SANTA CRUZ POT SHOP GETS GREEN LIGHT

In a 6-1 vote Tuesday night, the Santa Cruz City Council denied two
appeals aiming to halt opening the city's second medical marijuana dispensary.

The dispensary was unanimously approved by the city Planning
Commission in April; that approval was challenged and the matter
brought before the council. On Tuesday, several neighbors and
business owners from the Harvey West neighborhood voiced concerns
over parking, lighting and litter removal.

Most in the overflow crowd at the meeting, however, spoke in favor of the shop.

K.E. Sampson, a Corralitos resident and medical marijuana patient,
plans to turn an empty office building on Limekiln Street into The
Santa Cruz Patient Collective.

Sampson says his business will improve the neighborhood, where
homeless people gather and live, and provide access to the drug for
the estimated 3,000 medical pot patients in the county.

Councilman Mike Rotkin said the council could consider limiting the
number of dispensaries.