When 17-year-old Chloe Kim won the gold medal for the U.S. in the women’s snowboard halfpipe, she said of her third run, “I wouldn’t be satisfied taking the gold and knowing that I hadn’t put down my best. That third run was for me — to put down the best run I could do.”
It’s hard to imagine, in fact doing so requires rather convoluted logic – or the ollie, nollie and ninety-ninety body-twisting tricks only a snowboarder could appreciate or understand – to read nearly 100 pages (91 to be exact, pp.119-210) of the City of Lakewood’s Plan for the future and find where marijuana retail fits exactly.
Is pot the best Lakewood can do?
As Lakewood looks toward it’s 30th Anniversary in the year 2026, there are all kinds of things it wants to be known for, among them: neighborhoods that are safe and attractive; schools characterized by excellence as measured by staff and student achievement; parks and lakes beautiful, uncluttered, and healthy places to recreate.
Pot, sold retail locally, contributes to none of the above.
Parks – let alone sidewalks, streets, alleys and storefronts, etc., etc., in Colorado where pot was decriminalized the same year as Washington – are certainly no longer uncluttered in numbers of homeless folks gathered in the mile-high city of Denver for a high of another kind.
In an article entitled “Homeless for Hemp” the author admits Denver is a destination for the downtrodden.
“When I first became homeless in Denver one of the first things I noticed was the vast amount of people who were also homeless, and surprisingly what I soon discovered was that many of those who were homeless in Denver had purposely came (sic) here from all across the Untied (sic) States simply because marijuana was 100% legal.”
Maybe “Untied” was intentional, as clearly for the Lakewood City Council to approve pot for the populace is to be untied – if not unhinged – from its vision, goals and objectives.
The Clover Park School District Board has already declared its position as opposed to marijuana, not seeing pot made available anywhere near proximity to schools, or anywhere else in the City for that matter, as conducive to excellence in education.
The Lakewood Planning Commission likewise made known its opposition, though the public awaits the approval of those minutes to read the discussion as to why there would be a Plan B should the City Council ignore them too.
Meanwhile, like the interminable wait for the medal ceremonies at the Winter Games that occurred hours after some events, we await the Lakewood City Council’s interminable discussions and deliberations and reviews of marijuana regulations that include the Council’s Study Session on April 23, 2018; followed by a public hearing on May 7, 2018; and a Council Study Session if needed on May 14, 2018” (p.017).
Then, maybe, we’ll know who won the gold, or whether our streets, parks, et al will be more of what all that glitters are not.
With pot being ‘legal’ in Washington and readily available in Tacoma, it is hard to imagine a hoard of people waiting for pot shops in Lakewood so they can come to Lakewood, get high, and become homeless. Enough of these extreme ‘things which could go wrong’ examples. Tacoma has had pot shops for some time now and, as a retailer in Tacoma, I can say the problems of people looking for a place to smoke/do drugs has gone down in the area around my store. Yes, there are the hard-core homeless, but I don’t see as many of them around the Lincoln HS area as I did a couple of years ago.
Do we in Lakewood honestly believe because we don’t have pot shops, we don’t have smokers/users???? Do you think our teenagers aren’t getting their drugs because we don’t have pot shops???? Really. What planet are you living on?
Stop with the hypocritical BS…hoards of homeless…and simply say “we don’t want pot shops, no reason necessary”. In case you missed the message of #MeToo…..NO is answer/reason enough.
It is common practice in defending or advocating a position to cite sources.
For example, “Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement” places near the pinnacle of debate that of “finding the mistake and explaining why it’s mistaken using quotes.” And just one level below that is that he “contradicts and then backs it up with reasoning and/or supporting evidence.”
There are basement – and baseless – levels in disagreement too, like “hypocritical BS”.
Homelessness in Denver is directly attributable to the availability of marijuana.
And you are dismissing both the evidence there, and the potential here, which is at best a fingers-crossed hope, at worst blissful ignorance of the ongoing concern about homelessness based on their increasing numbers.
As a matter of fact, the trend in unsheltered homelessness shows a steady increase over the last five years.
The last Friday in January of each year, Pierce County conducts its Point-in-Time (PIT) Count where over 200 volunteers in the wee hours of the morning, 1 – 5 A.M., seek out “homeless individuals both sheltered (emergency shelters or transitional housing) and unsheltered individuals (those sleeping outside or living in places that are not meant for human habitation).”
“The PIT count is an annual event required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the State of Washington Department of Commerce to survey individuals experiencing homelessness across the nation. The results from the PIT are reported to create a trend analysis in the mission to end homelessness in America.”
