HOW FAR WILL CITY GO IN FIGHT AGAINST POT DISPENSARY?

Councilman Perry Woodward warns that if the city pursues an ongoing
legal battle to shut down the MediLeaf marijuana dispensary which
opened up on First Street without a business license, it could cost
between $300,000 and $600,000.

But the four council members who voted to pursue legal action to shut
down the dispensary haven't changed their minds.

The battle's not worth it for Councilman Peter Arellano. "These court
things can go on forever," he said. "I don't know how deep their
pockets are."

Wednesday, the City Council revisited the Nov. 16 resolution passed
behind closed doors that allowed the city to take legal action against
the city's lone medical marijuana dispensary.

Council members Craig Gartman, Perry Woodward and Peter Arellano
maintain that the city should not pursue a costly legal battle against
MediLeaf, and they believe the council violated open government laws
by approving a resolution in closed session on Nov. 16 that allowed
the city attorney to take action against MediLeaf. Superior Court
Judge Kevin Murphy chastised the Council for violating the state's
open government law, the Brown Act, which governs public meetings,
before he denied the city a preliminary injunction on Dec. 15 that
would have shut down the dispensary pending a trial.

Mayor Al Pinheiro and council members Cat Tucker, Dion Bracco and Bob
Dillon believe that the city's legal counsel has done everything that
the council has asked of it, and that the closed session vote on Nov.
16 adhered to the Brown Act.