As San Jose confronts a fiscal crisis forcing massive service cuts such as closure of popular community centers, the City Council moved Tuesday toward allowing medical marijuana collectives as a potential new source of revenue.
The council voted to approve a recommendation by Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio calling for an ordinance to be brought back in June that would allow a limited number of medical marijuana collectives and impose additional taxes on them to help support city services. The city clerk officially recorded the vote as 6-4, with Madison Nguyen, Nora Campos, Kansen Chu and Nancy Pyle opposed, and Councilman Pete Constant absent. Pyle later said she intended to vote with the majority, but the record had not been officially updated.
Mayor Chuck Reed initially urged the city to hold off until voters in November decide on a measure that would legalize recreational use of the drug. But he agreed to support Oliverio’s proposal after he modified it to allow flexibility on the locations and taxes for collectives, and more time for city staff to prepare the ordinance. He cautioned that the proposal should not be seen as a welcome mat for marijuana drugstores.
“It doesn’t mean anybody can do anything they want to do anywhere they want to do it,” Reed said. “We’re trying to implement state law in a way that allows us to control what we do in our city.”
Nguyen said she favored a firm moratorium and that “there’s just a lot of issues.”
If the council approves the proposed ordinance in June, city voters would be asked to consider a tax on medical marijuana collectives in November, just as voters statewide are considering legalizing recreational use of the drug.
Many of the dozens of speakers in a packed chamber encouraged the council to approve an ordinance, echoing Oliverio’s concerns that without a clear law, shady operations will proliferate.
“Our desire is to be good citizens, to pay our taxes and play by the rules,” said Steve DeAngelo, who runs the Harborside collective, one of several to open in San Jose in the past year. It is part of a group of 16 others that have formed a coalition to advocate for proper oversight of medical marijuana operations.
On the other hand, many others cited concerns about the proliferation of purported medical marijuana dispensaries in neighborhoods, urging the city to declare a moratorium on all of them. Edward Jonathans, of Campbell, who was with the Coalition for a Drug Free California, said marijuana is dangerous and at one point ruined his career.
Oliverio urged the council to act quickly, as medical marijuana providers already are proliferating even though they currently aren’t allowed under city law, drawing complaints from neighbors and tying up city code enforcement staff.
Oliverio also argued the city can use the money from taxing medical marijuana dispensaries, which support the idea. He noted that Oakland expects more than $500,000 from just one of the four medical marijuana providers the city allows. He pointed out that new tax dollars could help San Jose as it ponders service reductions such as closing community centers.
Earlier in the day, the council voted 7-4 on a plan by council members Nora Campos and Ash Kalra for community centers the city is struggling to keep open. The Alma Youth/Senior Center and Los Paseos Youth Center are both scheduled to close at the end of June, although the city is scrambling to find organizations to provide some services at the sites.
Under the approved plan, the city would consider maintaining current services at those sites if additional revenues become available, perhaps through employee concessions, during budget finalization. The city would maintain services at the 12 major “hub” community centers and explore reuse options for 21 others, with an emphasis on maintaining city services at those serving high-need populations.
The plan would still demolish the deteriorating St. James Senior Center downtown and transfer programs to the Roosevelt Community Center. The Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County would provide services at the JTS Northside Community Center. Other city services would be provided at Capitol Park/Goss Neighborhood Center and Hank Lopez Community Center.
Council members Sam Liccardo, Pete Constant, Pierluigi Oliverio and Rose Herrera were opposed. Liccardo favored reconsidering the city’s approach of maintaining the 12 “hub” community centers, saying the city should consider outside operators for them and not just for the smaller “satellite” centers.
For many young and elderly residents who use the community centers, the prospect of losing city services at them was deeply disturbing.
“We are a great family there,” said Elena Martinez, 94, a longtime patron of the Alma community center. “It seems to me so stupid to want to close up the center.”
