Westwood Community Council 2010 Officers and Board of Directors

The Westwood Village Press

On February 22, 2010 the Westwood Community Council had it's first election. The results follow:

Westwood Community Council
2010 Officers and Board of Directors
Elected February 22, 2010

Chair: Steven D. Sann

Chair, Westwood Village Business Association; Partner, NINETHIRTY at the W, The Backyard at the W & Tengu; Board Member and Program Chair, Friends of Westwood Library; Member, Westwood Village Farmers’ Market Advisory Board; past President, UCLA UniCamp Board of Directors; member, Westwood-Holmby Historical Society; Co-Chair, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival

Vice Chair: John K. Heidt

Past President and Building Committee Chair , Westwood United Methodist Church; member, Westwood Village Rotary Club; resident, Westwood Homeowners; President, Heidt Torres Co.

Corporate Secretary: Carol Spencer

Vice President and Traffic Committee Chair, Comstock Hills Homeowners Association; member, West Los Angeles Community Police Advisory Board; Member, Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Task Force; member, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church

Treasurer: Paul R. Gienger

President, Topa Management Company; Founding Member, Westwood Business Improvement District Formation Committee

Executive Committee Members

David Hekmat

Has owned and operated Mary and Robb’s Westwood Café at 1473 Westwood Blvd. for 31 years, owns and operates Westwood Corporate Foods, managing commissary operated for corporate clients, was a resident of Westwood for many years.

Carole Magnuson

Immediate Past President and Vice President, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association; member, St. Albans Episcopal Church; founding Member Westwood Community Design Review Board; member, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival; former director, UCLA Local and Neighborhood Relations

Board of Directors

A. Geographic Zone Stakeholder Organizations:

Zone 1 – Westwood Hills Property Owners Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Carole Magnuson
ALTERNATE: Debbie Nussbaum

Zone 2 – North Westwood Village Residents Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Wolfgang Veith
ALTERNATE:

Zone 3 – Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Jackie Freedman
ALTERNATIVE: Sandy Brown

Zone 4 – Wilshire Corridor Condominium Presidents Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Dr. Jerry Brown
ALTERNATE: Mark Rogo

Zone 5 – Westwood Homeowners Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Linda Blank
ALTERNATE: Stephen Resnick

Zone 6 – Comstock Hills Homeowners Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Carol Spencer
ALTERNATE: Jan Reichmann

B. Westwood Community Multi-Family Residential Stakeholders (nominated by Representation Committee)

REPRESENTATIVE: Jason Somers
ALTERNATE:

C. Westwood Senior Living/Retirement/Assisted Living Residential Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Niki Gewirtz (Belmont Village Westwood)
ALTERNATE:

D. Westwood Village Business Association (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Clinton Schudy (Oakley’s Barber Shop)
ALTERNATE: Shannon Montoya (Napa Valley Grille)

E. Westwood Business Improvement District/Formation Committee (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Paul Gienger (Topa Management Company)
ALTERNATE: Jessica Dabney (North American Realty)
F. Wilshire Corridor Commercial Stakeholders (nominated by Representation Committee)


REPRESENTATIVE: Cyrus Hekmat (Indivest/Center West)
ALTERNATE:

G. Westwood South of Wilshire/Sepulveda Boulevard Business Stakeholders (nominated by Representation Committee)

REPRESENTATIVE: David Hekmat (Mary & Robb’s Westwood Café)
ALTERNATE:

H. Westwood South of Wilshire/Sepulveda Boulevard Commercial Property Owner Stakeholders (nominated by Representation Committee)

REPRESENTATIVE: Robert Bucksbaum (Majestic Crest Theater)
ALTERNATE:

I. Educational Institutions – Public and Private School Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization; order of appointment determined by Representation Committee)

REPRESENTATIVE: Laura Winikow (Fairburn Youth Association)
ALTERNATE:

J. Environmental/Land Use Organization Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Mike Metcalfe (Save Westwood Village)
ALTERNATE: Alvin Milder (UCLA Watch)

K. Service and Civic Groups/Recreation Organization Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Gail Friedman (Friends of Westwood Library)
ALTERNATE: Phil Gabriel (AYSO, Region 70)