The results of the January 26, 2018 PIT Count will be available in April but the five-year trend of those in Pierce County found sleeping in cars, below bridges, along-the-road-but-in-the-woods tented-or-tarped, is up, significantly, from 120 in 2013 to 504 in 2017.
To answer your questions:
“Do we in Lakewood honestly believe because we don’t have pot shops, we don’t have smokers/users?”
No.
“Do you think our teenagers aren’t getting their drugs because we don’t have pot shops?”
No.
“What planet are you living on?”
The same one as you where evidence – there’s that word again – shows the difference decision makers have on the uptaking drug practices of youth.
Which evidence I can supply, but then maybe that doesn’t matter to you.
Mr. Anderson, nothing more than an opinion, but I don’t think council members will vote to grant a license based solely on tax revenue. There’s that much to be had. I also don ‘t think they can be bullied into doing it as well. They didn’t appear to cower to the threat recently leveled by that state legislator.
Mr. Anderson, correction–meant to write not that much revenue to be had.
Denver and Colorado have a high homeless population looking for marijuana because the surrounding area does not offer the drug. It’s like Hawaii has a high homeless population because the climate is easier to live in outdoors than New Hampshire (for example). As a former VA Claims Officer I can remember many times when people with opioid issues wanted to transfer to Hawaii because they knew they could be cured there (and the VA was supposed to pay their transportation).
Also, the original writer is allowed to overstate his evidence in order to make his point, but the repliers cannot be sarcastic or disagree without charged with bad arguments.
Like I said, I live in Lakewood and work in Tacoma…I have seen the effects of the recession first hand. People are homeless for a lot of reasons. The PIT count shows homelessness is up but unemployment is also up and people are having trouble finding jobs if they do want to work. You try being ill, unkempt, and homeless and find a job. I’ve coached those types of job seekers; it’s really hard to find work under those conditions…no bank account, no mailing address, no computer e-mail access (except through the library).
Homelessness is a part of the problem. Drug use is another part. Alcohol is another part. Why do we have liquor stores if we don’t want our kids exposed to drugs?
Evidence, if you look, shows the biggest reason kids take to dangerous habits is because they observe their parents doing same. Dad is a bad driver, so is the kid. Dad drinks a six-pack or more every night, the kid tries beer. Many of the parents and grandparents of today’s kids were hippies back in the ’60’s and ’70’s. Drugs were a major part of the life style and remain so today among that part of the population. Teaching children responsible habits is what we need. European children do not have the problems with alcohol US children do because European children are taught responsible drinking habits early in their lives.
Let’s get back to the real point…Lakewood doesn’t want pot shops, so “Just say NO, Lakewood”, that’s the only argument you need.
“Denver and Colorado have a high homeless population looking for marijuana because the surrounding area does not offer the drug.”
My point – and that of the fellow quoted in the article – exactly. Homeless and hemp are linked at the hip. Pierce County has a homeless increase. Pierce County has hemp. The two are intertwined. Lakewood wants to deal with the homeless population. Approving hemp does not help. Yes, the homeless are in the predicament they are for a number of reasons but one of them is, in fact, marijuana. So, shall we make it more available? No, we should not, and this is a reason – more than just saying ‘no’ – that intelligent adults should weigh in making that decision.
Disallowing marijuana – to help the homeless – is one important step Lakewood leaders should take.
Hiring the homeless to pick up litter – a step Lakewood is in fact pursuing – is another.
“Evidence, if you look,” to quote you (which is interesting that you would turn there given your penchant to ignore it) is in fact parenting. There we agree. And we’re not alone.
“The desperate cry of America’s boys” headlined the opinion piece by Suzanne Venker for Fox News this past February 18, four days after the massacre in Parkland, Florida.
“Deeper even than the gun problem is this: boys are broken,” wrote Venker.
Some excerpts:
“Broken homes, or homes without a physically and emotionally present mother and father, are the cause of most of society’s ills.
“‘Unstable homes produce unstable children,’ writes Peter Hasson at The Federalist.
“America’s boys are in serious trouble. As Warren Farrell’s new book, The Boy Crisis, explains, boys are experiencing a crisis of education, a crisis of mental health (as in the case of Nikolas Cruz), a crisis of purpose. And at the root of it all is fatherlessness.
“Indeed, there is a direct correlation between boys who grow up with absent fathers and boys who drop out of school, who drink, who do drugs, who become delinquent and who wind up in prison.
