Boston City TV, MA City of Boston Cannabis Board, 7 Dec 2022

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From YouTube: Boston Cannabis Board Transactional Hearing 12-7-22

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Boston Cannabis Board Transactional Hearing 12-7-22

A

I'm just going to give a second to let everyone come in from the waiting room. Please make sure you're muted, as you enter.

A

Just give it a couple more seconds.

A

All right good afternoon, this is a hearing before the Boston cannabis board. The BCB today is December 7th 2022.. Today's hearing is being conducted pursuant to certain temporary amendments to the open media law. This is what allows us to meet. Virtually this hearing is being recorded and will be posted to the city of Boston's website. Before reviews on procedural matters, I will introduce chairman Kathleen drace.

B

Good afternoon my name is Kathleen: Joyce I am chair of the Boston cannabis board and today I am pleased to be joined by commissioner Lisa Holmes. Commissioner Darlene Lambos, commissioner John Smith.

A

Thank you, chairman Joyce, my name is Jasmine. Wind and I am the Boston cannabis board manager. We are also joined by Allison Quinn, who is the project manager for the BCB? Today we are holding both a violation and transactional hearing. We will begin with a violation. Hearing first I will call each item in the order appears on the agenda. I will then ask who is present on behalf of the licensee, who is president on behalf of the Boston Police Department, and whether there are any individuals with knowledge of the alleged incident.

A

I will then swear in all parties. After that, the police report will be read into the record. The licensee or the representative will have the opportunity to make a brief statement followed by questions from the chairwoman and the Commissioners. Again, all testimony will be limited to individuals with personal knowledge of the alleged incident.

A

The first item we have is Patriot care, Corp, DBA cannabis, the licensed pharmacist, 21 Milk, Street Boston Mass, the license type is a co-located marijuana, retail and medical license. The day of the incident was October. 10 2022 Village incident is as followed customer robbery outside of premise, in violation of National Law, chapter 94g, section 4 and Boards rules, 3.01 and 3.06 d.

A

Also, the sale of pre-rolled cannabis products in violation of boards rule 1.01 B in condition conditions on the licensees recreational license. Who was president on behalf.

C

Of the licensee yes good afternoon, I am Matthew balti from the Foley Hoag Law Firm. Here in Boston I'm joined by my partner, Kevin Conroy. We represent Patriot care in this matter. We do have uh Witnesses available today on the call Dan Delaney is present. He is Patriot, cares government relations consultant and has been since 2013..

C

We also have uh Rachel Livingston on today. She is the Patriot care. Employee she's been with Patriot care for seven years. She attended to the patient at issue on October 10 and we also have Alan naruri the Patriot care, Regional security manager.

C

um Good afternoon good afternoon, uh chairwoman, Joyce Commissioners.

A

Introducing who's all on the call First you'll have the chance to speak once. Okay, thank you. Who's, pressing on behalf of the Boston Police Department.

D

Outside detective Charles salucci I work at 381.

E

Lieutenant detective Adrian Troy director.

F

Eddie Hernandez.

A

Thank you. Are there any other individuals with personal knowledge of the alleged incident that would like to testify.

C

We also have uh Haley De Lima, our uh general manager, if needed, I I do not anticipate at this time. Okay,.

A

If you all can raise your right hand.

A

Please raise your right hand. Okay, do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth? I.

G

A

Thank you um who will be reading the police report from Police Department.

D

I will uh about 12 p.m. On October 10th 2022 officer responded to a radio call for a robbery at 21, Milk, Street, cannabis Boston on a rival. He met with the victim, the victim said he bought two pre-rolls valued at twenty dollars, one bag of Edibles, valued at eighty dollars and a hash valued at fifty dollars.

D

Totaling 190 dollars when leaving the marijuana shop, he was physically assaulted at Milk Street, not Street, by three males all around High School age, um first suspect to described as a tall white, male and all black second is a short black male wearing a black coat ski mask and red shoes, and the third described it as short. Hispanic male wearing all black.

D

The victims stated uh suspects grabbed his shopping bag, causing it to fall to the ground and the suspects grabbed all his products and fled different directions. The cannabis shop uh was nice enough to re, reimburse some of all his products and uh the uh the officer asked the victim if he needed medical attention which he stated he did not.

D

On Wednesday October, 12th, Lieutenant, detective Troy and detective Eddie Hernandez responded to the cannabis shop and issued a licensed premise violation. uh As a result of the incident um detective miles, Lawton was assigned to the incident he collected. Some video of the three suspects disseminated him and we have not identified those three suspects to the state. That's all I have.

A

Thank you um attorney Bolton. Would you like to address the.

C

Ledge incident, yes, thank you and I'll try to be very brief. Good afternoon chairwoman, Joyce Commissioners, Holmes, lombos and Smith manager win and project manager, Quinn uh Patriot care first and foremost appreciates the opportunity to be heard today. We fully appreciate the work of this board and are fully committed to to being and remaining in full compliance.

C

um We're here on two issues, as just stated: sale of pre-rolls and an ensuing robbery to protect the privacy of the patient, we've redacted his name from our presentation. His initials are SD he's a middle-aged white male. We will refer to him today, just as the patient, we confirm he's the same person referenced in the police report, so starting with the pre-roll uh issue. There's a condition in Patriot cares Milk, Street location license prohibiting the sale of pre-roll cannabis products, but it's only on the recreational adult use side.

C

Very briefly, the history is as follows: in 2020, Patriot care worked directly with the downtown Austin Business improvement district. The bid to find ways to obtain the adult use license with conditions that would be acceptable to the bid.

C

The bid was and is extremely supportive of patriot care bid was concerned, however, that there would be recreational adult use, smoking outside the milk Street facility, so accordingly, conditions were imposed restricting recreational sales to a minimum of 35 dollars and a restriction that no pre-rolls would be sold on. The adult use.

C

Recreational side bid has no concern and had no concern about pre-roll sales on the medical side, the matter the licensure matter came before this board on September 16 of 2020., and uh we have reviewed the public hearing recording uh and when this license was presented, uh then uh executive secretary, Leslie, Delaney Hawkins presented the no pre-roll condition to the board and the other conditions with the clear statement that- and this is right out of the recording it's at an hour- 10 one colon 10, 53 seconds of the public uh recording she said as she was presenting this to the board.

C

I want to make clear, and the bid has made clear that these conditions are for the recreational piece only and not to apply to the medical piece. End quote um the official voting hearing minutes of this board from the September 16 2020 hearing expressly made clear that the no pre-roll condition is quote applicable to recreational, not MediCal, and that we've attached uh chairwoman and Commissioners, as exhibit three to our hearing, slides again. That is this board's uh minutes from from the vote that state exactly that's um and then a license was issued.

C

Restricting the the no pre-roll conditions only to the adult recreational use um and the license is at exhibit four. We have Dan Delaney who oversaw this process. He was present at the uh September 16 2020 hearing. He reviewed the uh recording of that hearing today, uh Mr Delaney, rather than have you uh repeat, the testimony did I just accurately recite your first-hand testimony.

H

C

All right, thank you. So uh uh uh we submit that the the Restriction is only on the adult use side, not the medical, not the medical side. Now next I want to move into the October 10 2022 events, the patients, the patient, at issue, entered Patriot care, presented. He entered through the medical, the medical entrance, there's separate entrances for medical and adult use. The medical entrance is on milk street, where the canopy is. uh He presented, his medical use, patient card and his driver's license at the entry point.