L. Arts/Cultural Institutions Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Joseph Yoshitomi (Geffen Playhouse)
ALTERNATE:

M. Religious Institutions Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: John Heidt (Westwood United Methodist Church)
ALTERNATE: Michele Heilpern (Westwood Village Synagogue)

N. UCLA Student Organization Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: Nicholas Vartanian (GSA representative)
ALTERNATE

O. Faculty/Staff Organizational Stakeholders (appointed by Stakeholder Organization)

REPRESENTATIVE: (to be appointed by UCLA Academic Senate)
ALTERNATE: (to be appointed by UCLA Staff Assembly)

P. Members-at-Large (3) (nominated by Representation Committee)

REPRESENTATIVE: Joyce Foster
ALTERNATE:

REPRESENTATIVE: Laura Lake
ALTERNATE: Terry Tegnazian

REPRESENTATIVE: Steve Sann
ALTERNATE: Rick Chancellor

Legal Advisor (non-voting)
Robert E. “Reg” Gipson

Legal Counsel (non-voting)
Charles Magnuson

Westwood Community Council Founding Organizers and Participants

Thomas K. Barad, Building Committee Chair and member, Westwood Village Synagogue; Producer, Barad Entertainment

Linda M. Blank, Board Member, Friends of Westwood Library; Vice President, Westwood Homeowners Association; Attorney at Law

Dr. Jerry Brown, President, The Diplomat Homeowners Association; Board Member, Wilshire Corridor Condominium Presidents Association

Sandy Brown, President, Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association; Co-Founder, Westwood-Holmby Historical Society; Co-Chair, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival

Gloria Campbell, Managing Director, Los Angeles Film Festival

Rick Chancellor, Vice President – Western Region, The McDevitt Company

Jessica Dabney, Founder, Westwood Business Improvement District Formation Committee; Director of Brokerage, North American Realty; Attorney at Law; Chair, Westwood Village Farmers Market Board of Directors

Barbara Dobkin, Past President, Design for Sharing; Board Member, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association

Dr. Bruce Dobkin, UCLA Faculty member; resident, Westwood Hills

Joyce L. Foster, Vice President and Past President, West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission; past Vice President, Los Ageles Building & Safety Commission; past Member, Westwood Community Design Review Board; Past President, Westwood Homeowners Association; member, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church; member, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival; Board Member, Film LA
Jackie Freedman, Co-President, Coalition for Veterans’ Land; Past Co-President, Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association

David Friedman, President/Co-Owner, Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers; member, Westwood Village Business Association; member, Westwood Village Rotary Club

Gail Friedman, Board Member, Friends of Westwood Library; Co-Owner, Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers; member, Westwood Village Business Association

Leonard Friedman, Co-Founder/Co-Owner, Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers; member, Westwood Village Business Association; member, Westwood Village Business Association

Sunny Friedman, Co-Founder/Co-Owner, Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers; member, Westwood Village Business Association

Philip Gabriel, member, Warner Avenue School (WAVE) Foundation; Coach, AYSO Soccer, District 70; Coach, West L.A. Little League; Owner, Scrubs Unlimited & Baskin-Robbins; member, Westwood Village Business Association; resident, Holmby-Westwood; past Board Member, Westwood Village Business Improvement District; member, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival

Niki Gewirtz, Executive Director, Belmont Village Westwood

Paul R. Gienger, President, Topa Management Company; Founding Member, Westwood Business Improvement District Formation Committee

Joseph Gillard, Executive Chef, Napa Valley Grille; member, Westwood Village Business Association

Robert E. “Reg” Gipson, member, Westwood United Methodist Church; resident, Westwood Homeowners; Partner, Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione

Nat Gorman, President, Blair House Homeowners Association; Board Member, Wilshire Corridor Condominium Presidents Association
John K. Heidt, Past President and Building Committee Chair , Westwood United Methodist Church; member, Westwood Village Rotary Club; resident, Westwood Homeowners; President, Heidt Torres Co.
Michelle Heilpern, Co-President, Westwood Village Synagogue; resident, Holmby-Westwood

