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September 16, 2009

Besides Neiman Marcus, the Walnut Creek Council also voted on two downtown venues that dispense mind-altering substances: 1515 and C3 Collective

The City Council agreed at its meeting Tuesday night to allow 1515 Restaurant Bar and Lounge to extend its hours to 1 a.m. after hearing from Tony and Jack Dudum, the son-and-father owners. Tony and Jack Dudum, and their supporters, made the case that the city should support local business owners in light of the tough economy.

The Dudums said that their North Main Street business, which serves food and dispenses cocktails, beer, wine (containing the drug, alcohol), is a classy operation that caters to a more mature, upscale crowd—unlike, I suppose, other bars and clubs that cater to wild, drunken 20somethings. As in their appearance at the July 23 Planning Commission meeting, the Dudum duo talked about their profile in the community; being long-time local residents who care about Walnut Creek and its success, and of their desire to give back to the community by hosting charitable events.

The Council was amenable to allowing 1515 to extend its hours from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. after the Dudums rescinded their request to stay open until 1:45 and to provide dancing and live entertainment. The Dudums agreed to scale back their appeal as a way of showing good faith in working with the city, which, by the way, is in the midst of trying to figure out—through a task force—how it regulates and polices all its liquor-dispensing restaurants and clubs in downtown.

And, yes, I’m sure I’ll get some flak for referring to 1515 as dispensing “mind-altering” substances. Then again, what is alcohol, if not a mind-altering substance?

As I’ve said before, it’s my drug of choice, and I’ll even be at Walnut Creek’s Fall Wine Walk this evening, tasting some nice wine—that’s right, ingesting my drug of choice—at this Downtown Business Association-hosted fundraiser for local schools.

And, sure, I bet you can see where I’ll be heading now and in the future with this debate about the presence of Walnut Creek’s medical marijuana dispensary, C3 Collective.

Onto the C3 Collective issue, in which the Council voted to set up a staff “work group” to study options for regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in town.

Last night’s discussion brought out quite a crowd of speakers, including a gentleman who said that he would soon submit an application to the city to open a second pot club in town.

Most of the other speakers were medical cannabis users, and most lived in Walnut Creek or nearby towns. Two were Rossmoor residents, who said that C3 Collective, which opened this summer on Oakland Boulevard, offers an important product for locals who suffer chronic pain and other discomfort from cancer and other medical conditions. Some said they would prefer to use marijuana to alleviate their pain symptoms than more “toxic” mainstream drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin.

One speaker, who lives in the neighborhood around Oakland Boulevard, expressed concern about the nuisance crime and riff-raff this dispensary might attract.

But another speaker pointed out—rightly—that 1515 Restaurant and other alcohol-dispensing establishments in downtown had long attracted their share of riff-raff and nuisance crimes. In fact, in the city staff report for Tuesday night’s City Council consideration of 1515 Restaurant’s appeal, police noted that riffraff and nuisance behavior at 1515 in a month-long period had required police attention a total of seven times.

In one case, agents from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control (what were they doing at 1515, by the way?) arrested a customer for public intoxication and had to call police when other drunken customers tried to interfere with the arrest. In another case, in late July, a resident called to say that he had to go to 1515 to pick up his very boozed-up daughter, who could no longer speak or walk and had to be carried to the car. The man said the 1515 staff had over-served his daughter.

So far, according to C3 Collective staff, police have not had to respond to their dispensary for such incidents. And C3 CEO Brian Hyman has insisted, at the Council meeting, and in a conversation with yours truly, that he operates within the state Justice Department guidelines for medical cannabis dispensaries. He adds that more than 60 percent of his clients are 40 years and older and 35 percent are women. Fewer than 10 percent are under the age of 21, and he mentioned a couple of incidents in which local teenagers, armed not with marijuana prescriptions but just with driver’s licenses—duh!—tried to come into C3 Collective and buy pot. They were politely turned away.

Well, the presence of C3 Collective raises a whole host of issues that the city must study—legal, zoning, crime, and the overall appropriateness of such a business in the city. The staff will take several months to complete their study, completing it, at the earliest, in March. The results should help the Council make a final decision on whether to allow C3 Collective or any other dispensary to set up shop in town.

This lengthy time frame disappointed C3 supporters, because legally, C3 must suspend its operations until it receives approval from the City Council to dispense its brand of medications. However, C3 CEO Brian Hyman vowed to stay open, at a cost of $500 a day in fines. He said he can’t let down his club members, medical patients, he says, who depend on his product to stay pain free and to function in their daily lives.

