LA PUENTE DELAYS VOTE ON MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

LA PUENTE - Nearly four months after saying they wanted to ban
medical marijuana dispensaries, the City Council decided late Tuesday
to postpone a vote to push the shops out of town.

The council instead decided to meet behind closed doors July 13 to
discuss potential lawsuits from dispensary owners. Then they will
take up the matter again at a public meeting scheduled July 27, city
officials said.

"We need to know what it'll cost us before we go down this road,"
said Councilman John Solis, who proposed the delay.

Several owners of the city's 10 dispensaries have threatened that any
action to push them out of the city would face legal opposition.

The council's move was approved 3-2 with council members Dan Holloway
and Nadia Mendoza voting against it.

Holloway, who has opposed the dispensaries, said he wished the
council did not let its moratorium on dispensaries lapse in 2008.

"I think it's a pretty sad commentary as to where we are," he said.

Holloway wanted to consider the ban Tuesday night, he said.

The 41,000-person city has more marijuana clinics than any other city
in the eastern San Gabriel Valley - much to the chagrin of area
pastors and school officials.

By this spring, public outcry against the dispensaries began to
crescendo, with up to 170 people attending council meetings regarding
the issue.

The council at a Feb. 23 meeting asked the city's staff to draft a
law banning the dispensaries.

Then on June 1 the city's Planning Commission voted to recommend the
council approve a ban.

The proposed ordinance would give shops a Feb. 2, 2011 deadline to
close. Dispensaries would be able to apply for extensions.

Mayor David Argudo said the city faced potential litigation that
could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The city had a "fiduciary responsibility" to its residents to
consider any consequences, he said.

David Touhey, who runs Farm Assists on Hacienda Boulevard near Amar
Road, said he intends to honor a 10-year lease he signed for his shop
in August. A decision against his shop and others would be costly, he said.

"To approve this ordinance will be one of the most irresponsible
things this city has done," Touhey said.