The writer hosts a 910 AM radio show on Saturday from 10 a.m.-noon.
By Adolph Mongo
Once again, too many Detroit residents will miss out on the opportunity to get in on the marijuana business. The revised ordinance that allows just 100 new marijuana shops in Detroit doesn't go far enough, or adequately address obstacles African Americans face getting into the business -- specifically, access to capital and the land designated for marijuana use.
And what James Tate and other Detroit City Council members are saying sounds like the same old bull bureaucrats have been peddling to Detroiters for 50 years: “Trust us!”
It doesn’t take a genius to know most of the land has already been purchased and people with deep pockets outside of the city will profit most.
I am old enough to remember when the state of Michigan got into the numbers business. Street numbers originated with African Americans, paid family bills, sent Black children to college and served as banks to provide loans to residents denied money by financial institutions because of the color of their skin.
(Photo: DepositPhotos)
When creating the lottery, state officials claimed Michigan school districts were going to receive millions of extra dollars from lottery proceeds, and yet several decades later, predominantly Black school districts in Flint, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights fell by the wayside. Benton Harbor, Pontiac and Detroit schools are on the brink of collapse.
While we keep debating the issue of who will own a shop, other cities like Royal Oak, Walled Lake, Ferndale and Hazel Park are moving forward. Detroit lags. After two years of handwringing, the city late last month just started accepting applications for some recreational marijuana licenses. Think of all the tax revenue and business opportunities we've lost in Detroit.
It took a casino to be built on the Detroit River in Windsor for Detroit to jump aboard, and the city didn’t get that right.
Remember when Detroit had the chance to make African Americans owners or part-owners of three casinos? Former Mayor Dennis Archer squashed that dream. He said that the late Don Barden, who already owned two casinos, was not qualified and that he already made enough money. “I am not going to make another Black man richer,” Archer said at the time.
What about MGM Grand and Marian Ilitch, owners of two of Detroit casinos? Do they have too much money? And now the city council wants Black folks to buy another bill of goods that this ordinance is good for the city. It’s not.
Let’s look at the ordnance. One hundred retail licenses will be issued in phases. A lottery system will be used, and half the licenses are reserved for social equity applicants who were disadvantaged from archaic marijuana laws. People I have talked to think the lottery is going to be fixed. One hundred shops is not enough and the social equity clause will be challenged in court.
Instead of worrying about court challenges, city council should start over by lifting the cap of the number of stores allowed and to work with those applicants who lacked the funding to insure they can get in on the riches that will be coming to Detroit. I am not surprised at the city council’s slow pace and indecisiveness; remember it took years before they even allowed food trucks and hot dogs stands.
So, here we go again, only we’re talking about an industry that brings in billions of dollars.
