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Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council President Michael Larsen and Vice President Michael Nogueira were featured Tuesday on the NBC4 channel 5 p.m. news hour as they discussed a hot-button issue likely to dominate elections to the ERNC scheduled on Oct. 13: Should people who don't live in Eagle Rock but who patronize the neighborhood's medical marijuana dispensaries be allowed to vote in the elections, which have attracted a record number of candidates?
"The battle over medical marijuana has become extremely local here in Eagle Rock," NBC4 reporter Ted Chen said in the introduction to his two-minute video report, which can be viewed by clicking here. The conflict centers on an institution "people used to largely ignore–the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council," he added.
Marijuana activists led partly by Eagle Rock resident Nelson Grande II, one of five candidates for ERNC president in the upcoming elections, are encouraging patients and customers who patronize local pot shops to exercise their franchise on Oct. 13, Chen noted.
"But Larsen and Nogueira say it's the people who live here who should choose their leaders," Chen said, highlighting the root of the controversy.
"The problem we have is when they're encouraging people from other communities to come into Eagle Rock and vote in our Neighborhood Council election," Larsen said in the news video, referring to members of a "Green Slate" recently launched by Grande and Eagle Rock resident Tim Ryder, who heads Cannabis Clubs United With the Community, a group whose stated mission is to improve cooperation between local pot shops and residents as well as business owners.
In an article in the September issue of the Boulevard Sentinel newspaper, Ryder wrote that he had received confirmation from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), which oversees Neighborhood Council elections, that medical marijuana patients have a "factual basis to be considered stakeholders [in Eagle Rock] and are therefore eligible to vote in the upcoming election." Added Ryder: "This potentially increases the pool of voters by hundreds if not thousands of pro-medical marijuana patients."
The rub lies in the fact, Larsen said in the NBC4 report, that many of those potential voters are likely to be from "Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena–all places that have a ban on the [marijuana] dispensaries."
In an interview with Eagle Rock Patch last week, Grande said that DONE had confirmed to him that "anyone belonging to a club that is located in Eagle Rock is considered a stakeholder and can vote."
According to Larsen, however, who was quoted in the same interview, DONE has advised the ERNC that marijuana dispensaries are "not authorized under the Los Angeles Administrative Code as any of the permissible and enumerated uses contained within the Code" and that therefore "a person who claims an interest in a neighborhood alleging that it is based on a Medical Marijuana Dispensary, which is an unauthorized and illegal use, is not an eligible stakeholder."
Larsen acknowledges, however, that Green Slate supporters can easily get around any restrictions regarding their voting eligibility as patrons of Eagle Rock's pot shops by demonstrating their stake in any number of other businesses in the neighborhood.
"All they have to do is present a receipt from Starbucks and claim to be an ER Stakeholder," Larsen told Patch. "What the Green Slate folks are trying to do just doesn't seem right to me."
Larsen's "biggest concern right now is the stated intent of the Green Slate folks to bring in 'thousands' of outside supporters to vote in our election," he said. "As it stands, they might be able to pull it off."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: patch.com
Author: Ajay Signh
Contact: Contact Us - Eagle Rock, CA Patch
Website: Are Pro-Pot Supporters on the Verge of a Coup in Eagle Rock? - Eagle Rock, CA Patch
"The battle over medical marijuana has become extremely local here in Eagle Rock," NBC4 reporter Ted Chen said in the introduction to his two-minute video report, which can be viewed by clicking here. The conflict centers on an institution "people used to largely ignore–the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council," he added.
Marijuana activists led partly by Eagle Rock resident Nelson Grande II, one of five candidates for ERNC president in the upcoming elections, are encouraging patients and customers who patronize local pot shops to exercise their franchise on Oct. 13, Chen noted.
"But Larsen and Nogueira say it's the people who live here who should choose their leaders," Chen said, highlighting the root of the controversy.
"The problem we have is when they're encouraging people from other communities to come into Eagle Rock and vote in our Neighborhood Council election," Larsen said in the news video, referring to members of a "Green Slate" recently launched by Grande and Eagle Rock resident Tim Ryder, who heads Cannabis Clubs United With the Community, a group whose stated mission is to improve cooperation between local pot shops and residents as well as business owners.
In an article in the September issue of the Boulevard Sentinel newspaper, Ryder wrote that he had received confirmation from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), which oversees Neighborhood Council elections, that medical marijuana patients have a "factual basis to be considered stakeholders [in Eagle Rock] and are therefore eligible to vote in the upcoming election." Added Ryder: "This potentially increases the pool of voters by hundreds if not thousands of pro-medical marijuana patients."
The rub lies in the fact, Larsen said in the NBC4 report, that many of those potential voters are likely to be from "Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena–all places that have a ban on the [marijuana] dispensaries."
In an interview with Eagle Rock Patch last week, Grande said that DONE had confirmed to him that "anyone belonging to a club that is located in Eagle Rock is considered a stakeholder and can vote."
According to Larsen, however, who was quoted in the same interview, DONE has advised the ERNC that marijuana dispensaries are "not authorized under the Los Angeles Administrative Code as any of the permissible and enumerated uses contained within the Code" and that therefore "a person who claims an interest in a neighborhood alleging that it is based on a Medical Marijuana Dispensary, which is an unauthorized and illegal use, is not an eligible stakeholder."
Larsen acknowledges, however, that Green Slate supporters can easily get around any restrictions regarding their voting eligibility as patrons of Eagle Rock's pot shops by demonstrating their stake in any number of other businesses in the neighborhood.
"All they have to do is present a receipt from Starbucks and claim to be an ER Stakeholder," Larsen told Patch. "What the Green Slate folks are trying to do just doesn't seem right to me."
Larsen's "biggest concern right now is the stated intent of the Green Slate folks to bring in 'thousands' of outside supporters to vote in our election," he said. "As it stands, they might be able to pull it off."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: patch.com
Author: Ajay Signh
Contact: Contact Us - Eagle Rock, CA Patch
Website: Are Pro-Pot Supporters on the Verge of a Coup in Eagle Rock? - Eagle Rock, CA Patch
