Showing posts with label Mendocino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mendocino. Show all posts
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Plastic Ties, Weed, and Taxation with Representation
6/24/2009 update
As is normal for governmental deliberations, it took two months longer than anticipated. But on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors by unanimous vote added the voluntary medical marijuan zip tie fee of $25 per plant to the County's master fee schedule.
Details of the administrative process are still being debated in committee. Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith reported the final committee recommendations wouldn't be ready until after the start of the 2009/10 fiscal year. Board Chairman John Pinches indicated that the fee would be reduced for veterans and disabled patients.
Perhaps embracing the national general discussion on the wasteful War on Drugs, marijuana, and the need for tax revenue, on Monday the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will take up a "zip tie" proposal at a special meeting.
In Mendocino County the traditional start of the marijuana outdoor growing season begins in April. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman is reprising a program tested in 2007 - medical marijuana zip ties. Allman's office distributed 1,500 test zip ties in 2007 test.
Under the new proposal the zip ties would be sold by the Public Health Department in order to assure compliance with the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Applicants would be required to present their California Medical Marijuana Card. They will be issued six zip ties unless their doctor recommends more. Allman is proposing that the charge be $25 per tie with a 50% discount for Medicare patients. The ties would be wrapped around the base of the plant and would be imprinted with "Mendocino County MMP" and a serial number.
In an interview with Ukiah Daily Journal reporter Rob Burgess, Allman said: "A zip tie acts like a prescription bottle. Whereas before deputies would spend three hours investigating a marijuana garden, now they'll be able to do that in five minutes. Before legal patients were concerned that, What if I'm gone? Will the cops take my marijuana?' With this they don't have to worry about that. This serial number will speak for them. This is the identification mark for this."
Allman said they would be monitoring for counterfeit ties.
While some see this as a taxation program, in fact the proposal is that half the money collected would go to fund a half-time employee in the Public Health Department and half would go to the County General Fund which does support the Sheriff's Office.
The goal is to begin to create a clearly separate identity for legal growing in order to identify illegal commercial growing.
The commercial growing of marijuana has become an identifiable problem for law enforcement in California's North Coast. In discussions with a member of the cooperative drug enforcement task force of federal, state, and local personnel, this writer learned that in the past few years raids of several large gardens in National Forests and other state and local forest lands have resulted in the arrest of Mexican citizens with apparent ties to the infamous Mexican drug cartel.
In 2000 Mendocino County voters approved Measure G which called for the decriminalization of marijuana when used and cultivated for personal use, making it the first county in the nation to do so. In 2008 County voters approved Measure B which repealed portions of Measure G making local regulations conform to state law implementing the provisions of the statewide voter approved Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Proposition 215).
Under guidelines issued by the California Attorney General's office, persons who have qualified as patients or primary caregivers may grow no more than six mature or twelve immature plants per patient. Counties and cities are allowed regulations that would permit qualified persons to possess more.
The narrow passage of Measure B was not a rejection of the concept of decriminalization of marijuana. The most significant problem while Measure G was in effect was that gardens within urban and suburban neighborhoods gave off fumes and odor from growing plants.
This writer can speak from personal experience that at certain times during growing season, his yard became unusable because a neighbor's garden gave off fumes so strong that your eyes and sinuses would burn. And the odor is not similar to the not-so-offensive smell of smoking marijuana as it is like living adjacent to a chemical processing plant. This is a land use issue which, if marijuana were legalized, could be regulated by zoning in a manner that all commercial agriculture is regulated.
Given the general discussion around the nation about legalization/taxation of marijuana, it is not a surprise that some outside Mendocino County believe this is an attempt to tax the large annual marijuana crop grown within the County. While the zip tie proposal certainly creates a system of fees that theoretically could expand to a significant revenue producing mechanism much like the "tax stamps" placed on liquor bottles, at this point in time it only applies to medical marijuana growing for patients who live in Mendocino County. No significant revenue is represented by the proposal.
However, one cannot ignore the "winds of change" within the state. The San Francisco Chronicle Political Writer Carla Marinucci recently reported that for the first time the since EMC Research began tracking attitudes about legalization of marijuana a clear majority of voters say marijuana use should be generally legalized with 54% in favor and 39% against.
Prominent conservatives and liberals have long advocated legalization of marijuana as part of a change in the approach to the war on drugs. Even Fox News' weird right-wing talking head Glenn Beck blurted out on February 25: "...Look, I'm a libertarian. You want to legalize marijuana; you want to legalize drugs — that's fine."