C

Both were verified within the system and he is in fact a registered medical patient with a valid Massachusetts medical card. He was directed upstairs to the medical dispensary, which has a separate entrance. uh He was directed to medical dispensary counter three. This is medical only at 11 38 a.m. He came to counter three, which was staffed by Rachel Livingston, who is present today. Miss Livingston uh has been with Patriot care for seven years. She checked his medical card and ID dispensed him.

C

The uh uh materials that he had requested his purchase is recorded by Rachel Livingston in the receipt which we have attached to our hearing, slides at slide. 11.

C

um that shows the actual receipt that shows that it was a medical sale at register. Three uh pre-rolls are dispensed to medical patients because they're desirable for medical patients, many of whom have arthritis and are unable to roll their own and therefore the pre-rolls are are very useful.

C

Three roles are never sold on the recreational or adult use side at Patriot care at this location. Employees are so directed and pre-rolls are not located or available in the recreational adult use side and the registers at the adult use side will not allow pre-rolls to be scanned and sold.

C

Rachel Livingston did I accurately State your first hand testimony just now. Yes, you did all right. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Livingston, so we submit uh to this honorable board that there was no violation of the recreational adult use, no pre-roll condition again. The the pre-rolls were sold to a medical patient with a valid medical card, and uh that is permitted under the licensure and the conditions set by this board on September 16 2020.

C

um Now I'd like to I I'd like to to turn to the robbery point so Patriot care has a comprehensive security plan in place that has been approved by this board and the Massachusetts cannabis Control Commission it is attached to our hearing slides at exhibit two Patriot cares. Security program is robust and effective.

C

Patriot care has six exterior cameras. It monitors outside for loitering. It installed security lighting on the Holly Street side. It has four security guards which is above and beyond what is required, who periodically exit the premise to monitor matters. uh We have reviewed the security, video surveillance from October 10.. The footage shows the medical patient, leaving the medical side of the facility in broad daylight. The surveillance footage shows he's not being followed and all appears safe.

C

um There has never been a robbery of this sort before at this at this location and we're not aware of any complaints of this sort, nor in the six years that Patriot care has been operating. Are there any incidents of uh found violations or uh security issues of this sort? The patient proceeded as uh uh officer salucci recited down Milk Street two streets down. We have a photograph of this uh at uh slide.

C

14 of our presentation, two blocks down and the patient was accosted by three young males at milk and Art Street, two streets down on Milk Street, so we submit on the safety piece uh to this board that there were no violations. The premises are are eminently safe.

C

We're not aware of any incidences like this before the robbery occurred, two streets down um and it's it's just not a safety issue at the premises which, which we submit is, is a very safe premises, as demonstrated by the security plan and um uh by the fact that there's never been an incident like this or any incident that we're aware of in the six years of History, um uh I'd like to ask Alan or Rory, who is the regional head of security? If I accurately stated your first-hand testimony?

C

Yes, sir Eden, so we uh respectfully submit to the board I appreciate the opportunity to be heard. We respectfully submit that there was no violation of either sort and um we're happy to answer any follow-up questions, uh but we would respectfully ask the board to find no violations on either or both counts. Thank you.

A

Thank you attorney um chairman Joyce. Do you have any questions.

B

Thanks Jasmine I have no questions at this time.

I

A

Holmes, do you have any questions.

J

Not at this, not at this time. No thank you.

A

Commissioner models, commissioner Smith.

H

Thanks Jasmine, no I, don't.

A

All right, seeing that the Commissioners have no questions, the board will take this matter under advisement. Thank you.

A

Moving on to our transactional hearing.

A

I will call each item and the order appears on the agenda. I will ask who is present on behalf of the proposal before us. The first item on the transactional agenda is an amendment to an already approved establishment, so they will have five minutes to present to the BCB, and then we will proceed with the new license application in which they will have 10 minutes to present to the BCB, followed by questions from the board members. We will then take public testimony, beginning with elected officials or their representatives, followed by the general public.

A

If you wish to testify, please sign up via the chat, the link that will be put in the chat. If you have already signed up, you do not have to do it again. Additionally you may use the chat function to request to testify as well. Please wait until the matter in which you would like to speak about is called. Do not use the chat function to your testimony. It will not be considered. Please State your full name address and affiliation.

A

If any, when testifying testimony will be limited to two minutes, at which time you will be muted, additional testimony may be submitted to writing to cannabisboard boston.gov. The record will be kept open until Tuesday December 13th at 5 PM. The BCB does not give any more weight to spoken testimony than it does for your testimony. Our first item is Nash Greenwood's LLC. The license premise is 116 Harvard Ave Austin, the license type is a retail recreational cannabis dispensary license.

A

The request is for a change in ownership interest and also to change the DBA from MUSC to prolific, who is present on behalf of the licensing.

E

Good afternoon Madam chair members of the board, Eric Lawrence 21 20. Excuse me: 26 Woodbine, Street, Roxbury, Massachusetts.

A

Thank you again. You will have five minutes to present. You may begin.

E

uh Yes, uh today we're proposing an ownership change, um I will maintain a 56 ownership and 44 will be uh given to our investor. Sohail helani investor partner, um yeah I carried this location until we had uh secured an HCA and, as you know, um it takes between a million and 2 million to open these locations, um so I took on an investor and um we were simply execute want to execute the ownership change.

E

Okay, uh regarding the name change um through due diligence on the Muse name, uh we discovered uh through trademark uh research that uh true leave another cannabis company uses Muse as one of its uh for one of its products we reached out to them to see if they would uh mind us using the name as a retail location and uh never got a response. So we accepted that as uh they were not in agreement to it.

A

Thank you, chairman Joyce, do you have any questions.

B

Thanks Jasmine um thanks Mr Lawrence I. Don't have any questions at this time.

B

A

Homes commission models, commissioner,.

H

Smith thanks Jasmine no.

A

All right is there anyone here that would like to speak on behalf of this proposal.

A

A

Seeing no one, the more will take this matter under advisement.

E

A

Then we'll move on to our new license application proposal. The applicant is Bay State herbal Solutions LLC. The proposed license premises, 464 Hanover, Street, Unit, A, North End. The license type is a retail recreational cannabis dispensary license. The proposed hours of operation are 9 A.M to 9 pm, seven days a week in temporary closing times to be determined with local school drop-off pickup. This is an equity applicant.

A

The date of the initial application was January 24th 2022, the date of filing with Inspection Services was July 5th 2022 and the community meeting was held on September 28 2022..

A

Before we begin with the presentation, I will ask you and Scott, who is the Cannabis business manager from the mayor's office of Economic, Opportunity and inclusion to speak on behalf of the equity certification.

K

Thank you Jasmine um good afternoon. Everyone our office was able to certify Bay State herbal solutions as an equity applicant through the documentation submitted by the applicant Leanne Bennett is the CEO and 51 beneficial interest holder of Bay State herbal solutions. Meeting the 51 ownership interest threshold set forth in the ordinance Mr Bennett meets the additional following criteria.

K

He meets the criteria of residing in Boston for at least the past seven years. Mr Bennett submitted copies of utility bills, lease agreements and financial statements that verify his Boston address in Brighton from at least 2015.

K

Mr Bennett meets the criteria of a person whose household income is at or below a hundred percent of the area. Median income Mr Bennett submitted his 2021 tax returns, which shows he earned less than 100 percent of the area. Median income of Boston.

K

Finally, Mr Bennett meets the criteria of a person who has been certified by the Cannabis Control Commission as an equity, I'm, sorry as an economic empowerment, applicant or social Equity applicant and is a resident of Boston for at least one of the last three years. Mr Bennett was certified as in Social Equity applicant by the CCC in March 2020, and has lived in the city of Boston since at least 2015..

K

Are there any additional questions about the certification?

K

A

You Shakira all right who is president on behalf of the licensee.

L

Good afternoon board, uh it's your uh woman, um Miss wind. This is uh Shane Darcy I am the compliance specialist for Bay State herbal solutions. My address uh currently is 279 Langdon Street, Providence, Rhode Island.

M

To introduce ourselves Shane's going to present, but as if there's any questions and answers uh questions later myself, Tiffany Isom I will be present as well uh Corinne. Our attorney is here as well as Liam uh and Malik. The principles of the entity as well and Edwin pivinger is here for Staffing. We have johani bcana for community outreach, and we also have Allen engineer here as well as the surveyors who helped us with the distance. If anything arises after the presentation.

A

Perfect and Liam, you said Liam's on because since he's the yes.

H

M

Right there on the Blue Moon.

A

He's yeah he's got it: okay, perfect! um Okay, do you have 10 minutes to present? You may share your screen again.

L

Thank you very much.

L

I just want to uh make sure everybody can see the screen um for the presentation. Can anybody everybody see the screen yeah.

A

L

You very much all right. So, let's begin um again, thank you for the time and of your attention to this matter and our business proposal. um As was said, uh Bay State herbal solutions is a proposed marijuana. Retail establishment located at 464 Hanover Street in Boston, um the co-owner and co-founder Liam Bennett is a Boston Equity as well as certified by the CCC. As a mass social equity.

L

They say, herbal solutions propose hours is again 9 A.M to 9 p.m, with temporary closing times during um School, drop-off and pickup hours. This is the structure of the company again Liam Bennett's, the CEO um John Terry is the chief security officer myself, I'm the compliance advisor as you just met. Tiffany ice is the project manager. We do have Mr Dave olivelli as the chief of staff Miss Dave Mellon, as our Labor Management liaison Malik Hyatt is the CEO of the company and again johanni viciana. Is our community outreach and Edward pivinger?

L

Is our chief of training, um our diversity and Equity inclusion plan we'll extend to both uh to licenses um to provide employment retention and promotional paths to individuals from diverse backgrounds? We want to promote this to our vendors that we extend to and people we do business with we're going to use our um social media and website platforms to promote these uh transparently, we're also going to work with Community groups. As you'll see in the presentation we have partnered with Community groups in the local area to provide assistance and support um in our efforts.

L

We will make every attempt to hire and retain the following goals. 50 of our Workforce, hopefully will be women. 30 of our Workforce will be people of color, particularly black Latin, American, Hispanic, latinx and Indigenous people. 10 of our Workforce hopes to be veterans from the United States military. Five percent of our Workforce will identify as lgbtq Plus members and 10 of our Workforce are people defined by the commission as with disabilities.

L

um A base day will also provide the following to ensure our company culture and structure is inclusive to employees and retention efforts, uh competitive living wage and benefits packages, um prioritize of of Boston residents with hiring positions, clear and inclusive past promotion and clear Career, Development: um query friendly employment opportunities when available full and part-time employment opportunities for flexible working times, in-house training and career development, in-house, promote promotion commitments, potential subsidized transport to and from work referral incentives and demographic goals and welcoming and inclusive employee feedback encouraging different perspectives.

L

uh Bay State herbal solutions will gather employee demographic data and monitor diversity. Goals also meet monthly and report to our leadership on progress. um Bay State will strategize uh improvements or other procedures to attract diverse talent and goals. uh Baystate will encourage organizations monthly to recruit and provide employment and trade. Excuse me: training resources, our labor management team, um which Dave Mr Dave Mellon, is ahead of we'll meet monthly to determine if recruitment efforts yield, positive results and data will be sent to Bay.

L

State leadership and strategies will be updated on our success rate and after one year of implementing each plan. uh Bay State will third review each program to measure our success rates. If program implementations do not meet our stated goals, we may recommend eliminative program in developing a new extending program for another year. If a program fails for two straight years, the policy will expire and base state will commit to creating a new program to meet our goals.

L

um Bay State herbal solutions has chosen. um Excuse me that 464 Hanover Street for our proposed marijuana establishment due to its deep embedded culture and optimal Revenue, generating business location. 464 Hanover Street is not within 0.5 mile distance of another marijuana establishment and it meets all 500 feet. Buffer zone requirements. 464 Hanover Street is easily accessible. It means of public transportation and has street parking on both sides. Bay State herbal solutions is negotiations with local parking vendors to rent additional space.

L

They stay awesome tends to work with fuss and O'neill to continue our work on our plans of minimal traffic and parking impact, um and then the North End population diversity is considered moderate to high, with average of 14 337 people per square mile, with a population of about 9100 based on 2010 and I. Believe that is up about five percent- the newest data, um our plan to hire Boston residents. We do again um want to take advantage of our social media services and websites.

L

um We also want to um uh recruit aggressively within the uh within the city. Excuse me, and we want to Market and sponsor City, uh recruiting city-wide cannabis events.

L

um Again, we did submit um a more comprehensive plan on our diversity plan, which I did go over um a couple slides ago um and waging benefits. um Bay State is committed to offering employees a living, wage and competitive package benefits to the city of Boston again, with the help of our labor management team, we're going to analyze, um Market forces and market trends to make sure we're staying at least competitive and above the market.

L

When it comes to employee benefits packages and wages, we did submit a community impact plan that does go over um our commitment to helping out people that were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, and um our goal is to get them um spun up with your mentorship programs and get them back on track into a career in cannabis.

L

As long as following with compliance from the CCC regarding, excuse me criminal records and working in cannabis, so our community feedbacks, we did submit a North, End resident petition and we did get a commitment from Community work services in Boston to help us facilitate some of these goals. As far as getting people um mentored getting people trained. Excuse me and getting people back on track into the workforce. Community work Services also committed to um helping us keep um streets and local parks clean they. So they provide uh services that uh Bay State will pay for.

L

um One of the big things that we we have seen is the worry about loitering later and how parks are going to be treated. So Baystate is committed to ensuring that we do our part to make sure that these things are covered safety security procedures, Bay State does have a comprehensive and robust security plan that we have approximately 100 cameras installed throughout the facility and on the exterior.

L

The exterior cameras will cover all exterias and perimeter of the facility and the streets in the sidewalks and public spaces to ensure that we are watching for loitering and potential uh suspicious activity.

L

um So uh some cameras, depending on location inside the facility, will be fixed cameras, will be fixed registers, safes, vaults, limited access areas, so um people in and out of these access areas and in high visibility areas will always be on camera. When we're doing um our work, we will have on-site security Personnel. We will have an interlock at the door where um uh customers coming in will have to present their um ID. It will get scanned before they're even allowed in the facility.

L

um This is also to combat um anybody trying to enter the facility that is under 21 years of age or does not have a active ID um transportation. We will contract a licensed, marijuana, Transportation Company.

L

Whenever we are getting products delivered or in the event, we need to get products sent back to the original destination, whether it be a cultivator or a manufacturer, or both um we did submit a comprehensive plan to transport money to our financial institution and we may reserve the right to hire an Armored Transport company such as a Brinks, if need be.

L

If we enter into um contracts with delivery uh delivery, service providers will ensure that there is an online store with free customer verification before any deliveries are made as well, and that is all we have for. Our presentation again uh basically did submit a um application summary, and we do have full comprehensive plans on everything that we went over as well.

L

um Any questions.

A

Thank you. We will move to questions and comments from the commissioner, starting on the chairman, Joyce.

B

Thanks Jasmine um Shane, thank you for your presentation. I just want to um dive into some of the correspondence we received um in the support folder. We have the petition you talked about.

B

um How did you go about getting this petition? Where did you walk up and down the street? Was it was it someplace in a store in the North End and um just trying to figure out where you got your signatures from or how you went about it.

M

Sure Liam, if you could answer that one.

M

I, don't know if you can hear me.

M

So I I can answer I, don't know that he can hear me but Liam as well. Can you hear me now? Yes,.

N

um I actually went with Michael, who was sitting behind me and we went up and down and uh asked people if they want to sign and interacted with the public on Hanover Street and the surrounding areas.

B

Okay- and you told- and you told them it was about um for a cannabis establishment coming to the North End. Oh.

N

Absolutely yeah: we it's on the cover page too, that they would read before they signed.

B

Okay, just your name is the only name on the cover page and then the next page is just a list of names.

N

Yep we had it in the we had it in the folder. Okay in.

B

Community work Services, that's the other letter of support. Are they located in the North End or.

B

I, don't know much about them.

N

They're on Portland Street, uh so, yes, I, believe it is.

M

There are Boston uh Community organization, but it's right at the tip of the north, then okay.

B

And then Jesse Priestley doesn't give an address, just says local Bostonian. Do you know where.

N

uh Some people, some people, didn't feel comfortable giving their address. You know.

B

Okay, um so, as far as the can you tell me a little bit more about the community process, what sort of process you guys um undertook for this application.

B

Sure reading what it was like absolutely absolutely.

M

uh So one of the issues or concerns that we did have is we don't feel that we were able to appropriately uh reach out to the public after our community meeting, we took a lot of feedback and consideration in it was very hostile. There were there were comments, you know basically uh Liam himself. He actually went without most of the team because of our community meeting and again it was after the community meeting. So um there were, they were on foot every weekend.

M

um They spoke with the restaurants. A lot of the feedback that we had gotten was folks, weren't necessarily opposed to it, but because of how vocal um those who are opposed to it, they, they didn't really want to even give us letters from the companies that were surrounding the consensus of the public, the residents in the area. They were not opposed, they were actually in support of it. It but didn't want to come on to meetings again. For certain reasons.

M

um We I don't believe that we had the support of um councilwoman Colette. There was, we did have a meeting, we requested myself, Liam and Shane. We did meet with her. There were no actual um like valid concerns that we could address. There were more feeling based, they just didn't want us. Don't want us, actually came right out and said that to us in the community we've sent multiple before our community meeting. We did go out and fly her as well. We did two pre-ums. We did one where the residents did show up.

M

They voiced their concerns. We sent out a second one. We believe that we had been kind of stonewalled in the area. No one showed up, and then, when we had our community meeting, we were at a Max of 100 and people couldn't even get in that were in our support.

M

um So I think that that was probably our biggest hurdle. Was you know it's a very close-knit community and um again our meeting with the councilwoman was super clear that she had received a lot of um dislike or or folks that didn't want us in the area that was very uh loud in our community meeting as well. So I think that was our biggest hurdle throughout the process. So.

B

The community meeting um was September 9th, did you meet with any of the Civic associations so.

M

The groups, so we have nots, there was a Liam. There is a group that reached out to us, but they wanted to off the top of my uh Liam. Do you have the name of that group? They wanted us to um go in front of them almost so that they could give us like a vote and a um recommendation, or not and again after our community uh meeting the public one. We were very, very uncomfortable um with how we proceeded with dealing with the public.

B

So how would you describe the community meetings? Opposition was it for this location having cannabis, you said, I'm confused, because you're saying you have said that a lot of people were in support of it, but didn't want to share that publicly. What so we shared publicly.

M

That they just didn't want us in the neighborhood, because we weren't they weren't from there. Quite honestly, um there was no actual uh security concerns, I mean yes, loitering was brought up um there were you know. Quite honestly, we felt as though we were kind of battling with the legalization aspect of it still still.

M

They used the term NIMBY in the meeting with us, which I learned in the community meeting was not in my backyard, um the school was a concern, so that was one that we um you know, that was a valid concern that we hired outside resources, which they are here as well. This distance certification very valid concern that was brought to us, as well as the loitering and security which we fail. You know we have a substantial plan for.

B

And just um Can, someone address on the record what the um distances from the school and.

O

P

B

M

I have Catherine here from fuss and O'neill I, don't know if she wants to speak on it and Mike Matthew is here as well.

Q

Hi Tiffany: uh this is uh Matthew Skelly from fuss and O'neill. um We uh hired a surveyor um to go out and measure the distance from the uh Elliott school to the site and I will go ahead and share my screen. um This is a. uh This is a information that some of this information has been uh conveyed.

Q

Previously, uh what the the surveyor was asked to certify the shortest distance from the school building to the proposed site um when they went out on uh when they went out to conduct their initial survey, they determined I'll zoom in a little bit here. Hopefully, everybody can see they determined that the uh shortest.

Q

Computers freezing up I.

B

Think, especially the front door of the school.

Q

So there are two different doors um that were eventually measured, um so there's a distance on here from a to c and a to B. um Hopefully you can see that uh the two distances that were measured the door a to c is what was measured initially, um that was measured at 559 feet and door. A to B um was measured subsequently at the request of the community to measure the distance down green Lan here um that was measured at 565 feet. Sorry about that looks like my computer just uh jumped here so this.

Q

Hopefully you can see a little bit better. Here's the proposed here's, the the entrance to the dispensary, here's a to c to this Southern door on the school A to B to this Northern door in the school. Here's the distance table here, 559, 9 and 565 feet.

Q

um There's photos to the the um each door that was measured are also depicted on here.

B

I, thank you. I. Don't have any other questions.

A

You have any questions before you have to go.

G

Yeah I was: um can you just Define for me on the employment plan? What living wage and benefits mean there wasn't any details on there.

L

Yeah so um again, we we did uh put together a labor management team, it's in-house um with an with not an estimated time of opening it um and the market changing so quickly, with wage increases with inflation with uh possible unionization down the road um workplace organization. We don't have a defined wage set.

L

Yet, but again we, our our labor management team, has put in place to analyze this and when it comes time to put that out, um we're going to make sure that the trends throughout the market wide throughout the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts um is in line with um what everybody else is um promoting for their benefits and wage packages, and we hope to exceed that as well.

L

um So again, um we feel it it's a little early to put out numbers yet because the Market's changing it's so Dynamic, along with inflation, other economic conditions we have to worry about. um But again we do have a Labor Management even place to analyze this and make sure that we're keeping that commitment.

G

Okay, and do you have a plan for it's pretty vague or has doesn't have details of what? What recruiting from or what resources it sounds like you want to recruit from and.

