Residents raise children, crime as issues for proposed Mattapan marijuana store

Stoned carpenter-kidnappers! They're coming for our children!

When I first saw this I thought it was paranoid hysteria, but now I see that it was just an informed citizen making a comment about how easy it would be to rob the place. Maybe he was just thinking out loud. Making plans.

Moved here from SF and was born in Oakland.

If you're going to move for pot, don't move to CA. The rec prices are insane, with some places asking for 25/gram. You'll need a card there too, but they're much easier to get than in MA.

In one neighborhood, the residents see marijuana as a debilitating thing, while in the other they don't.

As always, the best point of comparison would be liquor stores. If one were proposing to put a beer and wine shop on the block in Roslindale, residents would be scoffing about parking (as they are with the pot shop proposal.) On Blue Hill Ave, the vision of more people drinking on the street or grabbing nips at 9 AM would bring out opposition.

And before some chime in on the value of people thinking this, it's an opinion, and as far as I go it's a theory on an opinion.

I attended this meeting. It was full of community members voicing their questions and concerns. Unfortunately, the 'power tools' quote seems to be the most popular among the media folks. He also said was he was worried about security because he lives behind the proposed location. He also stated that neighboring businesses were concerned that thieves would break into their less secure stores in order to have access to the pot shop. These concerns probably could have been explained away, but they weren't.

I was frustrated with the way the meeting was conducted. The city employees seemed unprepared to conduct the meeting. There did not seem to be enough time to address the community's concerns. Many folks were unhappy because they received less than 24 hours notice about the meeting.

I am currently against this location but I may change my opinion based on more information. Rep Holmes said there would be additional meetings. I hope they will be better organized.

Given the many stated concerns about parking, this seems reasonable - honestly, more businesses should do this. At the least, it's no wackier than validated parking setups.

It only applies if you arrive by bike at 4:20.

Back in the day, the Dunkin Dounts in Roslindale Square shared a parking lot with something called Ashmont Discount. It was what the name implies, a place with various bric-a-brac for sale at low prices. Eventually, it went out of business. The first proposal was for Brooks Pharmacy, but that was opposed, notably by a friend of the owner of the only pharmacy in the Square who happened to be mayor of Boston. So that failed. The property owners came up with the idea of a storage facility, which was opposed even more. The owners kept on asking what the residents wanted, but everything they came up with was economically infeasible.

After a few years and a few dead bodies found in the parking lot, they raised the building and put an office supply store in the location, namely the Brighton based national chain Staples. It did well, but then it didn't, so it closed.

This time, the turnaround was swifter. Staples was replaced by Minneapolis based retailer Target. In addition to selling some basic department store items, they also sell some groceries and, this being the important part, a CVS pharmacy. Only 20 years late, but a pharmacy chain is in the Square, but not the little chain, the national behemoth.

Honestly, the big question is if the owners of the proposed shop are willing to spend months or possibly years convincing the community that the store is a good thing.

How they would react to another liquor store opening in the area. You might be surprised.