Recommendation to request City Attorney to report back within 30 days with a draft ordinance allowing the City to apply penalties on property owners and to shut off utility services to unlicensed and illegally operating marijuana businesses.
Item 14 is communication from Councilwoman Praise. Councilmember Pierce. Councilmember Urunga. Recommendation to request the city attorney to report back within 30 days with a draft ordinance allowing the city to apply penalties on property owners and to shut off utility services to unlicensed and illegally operating marijuana business. That's one price. Thank you. Just a few comments on this. As I know, we've been here a long time. So as we all know, medical marijuana will be returning to Long Beach due to the passage of Measure M. And with that, there's an opportunity for us as a council to make sure that patients, businesses and impacted communities are protected from unlicensed and illegally operating marijuana businesses. The measure and businesses will have a series of regulatory policies to ensure safe access for patients and quality of life safeguards for communities. Illegal businesses also cost the city money as they pursue inspections, follow up, legal action, prosecution and ultimately shutting down of those businesses all while the business is able to sometimes defer action and or delay while still making money without being permitted, licensed or paying any taxes. That the toll that these businesses take across go across many city departments, including the police department, code enforcement and the city prosecutor's office. This item seeks to apply penalties that will reduce the city costs associated associated with addressing unlicensed illegal businesses by applying penalties to property owners who lease or rent to unlicensed medical marijuana businesses rather than just the business themselves, which would encourage the property owners to work to resolve these issues or be preventative and vetting out their future tenants. This also looks at shutting off utilities to unlicensed marijuana businesses in order to further enforce their need to be properly permitted, licensed and compliant. We want to be able to reallocate any resources that would be otherwise used for these efforts to the community at large. We all know as a council that this council and many other cities in the region have had problems with illegal dispensaries that have really drained the city of millions of dollars, cities of millions of dollars. We've experienced that ourselves in Long Beach, and we recently had an issue before council that dealt with millions of dollars spent trying to regulate actually trying to enforce laws against an illegal operation. We need enforceable tools as a city that reduce the likelihood of having illegal marijuana operations. Adoption of this ordinance is necessary to limit the number of illegal businesses that would drain or limit our city resources. Now, I understand that this is a report asking for the city attorney to come back with a draft ordinance that includes financial penalties and utility disruptions. But of course, if there are best practices that have been utilized by other cities and the city attorney wants to include those. The intent behind this item is to make it more efficient for the city to be able to tackle the illegal dispensaries in order to make sure that we continue to protect patients, communities and, of course, businesses that are operating within the legal realm. It's only fair to businesses that go through that, jump through the hoops, do what they're supposed to do, that they have protection and partnership from the city when illegal competitive operations show up. And so I want to make sure that we're we're really being aggressive with illegal operations. Some people have said to me, well, this should apply to all illegal businesses. I absolutely agree with that. And that's probably a conversation we can have another day. But it doesn't cost the city millions of dollars to shut down other illegal businesses. There's something about the nature of these types of businesses. I was talking with a good friend of mine who is a city attorney for the city of Santa Ana. She specializes in these cases. And, you know, the problems that they have, even when they go to try to shut down utilities, is there's generators in place. The business is operating within a few minutes or even the next day after the police were there. So I think being able to go after the commercial property owner is huge because that's an area and I think those fines should be significant. Like in the thousands of dollars. I don't think we should be applying $150 fine to people who are illegally renting the location. So I would ask that this item look at what other cities have done. The city of L.A. will be doing this with their passage of measure. M, Riverside and Anaheim have also used similar concepts in their cities. So I look to the city attorney to incorporate some of the best practices and give us, in my opinion, the most aggressive enforcement tool that we can have as a city to go after illegal operations. And I asked my colleagues for their support. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Councilmember Pearce. Yes. I want to thank my colleague, Councilmember Price for bringing this item up. I know that you've worked with a lot of stakeholders to make sure that we're drafting and looking at the right issues. I think highlighting the dispensaries that will get licenses and all the things that they have opted to do, which include everything from security , making sure that, you know, they have the properly trained employees. But I think also that there's a community point person for each one of those dispensaries or businesses it's going. Be out in the community, going to neighborhood associations really says that there is a legal operation where people are trying to do the right thing and going above and beyond to be good neighbors. And I think that's been the biggest issue with dispensaries in the past, is what kind of neighbors are they for our communities? And so I wholeheartedly support this item and I look forward to seeing what options our staff brings back for us to ensure that illegal operations aren't impacting our neighborhoods. So thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you. Councilwoman Price, have you ever heard a councilmember come up with a really good idea, so good that it makes you a little mad and jealous? You didn't come up with the First Avenue. It just happened to me right now, this is this is a no brainer. Ideas. Oh, it's our collective idea. It's not my idea. Oh, come on. Come on, now. This is. No, seriously, this is this is a no brainer. I'm happy I'm happy to support it. I remember, you know, being around for the last round when there were so many illegal operations and seeing the challenges that folks had dealt with from just impacts on neighborhoods and all that, we need every tool we can absolutely get to, you know, to to make sure we, you know, protect quality of life, our neighborhoods. The the other thing is it's just not fair. You know, folks are living through, you know, leaps and bounds to go through and and sort of play by the rules. And people are opening up shops right now. Just, you know, forget the rules. We just got to open it up. So I think you're spot on and you have my support completely and I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Thank you. Any public comment? Good evening. I'm Sylvia Contreras from District eight. And I just would like to add to Mr. Price's comments. A few years ago, I was a high. Was in the role of a private investigator for a marijuana Grow It event. Evidently, it was a cartel girl. So what I see here, it was a major, major grow. What I saw here is that the owner. Rented this area on the outskirts of town and the tenants were coming into town to pay him the rent. He normally would go up and collect and they said, No, no, no, we will come down to you. And he thought, Great, save me a trip. After about a year and a half, he ends up in jail because the owners were growing marijuana. What I would not like to see is that on a smaller scale that if the commercial brokers or the owners of these properties, if they have no idea that something like that is going on, something maybe to educate them. You know what? Since you had this kind of business. Make make some sort of a plan that those particular landlords don't get caught up in that. That owner. He got in jail. And the ones that actually did, the girl, they never got caught. And I say that because I was investigated for that for that for that particular case. So what made me think about a long time ago, we had those barber shops with the with the trolley things. This is a crazy idea. But those those particular businesses like that are going to be opened. Something to tell the public that that is a legal facility. I go through all these places in Long Beach. I never ask their business license. I know it's a little green certificate like that, but I don't walk in. Let me see your license. I wouldn't do that for marijuana either, but something to identify. I don't know. A red a red window or red or something to say. This is illegal from city of Long Beach. It's just my that's my only comment. As a scarlet letter clause. Mr. City attorney, can you include that in there? Although the window of the business is red. Thank you. Next week, please. Hello. My name is Elliot Lewis. I'm a dispensary owner in the city of Long Beach, or soon to be dispensary owner in the city of Long Beach. I wanted to touch on a almost we're almost almost got approval about to start the buildout. I just want to thank Councilwoman Price for bringing this issue up. I think it's a very important issue and the rest of the council who supported it. I just want to put a color on a few of the issues and then maybe throw in a couple of extra suggestions. You know, number one, the way I see it, it's a public safety issue. And there's a lot of bad actors that are still out there that are cultivating marijuana that has betrayed is powdery mildew, pesticides, etc.. These dispensaries are not required to do any testing, and the clientele that walk in there are ingesting all these different possible chemicals, mildew, things that are harmful. You know, we're going through all the right steps to make sure that our patients have safe access. Also, when it comes to edibles and different things, people don't know what they're getting. They don't know the dosage. You know, that's that's a major issue. Also, the city is losing large amounts of tax revenue by allowing these places to exist. It's estimated in the city of Santa