HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3BFrom:City of Palm Springs
To:City Clerk; City Clerk
Subject:*NEW SUBMISSION* Submit Public Comment to the City of Palm Springs
Date:Thursday, October 26, 2023 9:37:44 AM
Submit Public Comment to the City of Palm Springs
Submission #:2787004
IP Address:47.181.21.182
Submission Date:10/26/2023 9:37
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Full Name/Nombre
Christine Ramos
City of Residence/Ciudad de residencia
Palm Springs,
Phone (optional) /Teléfono (opcional)
760) 218-6720
Email (optional/opcional)
pshottie@yahoo.com
Your Comments/Sus comentarios
Can we stop giving licenses for cannabis shops? Don't we have enough already? Palm Springs is not the town I came
here for 20 years ago. I know we need to grow, but cannabis on every corner? Really? Doesn't the city get enough
revenue from vacation rentals, which we should stop doing, by the way, and hotel occupancy tax? Please, please,
please try to slow down the growth a bit. We are not Los Angeles.
Thank you,
City of Palm Springs
This is an automated message generated by Granicus. Please do not reply directly to this email.
From:Steven Wijatyk
To:Grace Garner; Jeffrey Bernstein; Lisa Middleton; Ron deHarte; Christy Holstege; Scott Stiles; City Clerk; Brenda
Pree; Veronica Goedhart
Subject:Item 3b proposed moratorium and discussion of 5% tax reduction for cannabis retail
Date:Thursday, October 26, 2023 4:18:10 PM
NOTICE: This message originated outside of The City of Palm Springs -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments
unless you are sure the content is safe.
Dear Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, and City Staff,
After reading through item 3b and its staff report, I am very pleased to see that Palm Springs
staff and the City Council will be working together on the proposed 5% reduction in the Local
Cannabis Tax on Retailers.
This will benefit cannabis retailers tremendously because currently, we pay more taxes than
any other industry.
When the local tax, state excise tax, and the sales tax are all combined and compounded, we
are forced to collect and pay a total of around 38.2%, not including income tax, 280E, and all
licensing fees. 280E means that cannabis retailers cannot make the same basic income
deductions as other non-cannabis businesses for normal things, such as advertising. A 5%
reduction in local tax effectively reduces the total tax by around 6.3%.
Please bring into effect this tax reduction measure as soon as possible, because that, above all
else, will help cannabis retailers survive and will keep customers spending money in Palm
Springs as opposed to other cities where the taxes are currently less. A reduction in tax will
bring customers back to Palm Springs, which is a win, not a tax loss.
If a cap is placed on the number of retail licenses a single owner can have in Palm Springs, I
think that number should be (2), since that's already happened before in Palm Springs. I don't
think one owner or company should be able to take over everything, but I do think it makes
sense for one owner to have an opportunity to have stores at different ends of the city to best
serve their customers.
Respectfully,
Steven Wijatyk
Steve Rosenberg
1725 N. Via Miraleste Unit 2116 Palm Springs, CA 92262-3108 Home Phone: 760-318-0191 Cell Phone: 760-464-5520 Email: SteveRosenberg@aol.com
October 26, 2023
Palm Springs City Council
Public Comment on Item 3B
Madam Mayor, Council Members:
I wish to compliment staff and the City for trying to help the Cannabis operators
in the City. A full and robust discussion with all of the stakeholders will
undoubtedly product some positive results.
However, I must take issue with the “Urgency Ordinance” that is before you
tonight. Frankly, I see NO urgency at all. The most that might happen is one or
two new applications might be filed. I see no harm here.
Beyond new applications, this “Urgency Ordinance” would immediately stop the
sale or transfer of existing licenses. Due to non-disclosure agreements, I cannot
go into specifics, but I am aware of one active dispensary license that is being
negotiated for a new owner. There is also an inactive dispensary license that is
for sale.
If the Council includes transfers in the moratorium proposed, they will in effect
be taking from current permit holders the right to sell or transfer their licenses.
While I am not a lawyer, it appears this type of “taking” may be illegal. At the
very, very least it is harmful to existing permit holders.
As stated above, I see no urgency on a moratorium for new applications and
certainly no urgency for a moratorium on sales or transfers.
By all means let us have the discussion that this matter deserves, but please no
“Urgency Ordinance.”
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Steve Rosenberg
10/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3B
From:Jeffrey Bernstein
To:City Clerk
Subject:Fwd: Item 3B
Date:Thursday, October 26, 2023 1:04:45 PM
Attachments:Request to table item 3B.docx
Jeffrey Bernstein
Mayor Pro Tem, Councilmember
City of Palm Springs
cell: 442-305-9942
Jeffrey.Bernstein@palmspringsca.gov
City Hall is open Monday –Thursday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. and closed on Fridays.
