Pubdate: Mon, 30 May 2011
Source: Daily Californian, The (UC Berkeley, CA Edu)
Copyright: 2011 The Daily Californian
Contact:  http://www.dailycal.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/597
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries

BRING IN THE GREEN

CITY AFFAIRS: Berkeley should go forward with implementing all of 
Measure T to help alleviate the city's estimated deficit.

It is never good practice for a city to drop the ball on expanding 
voter-approved lines of revenue -- especially when that city faces an 
estimated $12.2 million deficit for the 2012 fiscal year.

Unfortunately, the city of Berkeley is doing just this, losing out on 
a huge potential source of tax dollars by stalling on the seating of 
a new medical marijuana commission and the opening of a new 
dispensary, as Berkeleyside reported last Wednesday.

Six months have passed since voters approved Measure T in November, 
creating the commission and calling for the creation of the city's 
fourth dispensary. Voters also approved Measure S, which levies a 2.5 
percent tax on for-profit medical marijuana facilities. The longer 
the city fails to implement Measure T, the greater the forgone 
revenue. Council members should recognize that this inaction is 
unaffordable and refocus efforts toward this unfulfilled mandate.

Though enough of the commission members have been seated to reach 
quorum -- six out of the nine members have been named -- the group is 
not scheduled to meet until all nine are present so that every member 
has a voice in who is named the chair of the commission. While it 
would be ideal if all nine of the City Council-appointed members were 
present to vote for the chair, the fact is that voters approved 
Measure T six months ago, and it is unfair to the citizens of 
Berkeley for the commission not to begin work.

Proceedings should commence with or without all nine members present. 
If the commission begins, council members who have not yet named 
their appointees will perhaps feel more pressure to do so in order to 
ensure that their constituency is represented.

While this issue might have fallen through the cracks, we feel it is 
imperative that the City Council and the medical marijuana commission 
move forward. Failure to do so at this point would not only be a 
statement of financial carelessness but also of disregard for the 
will of the voters.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom