sick people all over the city, including in the Sunset, and this dispensary will help people who really need it."
Meets requirements
Schoepp, whose family has owned Crown Lock in the Richmond District since 1957, has already cleared the first hurdle for his new business. The Planning Department has recommended approval of the project, saying it meets the city's requirements as a site for a medical cannabis dispensary.
But the city's rules regulating pot clubs don't take into consideration the problems those businesses can bring to a neighborhood, opponents argue.
"Nothing personal against the owner, but we don't want that type of business here," said Dallas Udovich of Oceanside Sheet Metal, president of the Taraval Parkside Merchants Association. "People want to come to Taraval because it's safe. Well, there's a reason it's safe."
Lincoln High School, Dianne Feinstein and Robert Louis Stevenson elementary schools, St. Gabriel School and St. Ignatius College Preparatory are all less than a mile from the proposed dispensary, but beyond the 1,000-foot boundary that would bar the business from opening. Various tutoring businesses, dance studios, preschools and child-serving facilities also are nearby.
That 1,000-foot exclusion zone isn't nearly large enough, said Bill Gotch, dean of students at St. Ignatius. Pot clubs bring a criminal element to the neighborhood, he argued.
"There are tons of kids who walk by there every day," he said. "To us, (the shop) presents a real danger or at least an attractive nuisance."
Police Capt. Denise Schmitt, commander of nearby Taraval Station, said in a February letter to the Planning Commission that the largely residential character of the neighborhood, along with the many children in the area, "make this a poor location" for a marijuana dispensary.
Complaints pour in
Chu's office has been inundated with complaints about Schoepp's project. Counting petition signatures, more than 3,000 people have made their feelings known, "and more than 99 percent of them have been opposed," she said.
"I hear about this issue all around the district," said the supervisor, who is against the dispensary. "When so many come out and say they're opposed, it's a concern."
Schoepp has been meeting Wednesday evenings with people from the community and believes he's making headway, especially when he talks about the strict rules he will enforce.
"This is a dispensary, not a pot club, where people will sit around, smoke and socialize," he said. "It's like a dentist's office. You'll get your medicine and go home."
But Schoepp knows he's fighting the public image of pot clubs as supermarkets for drug users rather than pharmacies designed to serve the sick.
"I know there are some people abusing, but there are a lot of people like me, using medical cannabis because they have to," Schoepp said. "This is the only way to make sure those people have access to the medicine they need."
Review
The Planning Commission will review the plan to allow a medical cannabis dispensary at 2139 Taraval St. during its regular meeting at 5:30 tonight in Room 400 of City Hall.
News Hawk: Warbux 420 MAGAZINE
Source: SFGate.com
Author: John Wildermuth
Contact: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com
Copyright: 2010 The San Fransisco Chronical
Website: Neighbors fight Sunset District pot dispensary
