SUPERVISOR, PARENTS OWN BUILDING RAIDED BY FEDS

Pot Club There Was Investigated in '05 -- Reopened Later

San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew, who is being investigated for taking
money from businessmen seeking city permits and over questions about
whether he meets residency requirements to hold his office, is
part-owner with his parents of a building that houses an unlicensed
marijuana club, records show.

The club, called NorCal Herbal Relief Center, at 1545 Ocean Ave., was
raided by federal agents in June 2005 as part of "Operation Urban
Harvest," in which at least 19 people were indicted.

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent wrote in a sworn affidavit
that the medical marijuana dispensary and three others in San
Francisco and Oakland were fronts for illegal drug trafficking.

The club, then called the Herbal Relief Center, shut. It later
reopened, but city officials say it failed to obtain a permit as
required. Last June, the city's zoning administrator sent its
operators and Jew's parents the second of two notices saying the
business was violating city codes and needed to shut or apply for
proper permits.

City officials say there is no record that Jew's parents, or the
operators of the club, ever complied.

Nonetheless, the business remains open. Located in a busy commercial
district, the one-story green building has mirrored windows and a
call box that patrons must use to gain entry. Inside, a man behind a
glass window checks for medical cannabis patient cards.

On Thursday afternoon, the man at the window avoided a reporter's
questions. He said the club's manager was out and he did not know
when he would return. He would not provide the manager's name. A half
dozen people came and went from the club in an hour.

Efforts to reach Jew, who is in China on a trip, and his parents,
Howard and Anne Jew of San Francisco, were unsuccessful on Thursday.
The supervisor's attorney did not return a telephone message.

According to city property records, two-thirds of the building is
owned by a trust set up by the parents and the other third by Jew.

Matthew Kumin, an attorney representing the dispensary, said Thursday
he had not known that Jew was part owner of the building. He, too,
declined to identify the owner of the dispensary.

"I know my clients are working on trying to get their permits," said
Kumin. "It's a big, complicated permit process. I think they're
struggling to make sure they do it right."

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215 legalizing pot for
people with a legitimate medical need, though sale of the drug
remained illegal under federal law -- the basis for a series of raids
on pot clubs in recent years. Until supervisors acted in 2005, San
Francisco officials were in legal limbo, watching as the number of
clubs dispensing marijuana grew from nine to more than 40 in five
years. Some residents complained the clubs attracted drug dealing and
other criminal activity.

A new ordinance requires all clubs to apply for permits as MCDs, or
medical cannabis dispensaries, through the Department of Public
Health. Applicants must show their business fits zoning requirements
and submit to fire and health inspections. Operators must pass
criminal background checks. And public hearings must be held.

Clubs that were operating at the time the local regulations passed in
2005 have until June 30 to obtain permits. Clubs such as NorCal
Herbal Relief Center in the building part-owned by Jew were not
supposed to open without a permit. Planning officials consider NorCal
a new business because it was shut for an extended period following the raid.

Larry Kessler, a senior environmental health specialist at the health
department, said the business at 1545 Ocean Ave. is among four of 31
known dispensaries in the city that have not even applied for a permit.

Among those that have applied, five have obtained provisional
permits. The permitting process, Kessler said, takes four months or longer.

"If they don't have a final permit by the end of June," Kessler said
of the Ocean Avenue club, which he has visited twice in an effort to
get it into compliance, "then they're in violation of the planning
code and subject to closure."

A proposal now in front of the Board of Supervisors, by Supervisor
Michaela Alioto-Pier, would extend the deadline until the end of the
year. Told of the situation with Jew's property, fellow Supervisor
Ross Mirkarimi said, "I don't know what to say. At this stage,
nothing ceases to amaze me." The FBI investigation of Jew focuses on
a $40,000 cash payment Jew said he received from businessmen in his
district who were having problems with the city permitting process.

Jew said the owners of Quickly tapioca drink shops approached him for
help and that the money was intended for a consultant he recommended
to them, but a company representative said Jew approached the
businessmen and offered his assistance in exchange for cash.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, meanwhile, now says he
will give Jew until June 8 to prove that he actually lives in the
westside district he represents.

Questions about whether the District 4 supervisor meets the city's
residency requirements to hold his board seat surfaced last week
after federal investigators raided his City Hall office, properties
tied to him in the Sunset District and Burlingame, and his Chinatown
flower shop. Neighbors of a house on 28th Avenue that Jew claims as
his primary residence have said the property has been vacant for
years, and utility records show there has been little to no water use
since he claimed to have moved into the home before running for
office last year.