UNION CITY, Calif. – Residents in Union City are banding together to prevent a cannabis dispensary from taking root in their neighborhood amid fears that the pot shop would bring more traffic, crime and violence to their quiet community.
Embarc Cannabis wants to open a marijuana dispensary at the Cherrywood Center along Decoto Road, but neighborhood organizers have gathered more than 2,000 signatures to snuff out the plan.
“From our bedroom door to this shopping center is 36 feet,” said Mike Garcia, whose backyard is directly behind the back wall of the strip mall. “This is just not right. We don’t need this.”
Over the objections of neighbors, the city council voted to approve moving forward with the permit process in July. Since then, the fight to stop the plans to open the third recreational pot dispensary in Union City has picked up speed.
Dozens of yard signs are on display along Cherrywood neighborhood streets and outside of homes with the words “no recreational marijuana shops near our kids” and “enough.”
“It’s absolutely a bad idea,” said resident Lakshmi Pati. “Something happens [there], they can jump into our backyard, so it’s a big, big problem for us.”
Residents said that with James Logan High School close