Ana. I know they're trying to throw out trying to throw them under the bus, but I know they're trying to do some working on it now. But there's been some reports done. I've heard anywhere from 5000 to 12000 patients daily are getting their medication at illegal dispensaries. This is costing the city tens of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. And the other thing I want to touch on, what we're trying to bring to Long Beach is good paying jobs. They're union jobs. They're jobs with benefits. And by allowing in illegal dispensaries, these guys aren't paying taxes. They're not hiring union jobs. They're paying, you know, slave wages. And they could sell their product at less than we can because they're unregulated it. So I just wanted to touch on a couple of things. I know of another jurisdiction. I can't remember the city by name, but what they started doing is when they made a this is all the money thing. These guys, the owners are playing a cat and mouse game. If it's in their interest to take the higher rent and they can game it out with assist the city and it's monetarily beneficial, they're going to continue to do it. So I think this is price is right on with, you know, trying to hit them in the pocketbook and in other jurisdiction. What they're doing is they're picking the guys up. They aren't charging them with any severe crimes, but they're setting the bail amounts really high. So if three or four of your guys get picked up, it's $10,000 a bail. You know, per guy, you start to see after two or three busts, it's not worth it to keep open. And the last thing I wanted to touch on and, you know, I'm not sure exactly, you know, how this gets addresses today and they continue to be there is delivery service. There's a lot of illegal delivery services. They're here right now. I'm sure they're here to stay. So something to think about when we're addressing the measure. But all in all, you know, the LBC, everybody I know that's a legal operator really supports this. I'm really, really glad you guys are tackling this issue. I want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Very good. You clerk as the addressed upfront, I view any any pot dispensary. Operator or a landlord. The rents just a slight step above. Sex trafficking. Period. What needs to be done? And I know there's rumors about one going down in Belmont Shore. That ain't going to happen. Period. The douchebag publisher of that paper. Hopefully we can get deported. That individual, those individuals have essentially for the past year been operating a sanctuary. For two members of an insidious criminal syndicate. One of which threatened to kill. Threatened to kill. A store owner less than two block and a half away because she reported the use of their use of crack cocaine. The female. Is equally dangerous. Threatened to kill people, kicked and stomp people that thought. And she thought they had taken up their panhandling space that it had been down to them by a certain element within the police department. They champion they champion these people that spit at the Long Beach librarian because they had for their conduct been banned from the library. Period. So you go back to you look at the record of the landlord. And in this particular case, the building that the grunion is in and where the poster line is the same people they could have a year ago undertaken a very simple step. What the responsible person, they're all in this Polly restaurant that is put up a simple gate across that, an attractive black black gate. They could have put it up in a in a 2 hours period. But for over a year, over a year, they've been catering to this criminal syndicate. That's an irresponsible landlord. And anybody like that should not be given a permit that's separate and distinct from the fact that the area itself, Second Street, is a de facto adjunct to playgrounds for K through 12 kids, period. It's something that cannot and will not happen. I know the. Councilperson is operating a good faith, but I would come down much, much stronger and absolutely none of them in Second Street area and the correlative areas of any district like that. Thank you. Q Next speaker, please. Good evening, counsel. My name is Matt Bell. I'm executive vice president of U of CW Local 324. We represent cannabis workers in Orange County and throughout L.A. But one of the things in L.A. County as well. One of the things that we'd like to bring up. With some of the other speakers mentioned is workers that are affected by this underground economy. When there's these. Rogue shops throughout cities, they're not paying insurance, they're not paying wages. Everything's under the table. And these workers are exposed to all kinds of different abuses. And it's imperative that not only when these cannabis businesses come in the medical cannabis, that it's not just unfair to the owners that they have to compete against the black market. It really exposes the workforce to abuse. And I know the council members have brought up. We want to bring good jobs to Long Beach. And it's imperative that we put a stop to these rogue shops and whatever methods that we can use to stop them. We're in full support of Councilmember Price's agenda item, and we look forward to getting workers good wages, good benefits in this industry, not only in Long Beach, but throughout California. And to bring this black market and these out of the shadows and and regulate this business and make it what we know it can be to bring medicine to people that desperately need it and to also to supply good jobs. