Dear City Council, I?m writing with comments on the proposed cannabis ordinance. The staff report notes that, ?Consistent with the interim ordinance Section 7.31.020 prohibits personal outdoor cultivation.? If you have reasons for supporting this, please help me understand. From my perspective, this means that only people with unused space inside their home will be able to legally grow cannabis in Menlo Park, and I find that unfair and inequitable, especially when you consider enforcement. Regarding your idea that ?lack of pushback? to the interim ordinance: that makes no sense, because people are busy. It?s your job to seize opportunities to make Menlo Park more solvent, and more equitable, and I think allowing cannabis business is potentially both. Banning commercial cannabis in Menlo Park will be our loss in terms of tax revenue; and allowing small home-run cannabis business might help some of our neighbors and friends afford to stay in our high rent/high mortgage city. Please reconsider. I suggest you permanently delete Section 7.31.02 and sunset Section 7.31.03 a year from now so a more strategic approach to permissible commercial activity can be crafted between now and then. -Karen Grove 650-868-2732 Received on Mon Aug 12 2019 - 14:48:50 PDT