Cyrus Hekmat, Partner, Indivest, Center West, Murdock Plaza, Plaza La Reina; Attorney at Law

Mark M. Herd, Board Member, Westwood Homeowners Association; past President, Park Ashton Homeowners Association

Steven Kaufman, Past President, Westwood Homeowners Association

Dr. Laura Lake, Co-President, Coalition for Veterans’ Land; Co-President, Save Westwood Village

Jamal A. Madni, President, UCLA Graduate Students Association

Carole Magnuson, Immediate Past President and Vice President, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association; member, St. Albans Episcopal Church; founding Member Westwood Community Design Review Board; member, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival

Charles H. Magnuson, Wilshire Corridor Business Owner; resident, Westwood Hills; member, St. Albans Episcopal Church; Attorney at Law

Kira Meers, Leasing Specialist, The McDevitt Company

Michael Metcalfe, Co-President, Save Westwood Village; Past President, Westwood Homeowners Association

Alvin Milder, Founder, UCLA Watch; Vice President, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association
Sharon Milder, Founder, Westwood Hills Garden Club; resident, Westwood Hills

Shannon Montoya, Senior Event Sales Manager, Napa Valley Grille; member, Westwood Village Business Association

Michael Moroko, Secretary, Westwood Village Synagogue; Partner, Allred, Moroko & Goldberg

Frank Ponder, Chair, Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA Board of Directors: Past Chairman, Westwood Village Community Alliance Business Improvement District; past General Manager Bel Air Camera; Member, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association Board of Directors

Jan Reichmann, President, Comstock Hills Homeowners Association; member, Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Task Force

Stephen Resnick, President, Westwood Homeowners Association

Susan J. Reuben, Vice President and History & Architecture Committee Chair, Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association

Mark Rogo, President, Friends of Westwood Library; member, Westwood Village Rotary Club; Board Member, Blair House Homeowners Association; Treasurer, Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association

Steven D. Sann, Chair, Westwood Village Business Association; Partner, NINETHIRTY at the W, The Backyard at the W & Tengu; Board Member and Program Chair, Friends of Westwood Library; Member, Westwood Village Farmers’ Market Advisory Board; past President, UCLA UniCamp Board of Directors; member, Westwood-Holmby Historical Society; Co-Chair, Westwood Host Committee for Los Angeles Film Festival

Clinton Schudy, Owner, Oakley’s Barber Shop; member, Westwood Village Business Association;

member, Westwood Host Committee for the Los Angeles Film Festival

Jason H. Somers, resident, Montana Regency; Project Development Manager, Pacific Crest Consultants

Carol Spencer, Vice President and Traffic Committee Chair, Comstock Hills Homeowners Association; member, West Los Angeles Community Police Advisory Board; member, Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Task Force; member, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church

Evelin Tamayo, Assistant Market Manager, Westwood Village Farmers’ Market

Terry A. Tegnazian, Wilshire Corridor Business Owner; President, Westwood Hills Property Owners Association; Co-Founder, Friends of Westwood Library; Co-founder, Friends of the Westwood Library

Nicholas Vartanian, UCLA Graduate Student; resident, UCLA Weyburn Terrace

Wolfgang Veith, President/Founder, North Westwood Village Residents’ Association
Michael Webb, Resident, North Westwood Village

Stephen Whipple, Market Manager, Westwood Village Farmers’ Market; member, Westwood Host Committee for the Los Angeles Film Festival

Laura Winikow, Member, Fairburn Youth Association; Vice President, Friends of Westwood Library; resident, Comstock Hills

Joseph Yoshitomi, Director of Marketing, Geffen Playhouse

With Special Thanks to our Community Council Consultants:

Jack Allen, Area Representative, Pacific Palisades Community Council
Richard Cohen, Chair, Pacific Palisades Community Council
Raymond Klein, Chair, Brentwood Community Council
Wendy-Sue Rosen, Chair Emeritus, Brentwood Community Council
George Wolfberg, Past Chair, Pacific Palisades Community Council

Westwood NC Hearing Jan 19th 6 p.m. at United Methodist Church

John Saddleback
Westwood Press
http://www.uclawestwood.com/

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (B.O.N.C), a seven person board appointed by the mayor, will hold one public hearing on January 19th, 2010 before deciding whether or not to approve the application to have a Neighborhood Council in Westwood. 