But Monday's Mendocino County Supervisors' discussion is much more mundane. It's about procedures and processes to help law enforcement distinguish between lawful medical marijuan plants and illegal plants.
Oh, and it likely will generate enough revenue to fund personnel to administer the rules. As Allman noted: "Three years ago when we first offered this some of the other sheriff's snickered, But now, zip ties are going to be something other counties are going to look at. If this is successful, other counties could view this as a model."
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Woodstock 2009 August Event Proposed for Willits, California
A serious plan has emerged to hold one of possibly three 40th Anniversary Woodstock concerts in August in the small Mendocino County town of Willits, California.
According to a Ukiah Daily Journal report, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors was having a special meeting focused on some development permit issues and a court building proposal when Roscoe Smith, of Monsoon Entertainment in Tempe, Arizona, announced that he represented a group of investors from both Florida and New York who were interested in staging a concert in August in Willits that could draw "around a million" attendees for the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
Smith indicated he is working with Michael Lang, one of the co-founders of the original Woodstock, who discussed the status of the plans for the 40th Anniversary celebrations with a Billboard Magazine reporter this past week. Lang was in Austin, Texas, as part of a South By Southwest panel discussion entitled WOODSTOCK: Untold Stories.
Michael Lang described his plans for a 40th anniversary Woodstock concert as "all speculative ideas" for now, but he hopes to bring them to reality this summer. Venue ideas discussed were those reported earlier in the year - New York City and Berlin, Germany. Smith told the Daily Journal the event is being planned by original Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang to be simulcast concurrently with the possible sister venues in New York and Berlin. The Willits site is the only one on the Pacific Rim.
Both have indicated that the plan is to have the events be "green." "We want to have as small a carbon imprint as we can and use as many green techniques as we can," Lang indicated. Apparently the theme or title will be "reBirth."
"It's called reBirth because the event promotes sustainability," Smith said. "Each day has a different themed event. Our goal is to preach and educate in this event and people can walk away and make it a rebirth for themselves."
"We started researching this about two and a half years ago," Smith explained. "We looked at three spots in Louisiana, four or five in Texas, a few in Wyoming, Illinois, Missouri befpre settling on Willits. We could do a bigger impact on the community if we were to do one of those areas ... Up here it might bring more innovation. We would like to get any and every service in the community involved. The less amount of corporate sponsorship the better."
The local economy could use a boost and the "green" focus is logical for Willits and Mendocino County, home to a number of innovative "green" industries.
The critical question is: "Can they avoid the disasters of Woodstock 1999?" Lang appears to be acutely aware of this. It is not 1999. The Obama Generation of college-age folks is different. So is the original Woodstock generation, who also would be attracted by the talent being discussed, different from who they were in the '90s and the '60's.
Previous concerts in other areas of the nation in 1994 and 1999 marking the 25th and 30th anniversaries of the original Woodstock had significant security and public utility problems among others. Critics deplored the 1999 use of the Woodstock brand name as that event was labeled crass commercialization. Concert organizers were said to have gouged the kids with grossly overpriced water, beer, and food. Tickets for that event were priced at $150 plus service charges.
According to Lang, the 2009 concerts will be free. Smith said the mistakes of the past, such as price gouging for basic amenities, would stand as lessons for the future of the event.
"94 was a disaster," he said. "With every ticket that we sell we'll send that out we'll send a Nalgene (water) bottle. When people are there they'll be able fill up for free. Water won't cost people."
Smith said security would be alerted to potential problems by trained medical staff who would walk the grounds and alert security when they found out about problems.
"This will be its own event," he indicated. "We're still trying to plan how we want it to go on; if it will be open doors so people can stay in the community. As an option some families might say 'We'll bring somebody in.' They do that in certain events around the country. It gets the community more involved and lets people see what the community offers. They might just say, Hey instead of buying organic carnie food we might want to go out into the town and see what the community offers' and do things like ride the Skunk Train."
"We are trying to make it as little (impact) as possible," he said. "Any kind of offsets we are doing we are trying to balance them out on the other end. Whatever property we choose obviously we're going to have to prepare the site. We're going to have some brush and trees removed, however all those trees will be used on the property. Any rocks we remove will be used for fences. Any trees will be used for walkways. Most of the water being used will be collected from the springs."
Smith said that once the site selection was complete his office would set up a communications base that would be open to the public so that those seeking more information would have a point of contact.
"We're about two to four weeks from finalizing that," he said.
As of Friday no documentation had yet been filed with the County according to Nash Gonzales, Mendocino County Building and Planning Services director. Monday Smith indicated he would be submitting paperwork to the county "by the end of the week".