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Diana alleging advocates for disability rights. First of all, I agree with everything that everyone has said before me. My concerns are a number. First of all, I. It shouldn't. What I really don't appreciate is the medical marijuana being targeted. If it included all businesses, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all. Any illegal businesses? But it seems to me that. Whenever there's an opportunity, Miss Price targets marijuana, demonizes it. We've got it. It's they're horrible, horrible businesses. Or we have to educate people about marijuana. But forgetting and I did, by the way, put in a an article from the county Register basically saying that 82% rise in deaths and abuse of drugs and alcohol had nothing to do with marijuana. So everything is targeted towards marijuana. It's not a bad thing. It is medical. There is goodness in it. So to keep targeting it now, I do support this particular issue. But at the same time, I don't like the idea that it's been targeted just for the marijuana businesses. It should be any illegal business and I hope that you will put protections in that will protect owners. Some days maybe somebody rents to someone they don't know what they're going to be doing there, or they go in, they live, whatever. So I just don't want to see someone. And also I have been getting some phone calls from patients who are concerned because this police department has been known very, very well known to abuse their power. And I can see something like this, them abusing it and using it as a way to target the patients, people who are growing their own. So these things, I mean, the patients need to be separated from this. Let's see if there is anything else. And last but not least, demonizing marijuana only makes it only serves to whet appetites. So you can keep on demonizing it all you want. But it's all it does is increase the use. And that's exactly what has happened. So with those changes, if you can make them, I do support the idea of it and I think the legitimate dispensary owners will be responsible. They've certainly gone through enough to get here. Thank you very much. Thank you, Nick Speaker. Good evening, Honorable Mayor City Council. My name is Adam Hijazi. I'm on the board of directors for the Long Beach Collective Association. First off, I want to thank Councilmember Pearce Pryce Pearce, very close to Councilmember Pryce and Councilmember Pearce and Councilmember Rangel for bringing this item forward. I don't want take too much of your time. It has been a lengthy night, but it is it is really important to be able to differentiate between the legal the sanctioned operators versus the unsanctioned operators. In the past, I think that was one of the biggest issues that happened in the city that we were not able to differentiate. And what ends up happening is the community gets confused and then they see the actions of a unsanctioned operator versus the actions of a sanctioned operator, and then they get to mix them all up. So we've been working really hard on bringing forward best practices, self-policing and security systems to be able to bring the best that we can to the city of Long Beach. So we're definitely in favor of this, and we thank you very much for bringing this item forward. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Stephanie Dawson Solo. Second District Resident Grassroots Governance Strategies. I just want to thank again council members, price and peers for working on this particular issue. I never thought I'd be coming up endorsing a particular agenda item for Councilwoman Pryce, but I'm very glad to do so. In this particular case, I would call it in the the the reason that this particular measure against property owners is so necessary is frankly, just because of the economics of the black market cannabis world. One of my first cases as an attorney in this business was representing a security guard who was caught in a well-intentioned action by the Long Beach Police Department against an illegal operator. The security guard in this particular case had no idea that he was working for an illegal dispensary, but he was essentially caught holding the metaphorical, metaphorical criminal bag of charges while the landlord was, you know, nowhere to be seen. Again, I don't want to be harping on commercial landlords too much, but, you know, when you're when you're asking for six or $10,000 a month for rent for a otherwise empty warehouse in northern Long Beach, you know, it's somewhat to say that you probably had a pretty good idea about what's going on, what sort of activity is going on in that particular area. I will say that in terms of looking at the different areas that the different jurisdictions for inspiration on good policy, Anaheim is not one that has a particularly great reputation within the cannabis field, but that's purely because they don't allow access for any sort of commercial activity, unlike here in Long Beach , thus going for the utility shut down practice model that they have there I think is a good idea, along with the developments for Measure M in Los Angeles. I