The Westwood NC formation group held it's last meeting Sept 24 at the Westwood Presbytarian Church in Westwood. About 75 people attended the event.  Follow these links and you may be able to catch some insight into this heated meeting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfEuMYRK-7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozWryfqYrMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJPDcbNCE18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8VxpWT3VBg

Some in the crowd were against the formation of an NC in Westwood and they made it clear. The main argument is that NC's can't sue over development issues and HOA's can. NC's can only advise the City Council but are not allowed to sue. The main argument for an NC in Westwood is that many in Westwood have no representation other than one city councilman, Paul Koretz. Anyone who lives or works in Westwood but doesn't own property in Westwood is excluded from HOA's which have been the only organized form of political representation in Westwood.  There has been a lot of controversy over how this NC was formed and this hearing is expected to be the most heated meeting in Westwood ever.

Metro to Hold Station Information Meeting for Westside Subway Extension Thurs. Nov. 5

The last 2 of 5 Metro community meetings will be held this Wednesday and Thursday to discuss  potential station stops in Westwood and Beverly Hills.  The meeting Wednesday in Beverly Hills will discuss 2 stops in B.H. and the meeting Thurday Nov.5 at the Wadsworth Theatre will discuss the Century City and Westwood/UCLA ............

(Click Here to go to Article)

Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson under investigation. Here we go again, the investigations of corruption never end in Southern California.....Even our pumpkin is upset about this one!!!!

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously today to investigate complaints against two Southern California congresswomen, Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson.

In a prepared statement, the committee said it was looking into whether Richardson had failed to list real estate, liabilites and income on her financial disclosure forms.

It also was investigating whether the Long Beach Democrat had received a "gift or preferential treatment" from Washington Mutual after her Sacramento house was sold at a foreclosure auction. The lender later returned the the two-story house to the congresswoman.

A four-member committee will investigate Waters' activities surrounding the National Bankers Assn. and OneUnited Bank, a company in which her husband owned stock and served on its board.

Massachusetts-based OneUnited Bank received $12 million in bailout funds three months after Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat and a senior member of the congressional committee that oversees banking, helped arrange a meeting between bank and other minority-owned financial institutions and Treasury Department representatives.

Waters’ husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held investments in the bank worth at least $350,000, according to the congresswoman’s financial disclosure report.

—Jeff Gottlieb

Photos: Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), left, and Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach).

Credit: Associated Press, left; Congress

The nation and the world will almost certainly be plunged into the same crisis or worse at some point in the not-too-distant future

The following is an excerpt from Robert Reich's blog about Wall Street

Let's be clear: The Street today is up to the same tricks it was playing before its near-death experience. Derivatives, derivatives of derivatives, fancy-dance trading schemes, high-risk bets. “Our model really never changed, we’ve said very consistently that our business model remained the same,” says Goldman Sach's chief financial officer.

The only difference now is that the Street's biggest banks know for sure they'll be bailed out by the federal government if their bets turn sour -- which means even bigger bets and bigger bucks.

Meanwhile, the banks' gigantic pile of non-performing loans is also growing bigger, as more and more jobless Americans can't pay their mortgages, credit card bills, and car loans. So forget any new lending to Main Street. Small businesses still can't get loans. Even credit-worthy borrowers are having a hard time getting new mortgages.

The mega-bailout of Wall Street accomplished little. The only big winners have been top bank executives and traders, whose pay packages are once again in the stratosphere. Banks have been so eager to lure and keep top deal makers and traders they've even revived the practice of offering ironclad, multimillion-dollar payments – guaranteed no matter how the employee performs. Goldman Sachs is on course to hand out bonuses that could rival its record pre-meltdown paydays. In the second quarter this year it posted its fattest quarterly profit in its 140-year history, and earmarked $11.4 billion to compensate its happy campers. Which translates into about $770,000 per Goldman employee on average, just about what they earned at height of boom. Of course, top executives and traders will pocket much more.

