By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – Task force members studying the possibility of allowing recreational marijuana sales in Bloomington said Thursday night they want more information before making recommendations to the city council.
The panel was meeting for the first time, and has less than three weeks to reach consensus on what they agree is a complex issue.
The initial meeting came three days after Decatur’s city council opted out of the chance to permit and perhaps collect taxes on recreational cannabis sales.
The discussion also came only only days before Normal’s Town Council is scheduled to hold a work session on the topic Monday at 5 p.m.
Olivia Butts is a Black Lives Matter activist and teaches at Illinois State University. Task force members chose her as vice chair.
“We don’t want to miss out on some of the opportunities that could be great for the city, could be great for folks here who’ve been disproportionately affected by this in the past. So I would lean into this thinking of it as more of an opportunity in what we can make out of what the state has given to us here in Bloomington,” said Butts.
President of the Bloomington-Normal Chapter of the NAACP, Linda Foster, is the task force chair.
“We’re going to ride this thing out. We’re going to see what’s out there and see how impactful it can be for our community,” Foster said.
Assistant Police Chief Greg Scott is one of several task force members taking a “neutral” stance. He wants to see crime data in communities with existing recreational marijuana dispensaries.
“Has crime generally gone up, gone down in those areas? Those types of questions might help us know what kind of zone we would want to put it in,” said Scott.
Task force member and McLean County Chamber of Commerce executive John Walsh questioned whether it’s the city government’s role to ban what the state has determined to be a legal business.
“Looking at it through the free market lens, the State of Illinois has decided that recreational cannabis is a legal business. Is it a community’s job to prohibit a legal business? I’m not sure,” said Walsh, who is the chamber’s manager of government and public affairs.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