In their testimonials in favor of C3, supporters pointed out that Walnut Creek is an East Bay center for the health care industry, with our two large hospitals, John Muir and Kaiser Permanente. Why, they wondered, can’t Walnut Creek take the lead on this medical marijuana issue, be at the forefront of cities around the state in finding ways to accommodate legitimate, legally-compliant medical pot clubs—which are allowed under the state voter-approved Proposition 215.

To them, the debate over C3 represents important questions about people’s rights to gain access to medication. C3 is not in the business of peddling mind-altering substances for recreational use—unlike, say 1515 Restaurant, or any restaurant or bar in town, classy and upscale or not.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was not able to attend the meeting last night to support C3. I am a 53 year old woman as well as a Walnut Creek business owner and a client of C3. I hope that the City will realize that we need a safe place where the ill can go to obtain their medicine. I feel totally safe when I visit C3 and I am so thankful that they are there.
They are needed in this community!

Anonymous said...

I think there should be a C3 at 1515!

Anonymous said...

So, now WC is a mini Berkeley or Oakland with these phony pot clubs selling "medicinal" weed to kids looking to get stoned?

God help us.

Anonymous said...

There is no god.

Anonymous said...

Lots of $$$=Lots of Power=Trash

Anonymous said...

You go, SM.

It's nice to see you're correct on some issues.....

The Prophet said...

It's funny... Bing's for sure will probably be sold or closed down after the holiday season. McCovey's is hanging on by a string with their poor quality food, TV's only viewable by a giraffe and with their happy hour give-a-ways. Maria Maria is surviving because every other Mexican restaurant in WC is so bad and I guess there is a huge profit margin by selling $15 burritos. Glass on Locust was partly owned by J Dudum, now sold... It's no wonder why the whole Dudum family is trying so desperately hard to extend 1515 hours and getting free publicity while trying. 1515 is the only money maker! Without their $8 Budweiser, they'd be finished because their food is on par with McCovey's. Good luck I guess. Maybe Neiman Marcus will have a better dining establishment once they arrive...

Jojo Potato said...

The speaker from Rossmoor said he was webmaster at the yourrossmoor yahoo group. A very active and interesting group if you or a friend live there. Check it out.

Anonymous said...

HA HA,

I'll get my pot anywhere I want to. Suck it WC council.

People against jail for weed said...

Hey Soccer Mom,

I am sorry I did not get a chance to meet you. Thank you for an incredibly balanced report on this subject. Although it was not the ideal result, I think it is positive that at least the City Council is willing to take a closer look at the issue. My fingers are crossed.

Anonymous said...

The Dudum theme establishments will go the way of The Rainforest Cafe chain. They are interesting to go a couple times, but the food is mediocre. The Cougars will probably go to 1515 instead of Bings, and since most have scored or gotten too tired and gone home, they don't need to be open late. Plus, Cougars are afraid of being too fat, so they won't eat anyway. And the Rossmoor crowd eats the 2 for 1 special at Marie's so don't even consider them.

Anonymous said...

Dispense drugs at a pharmacy. We don't need more government agencies. The Roosmoor folks can go to Longs/CVS.

People against jail for weed said...

If you want cannabis to be dispensed from a pharmacy contact Senator Boxer. Until the medicine is rescheduled this is really not a practical argument.

Anonymous said...

We used to dine out every Friday night in WC and walk around afterward. It was quiet, friendly, more family oriented. With all of the drunks hanging around causing a ruckus, punching each other out, peeing on newstands and windows, pooping in alleyways, picking up on each other, flashing their T&As around, we now drive out to more family-oriented cities and get away from the Mardi Gras atmosphere.

Anonymous said...

What cities do you frequent?

n - e - one USA said...

I don't know what C3 is, sounds like medical marijuana, but I had to laugh out loud in my office when I read that 1515 is an establishment that caters to "more mature, upscale crowd" HAHA Funny that the ONLY time I went to 1515 there was basically a three-some going on on one of the couches downstairs by the bar and the "mature, upscale" gentlemen that was sitting next next to me at the bar laid his head on his arms which were resting on the bar and proceeded to vomit multiple times. Yeah, that's class. At least with marijuana sales, there would probably be no vomit on the floor!

Martha Ross said...

The idea that 1515 caters to a more "mature, upscale crowd" comes from the mouths of 1515 owners, Jack and Tony Dudum.

Hmm. Not exactly the "mature, upscale crowd" is not exactly what I saw last Wednesday, fairly early in the evening, at the Fall Wine Walk.

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