Every other big bank feels it has to match Goldman's pay packages if it wants to hold on to its "talent." Citigroup, still on life-support courtesy of $45 billion from American taxpayers, has told the White House it needs to pay its twenty-five top executives an average of $10 million each this year, and award its best trader $100 million.

A few banks like Goldman have officially repaid their TARP money but look more closely and you'll find that every one of them is still on the public dole. Goldman won't repay taxpayers the $13 billion it never would have collected from AIG had we not kept AIG alive. (In one of the most blatant conflicts of interest in all of American history, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein attended the closed-door meeting last fall where then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who was formerly Goldman's CEO, and Tim Geithner, then at the New York Fed, made the decision to bail out AIG.) Meanwhile, Goldman is still depending on $28 billion in outstanding debt issued cheaply with the backing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Which means you and I are still indirectly funding Goldman's high-risk operations.

So will the President succeed on financial reform? I wish I could be optimistic. His milktoast list of proposed reforms is inadequate to the task, even if adopted. The Street's behavior since its bailout should be proof enough that halfway measures won't do. The basic function of commercial banking in our economic system -- linking savers to borrowers -- should never have been confused with the casino-like function of investment banking. Securitization, whereby loans are turned into securities traded around the world, has made lenders unaccountable for the risks they take on. The Glass-Steagall Act should be resurrected. Pension and 401 (k) plans, meanwhile, should never have been allowed to subject their beneficiaries to the risks that Wall Street gamblers routinely run. Put simply, the Street has been given too many opportunities to play too many games with other peoples' money.

But, like the health care industry, Wall Street has platoons of lobbyists and an almost unlimited war chest to protect its interests and prevent change. And with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trending upward again -- and the public's and the media's attention focused elsewhere, especially on health care -- it will be difficult to summon the same sense of urgency financial reform commanded six months ago.

Yet without substantial reform, the nation and the world will almost certainly be plunged into the same crisis or worse at some point in the not-too-distant future. Wall Street's major banks are already en route to their old, dangerous ways -- now made more dangerous by their sure knowledge that they are too big to fail.

Westside subway project is reaffirmed

L.A. County officials approved a long-range transportation plan Thursday, reaffirming the Westside subway and a rail connection through downtown L.A. as top priorities for federal funding.The vote by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board marks a victory for backers of the Westside subway, who are hoping to fast-track the project so that it is finished in as few as 10 years.But the plan also affirmed several other major rail and road projects, notably proposed lines in the San Gabriel Valley and South L.A.The document outlines how the agency will spend an estimated $300 billion over the next 30 years. The plan calls for a significant increase in rail lines around the county and the widening of freeways. Many of the projects still require significant funding, much of which would have to come from the federal government or partners in the private sector. But the projects have a fighting chance because voters approved a sales-tax increase last year to support transportation. "It's a historic vote at a historic time for transportation planning in Los Angeles County," said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.The board took the action in support of the Westside subway despite calls this week from 14 members of Southern California's congressional delegation and eight state legislators asking that the MTA add other projects to its list for New Starts federal money. They questioned whether the subway would get immediate federal funding.Under the board action, the subway and the regional connector -- a proposed rail line through downtown L.A. -- would be the only two projects for which New Starts funding is sought.But an amendment to the plan said the agency would "pursue other potential funding sources" for the proposed Crenshaw line and the Gold Line Foothill Extension east from Pasadena. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the Crenshaw area, and San Gabriel Valley officials had pushed for the amendment.The Crenshaw line's budget is $1.7 billion, but Ridley-Thomas wants a total of roughly $2.1 billion so that parts of it can be built as a subway.The extension of the Gold Line east from Pasadena would be built by the Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority. And MTA agreed to operate the segment to Azusa.Habib Balian, chief executive of the Gold Line authority, said he hopes to break ground on that segment of the extension by summer 2010 and have it completed by 2013. "I think it's a chance for us to really remake our region," said John Fasana, a Duarte City Council member and MTA board member.

