[Mother Chucker]

Where are the Landlords on this issue?

We are talking about shuttering 600-900 storefronts in LA county.

That has an effect on property values, neighborhood merchants sales and so many other social factors.

Also thats a lot of rent money not in our economy overnight.

We need to get the landlords involved.

[cannaletto]

Indeed, there is nothing wrong with more dispensaries, so long as they are compassionate & professional, & not just mere profiteers

[DankJews]

THE MORE THE BETTER!!!


.:Stay Medicated:.

[otisblue]

Where are the MMJ physicians? They need to step up to the plate and help with creating regulations with the city and lend their voice to help patients.

MD's have made their profession to help the sick and heal their patients. They have instant credibility with the council and the courts.

MD's who read WT; it's time for you to speak up!

Where is the media to tell our accurate side of the story? Sorry, showing mini-sound bites on tv does not tell our story accurately to the public.

Media who read WT; it time for you to speak up!

Where are the MMJ lawyers? You have helped and profited from the MMJ community.

MMJ Lawyers who read WT; its time to speak up!

For others, get involved by contacting the LA City council to voice your concerns:

The Official Web Site of The City of Los Angeles - City Council

It's time to speak up!

[Evades]

Originally Posted by Mother Chucker

Where are the Landlords on this issue?

IMHO, as an owner of a commercial building, I would think twice and then a third time before allowing a dispensary to be in a building that I am involved with. I support the movement but I would consider a dispensary to be a chancy business in that the rules are not clear, they could be closed down at the whim of officials and, if they are truly nonprofit, access to cash to continue to pay the rent would be in jeopardy.

Owners need to look to their own financies when deciding who to rent to. If a dispensary gets closed down and payments stop and it takes months to lease out the property again, the owner will not be able to make their payments and will suffer.

Just hard true facts.

Have a Great Day,

Evades

[MotherEarthCo-op]

Originally Posted by Evades

IMHO, as an owner of a commercial building, I would think twice and then a third time before allowing a dispensary to be in a building that I am involved with. I support the movement but I would consider a dispensary to be a chancy business in that the rules are not clear, they could be closed down at the whim of officials and, if they are truly nonprofit, access to cash to continue to pay the rent would be in jeopardy.

Owners need to look to their own financies when deciding who to rent to. If a dispensary gets closed down and payments stop and it takes months to lease out the property again, the owner will not be able to make their payments and will suffer.

Just hard true facts.

Have a Great Day,

Evades

if a bicycle shop can't sell its bicycles, the shop closes, payments stop and it takes months to rent out the property,i don't agree with your analogy, blaming it on MMJ is not for the cause,just the true hard facts

[Pico+Barrington Collective]

I AGREE!! We need help from other people besides just the patients!

Originally Posted by otisblue

Where are the MMJ physicians? They need to step up to the plate and help with creating regulations with the city and lend their voice to help patients.

MD's have made their profession to help the sick and heal their patients. They have instant credibility with the council and the courts.

MD's who read WT; it's time for you to speak up!

Where is the media to tell our accurate side of the story? Sorry, showing mini-sound bites on tv does not tell our story accurately to the public.

Media who read WT; it time for you to speak up!

Where are the MMJ lawyers? You have helped and profited from the MMJ community.

MMJ Lawyers who read WT; its time to speak up!

For others, get involved by contacting the LA City council to voice your concerns:

The Official Web Site of The City of Los Angeles - City Council

It's time to speak up!

[gmoney666]

those are some GREAT ideas on who we need to make our points heard and listened too. When you add up all the jobs that mmj provides there are many more people than just those that smoke. I think if we had all those landlords and Dr. and etc. the movement would actually move.

Evades - appreciate your honesty. I am sure many other landlords think this way and it is good insight. I do think MotherEarthCo-op made a fantastic point. Any business can be shut down for soooo many reasons. Should a landlord not rent to an older person thinking they could die? In the end each landlord need to run their business the way they want, but I wish more were open to the idea that mmj is legal and should not cause them any more trouble than any other business.

I was interested in starting a 'true' collective but got nowhere. Most important thing is location and nobody I talked to (called scores of leasing companies and owners) even took more than 2 seconds to tell me no way. How can the patients grow their own if there is no place to grow? The city should have a place for this sort of thing. Maybe they rent old firehouses and such. They don't want over the counter sales, but there is very little option for most people.

[Mother Chucker]

If the LAPD really believes that gangs are supplying all the pot why would they want to increase their profit margin?

