[OMS_MANAGERS] Marijuana Legalization

[Shawn Irvine]

We have two dispensaries in Independence – neither downtown – plus one functioning grow operation and a grow/processing facility under construction in our industrial area.  No real problems with any of them so far.  Our first dispensary was located in a not great part of town and there were a lot of police calls to the location – but it was the owner calling the police for anything suspicious he saw.  He probably picked up the neighborhood a bit through his efforts.

I would agree with Dan that they are unlikely to really generate spinoff traffic if located in a downtown.  They also have to obscure their windows, which can be less than ideal in a downtown situation. Monmouth has 4 (!) including one downtown.  The downtown dispensary is very attractive but the entire storefront is frosted windows so you don’t get the interaction between the business and sidewalk that we prefer.  That said, ours are in older buildings that they fixed up pretty well so you could do worse than a full, attractive storefront with frosted windows.

The marijuana tax is not something to ignore if your community currently prohibits it.  Our first check from the state was around $25k, and that was only a portion of the first year.

One other note:  A cannabis shop from Salem is a sponsor of our free summer concert series.  It’s a bit odd to see a cannabis banner up with the others, but we figured that we would let a brewery/winery/distillery sponsor so how could we say no to a similar legal enterprise.  You never know how the issue is going to pop up.

Shawn

From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> On Behalf Of Darin Rutledge
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2018 8:28 AM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] Marijuana Legalization

Good morning, all!

Here’s a fun question for you first thing Monday morning!

Klamath Falls (city) currently prohibits the sale/production of marijuana. A group has done the work to qualify a local measure for November’s ballot to legalize it.

Obviously, our board is deliberating what position, if any, we will take on this issue, and how we’ll approach the politics leading up to the election.

Do you have any thoughts, comments, stories, etc. related to how legalized sales have impacted downtown?

Good? Bad? Indifferent? Is the revenue generation worth any perceived negatives?

Thanks!
Darin
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