Hoboken Pot Sellers Are So Eager to Open, They Will Pay for Cops

[marmar]

(Bloomberg CityLab) Moments before two marijuana retailers got permission to set up legal sales in Hoboken, New Jersey, the city had a request: Would the new operators be willing to cover the costs of two police officers?

The applicants agreed — and said yes to other asks, including cash for affordable housing and the community food pantry. The sweeteners total at least $300,000 annually for Hoboken, a square-mile city one train stop from Manhattan.

Such freebies increasingly are being requested by cities and towns as millions of dollars in taxes from legal pot sales start to flow into the coffers of U.S. states. Businesses use them to speed the all-important licenses that can give them an early advantage over competitors in what’s expected to be a $43 billion industry by 2025. Towns and cities, meanwhile, use the extra money to promise boosted or broadened municipal services without dreaded property tax hikes.

In Davis, California, where almost one in three people live in poverty, the school district and a community group get as much as $50,000 each annually for drug education and public safety outreach. In Lowell, Massachusetts, one pot retailer had to pay for janitorial supplies, snow removal and catered meals for city workers. Elsewhere, the pacts, called host-community agreements, are intended to cover downtown landscaping, traffic improvements, library technology and more. .................(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-11/hoboken-s-deals-with-pot-sellers-include-cash-for-cops?srnd=premium

[tblue37]

1. Sounds rather like a shakedown to me.

[3Hotdogs]

2. Its fukkin Hoboken. Why the need for any cops?

[questionseverything]

3. Have the booze stores do the same

N/t