Rent insurance taxes license fees and salaries are being paid.

Take it away and the Underground Market doesnt have to pay those costs and bang, more profits.

Because people will still buy pot whether its legal or not.

Of course IMHE the vast majority of co-ops in LA county are being run by folks who would otherwise be running a struggling comic shop or record store or some other mom and pop business instead of a struggling co-op.

[Greenbud]

Great post and truly a great idea. Preaching to the choir.

But how do you expect dispensaries to get the landlords to show up to city council to voice their concerns if you cannot even get dispensaries to show up in force to protests, like yesterday? Every dispensaries should've sent a representative and their patients or even closed for half the day and emailed, called, etc., each of their respective patients to encourage them to show up with them. Did that happen? No, it did not. No dispensary was willing to show solidarity in support of the venerable NNCC, a co-op that epitomizes the movement and was so pre-ICO it sickens me they were targeted. Let's try to do better next time.

The only dispensary that showed up was C.A.R.E. in Van Nuys and Kushmeister deserves props for repping the dispensary.

What some of these councilmembers say about dispensaries just being in it for the money is sadly true. Or maybe it's the same apathy that nets .02%, less than 1% of the 250,000 MMJ patients in LA. No one really gives a shit beyond posting this and that on WT. When it times to show up, 99.8% of all patients and dispensaries failed to walk the walk.

Expect dispensaries to do much activism when the raids start 10-20 a day and the fear of God gets into them by which point it may be too late to activate.

How about a Day of Solidarity where patients and dispensaries unite in some action in numbers more than the 50-75 that showed up.

Keep the faith.

Best,

GB

[Mother Chucker]

Originally Posted by Evades

IMHO, as an owner of a commercial building, I would think twice and then a third time before allowing a dispensary to be in a building that I am involved with. I support the movement but I would consider a dispensary to be a chancy business in that the rules are not clear, they could be closed down at the whim of officials and, if they are truly nonprofit, access to cash to continue to pay the rent would be in jeopardy.

Owners need to look to their own financies when deciding who to rent to. If a dispensary gets closed down and payments stop and it takes months to lease out the property again, the owner will not be able to make their payments and will suffer.

Just hard true facts.

Have a Great Day,

Evades

Totally respect that position but my point is about the landlords that have already made the decision to rent to a dispensary and are collecting rent every month.
there are sections of this county where retail rentals have been ravaged by the Bush Economic Crisis of recent times.

Melrose Ave and all those shops boutiques and cafes? GONE!
Now there are a few coops in that area.

Ventura Blvd in the Valley? Go from Laurel Canyon to to Foothil Blvd and count the empty stores and buoldings. You lose count by Reseda.
There are a lot of coops on that road now.

The LAPD wants to close down 600-900 coops as reported in the news?
Let's take the low number of 600 and a real low figure for monthly rent of $1000 a month for the coop.
600 x $1000 = $600,000 x12 months a year = $7.2 Million
Thats how much LA landlords will lose because the LAPD can't think of a better solution.
7.2 Million dollars in an already decimated rental market and economy.
How many landlords will be laying off employees and property managers?
7.2 million pays for a lot of stuff.
How much tax does the city lose on $7.2 million in revenue?
And remember that was my very very low number of a thousand dollars a month, looking at the size of some of these spots we could be looking at as much as $10-$14 million dollars in annual county rental revenue here.

Thank you LAPD for keeping the state and county's economic crisis going!!

[BrattonBasher]

There were a few others besides CARE. I saw WEED, CPA, and ETM. But you are correct, the co-op showing was dismal.

[Evades]

Originally Posted by gmoney666

Evades - appreciate your honesty. I am sure many other landlords think this way and it is good insight.

I do not expect my statement and opinion to be agreed to. When given a choice between an older person, a bicycle repair shop or a dispensary, IMHO, i do not believe a building owner would take on the possible negative feedback concerning a dispensary. Or, for instance, a liquor store, a head shop, an abortion clinic or other types of businesses that society has not fully embraced yet.

Have a Great Day,

Evades

[Evades]

Originally Posted by Mother Chucker

Totally respect that position but my point is about the landlords that have already made the decision to rent to a dispensary and are collecting rent every month.
there are sections of this county where retail rentals have been ravaged by the Bush Economic Crisis of recent times.

Melrose Ave and all those shops boutiques and cafes? GONE!
Now there are a few coops in that area.

