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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom