Proponents of a new marijuana dispensary that would occupy a currently unused storefront at 144 Bowdoin St. presented their plans to a boisterous crowd at a meeting on Feb. 19 at Meetinghouse Hill’s First Parish church.
Shirley Jones, president of the Meetinghouse Hill Civic Association, described the meeting, which ran over the allotted time limit after a lengthy question and answer portion that left some attendees unsatisfied, as “extremely dynamic.”
“The consensus was very mixed,” Jones said. “It was heated in the sense that there were a lot of people saying, ‘We don’t want that here on Bowdoin Street.’ ‘Why not put that in another section of Dorchester?’ Things like that.”
Pot shops proposed for elsewhere in the neighborhood, including on nearby Hancock Street, have been met with similar pushback from residents and civic groups. According to Jones, most concerns voiced at the First Parish meeting centered on the location’s proximity to Walgreens (already a popular loitering spot, she noted), Bay Cove Human Services, and nearby schools like UP Academy/ Holland.
The proponents, a company dubbed 617THC (a name wherein an active ingredient of marijuana doubles as an acronym for Therapeutic Health Care), gave a brief slide presentation at the meeting about the organization, which is headed up president and CEO Steve Chan, a “prominent business owner in the Asian-American community”, CFO Richard Gin, a current Fields Corner resident, and COO Tom Chung, “the owner of a successful wholesaling business who immigrated to Boston at the age of eight.”
While much of the presentation focused mainly on security, offering descriptions of planned surveillance and access control systems, it did not address other concerns regarding staffing, traffic and parking impacts, or a business model, save for one line that asserted that “As a retail store only, the location will not constitute a nuisance to the community.”
Matt McKenna, a spokesperson for the company, declined to offer more details but gave the Reporter a prepared statement regarding the company’s plans and next steps:
“617THC has conducted a robust community engagement process. We are currently finalizing all plans based on the feedback we got from those engagements. Further details will be shared directly with the community in the coming weeks.”
He added that the proponents are “excited about the proposal because it’s directly in the center of a disproportionately impacted area,” pointing out that the ownership is “100 percent minority.”
Before that presentation, attendess listened to a speech by Kamani Jefferson, president of the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council, a group that advocates for social equity and is currently working on the state and city level to help neighborhoods disproportionately targeted by drug policies to benefit from the burgeoning marijuana industry.
The group’s advocacy led in part to an ordinance filed earlier this month by City Councillor Kim Janey that would initially give licensing preference to “equity applicants.”
A thorough community engagement process remains before the proponents can enter into a Host Community Agreement with the city and apply for a a state license with the Cannabis Control Commission. A follow up community meeting will likely take place in four to six weeks.
“We’re still at the very, very early stages,” acknowledged Jones. “There needs to be more dialogue.”