On Friday Smith told the Ukiah Daily Journal in a phone interview: "We're still working on that and we are planning on having something in by mid-April. The way we look at it we want to do everything right the first time and make sure we cross our t's and dot our i's."
Cindy Lindgren, of Century 21 Realty, accompanied Smith during his presentation on Monday and said on Friday that she would have an announcement on the search for a property by "next week."
Gonzales commented: "It's overwhelming for this county. It would be a very large undertaking. There would have to be an EIR because of the magnitude. We would have to throw everything at this event," he said. "It's not just the planning department; there's law enforcement, environmental health, etc. You're also talking about outside agencies. Caltrans, the city of Willits, Regional Water Quality Control, Highway Patrol. There's lots of state agencies that would have to be involved."
Chris Brown, Mendocino County air pollution control officer, said no one had contacted his office about the event either.
"I would have very serious concerns," he said. "Frankly, it's inconceivable...There's road access, transportation, generators to power musical equipment, vehicles, truck traffic. Everything in terms of air quality is serious. What if there is a wildfire? Then I have a million more people that could be exposed to smoke."
Brown said the number of agencies involved in the planning of such a large-scale event would be prohibitive given the less than five-month window before the slated opening.
"The first thing I would look at is the location," he said. "Is there naturally occurring asbestos? We have that in this county. You can't have an outdoor event on that. Diesel equipment has to meet pretty strict standards. You also have to think about vehicle traffic and campfires from a million people."
Brown said air pollution from traffic congestion on the area's major arteries would be unprecedented for the area.
"That alone on 101 would be a significant concern," he said. "Let's say you have two people a vehicle. That's 500,000 vehicles. To me this event is just not realistic. I may review a plan and have a different opinion, but I don't see how you could get that many people in an area near Willits without having severe impacts...My feeling is there would be significant air quality impacts, and I'm not sure how they would mitigate them. They could be significant and non-mitigatable."
As a locale, compared to Rome, NY, population 35,000±, located in Oneida County, population 240,000±, where Woodstock 1999 was held, Willits population of 5,032 and Mendocino County's population of 90,163 is more akin to the location of the original Woodstock. It's probably an advantage to be more rural, but where advance permitting is involved an April application getting approval before August might be a challenge.
Whether or not this proposal actually comes to fruition, one Willits area resident noted: "We can provide a more relaxing choice than alcohol in order to avoid a riot like in 1999." In 2000, Mendocino County voters approved a measure decriminalizing marijuana when used and cultivated for personal use.
According to a Ukiah Daily Journal report, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors was having a special meeting focused on some development permit issues and a court building proposal when Roscoe Smith, of Monsoon Entertainment in Tempe, Arizona, announced that he represented a group of investors from both Florida and New York who were interested in staging a concert in August in Willits that could draw "around a million" attendees for the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
Smith indicated he is working with Michael Lang, one of the co-founders of the original Woodstock, who discussed the status of the plans for the 40th Anniversary celebrations with a Billboard Magazine reporter this past week. Lang was in Austin, Texas, as part of a South By Southwest panel discussion entitled WOODSTOCK: Untold Stories.
Michael Lang described his plans for a 40th anniversary Woodstock concert as "all speculative ideas" for now, but he hopes to bring them to reality this summer. Venue ideas discussed were those reported earlier in the year - New York City and Berlin, Germany. Smith told the Daily Journal the event is being planned by original Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang to be simulcast concurrently with the possible sister venues in New York and Berlin. The Willits site is the only one on the Pacific Rim.
Both have indicated that the plan is to have the events be "green." "We want to have as small a carbon imprint as we can and use as many green techniques as we can," Lang indicated. Apparently the theme or title will be "reBirth."
"It's called reBirth because the event promotes sustainability," Smith said. "Each day has a different themed event. Our goal is to preach and educate in this event and people can walk away and make it a rebirth for themselves."
"We started researching this about two and a half years ago," Smith explained. "We looked at three spots in Louisiana, four or five in Texas, a few in Wyoming, Illinois, Missouri befpre settling on Willits. We could do a bigger impact on the community if we were to do one of those areas ... Up here it might bring more innovation. We would like to get any and every service in the community involved. The less amount of corporate sponsorship the better."
The local economy could use a boost and the "green" focus is logical for Willits and Mendocino County, home to a number of innovative "green" industries.