L

So, um to be clear, we did submit a full plan. It was about 55 pages long. Obviously we understand that that's a long plan to go through, so we did submit a refined, eight page plan, so it does not have all the information that we do have we tried to condense it as much as we could um so everything on the eight page, application summary is not obviously our whole security plan.

L

It's not our whole employment plan, um but to get to your question, um obviously you know with uh modern technology we're going to heavily invest in social media. That's a mostly free um advertising! Well we're going to build it out on our website and we're going to um host uh networking events and contribute to other existing Network events.

L

If we can and then again we're going to work with uh Boston Community works and they're going to help us employ people to help keep the streets clean, the parks clean and um we're gonna we're partnering with them to create a mentorship and training program to um build out for cannabis. Retail and again, that's all in our detailed plans.

M

Ma'am, in addition, we're also in the process of talking with local Billboards that are in areas of disproportion deemed by the CCC as well as Boston, so that when we do have, we could use Easy hire, which is a cannabis known, hiring company, as well as Edwin pivinger he's here to help us with Staffing, and you know making sure that we Target and recruit from these demographics. That we've promised.

G

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank.

L

A

Commissioner Holmes, do you have any questions.

J

Yes, I do um your security plan is very vague and I was just trying to go back through where you say this long um thing you submitted that I don't see on eyes, so I'd like to know who you will be using as far as security, um what types of things other than the boilerplate language that is required by CCC, and what would you be doing to mitigate um unwanted buyers and stuff like that.

L

um uh Yes, ma'am to um answer questions we'll be hiring in-house uh security team. uh They will be licensed a licensed agent with the CCC, um ideally obviously with any um hiring process. We're going to look for people that do have background security, professional aspects like that.

L

um Our um our security plan is about 30 pages long, fully, I.

J

Got nothing but time: okay,.

L

That's fine! um So as far as the boilerplate uh talking points I mean, this is a highly regulated uh field, especially on the security side. So a lot of those talking points are pretty robust. We could get into any specifics that you'd like to talk about um I I forgot. What your third part was so I could answer it.

J

Probably well I just like to see. I would like to see your full security, because, just to tell me, you have on you're going to have on-site security, build and protect security. Protect you I want to know how you're doing all this I want to know who you use for transportation and delivery. I want to know who you're using for transportation of money. I want to know how you're iding I want to know what you're doing to prevent, um missed sales or misuse so I.

J

We need to see more than just bullet points and and I did look through the rest of your stuff to see. If there was a longer one and I don't see it.

M

Sure so uh ma'am we can, if I can forward that over to you right now, if it was sent back.

J

To the board later yeah, we have time to vote so you can send that all in so we can have that when we go to prepare for our vote absolutely.

M

I will tell you that um half of Liam's team uh our background is law enforcement. We have over 100 years combined on his team. I've worked for the State of Rhode Island prison system for 16 years. I was a lieutenant Shane was a lieutenant John Terry, our chief security officer, I, can kind of let him speak a little bit, but we will be using uh on. There are only two licensed Transporters at the moment, which would be either eagle eyes or Plymouth armor that we would contract with. We've had several Zoom meetings with them already.

M

They are also. We would use somebody like Brinks, but they are licensed as well to transport the cash as well for us. um As far as the security, the checkpoints, uh you know we are very familiar with the uh two identifications one would be outside the next one will be at the purchase. We gave the 100 cameras, because that puts us in compliance with the 4x4 square, footage that you know we're not sure if it's 100 but we'll be sure that we have the fisheye cameras uh live um feed.

M

The other thing is I did request a meeting with the Boston PD. um Very infancy in our process, just unfamiliar with the way that the city does do it. We had wanted to sit down and talk with the police department, which would be obviously if we were approved our next step. We would like to have duress alarms inside you know, one on the previous.

M

um You know agenda a few minutes ago. We talk about folks being robbed outside or inside, and that is where you know we will have the presence of train again. We are going to try and hire retired law enforcement for these positions. So even though it's not required, we don't want to treat it like a nightclub where it's just a bouncer, because we understand the value of the product inside we've studied the trends.

M

For instance, Washington state that we've come back from we understand. You know there are deaths inside of dispensaries in the future. There are a lot of uh there's not a lot, but there has been crime, but it can be mitigated based on that security plan, and so we are willing to be as um detailed as we need to um I. Think the biggest thing is the cameras, the loitering, the presence I know number one is presence. You know, after that, everybody will be trained again on Communications. What we need to do.

M

We need to have a direct plan with the police department in the event that something happens. Our folks know what incidents require an incident report. They know what incidents require that you know the police are called immediately. So these are all things that we will train extensively over time with.

J

That is perfect and that's what you need to have in writing. You need to have all that detailed out that what you just told me was absolutely perfect. So that's the type of stuff you need to have written out and and seen in your um security plans, absolutely.

M

I will send that over Jasmine uh right after this I'll get it to you. It's completed so I'll send that so you guys do have that and if you have any questions we can meet again and go over it. Thank you. Awesome.

J

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank.

L

A

H

Can you hear me Jasmine.

A

I can hear you thank.

H

You um I was actually on the same lines of commissioner Lambos, just thinking about how many folks, you guys, are planning to hire the 8 10 15 um I know you have the percentage breakdown and all that, um and also like the pay scale. And how are you going to measure you talked about measuring, but you weren't really clear about how you're going to measure all these different programs that you have like if some of them don't work, we'll reassess and that kind of thing. So just thinking along those lines.

H

If you could just address that a little bit.

M

Sure so our labor management team, if you can think of that as like a multi-faceted team, that's consists of somebody from the governing body, the municipality supervisory level of our organization, as well as somebody from the community, and hopefully somebody from our community work services, our Partnerships. So what we would do is when we say these measurements and goals quarterly, we will meet monthly.

M

We will take in you know, we're sure, we're sending out we're paying in marketing we're putting these Billboards up we're doing these networking events, but we're not bringing in the demographics or who we thought we would be reaching what's next.

M

How do we do that, so the same way that a college would do recruitment the same way that a city or a state would do recruitment as far as making sure that we reach out that we are showing up that you know where boots on the ground, people in the Cannabis space, it's a very close uh Network. You know it's within the state, so we would need to make sure that we do partner with the right folks. As far as you know, to do these.

M

Having that checks and balance system, as far as the pay scale goes, we do um like Shane mentioned a little earlier. um You know we've kind of Gone by what's out there like the indeeds or just the Google searches and and just going door to from dispensary to dispensary and seeing hey what are you guys being paid? We know that we have a a labor-intensive um industry that we're coming into. We know that the unions myself most of us are labor backgrounds and coming from Union backgrounds.

M

You know it might be a little as entrepreneur is it's difficult, but we understand the importance of that. So that is something that you know. We've discussed we have not committed yet committed to yet because our belief is that if we pay people right, the working conditions are right. uh For instance, you talk about like the Starbucks that the staff have opted out of those Union options, because their employees are doing them right. So we plan to you, know um our principal Malik Hyatt.

M

He has many years of business background, so one thing that Liam is not walking into this is is uh with no help. He has a partner again with extensive background of successful companies, so these are things that we hope to rely on his expertise in their resources to help us. But that's essentially a little bit on how we plan to stay on track.

H

Thank you, miss Iris.

A

No problem, sir, any other questions from the commissioners.

A

Seeing none we will move to public testimony, beginning with elected officials or other Representatives.

R

Afternoon Madam chair members of the board I'm Sierra Tamiko, with the mayor's office of Neighborhood Services.

R

For some background information, a public meeting was facilitated on September 28th by my office, in which the community and direct residents did voice the comments and concerns about the overall proposal in regards to the location it being close to a Boston Public School, the Elliott lower school, where young children walk back and forth through daily concerns about already having a cannabis, dispensary and walking distance that already delivers, and the security reasons our office also always highly requested and encourages applicants to meet and present in front of the Civic groups in which the applicant did not, and they did not receive any notice back from the Civic groups.

R

Those groups be in the North End resident Association and the North End Waterfront neighborhood Council uh office received many calls comments and emails directly, 43 letters of opposition and one letter of support. At this time, our office would like to defer to the board's judgment. Thank you.

A

Thank you, Sierra Patrick lines from michaelwood's office.

S

Hello, chairman Joyce uh Commissioners. Thank you for your time. Patrick Lyons on behalf of state representative Aaron Michael, Woods, we'd like to go on the record in strong opposition of this proposal uh based off location. uh You know located right right in the middle between uh you know, one of our public schools and one of our recreational facilities with you know: langone Park and the Marabella pool, um and also starting a severe lack of community outreach um from The Proposal. Thank you.

A

Thank you. Are there any other elected officials or other Representatives that would like to speak.

I

Good afternoon, uh Ford I'm here on behalf of councilor Coletta, I'm, Jack and Bergamo North and liaison um counselor Coletta in my office, has not received any letters in support of this proposed establishment. We have received hundreds of letters in opposition and phone calls as well and Bay State herbal solutions has failed to provide any correspondence of resp of support um and Gabrielle is opposed to this establishment. Thank you.

A

Thank you, any other elected officials, other Representatives.

A

Cnn we will move to public testimony. um Allison is going to go through the names of those who signed up to testify. If you would like to testify, please use the link, that's in the chat or you can raise your hand, and we will call on you as we see them.

T

Thanks Jasmine, the first person to sign up was Mr Adam Griffith; yes, Griffith's a 420 Commercial Street. If you are available Mr Mr Griffith, please proceed hi.

U

A

Before you do sorry, I just want to reiterate, you will have two minutes to speak and please state your name and address yes.

U

Ma'am Adam Griffith 420 Commercial Street good afternoon board. My name is Adam Griffith and I'm, representing our family as third generation, business and property owners. Here in the North End, our office is located at 420, commercial and 479 Hanover Street we've been here for a family's, been here for over 70 years directly across from the proposed location. We also own 19 Greenville Lane, which is directly to the rear of the proposed location in three other buildings considered about Butters. We strongly oppose a dispensary dislocations on the corner of the busiest Street in the neighborhood.

U

There is no consumer parking or parking for the delivery vehicle. The traffic hazards endangered of Public Safety will be catastrophic. The applicant has never produced the traffic study which, frankly, we don't need anyway, since we're here every day inside of the previous 7-Eleven as a means of comparison changes since the 7-Eleven closes, and there is now only one eastbound Lane on Commercial Street, which is on the same side of the location.

U

All the parallel walk signals in the city, the school bus idling directly in front in the already behind schedule, five-year project on the North watches, Washington, Street Bridge, our property is already significantly impacted by legal parking and a dispensary would be devastating to our business. There will be cars, double parked cars on the sidewalk cars on our property cars everywhere. Furthermore, the attitude and condescension that the applicants displayed on the community outreach Outreach call as well as the construction work.

U

That's been done without a permit in the proposed location, give us no faith that they will be a good neighbor. Frankly, there's been so many things on this call that the app can fabricated. Frankly, it's appalling. There are numerous other reasons that this is a terrible location for a dispensary but I'll. Let our neighbors speak to those. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak.

T

Okay, uh next is Elizabeth Goss, I, hope I said that, right by apologies, if I didn't no.

V

You did um my name is Elizabeth Goss I am the other uh commercial unit owner at 456, Hanover Street, where um right next to the proposed dispensary site, I'm, a woman on business I've been in business for 28 years. We are majority female. We um we have many Latino Representatives uh in our Latino black uh word, Dei um supportive. We work with the Chelsea collaborative we train and educate high school students here in our office and with the dispensary next door.

V

My concern is that we will no longer be able to host some of the people that we do train and educate. In addition, dealing with vulnerable populations, we are an immigration law firm and one of the things I can tell you that we're planning on doing within the next couple of months is: do we're planning on doing a lot of work for the safe communities act.

V

um The people that we serve, the people that are the base of my business would be extremely reticent about coming to location where there is security and cameras. Although you know I have no problem with cannabis, you know or any of this, but it is still not legal under federal law and immigration is federal law and my clients are subject to federal law. They don't have the same rights, unfortunately, as residents and citizens, and even you know, I. We know from talking to our clients that they would be very concerned about coming to this location.

V

um In addition, you know as a property owner as a On The Board of Trustees. We did have a vote and we- uh and we have an amendment to and I think our attorney is on um the list as well to to uh to speak. So I won't go too much into that, but we've already voted to exclude the use of to exclude this type of business within our property.

V

um I'm I had prepared remarks, but I, you know, I didn't use them because of the few things that were said that were were are were false. So, for example, um as as Adam said, I was on that neighborhood meeting. There was not one person who Rose in support. um Nobody from the neighborhood ever said.

A

That was your two minutes. You can submit additional in writing. Thank you.

T

Okay, next is Andrew Lam Mr Lam. If you're available.

T

Okay, Mr Lam I'll come back to you, I'm gonna, move on to Edmund Alcock.

W

Good afternoon my name is Edmund. Alcock I am an attorney. My office is in Braintree, I represent the Harbor View Suites condominium, trust, which is the organization of unit owners uh for the condominium building, which is located at 464 Hanover Street. What I want everybody to understand is this: entire building is a condominium building. There are 26 residential units, two commercial units uh you heard from Miss Goss, who owns one of the commercial units. The other unit is where the proposed use is.

W

um In the first instance, we respectfully submit that this is not an appropriate location for this use. We have no issue with uh marijuana dispensaries.

W

um We appreciate the equity involvement, um but there is a deed restriction. um A legal, lawful, deed restriction prohibiting this use in the building. um What a lot of people don't understand? What I don't think the applicant understands is that in a condominium uh everybody owns the building, so they've chosen a building where 27 of the 28 owners do not want.

W

This use do not approve of this use; um they don't want it and don't approve of it, because uh a lot of the residents have young children as I think we saw from The Proposal there's a bus stop right in front of the building, which is why they have this uh proposal to um uh close the location during on and off times.

W

The other issue in a condominium building is they're proposing to make changes to the exterior of the building sort of interior uh common elements, and they don't have a unilateral right to do any of this. They need board permission uh and that permission has not been forthcoming. More importantly, we respectfully submit it's just not an appropriate location.

A

Mr Edmond, that is your two minutes.

T

Mark Sorrento, if you're available, uh you can start.

T

It's just Sorrento: okay, we'll move on to Pauline Carpenter. If you're available.