will say, though, the two one jurisdiction I would completely avoid in terms of trying to model your legislation up over the city of Whittier, for whatever reason that council there is decided that they're going to be going after personal cultivation, which makes no sense, not just from a public policy standpoint. I mean, why go after somebody who's trying to grow six plants in their backyard orchard from a police, from a utilization of resources standpoint? That's a bad idea. But frankly, the bigger issue that the city of Whittier kind of ignored in going after personal cultivation was the fact that there's a plethora of case law supporting kind of the ability to personally cultivate as a patient as well as, you know, the Prop 64 statutory allowance of six plants per person. If we have police going after people for their backyard, for the backyard grows, it's a really just counterproductive and extremely expensive litigation invitation for litigation by slightly unethical marijuana lawyers. You're going to be going after that. So I would just say focus again on the commercial activities. You now have a supply chain that you're able to differentiate that sort of thing. So putting some sort of arbitrary plant count on what differentiates that versus the actual intent and the profits that are going to that are going to be a lot. You're going to be able to focus your investigations on, frankly, the people who matter most on that particular issue that you'll have a good day. Thank you. And our last speaker. Hello. My name is Matthew Houston. I actually have a medical marijuana card, and. And I found that it's. It's a little bit hard to figure out, you know, what what exactly? I think the I guess the government's a little bit schizophrenic on the issue. It's kind of on both sides. At the same time. It makes it very difficult for someone to figure out exactly, you know, what is what is the best way to go about things. And I think and maybe it's because on the federal level, it's still considered illegal. And so something that would normally be in place to to kind of fine tune how the production is going on is something like the FDA, which of course, can't get involved. So, I mean, that's that's just something that's that's missing. And someone like me who doesn't really care one way or another whether I'm using medical marijuana or not, is, you know, it's I'd I'd love to see some results, but where do I look? You know, where it seems like, you know, it would be like, for example, I'm I'm planning to run across the country and so I'm I'm utilizing a as clean a, you know, medical marijuana product as I can. And I'm noticing that. And and this is all just from my own evidence is that my back injury, the vertebrae in my back are slowly straightening out. Now, I have no one to report this to because the medical community can't you know, the medical community can't endorse it. So then you can't research it. So then you can have evidence so that, you know, it's it's a circle of just ridiculousness that doesn't make sense to me. And yeah. So I'm planning to run 1600 miles, if I can, to, um, Galveston, Texas, maybe from Long Beach to crowdsource a reconciliation flag after the Civil War. And and I was thinking, I don't know, what do I do when I get there, you know, going across state lines and then you have it just seems like a perfect opportunity. I mean, if there is something with the back thing that I think, you know, and then I would be going to a state with a guy who that had a tree fall on his back. I mean, and they're considering I don't know, it just. I'd like to see more research done. And I don't know how to do it because it's like like I say, the government is kind of schizophrenic on the issue. It's like. Thank you. Thank you. There's been a motion in a second. And Councilman Austin. Just really quick back to the subject. I wanted to just just tell Councilmember Pryce that this is a brilliant idea. I think this is if we had this tool maybe four years ago, how many millions of dollars would have been saved? I think, you know, this this is an issue that has been evolving over several years. It seems like we're getting smarter as a as a body here. But also the actions of the state and the voters have actually helped us become smarter on this issue. And so either the groundwork has been laid, you know, lessons have been learned. I think this is an excellent item and I'm happy to support it. Great. Thank you very much. See no other public comment. Members, please cast your votes. I just want to clarify one thing. The intent behind this item and just so I don't think there'll be any objection from anyone on the council, but we have no interest in going after people who are growing things in their backyard. I mean, that's the last thing we have time to be worried about right now. What I'm worried about is the stuff that's going to cost us millions of dollars to go after. So, you know, I just want to make sure that the city attorney's office doesn't waste too much time on the six plants. I'm more concerned about the million dollar operations that disrupt our neighborhoods. So thank you. Thank you. There's a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. Version carries. Thank you. Next item, please. I believe it's 16 is going to be tabled to another. Day, I believe. Right? Mr. Olsson. Okay. 20.