After being forced out of its home of a decade, a Bernal Heights medical marijuana dispensary was approved Thursday to open nearby in what was up until 2015 San Franciscos last remaining gun shop.
The Planning Commission voted 7-0 Thursday night to grant a permit to the Bernal Heights Cooperative to open for business at 3185 Mission Street, the site of the now-shuttered High Bridge Arms gun shop. The gun shop closed in 2015 after the Board of Supervisors imposed tougher controls on gun sales.
Dispensary applicant Sean Killen told the San Francisco Examiner on Friday that after obtaining a permit from the Department of Public Health, which is expected, he could have the doors open as early as March 1.
Medical marijuana dispensaries can often get caught up in politically-charged debates if community members object to their presence. But in Killens case, opposition seemed scarce and commissioners sympathized with his eviction. Killen had joined the dispensary in 2015 in an effort to save it.
Theres, frankly, a tremendous amount of speculation in this industry right now, Killen said Friday. It just feels chaotic. We really wanted to instill a sense that this has been here for 10 years.
The dispensary had to move because the building in which it operated, at 33 29th St., was bought by the Harvest Group, and Bernal Heights Cooperative was thrown out to make way for their high-end dispensary known as Harvest off Mission. The company created a similar circumstance for the Hemp Center on Geary Boulevard; since The City planning code ties the permit to the land, it was legal.
Predator MCD [medical cannabis dispensary]. Evicting another MCD is, like, wow. Okay, well, we have to approve this, said Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards, when Killen told him about Harvest Group. Welcome back.
Commissioner Joel Koppel praised Killen for not abandoning the effort. The fact that you were a local displaced business is tough so I am glad to see that you are making your best efforts to stick around and stay in the neighborhood, Koppel said.
Killen also received praise from the commissioners for signing an agreement with United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 648, a local chapter of labor union United Food and Commercial Workers, which is having a larger involvement in Californias marijuana industry. It is the first such agreement between UFCW Local 648 and a San Francisco dispensary.
By signing the agreement Killen supports employees organizing and agrees to start paying workers $20 an hour in the first year of employment, along with other benefits, if they organize.
Killen also committed to hiring local apprentices through UFCW and there may soon be a workforce pipeline created by City College of San Francisco, which is working with UFCW to begin an apprenticeship program in the spring 2018 semester.
The cannabis curriculum is being discussed following voter approval of Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana in California. The state is expected to start issuing permits for recreational use in January 2018.
I am ridiculously impressed with the agreement that was made with Local 648. Even though this industry has been around for a while and it is obviously growing and we are not sure where its going to go after the first of the year next year, Koppel said. Now is a better time than ever to start getting organized within this industry and protecting the workers.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Displaced Bernal Heights Marijuana Dispensary Finds New Home In Former Gun Shop
Author: Joshua Sabatini
Contact: San Francisco Examiner
Photo Credit: Gabrielle Lurie
Website: San Francisco Examiner
