First cannabis dispensary in Greater Riverdale halted for now

If it weren’t for a temporary court injunction, greater Riverdale would have already had its first legal cannabis dispensary on Broadway next to a proposed men’s homeless shelter.

Community District 8 received an application in August to allow Erudito Herbals LLC to open shop at 6677 Broadway near Westhab Inc.’s proposed homeless shelter at 6661 Broadway. It would have also served as a temporary cannabis delivery location. However, a temporary citywide court injunction against all such applications has resulted in the business withdrawing their application until further notice.

The legal injunction was the result of a lawsuit from a group of service-disabled veterans seeking dispensary licenses to operate cannabis stores in New York but did not qualify due to not having conviction criterion. Part of the qualification of a dispensary license is that the applicants had to have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense before its legalization, or have a close relative who was.

In the veterans lawsuit, they criticized the way the state prioritized its first licenses to those with past convictions, rather than letting all applicants apply at the same time. As a result of the lawsuit, the court granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the OCM and New York State Office of Cannabis Management.

Despite the injunction putting Erudito Herbals LLC’s plan on hold indefinitely, it is still possible that the business will apply again in the future. Community members like the Broadway Community Alliance and Community Board 8 have shared their concerns.

“It seems to me that New York City is doing everything it can to destroy that neighborhood,” said CB8 land use committee chair Charles Moerdler at a September meeting. “And it just angers me.

Former CB8 chair Laura Spalter said that the business on 6677 Broadway could be problematic due to it being adjacent to the proposed shelter. The board met with the OCM on Sept. 19 during their public safety committee meeting. They were also supposed to meet with the applicant.

The procedure would have been similar to how they conduct it with the state liquor authority. In conjunction with the OCM, the applicant would come before them, the public would have a chance to speak on it, and they would either approve or reject it. Because the business withdrew their application though, there was no need for that. The OCM told the board that because of the lawsuit, it prevented the applicants from showing up, said CB8 Public Safety committee chair Edward Green.

“This is the first legal cannabis dispensary that is coming before us,” Green told The Press. “We have a variety of illegal cannabis dispensaries currently operating in the area. Whether we call them smoke shops, they’re operating illegally.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz was unable to attend the publicly safety committee meeting, but was relayed what was discussed.

“It’s a little surprising a business person would want to open a cannabis dispensary in that location instead of a business district,” Dinowitz said to The Press. “…Other cannabis dispensaries in the city that I’ve heard about are all in business areas. The other thing, it seems like an odd choice having a cannabis dispensary and a homeless shelter directly adjacent to each other. Assuming the cannabis store is opened first I wouldn’t think that would be a good place to put a homeless shelter. What could possibly go wrong?”

The assemblyman said he wouldn’t want to encourage any consumption of any substance that feeds into addiction, such as alcohol. With that said, he is outraged over the proliferation of illegal dispensaries, noting he doesn’t see a lot of action being taken to address them. This was a point of contention for Green as well.

“One thought is if you have a legal cannabis store, it’s tax revenue for the government,” Green said. “So you would think you would want to protect their interests, so that might mean more crackdowns vigorously on illegal places.

“I understand one reason they haven’t is because of resources. Law enforcement resources have stretched so thin they have to do basically joint task force.”

A Kingsbridge smoke shop was raided by both police from the 50th Precinct and a Queens precinct back in April. The raid that day was part of a larger operation from the New York City Sheriff’s Department that resulted in five arrests being made and confiscation of  illegal merchandise.

“If I had to choose between illegal or legal, I certainly would choose legal,” Dinowitz said. “That said, I don’t think I want it there despite that it would be legal.”

Rob Spalter, chair of the Broadway Community Alliance, found the area on Broadway particularly troubling because it is an “environmental justice area,” meaning it is a low-income or minority community.

“These people have come to me with their complaints and fears for their families and future,” Rob said. “As much as we have been opposed to the siting of this homeless shelter for 400 men, many who are overcoming addiction or other problems, for the state to agree to cite a legal cannabis dispensary adjacent to this proposed building is just bizarre.”