The critical question is: "Can they avoid the disasters of Woodstock 1999?" Lang appears to be acutely aware of this. It is not 1999. The Obama Generation of college-age folks is different. So is the original Woodstock generation, who also would be attracted by the talent being discussed, different from who they were in the '90s and the '60's.
Previous concerts in other areas of the nation in 1994 and 1999 marking the 25th and 30th anniversaries of the original Woodstock had significant security and public utility problems among others. Critics deplored the 1999 use of the Woodstock brand name as that event was labeled crass commercialization. Concert organizers were said to have gouged the kids with grossly overpriced water, beer, and food. Tickets for that event were priced at $150 plus service charges.
According to Lang, the 2009 concerts will be free. Smith said the mistakes of the past, such as price gouging for basic amenities, would stand as lessons for the future of the event.
"94 was a disaster," he said. "With every ticket that we sell we'll send that out we'll send a Nalgene (water) bottle. When people are there they'll be able fill up for free. Water won't cost people."
Smith said security would be alerted to potential problems by trained medical staff who would walk the grounds and alert security when they found out about problems.
"This will be its own event," he indicated. "We're still trying to plan how we want it to go on; if it will be open doors so people can stay in the community. As an option some families might say 'We'll bring somebody in.' They do that in certain events around the country. It gets the community more involved and lets people see what the community offers. They might just say, Hey instead of buying organic carnie food we might want to go out into the town and see what the community offers' and do things like ride the Skunk Train."
"We are trying to make it as little (impact) as possible," he said. "Any kind of offsets we are doing we are trying to balance them out on the other end. Whatever property we choose obviously we're going to have to prepare the site. We're going to have some brush and trees removed, however all those trees will be used on the property. Any rocks we remove will be used for fences. Any trees will be used for walkways. Most of the water being used will be collected from the springs."
Smith said that once the site selection was complete his office would set up a communications base that would be open to the public so that those seeking more information would have a point of contact.
"We're about two to four weeks from finalizing that," he said.
As of Friday no documentation had yet been filed with the County according to Nash Gonzales, Mendocino County Building and Planning Services director. Monday Smith indicated he would be submitting paperwork to the county "by the end of the week".
On Friday Smith told the Ukiah Daily Journal in a phone interview: "We're still working on that and we are planning on having something in by mid-April. The way we look at it we want to do everything right the first time and make sure we cross our t's and dot our i's."
Cindy Lindgren, of Century 21 Realty, accompanied Smith during his presentation on Monday and said on Friday that she would have an announcement on the search for a property by "next week."
Gonzales commented: "It's overwhelming for this county. It would be a very large undertaking. There would have to be an EIR because of the magnitude. We would have to throw everything at this event," he said. "It's not just the planning department; there's law enforcement, environmental health, etc. You're also talking about outside agencies. Caltrans, the city of Willits, Regional Water Quality Control, Highway Patrol. There's lots of state agencies that would have to be involved."
Chris Brown, Mendocino County air pollution control officer, said no one had contacted his office about the event either.
"I would have very serious concerns," he said. "Frankly, it's inconceivable...There's road access, transportation, generators to power musical equipment, vehicles, truck traffic. Everything in terms of air quality is serious. What if there is a wildfire? Then I have a million more people that could be exposed to smoke."
Brown said the number of agencies involved in the planning of such a large-scale event would be prohibitive given the less than five-month window before the slated opening.
"The first thing I would look at is the location," he said. "Is there naturally occurring asbestos? We have that in this county. You can't have an outdoor event on that. Diesel equipment has to meet pretty strict standards. You also have to think about vehicle traffic and campfires from a million people."
Brown said air pollution from traffic congestion on the area's major arteries would be unprecedented for the area.
"That alone on 101 would be a significant concern," he said. "Let's say you have two people a vehicle. That's 500,000 vehicles. To me this event is just not realistic. I may review a plan and have a different opinion, but I don't see how you could get that many people in an area near Willits without having severe impacts...My feeling is there would be significant air quality impacts, and I'm not sure how they would mitigate them. They could be significant and non-mitigatable."
As a locale, compared to Rome, NY, population 35,000±, located in Oneida County, population 240,000±, where Woodstock 1999 was held, Willits population of 5,032 and Mendocino County's population of 90,163 is more akin to the location of the original Woodstock. It's probably an advantage to be more rural, but where advance permitting is involved an April application getting approval before August might be a challenge.
Whether or not this proposal actually comes to fruition, one Willits area resident noted: "We can provide a more relaxing choice than alcohol in order to avoid a riot like in 1999." In 2000, Mendocino County voters approved a measure decriminalizing marijuana when used and cultivated for personal use.
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