Trutanich and Cooley plan crackdown on marijuana dispensaries, some are in Westwood

The UCLA Daily Bruin reported the following:
Oct. 22, 2009 at 1:59 a.m.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley plan to drastically reduce the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.
Earlier this month, Cooley and Trutanich announced that the majority of marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles would face prosecution on the grounds that they violate state law, which bans the sale and distribution of marijuana.
The crackdown is occurring in the face of Attorney General Eric Holder’s memo issued on Monday, which asked federal prosecutors not to target marijuana users and distributors in states that allow medical marijuana.
But Dale Gieringer, the director of California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the memo is essentially a restatement of what Holder said earlier in the year and actually gives Cooley and Trutanich broad authority to decide what is legal.
Gieringer said he believes the prosecution of Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries will proceed as planned.
“I have no doubt that (Cooley is) about to make a bunch of arrests and take a bunch of people to court and press his argument as far as he can,” Gieringer said.
Although Cooley and Trutanich do not have the manpower to prosecute all of Los Angeles’ dispensaries, the mere threat of litigation may be sufficient to radically thin the ranks of cannabis businesses.
In Westwood, dispensary owners can already see the gathering clouds: Two of Westwood’s five dispensaries are currently closed, and calls to the dispensaries were not returned.
Adel B., the manager of Westwood Caregivers, a cannabis dispensary on Le Conte Avenue, said he is tired of operating his business in a gray area.
“The city is contradicting itself,” Adel said. “They’re the ones who gave us the permit in the first place, and now they’re saying they’re going to sue us for using it?”
Adel has been managing Westwood Caregivers since January, and he’s been in the industry since 2005.
He said he has committed himself to the difficult task of running a “by the books” business in an industry where there is almost no official regulation. He grows his own product instead of purchasing it illegally, charges sales tax, and carefully evaluates each of his patients’ medical condition and the reputation of the recommending doctor.
But since Westwood Caregivers opened while the 2007 Los Angeles City Council moratorium on cannabis dispensaries was active, his business is still at risk of prosecution.
“Put the guidelines in front of us, let’s talk about what’s right and wrong ... so everyone can play ball,” Adel said.
Susan Leahy, the manager of The Farmacy on Gayley Avenue, echoed a similar sentiment.
“The city has had over two years to get their act together,” said Leahy, who has written to city council members to invite them to her store.
Medical marijuana patients at UCLA are also afraid they will be caught on the wrong side of the law.
“I don’t want to be driving around thinking I can legally have (marijuana) in my trunk and then all of a sudden get busted for it,” said Michael A., a fourth-year environmental science student.
Michael said he uses cannabis to treat attention deficit disorder.
Gieringer said it is possible that the district attorney’s threats are an attempt to force the passage of an official ordinance and to clarify the legal status of marijuana in Los Angeles.
“There really is no good case law as to what constitutes a legal dispensary,” Gieringer said.
Strangely enough, marijuana is both legal and illegal under state law. Proposition 215 was passed by voter referendum in 1996 and created an exemption from criminal penalties for the cultivation, use and possession of medical marijuana.
The law was expanded in 2004 with the passage of Senate Bill 420, which authorized patient collectives to distribute and sell medical marijuana on a nonprofit basis to the members of the collective.
However, a different state law and federal law currently ban the sale and distribution of marijuana, and in 2007, the Los Angeles City Council passed a moratorium on the opening of new cannabis dispensaries.
On Monday, a Superior Court judge ruled the moratorium illegal and provided an injunction against closure for Green Oasis, a dispensary in Culver City.
“This isn’t being done in a sensible manner,” said Mark Kleiman, a UCLA professor of public policy and the author of “Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control.”
There is still no official marijuana ordinance in Los Angeles, though one may be in the works. On Tuesday, Trutanich’s office delivered a draft resolution for an ordinance that the city council may vote on this week, according to the Los Angeles Times.
However, Gieringer said that many parts of Trutanich’s proposal are unrealistic, such as the section that stipulates dispensary owners must register the names of the members of the collective with local police departments. He believes the battle is likely to continue until a federal law is passed.
“The laws on marijuana are bankrupt,” Gieringer said. “What kind of policy is it when your law is so screwed up that you have to direct your attorneys not to enforce them?”