Six weeks after 57 percent of Lompoc voters passed Prop 64, city staff, including then City Manager Patrick Wiemiller, City Attorney Joe Pannone, and both the police chief and former fire chief initiated, drafted, or supported a city ordinance to ban adult-use recreational cannabis businesses in opposition to the voters directive. Ultimately, the Lompoc City Council rejected the staff ordinance, and created an ad hoc committee that dove into a five month long discussion on cannabis, in which not one person in opposition to cannabis participated. It concluded by recommending full legalization and regulation.
The response from opposed staff? Fear mongering. Lompoc City Attorney Pannone painted a picture of gun battles in the streets of Lompoc should the council move toward regulation. The chief of police echoed similar remarks on several occasions. Then, like a scene out of Reefer Madness, as a result of staff’s fear mongering, the churches and opponents of regulation decried that the children would be placed in immediate danger by having easy access to cannabis; as if investors planned to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to become a licensed and permitted business so that they could open their doors to the children on day one.
When the fear mongering failed and a vote to legalize and regulate cannabis seemed inevitable, the threats began. Before voting to adopt the ordinance, Mayor Bob Lingl attempted to thwart the council’s vote by threatening that a secret group of angry citizens would meet the very next day to file a referendum and collect 10 percent of voters signatures to stall the ordinance and force it to a direct vote by the citizens in November 2018. The council persevered and passed the ordinance.
Of course, the end result was that the referendum was defeated after failing to acquire 10 percent of voters signatures. Santa Barbara County election officials tossed out 600 invalid signatures. Cannabis activists and supporters cheered at the announcement; the debate was finally over and a cannabis friendly ordinance was in effect, allowing business to commence.
But that wasn’t the case. In fact, as of this writing, the city has yet to issue even one permit. A buffer zone map created by Pannone, designed to give an idea of where cannabis businesses can operate, has become the latest obstacle for business owners. Pannone has declined to identify his markings or why they have been excluded. Additionally, the markings on the map continue to change, leaving investors to scratch their heads and hope that the buildings they lease that are in an approved area today don’t suddenly become leases to buildings outside of the approved area due to a change in Pannone’s maps. These changes continue to happen because of Pannone’s loose interpretation of defining what businesses can be classified as a “youth center,” which is another point of controversy.
As if the obstacles weren’t enough, cannabis businesses and advocates appear to be victims of discrimination from the City Clerk’s office. Lompoc City Clerk Stacy Haddon appears biased and her personal objections seem to be carrying over and affecting her duties to be impartial. On March 6, Haddon took it upon herself to provide the public with copies of a letter addressed to the Lompoc City Council from a dance studio in opposition to nearby cannabis businesses. She refused to print and make available a pro-cannabis email to the council that specifically requested to be part of public comment. In fact, the email wasn’t even provided to the council members until after the city attorney instructed her to do so. Perhaps it’s time to revert the city clerk position to an elected office similar to the county clerk-recorders position, to ensure that the non-partisan city clerk’s office remains neutral, objective, and impartial.
The problems in Lompoc are not generated from the dais, but rather from some of the city staff who refuse to do their duty by following the directives from elected policymakers.
Joe A. Garcia is a cannabis activist and the interim president and founder of the Lompoc Valley Cannabis Coalition. Send your thoughts to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.