P

Hi I'm, sorry, my camera is not working but Pauline. Carpenter I live at 464, Hanover, Street um and I've lived here for over 20 years, I'm the longest standing resident in the building and my issues. I have all the neighborhood issues, but I've extremely personal issues as well as you've heard, there's only one owner in this building who approves of the use, and that is the owner of that unit. I have had multiple conversations on the street with Mr Bennett I have not found him completely.

P

Honest I haven't felt that there has been any Outreach in my building. I live feet away from it and was not contacted previously. All they did was tape. Things to the doors I will say that on one of the community calls that they proposed the link was broken.

P

That's why there was no community Representatives and on the larger call, there was no one for the dispensary I've yet to encounter anyone that has signed the petition I've yet to find a business who's in support of the dispensary and I'd love to know where those names came from and the final thing I just have to ask. I know: we've discussed the distance and the regulations. I would like to see that law, because the way I read it, it was a radius, a 500 feet and that would not um be proven by your studies.

P

I think! That's it. Oh, and also this building has had its own very difficult issues. We had construction issues and we were all evacuated for 10 months. We came back to the building in covet ahead. This building has struggled to develop our own.

A

Hi Pauline- that was your two minutes.

T

um Daniel pasakantilly, if you'd like to proceed.

F

Can you hear me yes, my name is Dan Patrick and Tilly I'm, a president of the north end and I lived on that block of Hanover Street for 65 years and not to be redundant. But parking is going to be a major issue for.

S

F

Establishment, the double the school buses double-parked it from September to June, it's going to be a a logistical Nightmare and one of the other things I'd like to to express this is not about a knot in my backyard issue. This community voted in favor of marijuana. This is about the location. This location couldn't be the most the most undesirable location to put a marijuana shop. It's right up the street from the Elliott school. That's been previously mentioned.

F

It's right near the langone park, where the kids from the fall to from from the spring, to the fall, walk by that dispensary, we'll we'll be walking by that dispensary to go to the North End Park to go to Marabella pool it. It's just not in the best interest of the neighborhood to have this establishment. Then again you got the fire station. That's right up the street. It's going to be a logistical nightmare with you, your your transportation issues, picking up money, they said, there's parking, there's no parking! There!

F

There's two visitors parking on end of a street uh in that block and that's all there is it's going to be a nightmare and one of the other things I want to just. Hopefully, I have time the meeting that we had with the with the owners. It wasn't really a hostile meaning those people didn't that were very passionate about not having that location as a dispensary, um so that that will conclude my testimony and thank you for the opportunity.

T

Okay: uh next, we have um Tania green the screen if you're available.

X

Yes, I am thank you very much and thank you to to the board for asking really great questions as well. Thank you. um I'm a North End resident I serve on the North End Waterfront neighborhood Council.

X

um It's been said before that this group was invited to come before the board just to share information to receive public feedback. They did not respond. They have not come before us um a couple of things.

X

The condo it's puzzling to me how this is still a conversation when the condo association has said and voted that they do not want this group in their building.

X

um I'm, not sure how legally this could even move forward. It's it's it's puzzling to me um on top of that, I share the issues of security. I, share issues for concerned, close proximity to the school that the North End is very much a distinct neighborhood.

X

It is a community and tight-knit community in a big major Eastern, Seaboard City, um and it is unique in that way. There are children all around. There are schools all around. There are churches all around the nazaro center is close by it is. um This is not the right location for for uh for this group um on top of that traffic concerns as well. Where will people park yet again? North End residents are displaced because of um Commerce and I'm concerned for North End residents. I speak uh personally. This is these.

X

Are my personal opinions I'm not representing Munich when I speak here, but I have talked to tell.

A

Me about Azure in two minutes.

T

Jack imbergamo, if you are available, please proceed.

T

Okay, I can Circle back in to check if you're available, uh Sarah Wharton. If you are available, please proceed.

Y

Thank you very much. uh Thank you to the board and all uh of those in attendance um and Sarah Wharton I am a resident of the North End I live at 99 Fulton Street Unit, 66.

Y

um we've been in this unit for less than a year, but we've been in the neighborhood for six I do have two children at the Elliott. um My background is reflecting some of the discussions. We've had don't mind my mirroring um this right here is the proposed location, and these are some of the school buses for those on the board. Who are curious uh that have been mentioned several times. They literally line up right in front. There has been some concern about that.

Y

um I want to say, I have no problem with the legalization of cannabis. The concern again as another Resident mentioned is more surrounding this particular location. We do in fact have two locations that we can reach within 10 minutes, uh both by North Station and then on Milk Street and in addition, both of those are in a less family and Resident dense area. It is more businesses, it is less foot traffic and it does not have the density of Tourism.

Y

um There was a lot of opposition on the meeting and I just wanted to clarify what felt like misrepresentation that it was just the neighborhood disliking Outsiders. It's not the old North End like on TV that Everyone likes to joke about all the time. While there is a sense of community there's concerns about this being a family neighborhood the issues of whether or not it's 500 501. There has been disputes about the distance being well under the 500 foot.

Y

That we've been told ask the applicant, which feels a little crazy, like uh letting the applicants decide if it's far enough, um but beside that the concerns about the school there's been concerns about the traffic, the parking situation, the proximity of the tourists, were they the ones who are on this um petition, because I can't tell you anyone in the neighborhood who was approached to write the petition and overall, the applicant keeps saying that there was so much opposition.

Y

But people are in favor if they're so in favor, then why aren't they willing to come and speak in your favor um I know my time's running short, so I'm trying to jam it all in.

T

um Lara chasing sorry, if I'm saying that wrong, if you're available- and you would like to make a comment- please proceed.

Z

Hi, thank you so much for the chance to speak um uh brief. I just wanted to reiterate some of what Sarah said. My name is Gloria. Sun I live at 26. Green Street in Charlestown um I have uh one child at the Elliott school. So we we spend a lot of time in the North End. You know crisscrossing the neighborhood. She does take the bus home, often so she's often lining up. You know exactly where Sarah mentioned.

Z

um I am not opposed to the legalization of cannabis at all, or you know private personal consumption. My concern is that as someone with asthma and as a parent of a child who has suspected asthma and has reactive lungs, I believe that the location of this dispensary in such a dense neighborhood, where so many people will be walking to the location and then leaving on foot, means that we will have a lot of people um partaking of their purchases.

Z

You know in The, Prado in the local parks and um all the school children actually get dropped off and picked up in The Prado. It's a very dense and um well-used area of the city d and a place that families and children have to be.

Z

They have no choice about being there and I feel that there's going to be a lot of smoke that will be unavoidable for people who do not want to be exposed to that um I'm, not sure how this location was chosen um and, as Sarah said, I think there's other neighborhoods, where you know there's a lot less foot traffic.

Z

um It's a that's close to schools that contain hundreds of children and children can often be prone to asthma and lung issues and should have a choice whether they're exposed to that smoke. Thank you so much for the chance to speak.

T

Sure uh next uh Beto amarelli, if you're available, please feel free to make your comments.

O

Hello, hopefully you can hear me there, um I'm Vito mrielli, a 440, Commercial Street, and even though I'm opposed to the locations, uh I really can't add anything to what everybody else has already said. As far as why uh to be opposed, but I really have two questions. They mentioned the distance between the facility and the school, but not the facility in the playground. It's on Commercial Street or the military establishment, which is across the street.

O

uh The Coast Guard is considered a military establishment, so I don't know the difference between city state federal rules as far as a military establishment. That's it for me.

