Pubdate: Mon, 06 Oct 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Alexa Vaughn
Page: B1

POT SHOP'S PROXIMITY TO CHURCH STIRS PROTEST RALLY AND PRAYER

New Store Just a Few Feet Away in Central District

Open Amid Sunday Services

When a new retail shop started constructing its location at 23rd 
Avenue and East Union Street in Seattle's Central District, the Mount 
Calvary Christian Center had no problem allowing the business to 
excavate under part of the church's property.

The primarily black church has been happy to see once rampant crime 
at the intersection dwindle over the last decade while new businesses 
pop up and thrive, said Wayne Perryman, a former associate pastor at 
the church.

But at least 150 churchgoers shouted "shut it down" Sunday afternoon 
on 23rd Avenue because Perryman says the church realized just two 
weeks ago that the shop would open as Uncle Ike's Pot Shop, the 
second legal place to buy weed in Seattle.

The store opened last Tuesday just a few feet from the south wall of 
the church and conducts business Sunday during the church's services.

"We're talking to youth about how it's not OK to smoke pot, and 
outside, we've got this shop making a statement that opposes what 
we're teaching," Perryman said.

Washington state's marijuana laws prevent pot shops from locating 
within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school, playgrounds, 
recreation and child-care centers, public parks and transit centers, 
or libraries or arcades that allow minors to enter. It does not 
prevent them from popping up next to churches.

Andrew Taylor, 65, who lives a couple of blocks north, came out to 
observe the protest Sunday. While sympathetic to the church's 
concerns, Taylor thinks it's too late to complain about pot-shop 
locations after a long public vetting and approval process.

"And, if they object to a pot shop, why aren't they objecting to the 
liquor store across the street?" said Taylor.

Perryman said the church did not oppose the legalization of marijuana 
but assumed regulations would make sure pot shops would stay away 
from places like churches.

Perryman, who helped organize the protest and has been a church 
member at least 20 years, said the location of the pot shop is 
particularly disrespectful because the church hosts youth conferences 
and events both at the church and its Joshua Teen Center across the street.

He said some church members have worked hard to move away from drug 
addictions and gang life, and some still are working at it.

Perryman said the church is talking to City Council members and its 
attorneys to see if there's a way to make new, retroactive location policies.

Councilmember Nick Licata, a member of the council's Planning, Land 
Use and Sustainabilitly Committee, said Sunday he saw no need to 
restrict marijuana retail outlets from operating near churches.

"I think it would be too restrictive," he said. "At this point, I 
don't see the rationale for it."

He said other marijuana-related zoning changes could be anticipated, 
"But it won't happen overnight."

Church member and lifelong Central District resident Patricia Rena 
Barnes, 57, brought a tambourine to shake during some gospel-inspired 
protest songs in the street Sunday. Barnes said one reason she came 
to the protest is that she once struggled with drug addiction, as 
have many of her family members.

"It's very emotional for me to see this pot shop open here," Barnes 
said. "Many of us were born and raised here and know people who went 
to jail for selling pot. To see the legal sales being protected here 
just feels hypocritical."

The pot shop's owner, Ian Eisenberg, said last week that his 
customers include tourists, nurses and rock musicians: "It's the full 
gamut. What we were looking for."

Employees at Uncle Ike's Pot Shop on Sunday said they could not 
comment and could not make its owner, Eisenberg, available for comment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom