Should Portland Create a Marijuana Retail Zone?
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Saltzman said he wants to eliminate a rule that forbids two marijuana businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of one another in Portland’s central city, which includes downtown Portland and the Lloyd District. Marijuana businesses and dispensaries would still be required to be at least 1,000 feet away from a school.
Mark Pettinger, with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the State agency charged with coming up with the rules for recreational marijuana, said that because the proposal does not violate state law, the Commission has no comment on it.
Saltzman said the creation of a marijuana retail zone in downtown Portland would have two main benefits. It would attract tourists and business to the area, and prevent pot shops from popping up in other areas of the city.
“Our downtown core is really the place where we encourage people to come, whether it be shopping, dining or tourists coming to town,” Saltzman said. “Downtown can cater to ‘green tourism’—a new kind of tourism.”
“It Does Not Work”
Felicia Williams, President of the Portland Downtown Neighborhood Association, told GoLocal she believed that the idea of establishing a “green-light district” in the Portland downtown would fail. She referenced attempts to establish vice district in the 1940’s, both in Portland and across the country, as evidence that Saltzman’s proposal was short-sighted.
“It has a lot of negative effects on the communities; it does not work,” Williams said of the establishment of vice districts. “What happens is that these zones are established and even if there is a lot of community push-back, conditions in the area worsen. Property values drop and crime rises, and it has a lot of negative impacts on a community.”
Brian Griffis, chair of the Lloyd District, a community association based in the Lloyd neighborhood, told GoLocal he believed that residents should have a say in what businesses are opened near their homes.
“It would take a lot of cooperation between business owners and the community,” Griffis said. “I have no doubt that marijuana business owners can be strong parts of a community, but people who live in a community should decide what kind of businesses they want clustered in their neighborhood.”
Williams also questioned whether establish a retail zone for recreational marijuana would prove to be an effective business strategy.
“If this is a legal product, why do you want to focus it in one area of the city,” Williams said. “I don’t think it will stimulate that much tourism. Within five years, we’re going to see more states and cities legalize recreational marijuana, which will end people traveling here for it. If you want to plan for the long-term, this seems rather short-sighted to me.”
Bad for Business?
Leah Maurer, the co-chair of Portland’s Women’s Grow Association, told GoLocal that while she has fears about marijuana businesses becoming oversaturated in the downtown area, she thinks the measure would ultimately benefit pot shop owners.
“I definitely have some have some concerns, I think it could certainly cause overcrowding,” Maurer said. “I think ultimately it would be a good thing, though. We’ll see the free market at its finest. The owners who have the best business skills will prevail. That’s capitalism.”
Maurer also said that she believed establishing a marijuana retail zone would jump-start businesses in the area, whether those businesses sold marijuana or not.
“I absolutely think it would spark a lot of tourism and business,” Maurer said. “Right now, the dispensaries in the city are very spread out. If you could have a cluster of them, I think that would bring tourists and bring even city residents to downtown to pick up their marijuana and get dinner or do their shopping.”
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