Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
The site of San Francisco's last gun shop that shuttered two years ago may turn into a medical marijuana dispensary.
The Bernal Heights Cooperative's permit application to open for business as a medical marijuana dispensary is set to go before the Planning Commission today.
The proposed dispensary would occupy the commercial space formerly famous for being San Francisco's last remaining gun shop, known as High Bridge Arms, at 3185 Mission St. The gun store closed when the Board of Supervisors added more restrictions on gun shops.
The dispensary was displaced after the building where it operated out of since 2005 was sold, and a new dispensary that could pay more rent displaced it, according to dispensary applicant Sean Killen.
The tech software worker decided to enter the marijuana industry in 2015 by helping the cooperative. Killen said The City shouldn't allow the permit to be transferred from one dispensary to another at the same location to prevent similar building sales, displacing long-term dispensaries.
"It's been a work in progress ever since 2015 to just put it in a new home," Killen said. That included paying $5,000 in rent for the former gun shop site since last year and also maintaining a site outside The City and offering a delivery service to longstanding patients.
The application is also among the first batch of dispensary applications to heard by the Planning Commission since voters approved Proposition 64 in November, which legalized adult recreational use of marijuana.
The application has another distinction. Killen on Tuesday signed an agreement, which was provided to the San Francisco Examiner, with United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 648, a local chapter of labor union United Food and Commercial Workers that represents a growing number workers in the marijuana industry across California.
The union is in talks with City College of San Francisco to create an apprenticeship training program for the medical marijuana industry beginning in the spring 2018 semester.
Killen's agreement supports employees organizing and agrees to certain worker standards, such as at least $20 an hour in the first year of employment. Killen said it is the first such agreement with UFCW Local 648 and a dispensary. He also committed to hiring local apprentices through UFCW.
"If we knew someone was coming in with the right knowledge I think that's fantastic," Killen said in support the proposed CCSF cannabis training program
UFCW Local 648 did not return calls for comment, but member Jennifer Garcia said in an email that the union "is excited to work with Bernal Heights Cooperative and we hope that the Planning Commission approves their application to re-open."
The state is expected to begin in January 2018 issuing permits for recreational marijuana use in accordance with Prop. 64.
Mayor Ed Lee has directed departments to come up with local permits by September 2017. San Francisco is expected to permit adult-use businesses and allow medical dispensaries to apply to also distribute recreational marijuana.
The location is in the proximity of its former location at 33 29th St., where Harvest now operates out of and Cookie Co. 415 at 3139 Mission St. There is another dispensary application pending at 3326 Mission St.
There is some opposition to the proposal. One resident wrote the commission opposing the application arguing that two other locations in the area was sufficient for patient access.
Killen said he understands concerns of clustering, but also thought two or three wasn't a problem.
"The claim we are trying to make is that we are continuing our service," Killen said. "It's in the neighborhood still. We are just down the street from where we [were]. We are serving the same patient base."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: SF's Marijuana Labor Movement Growing With New Dispensary Applicant
Author: Joshua Sabatini
Photo Credit: Dan Chambers
Website: San Francisco Examiner
The Bernal Heights Cooperative's permit application to open for business as a medical marijuana dispensary is set to go before the Planning Commission today.
The proposed dispensary would occupy the commercial space formerly famous for being San Francisco's last remaining gun shop, known as High Bridge Arms, at 3185 Mission St. The gun store closed when the Board of Supervisors added more restrictions on gun shops.
The dispensary was displaced after the building where it operated out of since 2005 was sold, and a new dispensary that could pay more rent displaced it, according to dispensary applicant Sean Killen.
The tech software worker decided to enter the marijuana industry in 2015 by helping the cooperative. Killen said The City shouldn't allow the permit to be transferred from one dispensary to another at the same location to prevent similar building sales, displacing long-term dispensaries.
"It's been a work in progress ever since 2015 to just put it in a new home," Killen said. That included paying $5,000 in rent for the former gun shop site since last year and also maintaining a site outside The City and offering a delivery service to longstanding patients.
The application is also among the first batch of dispensary applications to heard by the Planning Commission since voters approved Proposition 64 in November, which legalized adult recreational use of marijuana.
The application has another distinction. Killen on Tuesday signed an agreement, which was provided to the San Francisco Examiner, with United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 648, a local chapter of labor union United Food and Commercial Workers that represents a growing number workers in the marijuana industry across California.
The union is in talks with City College of San Francisco to create an apprenticeship training program for the medical marijuana industry beginning in the spring 2018 semester.
Killen's agreement supports employees organizing and agrees to certain worker standards, such as at least $20 an hour in the first year of employment. Killen said it is the first such agreement with UFCW Local 648 and a dispensary. He also committed to hiring local apprentices through UFCW.
"If we knew someone was coming in with the right knowledge I think that's fantastic," Killen said in support the proposed CCSF cannabis training program
UFCW Local 648 did not return calls for comment, but member Jennifer Garcia said in an email that the union "is excited to work with Bernal Heights Cooperative and we hope that the Planning Commission approves their application to re-open."
The state is expected to begin in January 2018 issuing permits for recreational marijuana use in accordance with Prop. 64.
Mayor Ed Lee has directed departments to come up with local permits by September 2017. San Francisco is expected to permit adult-use businesses and allow medical dispensaries to apply to also distribute recreational marijuana.
The location is in the proximity of its former location at 33 29th St., where Harvest now operates out of and Cookie Co. 415 at 3139 Mission St. There is another dispensary application pending at 3326 Mission St.
There is some opposition to the proposal. One resident wrote the commission opposing the application arguing that two other locations in the area was sufficient for patient access.
Killen said he understands concerns of clustering, but also thought two or three wasn't a problem.
"The claim we are trying to make is that we are continuing our service," Killen said. "It's in the neighborhood still. We are just down the street from where we [were]. We are serving the same patient base."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: SF's Marijuana Labor Movement Growing With New Dispensary Applicant
Author: Joshua Sabatini
Photo Credit: Dan Chambers
Website: San Francisco Examiner
