Update and Thank You from the Green Cross

To all Green Cross Supporters:

It’s been a week since the Board of Appeals hearing and before any
more time
passes,
I wanted to send out a very warm thank you to the Green Cross
community.
That includes the dozens of you who made it to the hearings, and those
of
you who wrote thoughtful letters of support for the Green Cross in our
time
of need. Without all your hard work and dedication, we would most
likely not
be here today.

You who have walked side-by-side with us since the end of May know the
lengths The Green Cross has taken to respond to complaints from
residents.
We have spent more than $70,000 to get the best, most effective,
state-of-the-art ventilation and surveillance equipment on the
market. We
hired additional security staff to ensure our patients were obeying
parking
restrictions and respecting neighbors. The following represents a
“short-list” of our efforts to date:

* We started handing out our business cards that include the rules
related
to keeping our neighborhood safe and friendly for to all patients, as
well
as residents.

* We implemented a new traffic management plan that includes
incentives
and discounts to encourage patients to shop earlier in the day.

* No smoking is allowed inside or outside the MCD, strictly enforced
since
July 16th.

* A full time security guard is outside Green Cross at all times
since July
7, 2005. This security guard denies access to the MCD for anyone who is
double parked, parked illegally, or blasting loud music. The patient
can
only enter once parked quietly and legally.

* Only patients who carry Green Cross or San Francisco County cards
may
enter the MCD.

* Green Cross added a cedar lined closet for storage of medicine in
order
to further decrease odors.

* Any neighbor can reach me directly by calling the store and asking
to be
transferred to my cell phone if I am off-site. The number is
415.648.4420.

In an effort to seek a balance between The Green Cross and neighbors
determined to shut us down, the Zoning Administrator recommended the
Board
of Appeals rescind his original suspension, and re-instate The Green
Cross
permit with the list of conditions his office had developed.

The hearing was more than 5 hours long. All of the neighbors were
allowed to
speak before any Green Cross supporters. By the time it came time for
our
supporters to speak, we had all been there for more than 3 hours. I was
really touched to see so many loyal patients stay for the entire
hearing! I
also received a couple of dozen messages from patients whose pain
forced
them to leave the hearing before The Green Cross supporters were
allowed to
speak.

Once everyone had a chance to speak, the members of the Board of
Appeals had
to come to some agreement. It was re-assuring to hear some members of
the
Board acknowledge the NIMBY attitude of some of the residents. It was
also
gratifying to hear the Zoning Administrator, Larry Badiner repeat a
number
of times that he was not trying to close The Green Cross, that in some
ways
our problems were a result of our huge success.

Before all was said and done, the Board of Appeals decided the best
case
scenario was to have The Green Cross relocate into another facility in
another neighborhood. The Board of Appeals agreed to uphold the
suspension
for another 6 months while we find an alternate location.

We’ve been allowed to remain open during this 6 month period as long
as we
make a sincere effort to implement the conditions outlined in Mr.
Badiner’s
memo within 30 days of the hearing.

The conditions that are most likely to impact you directly relate to
the
hours of operation. As of Sunday, September 25, 2005 our new hours
are:
Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm & Sat 12pm – 5pm. We will be closed on Sundays.

We realize this may cause some of you some real hardship. We hope you
understand that the changes are not our idea. We must accept these
conditions in order to remain open at all! So, please accept our
sincere
apologies. Hopefully, this is temporary until we have secured our new
location in the city… which we plan to do within a six month period.

We have added a link to our website @ http://www.thegreencross.org
<http://www.thegreencross.org/>; for those of you who were unable to
make
the 5 ½ hour hearing. We hope this has been a learning experience for
all of
us…a taste of what the future holds in the fight for medical marijuana.

We at The Green Cross will continue to fight for patient’s rights. We
also
request you join us in offering our neighbors respect, now and in the
future.


Sincerely,

Kevin Reed
President, The Green Cross


http://www.thegreencross.org