Begin forwarded message:
From: citizenrick <citizenrick@yahoo.com>
Subject: Item 3B
Date: October 23, 2023 at 9:54:00 PM PDT
To: Lisa Middleton <lisa.middleton@palmspringsca.gov>, Jeffrey Bernstein
<jeffrey.bernstein@palmspringsca.gov>, Ron DeHarte
<ron.deharte@palmspringsca.gov>, Grace Garner
<grace.garner@palmspringsca.gov>, Christy Holstege
<christy.holstege@palmspringsca.gov>
Cc: Scott Stiles <scott.stiles@palmspringsca.gov>
Reply-To: citizenrick <citizenrick@yahoo.com>
NOTICE: This message originated outside of The City of Palm Springs -- DO NOT CLICK on links or
open attachments unless you are sure the content is safe.
To Palm Springs, Mayor, Council and City Manager,
Please see attached - I will be in Michigan for a week but I plan to (along with
others) weigh on on this item Thursday evening.
Rick
10/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3B
To Palm Springs City Mayor, Council, and Manager October 23, 2023
From Rick Pantele
Staff is recommending the following changes to assist with the City’s current state of dispensaries:
• A moratorium on new and transfer dispensary applica�ons.
• A cap of 15 dispensaries, to be reached through atri�on.
• Prohibit the sale and/or transfer of dispensary permits.
• Non-opera�onal dispensaries may not renew their permit.
• Implement a one-person-one dispensary rule, current operators with more than one permit will
be grandfathered.
• Require dispensaries to provide educa�onal materials about cannabis consump�on to
customers.
• Staff is seeking Council direc�on to alleviate the over-satura�on in the City
I have the following concerns with City Council Agenda Item 3B, which would likely be shared by other
stakeholders, if asked:
• While staff have listed their recommenda�ons as outlined above, they have failed to engage the
primary stakeholders (owners and operators) in this discussion. Consequently, the Council is
urged NOT to pass an urgency ordinance un�l those consulta�ons can occur. The writer would
venture to say that such engagements would bring forth significant changes in the proposals.
• Staff has shown detailed sta�s�cs about the Cannabis industry in Palm Springs but does not
lead the reader to conclusions based on them. For example, under Crime-related issues/Police
Involved incidents, there were a total of 8 incidents at 4 loca�ons during a (presumed) 3-year
period. Staff draws no conclusions as to what this means. The reader takes it to mean that
crime at dispensaries is not any different from other non-Cannabis businesses.
• It is NOT the func�on of local government to promote or protect retail sales (or any other
economic ac�vity) of any par�cular economic subdivision or group.
• To wit, there is no limit on the number of hardware stores, restaurants, nail salons, grocery
stores or drug stores.
10/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3B
•The recent decline in City sales and revenues from Cannabis is largely due to the expansion in
neighboring ci�es. It certainly is NOT due to too many retailers. Too many retailers only cut the
pie into smaller pieces, yet the size of the pie remains unchanged.
•Like liquor stores, it may be desirable to limit the number of loca�ons. The educated reader
should consider the number of liquor outlets versus cannabis outlets.
•If implemented, a moratorium on new dispensary licenses should only apply to retail storefronts
and not delivery-only opera�ons. There is NO over-concentra�on in the delivery area with only
two such permits.
•The staff has failed to iden�fy why it believes there should be a cap of 15 permits. This appears
to be simply a “target” with no basis given at all. What are the criteria here?
•A moratorium on the transfer of exis�ng permits immediately devalues those permits resul�ng
in a “taking” by the government without compensa�on of recourse.
•Similarly, prohibi�ng the sales or transfer or permits would wreck economic chaos in a nascent
business sector. It probably also would be an illegal “taking” by the City.
•Preven�ng non-opera�onal permit holders from renewing their permits would also create
havoc. If necessary, perhaps a limit of one or two renewals would be more reasonable. For
example, real estate developments o�en are granted extensions of their plan approvals by the
City Council.
•What is the point of a one-person - one dispensary rule? If anything, such a prohibi�on would
prevent consolida�on of ownership of smaller opera�ons under a more robust management.
Keeping the industry fragmented serves no purpose.
•Most, if not all, dispensaries provide all kinds of literature and studies about Cannabis use to
their customers already. In what way would such a “requirement” help the industry? It also
begs the ques�on of what informa�on or literature needs to be provided. The Office of Special
Programs does not need to become the librarian for the dispensaries.
I ask that the council table this item to allow proper �me for discussion with all stakeholders as it
effects their opera�ons significantly.
The stakeholders deserve to be involved in maters which effect their ability to sell and or transfer their
permits. Their input should have been requested before any of these proposed ordinance changes
were introduced.
10/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3B
From:Willie Holland
To:City Clerk
Subject:Socail equity tax reduction and program
Date:Thursday, October 26, 2023 6:48:24 PM
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unless you are sure the content is safe.
My name is Willie Holland the owner of Holland Pharms Dispensary. I would like to thank
the city council,and the special Compliance team for adopting this program. I been operating
for three years, and if it wasn't for the social equity program it would of been very hard to stay
open. We have been recognized by governor, and is 100% equity owned. Reducing the taxes
would really help our business, and give socail equity licensee room to compete in the
cannabis industry. Thanks for your time and consideration.
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