Ventura Blvd in the Valley? Go from Laurel Canyon to to Foothil Blvd and count the empty stores and buoldings. You lose count by Reseda.
There are a lot of coops on that road now.

The LAPD wants to close down 600-900 coops as reported in the news?
Let's take the low number of 600 and a real low figure for monthly rent of $1000 a month for the coop.
600 x $1000 = $600,000 x12 months a year = $7.2 Million
Thats how much LA landlords will lose because the LAPD can't think of a better solution.
7.2 Million dollars in an already decimated rental market and economy.
How many landlords will be laying off employees and property managers?
7.2 million pays for a lot of stuff.
How much tax does the city lose on $7.2 million in revenue?
And remember that was my very very low number of a thousand dollars a month, looking at the size of some of these spots we could be looking at as much as $10-$14 million dollars in annual county rental revenue here.

Thank you LAPD for keeping the state and county's economic crisis going!!

Thanks and I certainly respect those that have gone ahead of us that have rented to dispensaries. Your examples above are very true about the lost revenue. But, they also indicate why I believe that a landlord would be taking a chance to rent to a dispensary with the LAPD having stated that they intend to close them down. How possibly could a landlord rent to a business that the cops are on the hunt to close down? You talk about self-inflicted wounds!

Have a Great Day,

Evades

[Mother Chucker]

Originally Posted by Evades

Thanks and I certainly respect those that have gone ahead of us that have rented to dispensaries. Your examples above are very true about the lost revenue. But, they also indicate why I believe that a landlord would be taking a chance to rent to a dispensary with the LAPD having stated that they intend to close them down. How possibly could a landlord rent to a business that the cops are on the hunt to close down? You talk about self-inflicted wounds!

Have a Great Day,

Evades

I have spoken with several and all had lawyers who say it's fine under the current guidelines of state law.
Commercial property attorneys usually don't screw around IMHO.....

[Evades]

Originally Posted by Mother Chucker

I have spoken with several and all had lawyers who say it's fine under the current guidelines of state law.
Commercial property attorneys usually don't screw around IMHO.....

If I, as a property owner, needed to talk to a lawyer to find out if it was okay, I would not rent to a dispensary. I would rent to other businesses where I would not need to talk to a lawyer. I understand that all may be well and legal under the law. That is not my point. My point is why take on a controversial issue with your building if you do not need to. Does not make sense.

Also, A question that I would ask is whether the coops/dispensaries are DBAs, llcs, corporations or personal entities. If they are incorporated, you would be taking a tremendous chance as you are the one on the hook if the establishment is deemed a nuisance. The corporation just closes up, moves to a new place and opens up a new corporation.

This is more complicated than meets the eyes. I was sued once by the City of Long Beach because I had a bar in a building that I owned that was getting complaints from the neighbors. What bar doesn't? The bar owner closed up and lost very little because it was a corporation and my building ownership was personal.

I applaud those that show compassion and are willing to take the gamble. More power to them and I hope that more will do so. My point is that you have to know the risk and be willing to assume it.

Good conversation, thanks.

Have a Great Day,

Evades

[vanwiggles]

how can the city be so ignorant. they are just judging co-ops based on theories not facts. Who are they to say we are not in need of medical marijuana? Medical Marijuana works wonders for me. Ive tried nemuerous diferent pills and none of them were as helpful and efective as marijuana and all pills gave me horrible side effects the only side effect marijuana gives me is hunger. and instead of having to take 3 diferent pills I just have to smoke one type of marijuana and it helps in numerous ways. By taking away safe access just because Mr. fu*&*n cooley wants to judge us and base his theories on myths and say that most of us smoke marijuana to get high. marijuana doesnt even get me high. drugs like meth and heroin get you high. Marijuana is not addictive neither. And isnt California in debt? dont they know how much money is gone end up going back to the street ending up in criminals and terrorists hands just because us patients are trying to get well. Flat out wrong and selfish on his behalf. What about those co-ops that are following all rules, really for non-profit and that are really out there to help ill patients. THEYRE GOING TO KEEP WALKING ON US UNLESS WE STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS. WE ARE NOT DRUG ADDICTS NOR ARE WE CRIMINALS. BUT WE ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS TRYING TO BE WELL AND MAKE A LIVING AT THE SAME TIME IN THIS WORLD THAT IS ALREADY TOUGH AS IT IS. DONT MAKE IT HARDER ON US MR. COOLEY CUZ YOUR NOT COOL AT ALL.