Under New York State law, municipalities can refuse to allow the sale of such products, although they will forego any sales taxes from cannabis sales.
But two of his fellow board members — Trustee John Delany, who has been staunchly in favor of the opt-out, and Trustee Mary Carter Flanagan — expressed their interest in the vote taking place last Thursday immediately after the hearing.
It is subject to a permissive referendum under Section 24 of the General Municipal Home Rule Law, and that section in turn refers you to Article IX of the Village law which allows for within 10 days of the adoption of any resolution approved by the Board which is subject to a permissive referendum, the Village Clerk must publish an abstract of the resolution and a concise statement of its purpose, and that it is subject to a permissive referendum.
The first public comments at the public hearing came from Charles Kelly of Kilburn Road, who explained his perspective as a federal prosecutor having dealt with illegal drug sales out of Long Island convenience stores.
I find a lot of pot sales going on with packaging of gummies and other items to be reminiscent of those prosecutions…It is a short walk from marijuana to putting a spray on it and making it, if not deadly, certainly a chemical that can cause serious illness.
Another in-person comment during the public hearing was delivered by recent Garden City High School graduate and current collegian Trent Biscone.
“No matter what it would still be legal for someone to light up a joint outside of Village Hall, and Garden City will be missing out on a 3 to 4% sales tax on all cannabis products that could be sold in the village.
I do not like alcohol and I do not like being around people who are so intoxicated that they become aggressive or physically ill, but I am not demanding that bars or liquor stores in the village be eliminated as I simply choose to stay away from them.
Just a few years ago, while a Garden City High School upperclassman, Trent Biscone said he served as a high school ambassador for the Central Property Owners’ Association.
Biscone pointed out a few statements made by Village Board members at previous meetings, such as what he referred to as a “baseless claim” that people could use cannabis from a local dispensary/store and walk into traffic.
Biscone continued, “I have a lot of respect for all Village of Garden City officials, paid and volunteer, but I respectfully disagree with comments by one official saying he did not care about potential for an increase in the tax revenue from cannabis sales, because he is more concerned with the quality of life — however there is no evidence supporting the claim that any cannabis businesses would reduce the quality of life in the village.
Anne Griffin of Garden Street said while she has no problem with the legalization of cannabis in the state, “there is a time and a place for its sale and use as it’s a personal decision for an adult.” Her major concern for Garden City, should cannabusinesses come into the community, is the impacts that could have on the heavily family-oriented village.
Who would be coming in and out of the village and who around Garden City will have stores selling cannabis legally? If not a lot of villages or towns are having legal sales that can result in a lot of people coming here, some would be adults and some potentially a younger crowd.
Laurence Galli, a resident of 2nd Street, also addressed the Board of Trustees at the public hearing.
As a community we will want to be on the forefront of that….I would agree with Anne Griffin that we should not be opting-in right away, and we should get all the facts and learn what New York State has in store — but as one of the leading communities on Long Island I do not believe we should unanimously Opt Out without having all of the facts.
It is my hope that the Board of Trustees will vote for the village to opt-out, and to not license the sales of cannabis in our village, for the gain in tax revenues will not outweigh the potential for harm to residents of our village — I know we can’t stop it but maybe we can at least slow it down and be on the right side of this,” Orosz explained.
More people have walked out of the liquor store on 7th street and got into a car accidents then anybody who has smoked weed.
“Just sayin” ought to keep an accurate tally of his car accidents directly attributable to a single liquor store vs “anybody who has smoked weed” before making sweeping generalizations.