By Scott Etkin
A new law took effect in New York City on July 23, prohibiting landlords from “knowingly” renting their retail spaces to illegal sellers of “cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, tobacco products, or illicit cannabis.” As for landlords who already have such tenants, once they are warned, they are considered “knowing,” and could be subject to fines, unless their tenant ceases its illegal activities or they begin eviction proceedings.
According to the new law, known as Local Law 107, when an inspection by the Office of Cannabis Management, NYPD, or another agency finds that a smoke shop is selling unlicensed products, they will provide written notice to the property owner. If a subsequent search finds another violation, the landlord will be fined $5,000. Each subsequent violation will be a penalty of $10,000. The landlord starting eviction proceedings will be considered as complying with the rule.
District 6 City Council Member Gale Brewer co-sponsored and voted in support of the bill, which passed overwhelmingly (48 in favor, 2 absent and 1 abstain). The bill’s primary sponsor was Council Member Lynn Schulman, Chair of the Council’s Health Committee.
In recent years, authorities have struggled to rein in the proliferation of unlicensed smoke shops. There are approximately 19 of them on the Upper West Side, according to a search on Google Maps. (There are no legal dispensaries on the Upper West Side.)
“Everybody agrees it’s a problem,” said Sam Goldsmith, a spokesperson for Brewer, in a call with WSR. Brewer’s office has worked closely with law enforcement on a series of raids that led to seizures and fines, as well as a crackdown on 11 smoke shops, including five on the UWS.
Local Law 107 appears to show how city officials are willing to try a variety of tactics to see what makes a dent in the persistence of smoke shops proffering illegal goods. “It’s yet to be determined what the outcome will be, but there’s no reason not to throw any good idea at the problem,” said Goldsmith. “It’s really been challenging. We’ve been looking for creative solutions and we hope that this bill is extremely effective.”
Why not ban them from 1000 feet from schools? That’s one way to stop this awful new addition to the city.
Liquor stores are all over the UWS and less than 1,000 feet from schools, maybe we should “ban” them too lol IMHO alcohol is worse than pot. “kids” will find access to whatever they want if they really want it. Here is a thought maybe the parents should take some responsibility, Why should adults not have access to LEGAL recreation because of a few precious “children” LMAO
This makes no sense. They’re already banned, we don’t need another way to make them illegal…
Already banned and not enforced. What’s the chance of the new law being enforced.? City of yes. Do whatever you please with no consequences.
I don’t agree it’s a problem. Leave them alone as long as they’re not selling to kids. More than 2.5 years after legalization there still isn’t one legal shop north of Union Square and there are only 23 in the entire state because the State completely botched the rollout. And now a judge may declare the whole process unconstitutional because of the State’s preference for licensing formal criminals over everyone else.
reply to Sidney Owl:
“licensing former criminals” is a clever way to disparage what is a good idea. Actually, the law gives preferences to people who suffered criminal penalties under the state’s outmoded anti-drug laws.
It might, in fact, be a hard plan to implement,. But simply calling it “licensing former criminals” gives a harsh and inaccurate spin to the facts. It is an attempt to make restitution to people whose lives were unfairly ruined.
prior convictions for many drug offenses have been expunged. So these people are no longer “former criminals.”
I agree; no sense in legalizing it and then only allowing for a few licenses.
Try getting a liquor license. Why make the process for weed any easier?
Well said. The State rollout is a silly to say the least
You clearly don’t live on the same block as one of these shops where it’s a round the clock parade of peddling, loitering , loud music playing, and the dealing of much more illicit drugs. I’ve seen it all.
Same could be said of a gyro truck parked 24/7 in front of your building. Same issues as above and deprives city of parking fees, the ability to clean the streets, allow the tenants to breath clean air / open their windows due to both smell/residue from cooking as well as constant sound of motor which is well over noise permitted after 10pm. I don’t believe the pay any taxes to the city on food either do they??
I’m on 85th and Ams. There’s 4 within 2 blocks of me. I have not noticed any issue FROM them.
Oh, there’s plenty of noise, trash, loitering etc — from Jacob’s Pickle, and the Tiki Bar on Ams. , the bodegas.
those weed shops are expensive. A joint is $15! The only people shopping at those weed stores are professionals, well heeled tourists and college students. The shops have been there 12-18 months. All the problems u list predate them.
That’s an exaggeration, I live on Columbus in the the low 80s and I’ve never seen what you described . People loiter and pedal outside the cvs on 86th more than they do the smoke shops around the area . So what ? Ban the cvs now ? That logic doesn’t make sense. The responses of people being irrationally against weed for strictly personal reasons is out of hand .If they do manage to stop these stores , sales would just go street level again . I don’t know what some peoples end game is here . Actually I do , complain and requests bans and massive law enforcement on anything they don’t agreee with it just because it rubs them the wrong way .
