Cannabis Dispensary on Fifth Ave and 8th St? What You Can Do To Stop It.
The Washington Square Association is strongly opposed to the proposed cannabis dispensary license at 10 Fifth Avenue. This proposed location, near Washington Square Park, poses significant risks to our community, particularly to our children.
Why this 10 Fifth Ave license is unacceptable:
Proximity to Preschools: Two preschools have their front doors just steps away from the proposed location. This is an unacceptable risk to our youngest and most vulnerable residents and a clear violation of the 500 foot minimum distance required. The excuse that the schools are not full-building use doesn’t make sense for NYC, as most buildings are multi-use. The regulations must be updated.
Near Children's Playgrounds: The dispensary would be just one block from both children's playgrounds in Washington Square Park North.
Frequented by Schoolchildren: Children from PS41, Grace Church, First Presbyterian, St. Joseph’s, and other schools frequently pass by this area.
Existing Drug Issues: We already face pervasive issues with drug addicts littering 8th Street on this block. Adding a dispensary will only exacerbate these problems.
Overburdened NYPD: The NYPD is already stretched thin dealing with existing drug abuse issues. Introducing a dispensary will further strain their resources.
Huge Window Space For Unsightly Aesthetics: We’ve all seen the marketing of other dispensaries in the city. The long store windows filled with neon lights, hypnotic visuals and drug paraphernalia will be a disgraceful degradation of Fifth Ave’s historic architecture
What we are advocating for moving forward:
Update the regulations to protect schools in multi-use buildings. New York City is different than rural areas. Most building are multi-use. School eligibility should include a callout for NYC or be based on student class sizes.
Common Sense Licensing Checks: There must be a basic level of common sense applied before presenting these license approvals to the community. We need to understand how we got to this point and what changes are necessary to ensure only sensible licenses move forward. A basic real estate check should be required before the license approval recommendation goes before the Community Board and wastes the time of thousands of our constituents.
Increase Distance from Schools: We propose extending the required distance from schools for dispensaries from 500 feet to 750 feet, which is the typical length of just 1 avenue block. That’s all we ask. 1 avenue block.
Pause on New Licenses: We call for a pause on issuing new licenses until the numerous illegal, unlicensed stores have been closed, so that legal dispensaries can even compete.
Accountability and Transparency: NYPD precincts with jurisdiction must track and report monthly to the community the locations of closed illegal smoke shops.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s recent report called cannabis regulation in NY State a “disaster.” We agree, and this approval hearing is just another symptom of a rushed and disorganized legislative process that wreaks havoc on all of us. It is outrageous that this licensing proposal is even being considered.
Governor Hochul is also calling for rapid 90-day turnaround of license applications, pushing the responsibility of even basic checks down to local communities, meaning we expect to be deluged with even more outrageous applications looking to slip by. The well-being of our community, especially our children, must take precedence.
What You Can Do
We urge you to join us in protesting this potential approval and advocating for stricter policies to protect our neighborhood by:
Voicing your concern over all dispensary license considerations for the near-term to CB2 by calling them at 212-979-2272 or emailing their committees.
Contact Governor Kathy Hochul’s office (or call 1-518-474-8390) to tell them that fast tracking new licensure approval processes without significant validity checks and enforcement against illegal dispensaries is wreaking havoc on local communities.
Reaching out to NYPD Precinct 6 and specifically Community Affairs at (212) 741-4826 to demand they regularly report progress on closing illegal dispensaries.
And as always, we appreciate any support for the WSA (Become A Member or Donate) as we continue to advocate for Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village.