Star Tribune
Minnesota cities face deadline for making cannabis rules
Recreational cannabis sales are coming to Minnesota, and cities have some big decisions to make: Where can the shops go? Can they be next to schools? Should the cities get in the game?
“It’s the hot topic,” said Plymouth Planning and Development Manager Chloe McGuire, who noted that it’s not often cities get to write rules for a new industry. “This is what we wait for as planners.”
When the Minnesota Legislature passed the law in 2023 that clears the way for recreational cannabis sales, it included a clause that allowed cities to adopt time-limited moratoriums that prevented retail shops from setting up within their borders. In some ways, it was a formality. Recreational sales can’t happen until the state finishes its rule-making process, which is still underway.
But some cities chose to hit pause as a way of adding “extra protection” so they could pivot if the state changed cannabis laws or launched the industry earlier than expected, said Kyle Hartnett, assistant research manager for the League of Minnesota Cities.
Many cities that adopted moratoriums have until the end of the year to lift them, leading to a flurry of fall meetings aimed at figuring out where recreational retailers can set up shop and which government officials will be tasked with running their compliance checks. State law also allows cities to limit the number of recreational cannabis stores, though they must allow at least one for every 12,500 residents.
“We can decide on number of licenses and zoning districts, but we do have to provide for it,” said McGuire, who is also on the executive committee for the Minnesota chapter of the American Planning Association. “We can’t ban it. That decision has been made for us.”
In larger, denser cities, such as Minneapolis, public discussions have focused on how to create a limited number of buffer zones around places where children spend time, without running afoul of the requirements to allow a minimum number of stores. In smaller cities, officials have also debated how to best regulate a new industry with limited staff.
A happy ending for a puppy who got a rough start. Long before the P!nk Summer Carnival Tour came to town, Graham Cracker, his mother and litter mates were abandoned in the Arkansas woods. Until a little girl named Autumn came along and started feeding the hungry mama as she nursed her babies under a rural deer stand. Eventually, Autumn’s mother realized what was happening and they called a local rescue, Jak’s, who called The Bond Between.
That’s the magic of animal rescue, Mairose said. It’s never just one person saving a puppy like Graham Cracker. It takes rescuers, fosters, volunteers and finally, someone to step up and adopt. But this story, she said, “started with Autumn.”
Graham Cracker the puppy has come a long way since a little girl named Autumn found him, his mother, and his litter mates abandoned in the Arkansas woods. Now the pup is going on tour with Pink.
The Bond Between took in mama dog, renamed Autumn in honor of their original rescuer, and all the puppies. Graham Cracker and one brother were the only ones left. So if you missed your chance to road trip with Graham Cracker, there’s always S’More.
S’More appears to have very fuzzy ears and a snoot made for bopping. And he’s just one of the pets waiting for a forever home, or a foster family, or a volunteer to swing by your local rescue or shelter or animal control to play with them.
“Volunteers are the lifeblood of this place,” said Mairose, who also needs fosters to take in pets temporarily while their owners deal with their own hard times, including homeless veterans and people escaping abusive relationships.
To quote Pink: “If you guys ever could foster doggies, it’s a really lovely thing to do.”
A 25-year-old Minneapolis man died following complications from a gunshot wound to the neck Wednesday, nearly three months after being shot in south Minneapolis.
Johnny Birzavi Sanchez Sanchez was struck by gunfire near 31st Street East and Clinton Avenue in the city’s Central neighborhood on July 25. Minneapolis police responded to the area around 1:30 a.m., where they rendered aid until paramedics arrived. Preliminary information indicated that shots were fired from a nearby vehicle at Sanchez, who was riding a motorcycle, striking him in the neck.
He was taken to HCMC and later transferred to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, where he died Oct. 16.
No arrests have been made in the case, a police spokesman confirmed Friday.
There have been 59 homicides so far this year, compared to 50 at this point in 2023, according to a Star Tribune database.
“We do not have enough beds to house people,” she said. “We cannot arrest our way out of this issue… What are we going to do with individuals who have been declared incompetent, and we have nowhere to send them?”
Justin Lewandowski, organizing director of the Hamline Midway Coalition and a former Beacon staffer, acknowledged that many participants had specific concerns about Kimball Court. He said the coalition has scheduled another meeting from 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 7 at Hamline University’s West Hall, room 240, to discuss the building.
Representatives from St. Paul Police, Beacon Interfaith and Jalali are expected to attend.
“We are angry. Who’s not angry? I would be worried if we weren’t upset about these things, but we have hope and we have strength in each other. Am I right?” Lewandowski asked.
Resident Teresa LePiane said all the other issues that the coalition touched on, including the desire for increasing vacant building fees, more affordable housing construction and public transit ridership, were legitimate neighborhood concerns. But she had expected a town hall about the most pressing problems of the neighborhood to have included the quality of life in and around Kimball Court.
“The quality of life in our neighborhood has gone downhill radically over the last couple years, since Beacon took over Kimball Court, and I hold them primarily responsible for the chaos, for the open drug use,” she said. “That’s a dereliction of their duty to us, and I feel like the City Council are not hearing us.”
