Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Page: B - 4 Copyright: 2005 Hearst Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 Author: Leonard J. Price Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n000/a203.html POT-CLUB POLITICKING Editor -- Hooray for a small victory for civic activism. We need more activists like those described in the article ("Political fight looms over pot clubs," June 30) as taking action about a pot club at 935 Howard St. How can the city let these places open unregulated and without going through a permit process to examine their impact on family-oriented neighborhoods? Where was the Board of Supervisors when all these clubs were opening up? The supervisors seem to react rather than be proactive to avoid letting these kinds of problems get out of hand in the first place. Where were the supervisors when these pot clubs were sprouting like weeds? Were they arguing about issuing proclamations on national security or the Iraq war and ignoring what was going on their own backyard? The operators of the Howard Street club did not obtain a conditional use permit. The conditional use process gives the community a voice. It is our right to due process. There are 15 children under 5 on the Howard Street block and several young teenagers. Allowing facilities like this to operate in residential and mixed-use neighborhoods means that San Francisco is not serious about being a more family-friendly city. Private citizens were forced to go to the courts to shut down the club because the city was not doing its job and did not enforce its own policies. Leonard J. Price Rehabilitation neuropsychologist San Francisco - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake