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Board approves Allston marijuana mart over objections of neighbors
By adamg on Tue, 05/18/2021 - 11:34am
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved a plan to turn a garage at 257-259 Cambridge St. in Allston into a cannabis shop.
Union Twist, Inc., still needs the approval of the state Cannabis Control Commission before it can begin sales.
Its attorney, Mike Ross, said the company would use about a third of the 9,000-square-foot Foreign Auto Body building there now for its shop, while the rest would be used for parking. Customers would drive in off Cambridge Street, then exit in the rear onto the one-way Empire Street, away from the residential part of the neighborhood.
Anthony D'Isidoro, president of the Allston Civic Association, said the new use might still cause traffic and parking issues for the neighborhood. And he said that residents, many of whom are immigrants with young children, did not feel a cannabis concern was the right fit for the neighborhood.
One resident, who said he was speaking for the occupants of buildings across from the site, was more blunt: The shop would "introduce crime, strong odors and vagrancy" into the immigrant, family-oriented neighborhood.
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Comments
LMAO
When are people going to give it up with the outdated "think of the children" objections to dispensaries? Also, "strong odors", as if everyone just goes around the corner and smokes after visiting a dispensary, pretty far from the truth. Shit is hilarious. Glad the zoning board isn't having it with that bullshit.
whah?
this person knows it's Allston right?
More like "re-introduce"
.
Next they'll be saying
that it brings rats, graffiti, and concerning stains on the sidewalk.
Good
Enough is enough- it's been five (5) years.
Crime has decreased since 2016 citywide and statewide, that's a fact.
Vagrancy isn't correlated to dispensaries.
Strong Odors? You're inside your house and smoking outdoors is illegal and discouraged. Stop it.
That is illegal to smoke
That is illegal to smoke outdoors is silly. Can't smoke in my house so they must smoke outside. I smell it outside all over Boston.
All over Boston?
What’s that you say? All over Boston? As in Allston? And not just next to dispensaries? Sounds like people might be getting their weed from elsewhere...but that couldn’t be /s
Don’t smoke it near me.
I’ll tell you off and no amount of THC will ease the trauma.
Mellow out, man.
Mellow out, man.
I don't smoke. I also don't
I don't smoke. I also don't like the smell. It is everywhere. The thing I hear about the shops are that they are too expensive and you might as well buy from the local dealer.
And at the other end of that very block...
Down on the corner, within a stones throw of this Foreign Autobody location, sits a large, dirty liquor store that formally sold frog legs. This dispensary will almost certainly be a clean, bright spot in this otherwise "gritty" section.
(Source: ME, as a former Lower Allston resident for 10 years in the 80's-90's.)
Sigh, no more frog legs
Back in our Brighton days, when we spent a fair amount of time in Harvard Square, we'd always drive by that place and one of us would go "Frog legs!"
They also sold Rabbit!
That store sold fresh rabbit too
I so enjoy your puns Adam.
I so enjoy your puns Adam. Thanks for the smile :)
Is there some requirement?
Is there some requirement that those who open dispensaries in Boston or represent them (and share and an ownership interest in them) have to be former Boston politicians?
Tito Jackson, Jeff Sanchez, Mike Ross?
Before the fall of 2019 District Councilors had to support a proposal for a dispensary to go forward--then the council changed the rules. Now, they only have to request a letter from the Councilor, wait 45 days, and then they can go to the Cannabis Board whether the councilor supported it or not as long as they held the one community meeting. Doesn't matter if the neighbors objected or not.
I, for one, welcome our new Dank Overlords--I was way too wimpy to find a dealer. If a neighborhood has 10 places to buy nips that get littered everywhere but zero to buy weed, it is rather hypocritical. Trying to relitigate the law to legalize recreational cannabis is BS, but there should be a process to register legitimate concerns. A more jaded citizen might think there was a bit of back-scratching going on.
Where have you been???
That back scratching has been going on for decades in this city. Remember those that went down Dianne Wilkerson, Chuck Turner, Tito Jackson, Jasiel correia(Fall River), Salvatore DiMasi - you see where I’m going with this. They didn’t invent the game. They played it and lost. Most who play, play smart and are never caught. That’s why when Southie needs anything, Southie gets it right away. Beacon hill gets what they want. And Dorchester and Roxbury suffer. Just look at Mass ave and Melena Cass. Why you ask? Because during campaign time, the Donors aren’t from Dorchester and Roxbury.
Don't forget former BPD Supt. Dan Linskey
But unlike Jackson and Sanchez, Ross and Linskey aren't owners - they're the um, craftsman the owners hire.
Kinda
Ross is part owner of a approved retail in east Boston called Local Roots
Marie St. Fleur
Is she still Union Twist's CEO??
"the new use might still
"the new use might still cause traffic and parking issues for the neighborhood."
cause what and what for the what?
is there a different Cambridge Street in Allston that I'm not familiar with?