T

Thank you, Mr amarelli, uh Matthew Garvey. uh If you are available, please here.

AA

Thank you for the time um 23-year resident 19 years in the building um everyone's taking all my uh all my points but I appreciate uh the residents. Speaking up and I appreciate, uh you guys get the board giving us the opportunity. One thing that Pauline was going to mention um that she got cut off is a few years ago. uh The residents in the building unexpectedly were evacuated for 10 months um because of some structural damage.

AA

uh Insurance didn't cover this, so we were responsible for paying our condo fees as well as finding new places to live. We took a really really big hit. We had to come up with thousands of dollars individually um up front and then subsequently, our condo fees, each have gone up about three times.

AA

The concern I think some of the residents have, or me in particular, is that is our homeowner's insurance going to go up now that we have an establishment like that downstairs um again, we've really really taken the hit and uh I appreciate the board's consideration um when reviewing that thanks.

T

Okay, I'm gonna go back through those who were not available uh to see if you'd like to provide comment. uh Mr Andrew lamb. If you are available, please proceed.

T

Okay, how about um Mark, Sorrento.

T

Or Jack in Bergamo.

T

Okay with that that uh that concludes all the folks who signed up online to provide comment. Thank you. I.

AB

I want to speak okay.

A

Please state your name.

AB

I submitted a request in writing and I submitted it through chat before the hearing began. My name is Richard Vida I'm I live at 369, Hanover Street I'm, an attorney I grew up in the north end, I'm a long time resident and uh I'm. Also the president of Italian Heritage months for Massachusetts. Let me, uh in view of all the comments and make a couple of points to the board, so I want to run down the cumulative locations. We think should be given great weight by the board um there.

AB

There is a lingoni ballpark, a very large multi-field facility. That's probably 50 yards away, it's highly used by the uh the children and their families in the north end and they, the farm majority of them, uh go in the direction of the dispensary. You have in addition to the Elliott school right there, the the uh not then music and Performing Arts Center, which primarily is teaching music and Performing Arts to young children.

AB

They have multiple locations, and parents and and caretakers are constantly taking them there right across the street right there, 500, 500 or so feet. You have St John's Church. You go up another 200 feet or so, and you have Saint Leonard's Church you you then right nearby within 200 feet, you have a Sacred Heart Church These churches are attracted uh the of course. The residents and the families attend, and also many many of the tourists.

AB

The point I'd like to make here with regard to the complete failure.

A

Richard, that was your two minutes.

T

Okay, uh we've had a couple more people sign up on online, so Mary O'neill. If you would like to make a comment, please proceed.

AC

Good afternoon, members of the board, um thank you for your thoughtful questions. My name is Mary O'neill I'm, a resident of the North End I'm, a Dorchester native I've lived in the North End for almost almost as long as I lived in Dorchester about 20 years and I live at 32, Charter Street, previously at another address on this street, which is just around the corner from the proposed location just down the street from the Elliott School.

AC

You've heard from many people talking about the distance to the Elliott school and I would just note that whatever the distance I think that the it seems clear in the Cannabis regulations that there is something special about elementary schools, and that is certainly something that this board should consider and I would ask that you partly based on that, deny this application, whether it's 500 feet, whether it's 510 feet.

AC

Children are throughout the day in the morning in the afternoon in the evening when other activities are happening surrounding the school surrounding after school programs surrounding the North End music, Performing, Arts Center after school programs, kids are in this neighborhood all the time in the weekdays.

AC

On the weekends I'll tell you, I haven't gone away for two years and so I've been in the neighborhood uh quite a lot day in and day out, I have no idea who these people spoke to, because I've been on Hanover Street, multiple times every single day of every single weekend in the past couple years, I have never seen these people nobody's asked me or anybody that I've been with about whether they have thoughts about this establishment here. So I really don't know who we're talking to I would just note quickly. As it was mentioned.

AC

There are many parks that are steps away from this proposal and, what's going to happen because of the absence of parking because of the nature of activities in our neighborhood that there's so much foot traffic is people are going to walk out the door from making purchases and they're going to walk into green Elaine, which is actually a playground they're going to walk into the Prado, where kids are playing day in day out, whether it's a school day or whether it's not they're, going to walk over to Commercial Street, where we have a very vibrant activity at the langone fields.

AC

Where there's a brand new playground where.

A

Marry that is your two minutes.

T

uh Miss karane mcginn. If you would like to make a comment, you can proceed.

AD

Good afternoon my name is Karen again I'm an attorney based in Braintree, Massachusetts and I work with the tenant in in this case, and um while I appreciate um people's concerns about change in the neighborhood I'd like to address some of the issues that have been raised here.

AD

um First there's this concern about cannabis: cannabis is legal in Massachusetts and just because people buy cannabis doesn't mean they're, going to rush out the door and start smoking it just like. When people buy cigarettes, they don't rush out the door when they buy alcohol, they don't wash out the door and sit on the steps and smoke it so so I think that, while, while I appreciate its concern- because this is a new industry, I think I I would respectfully suggest that that might be overstated.

AD

Obviously you know people can't be allowed to be smoking on the street, particularly around and young children, but people do smoke cigarettes around young children all the time. It's still illegal to smoke cannabis in the street, even if you've purchased it legally.

AD

um You know this was a. This was a busy a busy 7-Eleven before um our suggested use. So this is not a new thing to this location, and the next issue is parking. Well, it's the North, End parking is always an issue you know, but but restaurants and the residents have dealt with it for years.

AD

This is just another commercial use in a in a commercially um uh uh a large space, and so, as I said before, when it was a it's walking distance to public transportation, but when it was a 7-Eleven and I know, things may have changed since then, but it is. This is just progress. This is what happens when you have a commercial space. It's going to be used for commercial space, I mean the alternative is that it gets turned back into a residential space.

AD

Well, nobody suggested that that's happening third I'd like to talk about the um the the amendment to the condo uh documents. In our opinion that amendment was forced through after we had a valid lease in place. Therefore, it unlawfully, in our opinion, it unlawfully, takes the property of both the the property owner and of the tenant. There's been a lot of money spent on this and they suddenly decide after the fact that that they that they they don't like a particular use. Well, where does that stop?

AD

So you can't just come in after there's a lease in place and say we don't like that go away so so we don't think that will stand up in the in the long run. um And finally you know um it's been it come to our attention.

AD

uh Frankly, the the public meeting was was quite contentious, but it has come to our our attention that the building is in financial stress and part of we call them there's there will be a meeting in the next few weeks, and part of that is to try to understand uh how this business may be able to help with that building it contributing towards those expenses. We want to be a good neighbor, um but, but you know we we haven't had the chance to be. Thank you very much.

T

And with that, that concludes all of the folks who have signed up to provide public comment. Thank you for your time.

A

Thank you, Allison is there anyone else. I would like to speak on this proposal that hasn't had a chance this week.

A

Seeing no one do the board members have any additional questions. They would like to ask nope so seeing no additional requests to speak. The board will take this matter under advisement. Those were all our matters before the board. Today. The board's voting meeting will take place next Wednesday December 14th at 1 pm the information to access the voting hearing will be on our website. Boston.Gov backslash cannabis. Again, the record will be kept open until next Tuesday December 13th at 5 pm. Thank you all for attending and enjoy the rest of your evening.

A