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SF Neighborhood Fighting Medical Pot Club

KRON

San Francisco, CA Sept 8, 2005 -- People in one San Francisco neighborhood are trying to get rid of a medical marijuana club they say has brought crime and congestion to the area.

The issue has pitted the patients who need medical marijuana against neighbors who say they want peace, quiet, and security. Neighbors say the Green Cross medical marijuana distribution store is too near five local schools and is bringing in the wrong element. The club says it has tried to comply with neighbors' complaints but the neighbors aren't listening.

"There has been an increase in violence and armed robbery in front of three children in broad daylight," said neighbor Shirley Maurin.

She says neighbors along 22nd St. as well as more than 900 others in the area have signed a petition claiming that the Green Cross is a dangerous nuisance to the area, especially its five schools, and should be shut down.

"We have all these cars parking along Fair Oaks and 22nd St.," Maurin said. "They are dealing drugs, taking the marijuana out of the Green Cross and re-distributing it."

These and other complaints led the zoning administrator of the city's Planning department to suspend the club's permit to operate, pending an appeal.

"They're operating under a suspended permit with our understanding we have not sought to shut them down," said San Francisco Zoning Administrator Larry Badiner. "We thought to use this as a process."

Badiner says the club was operating outside its permit and that's why it was suspended in the first place. Instead of serving the local community, medical marijuana users from all over the Bay Area were converging on this and other local stores.

"When the East Bay decided to go to four clubs, there was a lot of patients out there that had been going to the East Bay that needed a place to get their medication," said Kevin Reed of the Green Cross.

He maintains that is what led to the congestion around his store. Reed says he has hired four security guards, installed surveillance cameras, and policed his area to placate neighbors.

More than 30 recommendations have been issued from the zoning administrator that would keep the club open -- recommendations that neither the club nor the neighbors think are fair.

The San Francisco Police Dept. says there has been no increase in serious crimes in the area of the store but they do confirm a huge increase in nuisance and calls for service for complaints like noise and double parking.

The Board of Appeals hears the Green Cross case on Sept. 21.