Is Greeley Ready for Medical Marijuana?

While many of the people living in the city of Greeley, CO are ready for medical marijuana dispensaries to be allowed, City Council agreed tonight that the city is in fact not ready. Item number 35 during this evening’s City Council if voted in favor of, would prohibit the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries within the city. This issue has been a highly debated issue within the city for the past several weeks. Item number 35 was in fact voted in favor of, meaning dispensaries are not allowed in Greeley.
Personally, I believe that the dispensaries should be allowed within the city of Greeley. Like many conservative people, I am against the use of marijuana; however it is realistic to know that people are going to use the substance whether or not it is dispensed in Greeley. According to Jeri Shepherd, an attorney, and a member of a nonprofit group in Colorado, studies show no marijuana overdoses which makes it far safer than alcohol and prescription drugs.

On the flipside to this belief, there were many people in the audience who felt differently, including six of the seven council members. Mayor Ed Clark admitted to having over 16 surgeries for his back, and never once was he prescribed marijuana. Ed Phillipsen also made a good point. He claims that marijuana is a hallucinate drug and that’s all it is. His point of view caused major uproar in the audience. He also claimed that you can easily overdose on marijuana, which I don’t believe is true. Finally, he made the point that even though medical marijuana is legal, it’s almost too easy to become a patient. He claims that “doctor’s don’t prescribe marijuana; they only recommend it because it is not up to the standards to be prescribed.”

With a 6-1 vote, many people in Greeley were left unhappy and left to believe that Greeley is making a mistake financially as well as morally.

Should Development Fees be Raised During the Weak Economy?

During City Council this evening, item number 22 on the adgenda discussed the establishment of development fees for builders in Greeley, Colorado. This item had been previously discussed during the City Council meeting that took place on September 15, 2009. Tim Nash, Greeley Finance Director presented an extensive presentation to the City Council as well as the citizens. In his presentation, he proposed in depth facts and statistics of the impact fees in order to persuade the council members to vote in favor of the ordinance. Basically, the ordinance if passed, would hurt small businesses and real estate in the city of Greeley. I found it very interesting when Scott Renfroe, a Greeley resident and a member of the Colorado State Senate, approached council members with the fact that he gets on average five calls a week regarding the increase on vehicle registration. He made a great point that if people can't afford to pay for simple things such as this then how are they going to pay an increase on developmental fees? Tony Belfiore also showed a very strong opinion this evening. He mentioned that he has been a builder for 30 years and this is the first year he will not build anything. Council members agreed that this is not a great time to be raising any type of fees due to the poor economy, especially in residential areas. I also found it interesting that Greeley is trying to raise fees when in fact the neighboring cities are lowering fees to try and help the citizens. Won't this just push people and businesses out of Greeley?