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Owner of Proposed South Side Pot Clinic Wants More Time for Outreach

By Andrea V. Watson | August 21, 2015 7:05pm | Updated on August 24, 2015 9:38am
 CEO Lester Hollis of Harborside Illinois Grown Medicine  will meet with the city on Nov. 20.
CEO Lester Hollis of Harborside Illinois Grown Medicine will meet with the city on Nov. 20.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

CALUMET HEIGHTS — A request for more time was granted by the City of Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday to a medical marijuana company that wants to do business in Calumet Heights.

Attorney James Vasselli, representing Harborside Illinois Grown Medicine, said that the California-based marijuana dispensary needed more time to "get additional outreach done."

Chairman Jonathan Swain granted the continuance. He told Vasselli to have everything in order at the next meeting on Nov. 20.

Of those who attended the hearing, Swain estimated that they were about twice as many opposed to the dispensary than those supporting it. 

“We just don’t want it,” said Robert Douglas, a South Side resident who attended the hearing.

But the alderman whose ward the dispensary, 1111 E. 87th St., would fall under said she supported the proposal. “Today, my community is here,” said Ald. Michele Harris (8th). “I stand with my community.”

The issue has been contentious amongst residents living in Calumet Heights and neighboring Chatham and Avalon Park. Eight Ward Accountability Coalition, a group opposed to the dispensary, held a meeting last month to slam the proposal for two main reasons: quality of life and quality of ownership. The group said they invited Harborside representatives and Ald. Michele Harris (8th), but neither showed up.

A Harborside spokeswoman said the CEO did not attend because he believed he would not get a fair chance to address the group's critiques. Harris later said she did not attend due to a funeral.

Chatham Business Association held a meeting a month later that touted the economic benefits that the dispensary expects to bring to the area, including jobs and business partnerships. Harborside director of operations Andrew Deangelo fought back against critics who pointed out that Deangelo's brother Steven had pleaded guilty to felony drug charges, saying that Steven was not involved in Harborside and that the conviction happened many years ago.

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