I’m a teacher. It’s obvious someone is selling to kids. Seems to me the overall message is: go ahead and use it, it doesn’t harm you. But time will show this to be bad public policy.
People were selling pot to kids in the 80’…60’s…really? I’d worry more about the fentanyl in the “adderal” or “oxy” they are scoring😟
Kids have always had access to buying weed on the UWS.
Stores make no difference in access.
At Least a store front is safer than a street corner where we would get mugged.
Teens Always had access means since I’m a teen in the 1970’s and it continued when my kids were teens here the early 2000’s on the UWS.
I mean the bodegas on the UWS have been selling weed on the side for a long time.
Of course the stores make a difference. As a parent I can assure that they do. It wasn’t like that before the stores opened up. There’s always access for those who is looking, but now it is also a temptation and a bad example in addition to much easier access.
Do you feel similarly about the liquor and wine stores you pass??
I much more often see people step outside of the smoke shops and smoke than step outside of a liquor store and drink.
Liquor stores risk losing their license if they sell to minors. Weed stores have no license to lose. See the difference?
If only New York would get the legal shops opened, they have the potential of putting these illegal shops out of business.
Thank goodness some common sense. I’m one who is ok with the legalization of marijuana, but it has to be done in a regulatory manner no different than stores that sell alcohol. The fact that the city has allowed these stores that are selling a narcotic (marijuana just like alcohol is a narcotic) with reckless impunity is an outrage. The city would never let a proprietor open a store selling scotch or champagne without a license, but for some reason the city is allowing smoke shops selling their narcotics with impunity. It has to be stopped.
It’s clearly doable. And alcohol is a great example. I dont see kids drinking before school and during lunch, they’re smoking weed.
Keep shittijg them down, confiscate the products and they’ll stop. Make it unprofitable.
Agree! we need to ask ourselves : what’s up with this??? And, why is it so easy .. Something is very wrong here that others of us are forced. to suck it in when we have no desire and it makes us sick to the stomach . One has to wonder what’s up with this lack of guidelines as both alcohol and cigarettes have .. I literally smell it all day everywhere .. it’s sad it’s destroying the air quality for some of us who prefer not to be on this bandwagon of no rules for this nasty habit .. It’s recreational! it should have guidelines as to where and where not. there is no where to go for a free area of no pot smelling walk 🙁 🥲
What about the cannabis shop at 150 West 72 , between Columbus and Amsterdam? The Green Cleaners sign is still there, but there’s no dry cleaning for sure.
I recently had my first (only) experience at a cannabis dispensary in MA. It was a very regulated process, our driver license’s recorded, done to prevent a shopping spree at other dispensaries. It was a dispensary not a smoke shop; a very organized and pleasant experience. If MA can do it, why is NY having problems?
Why you’d want any organization scanning, and one would assume storing your driver license every time you purchase a recreational good is beyond me.
Have your heard of anyone complaining about their shopping experience at the smoke shops in the City ?
You’re ok with having to do the same just to get into most NYC buildings?
Because New York wants the only legal weed stores to be with politically connected nonprofits.
The dispensaries downtown are similar. Scan your license, select your preferred product from a touchscreen, pick it up at the counter — and employees standing by if you have questions or need recommendations. Very organized and not at all harmful to the neighborhood — you’d never know it was selling something that a few years back was illegal. Very low impact. It’s just a shame you have to go downtown for it.
Plus it supports NY farms.
Glad that this is what they are focusing on, while the streets and subways are full of crime and homeless people.
I was just informed both shops one on 72nd St and 69th and Broadway are illegal all the sell is Marijuana they have no license and they feel the fact that its legal to smoke its also legal to sell and they wont go to jail. The shops look legitimate as they sell nothing else but marijuana and accessories.
like what a mismanaged mess
The City cannot get anything right these
days. i.e. our dangerous streets motorbikes
etc.
agree! what’s up with this? everything is unsettling — not safe .. not fair .. no rules .. no guidelines. it’s chaos — free for all do whatever you want. Today on Colombus motorcycles were flying down the bicycycle lanes. Everything is a big MESS .
What I find really disturbing is that I am in Midtown and on the UES and on the UWS and the only place I see these bikes flying through the red light is here on the UWS.
I saw several motorcycles, doing wheelies running the light at W. 79th St., and Broadway, and I called 911 and said they were headed South.
Two hours later, I got a callback from the police and they asked me if they were still there.
Broadway is being used as Indy 500 for these motorcycles. And nothing is being done.
Criminal prosecution and civil forfeiture should be an enforcement option; the level of fines is inadequate. Businesses (and landlords) are able to just calculate that as a cost of doing business and proceed apace.
It’s overly simplistic to explain away large fines as a calculation of a cost of doing business. You’re also missing the part about the seizure of the products. No business can stay viable when faced with regular forfeiture of merchandise and hefty fines.
This is ridiculous. Fine the store owners and close them down. The landlords should not be policing what their renters sell.