“And who kill their classmates.”
It’s also what Wisconsin Sheriff Dale Schmidt said in the wake of the Florida school shooting, that “parents need to instill respect for authority in their children and discipline their children.”
Role models, dads preferably, but someone, an involved someone, a present someone, must come alongside to set and enforce boundaries; to steer otherwise rudderless youth; to occasionally cajole and chastise; and as often to cheerlead and to coach.
All the above prompted our Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association board to discuss at our meeting last month what responsibility we had to our community considering our culture.
We can’t do it all, but we can do something. And the new something we decided to take on, coming this Fall: Parenting Classes.
It’s why we have a community baseball team of 11 and 12-year olds, now in their fifth season.
It’s why we have a Good News Club after school every week, now in our second year.
It’s why I teach Sunday School to Middle-and-High-School students.
It’s why we roll up our sleeves and – based on the evidence, having connected the dots – do something.
Not bemoan the avarice of our culture; not NIMBY say simply ‘no’, but ‘as for me and my house’ and my community, we will be a part of the solution.
This is getting funny…first it was drugs cause homeless to move into area, then it was drugs cause homelessness, now it kids want guns! What does that have to do with the, what I thought was the point, underlying argument against pot shops? We don’t need a lot of outrageous examples of cascading failures…we just need to say NO. And that doesn’t mean we are not involved in our community or don’t care about it. It just means we don’t want pot shops for any reason. Mr. Anderson’s ‘the sky will fall’ arguments are distractions from the point and ultimately turn off people. I’m glad you are so involved with our community, Mr. Anderson. Just say, because Lakewood is a great place to live, we vote NO on pot shops.
You find this subject funny?
You mentioned parenting as – at least what I thought you were suggesting, certainly something I agreed with – the root problem. I cited sources – something that to date you have not – that support that contention.
“Outrageous examples”? When you have provided zero with any that corroborate?
“Homeless and hemp are linked at the hip. Pierce County has a homeless increase. Pierce County has hemp. The two are intertwined.” A pretty simplistic and fallacious argument. The fallacy here is that just because two things increase doesn’t mean they are related. (If that were true, one could also argue Pierce County’s homeless increase is due to the increase in private liquor stores.) Instead, note that the Tacoma-Lakewood area is one of the top 10 growth areas in the country. And housing costs have increased significantly in the last couple of years. Consequently Tacoma/Pierce County also has one of the tightest rental markets in the country. Basic economics (and a bit of common sense) suggests many more people are homeless because of increased housing costs/decreased supply than because they legally bought some pot (that they were previously getting illegally).
“Just because two things increase doesn’t mean they are related.”
Really? Then you would have a problem with the correlation made between pot legalization and driving under influence which has steadily risen, according to Washington State officials.
In a January 16, 2018 Q13 article by Tatevik Aprikyan, “statistics show you are twice as likely to kill yourself or someone else while under influence of marijuana,” said WSP Trooper Brooke Bova.
And in a February 28, 2018 KOMO News Staff article headlined, “Study: Pedestrian traffic deaths surge with biggest increase in legalized pot states.
An excerpt from the report, conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association:
“Tellingly, Washington and the six other states that legalized recreational use of marijuana between 2012 and 2016 reported a collective 16.4 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities for the first six months of 2017 versus the first six months of 2016, whereas all other states reported a collective 5.8 percent decrease in pedestrian fatalities.”
Of course I would have no problem with the correlation between pot legalization and an increased in DUI’s. (Though a more direct correlation is between DUI’s and increased pot use, and the latter is related to pot legalization.) DUI’s, by definition, involve alcohol or drug use. I would assume (perhaps wrongly) the arresting officer makes some note of the offending drug, so there are likely statistics that support an increase in DUI’s related to marijuana use. Likewise, with regards to pedestrian deaths you make a point that pedestrian deaths have increased considerably more in states with legal pot than those without. You have data that support a correlation, and while there are other factors (increased pedestrian traffic perhaps, population density), it seems a reasonable conclusion.
All I am saying is that there are many, many reasons people are homeless. The cost of housing, the lack of available housing, poor credit, eviction for behavioral reasons (as opposed to financial), mental illness, and of course drug and alcohol use. Most of these are on the rise. To pick one variable (pot use – again, not legalization), based on some article about another city (Denver) where a person makes a statement based on an observation with no hard data, and assume legal pot is the cause of homelessness, is a real stretch. (Perhaps instead homelessness is on the rise because landlords are getting out of the business due to Lakewood’s new Rental Inspection program…… )