I hope you can join me tomorrow – Monday – night for an important community discussion on marijuana in Hoboken. It is at 630 pm at the Jubilee Center at 601 Jackson.
In my 10/23 email to you asking for your feedback on marijuana, I explained the specifics of the “Marijuana Ordinance” that the Administration had proposed to be heard at the November 7th City Council meeting. I wont restate everything here, but I encourage you to reread my email to find out more color on the proposed legislation.
At the meeting tomorrow night, there will be a panel comprising our State Assembly representatives including I believe Raj Mukherji, who is one of the sponsors of the State level legislation, a representative of the ACLU to discuss the social injustices of marijuana, Hoboken’s Police Chief Ken Ferrante and someone by the name of Sasha Huetz of Garden State of Mind (who I can’t find any information about although I assume she is a pro-cannabis advocate). This is a great opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.
In response to my 10/23 email, I received almost 100 emails and messages from many of you. I am compiling these and will send out a summary before the meeting tomorrow. The responses range from definite no’s to definite yes’s and everywhere in between. But based upon the feedback I received, and some of my own thoughts, here are some suggested questions for you to consider asking tomorrow night:
- What is the status of the State level legislation? When do we think it will be voted on and what will be included?
- How is Senator Stack expected to vote on the legislation?
- What research did the Administration do in preparation for their proposed ordinance?
- What commitments will Hoboken Police make in terms of enforcing the prohibition of smoking marijuana in public places? How do we expect to keep it off our sidewalks?
- What do we expect the three proposed Marijuana Establishments to generate in tax revenue for the State and for Hoboken?
- What do we expect the additional costs of compliance and enforcement to be?
- What does decriminalization mean? How many people in Hoboken are arrested for marijuana use annually? What is the current enforcement practices?
- Why are the cost of the licenses only $15,000?
- Are child care and preschool locations included in the 1000 ft. exclusionary zone?
- Why would the I1-W zone be included in the inclusionary area if the area was recommended in our recently approved Land Use Element to be rezoned as a residential zone R-4?
- How do we realistically expect our current unruly bar scene to be impacted by the sale of recreational marijuana? Edibles in particular.
- Why does Hoboken have to be first?
This is such a major change for our community and the Administration was pushing to move forward with no public meeting. But I insisted that we have one prior to any vote. Personally, I don’t see the rush and would prefer no vote is taken until the State level vote occurs. Then we know what we are voting on. But this is fluid, and we should all be trying to become as more educated as possible in the interim so I hope you will join me and other members of our local government at the meeting tomorrow night.