Great idea, thank you Gale! We can put those fines to good use. As Trump has proved, no one is above the law..
Will they also be fining th owners of these illegal establishments,
It’s bonkers to use landlords to patrol for illegal weed sales. It takes months or years and thousands of dollars to evict a commercial tenant. I don’t see this law making commercial eviction easier.
Why does the city not process an automatic eviction?
Why should those landlords go to the head of the line when other landlords are trying to evict non-paying tenants? The process has to be fair for everyone.
Non-paying tenants are violating a civil law. Unlicensed weed shops are violating a criminal law. I think the latter should take precedence.
This is not a criminal law matter despite the nature of these shops being unlicensed. Local Law 107 is part of the NYC Administrative Code and provides for civil fines upon issuance of a civil summons. This is a NYC licensing civil violation, not a NYS criminal violation. Besides, there is no precedence in criminal vs. civil law.
If a restaurant serves alcohol before it receives a liquor license is the building owner held responsible? No. The State enforces it’s rules against the restaurant owner. It seems we keep burdening landlords with more and more of the burden of government’s function to address society’s needs. Affordable housing is in short supply. Instead of building more housing (OK the City is dismal at building and operating housing) or incentivizing the creation of new affordable housing, populist legislators cap rents, limit recovery for necessary building improvements, require owners to accept tenants without being able to assess their credit and whether they can afford to pay the rent or have a history of non-payment, then require owner to keep a non-paying tenant in the rental for 6-months to a year while the owner pays legal fees to remove the non-paying tenant, with owner’s only recourse to apply the security deposit which the law limits to one month’s rent. If unlicensed smoke shops are such a problem for society, then government should enforce the rules against the person failing to get the license. If society needs more affordable housing then society should shoulder the burden, not private building owners. It may be popular for politicians to court voters by vilifying the “greedy” landlord, many owners are small business, owners are one of the largest taxpayers that help fund City programs, and the provide a product and service (housing and management) that the City is incapable of doing on its own. It’s time for our political leaders to abandon the populist victimhood and grievance ideology that keeps them in power and work with owners to find real and sustainable solutions for our issues.
Why are you conflating the problems of residential properties with those of commercial properties?
With respect to the latter, unless commercial landlords can be disincentivized to lease properties to shady, illegal (but profitable) businesses they will happily turn a blind eye while the cash flows in.
The problem has multiple fronts, and has to be addressed as such.
Many/most UWS buildings including those with cannabis shops are residential AND commercial. Commercial on the ground floor and apartments above.
Good point.
Unfortunately this is toothless. Fine them however much you want but smart landlords already have it in the lease that the fines get passed on to the storefront owner. Landlords or their lawyers are smart and would have taken precautions against this. The fines will do nothing. The only way to stop this is to actually padlock the door and not allow entry, which they don’t seem to want to do yet.
Landlords also have a clause in leases that say no marijuana or other illegal activity too and nothing related to marijuana or other illegal activities. Brokers who represent smoke shop owners often try to spin what the store owners want to do in a very favorable light. Some of these smoke shop owners have chains of stores and some of them are actual legit stores and that’s what they tell the landlords they intend on doing.
I wish our representatives would help these local businesses navigate the red tape so they can get the licenses they need instead of further punishing them for Albany’s bungling. We need to enforce the laws but we also need to make it possible for people who want to obey the law to actually do so.
The stuff they sell in these illegal shops, unlike wine stores, have not been quality checked or vetted in any way. Just like street drugs. The problem is that they give the appearance of selling properly vetted products. I have even seen signs on the doors suggesting their products are legal. But it is false advertising. Shut them down. And hurry up on opening more legit dispensaries with quality products where you actually know what you are buying.
Legalizing pot has just been one disaster after another, let alone all the health risks. No one sought this through.
All Albany and NYC saw was tax revenue.
yet they are not getting tax revenue until they license the shops!
If we don’t crack down on the illegal pot stores, no one is going to try to do anything according to the law. Illegal pot stores hurt the folks who went to jail for pot possession and who are trying to make something of their lives.
It is not just teenagers patronizing these establishments. I know a lot of adults who are buy their pot at these illegal pot stores. If you want a civil society, then you have abide by the laws, all the laws, not just the ones you like.
I agree: Do not punish landlords for their tenants’ actions.
And while I am ranting, where are the police? I cannot remember the last time I saw a patrolman in this neighborhood. I see the patrol cars in front of the 20th Precinct but do they patrol the streets? We need the police to enforce the laws. Why are they so elusive?
Is there any benefit to the broad (non-medical) legalization of pot?
The shop shown in this story is just around the corner from my place. The owner had the brass to open up their shop across the street from Gale Brewer’s office, and they’re getting more than their share of scrutiny. They don’t seem to cause any problems. I see loads of respectable-looking people going in an out. I’m not a fan of cannabis, but it seems crazy that the city has botched the rollout of legal stores. What did they think would happen?