Way To Spell Relief

Just to catch up, i was worried about the planned take-over of the old Co-Op's Permit at 350 Divisadero...and decided to attend the hearing yesterday, to voice my concerns. I know it's fashionable to be stoic, to be apathetic...but i have this underlying faith in people...that if they hear the truth, they'll know what to do.

For all the sleepless worry, over the past several days actually, my fears were calmed a bit when i got to City Hall....outside the hearing room, the corridor was filled with familiar faces; neighbors and merchants-people i'd come to know and love through the years. They were there to express their feelings, too.  Not that they were opposed to a medical cannabis facility opening at the old site, but that they hadn't gone through the proper process.


          Compassion Heart  by rcw

It felt odd speaking against the place....me of all people!  (In case you haven't noticed i wear medical cannabis leaves in my hair and sing songs like "Smoke A Joint Right Now and Change The World) I'm not exactly a non-supporter!

But some things just go that way....ironic, but that's life.

To make a long story short, the new establishment has to get it's own permit.  The City saw things for what they were and insisted on proper procedures. I feel sorry for the gentlemen wanting to open up at 350 Divisadero...sounds like they had an alternative business plan, so my hope is they proceed with it.

My closing remark to the board was that there needs to be a place like the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative and Medical Cannabis Community Center because the patients, and the community needs it.

Okay....so i'm pretty tired for now...tired but relieved.  So for today, Fifty Five is the New Way To Spell Relief...as in J-U-S-T-I-C-E.

350 Revisited

Fifty-five is the New....Every thing old is new again.....Time is a New Page Turning...Each day new and different.

It's hard to write about what I want to write about today....somebody wants to take over the Co-Op's old Permit.  I am torn.  Torn between wanting the neighborhood to have a medical cannabis facility, the landlady to have a good, thriving business on her property and the opposite side of the coin....the new place wouldn't be functioning as the Co-Op. It wouldn't be housing the services, doing the community outreach and activism...quite simply, it wouldn't be the Co-Op.

To get anyone interested up to speed, The Co-Op was the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative and Medical Cannabis Community Center....it was opened from August 24,1999 through February 29, 2008.  The motto was Compassion, Hospitality and Service.

Nobody wanted to take over the permit while the place was open...oh, we got sort of an offer....on the very last night, one hour before we locked the doors for the last time.  It wasn't from anyone directly, and quite frankly it didn't seem to be the appropriate time or place and I wasn't willing to work through a third party. When they took me aside and made the offer I just shook my head "no."  I was not interest in money, I was only interested in keeping the place opened for the patients....functioning as they needed it.

After leaving the person in the front office I ran to the bathroom, got sick then cried my eyes out. Why on earth couldn't anyone understand? 

As time passed, the hope for reopening got dimmer and dimmer, until at last the Permit expired.
Or so I thought.

If the new establishment was going to function as described in the Permit documents that were accepted and approved by the City and County of San Francisco, then I'd have no argument with their claim to be the Co-Op.  After all, part of the Co-Op's function is to be a legacy...passed on to patients for patients.  But if the new establishment is not going to fulfill the mission statement of the Co-Op, then it is not the Co-Op and can not therefore be claiming to be the Co-Op.  It really is that simple.

Even before we closed back in 2008, patients were calling me, asking where, when and how we could re-open...they still do to this day.  When they ask if the new place is going to be like the old one, I can only say that I don't know.

So I'm torn...torn completely down the middle and my heart is breaking.  The Landlady deserves the best....and I finally got to meet with the guys opening the place and I know them. They're good people.
But they don't want to function like the original Co-Op.

I will not sleep tonight....

So what does Fifty-Five mean for today? 350 Revisited, I guess....and the hope that some day there really is a Medical Cannabis Patients' Community Center once again, only bigger and better.

Sound-The Boomer Beat

 Fractal Landscape by rcw

There've been a lot of changes in the world since our generation burst on the scene! Some might argue that each age has it's own version of the stuff, but I'd beg to venture that back in the day....from the early  '60s on through, ours was a generation inundated with change.  We had a different word for it though, we called it "Revolution."

To many, everything we did at the time was part of the revolution-from our lingo to our fashion, and of course let us not forget  the music.  The music was the pulse, the driving force behind our actions.  Music gave our questions more than a voice, it gave them volume and at the same time a passkey to enter places where our thoughts would have normally not been permitted. 

Case in point: "Blowin' In The Wind"   Tell me where that song has not been accepted?  I'm sure there are a few, but during a time when much of what we did was considered subversive, "Blowin' In The Wind" was an ice breaker.  Sure worked in my Generation Gapped family!  It was one of the first songs any of us kids learned to play on the guitar; my brother's high school class had it played during their commencement ceremony...and it's one that continues in rotation at family reunion jam sessions to this day.

By the same token, I just about scared my mother half to death the first time she heard Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." Yep...had to keep real low key on the psychedelic stuff, but she sure loved the Beatles...even after they gave up on the matching suits and relatively short hair.  Go figure.

Our generation's soundtrack is phenomenal! All of our music speaks of a time of exploration and passion. 
It really bothers me when some people think we were just unwashed, spoiled children.  Not everybody lived off their allowances while attending love ins.

Okay, okay....so there were a few love ins, it was 1968.  What can I say?
But we also worked for peace  civil rights and women's rights, went to war,  opened food co-ops, learned about the environment and so much more.  As I said, we had a lot going on!  No wonder our music was so great!

If you get the chance, go pull out some of the oldies and give a few of those gems a listen! 
And don't forget.....
Rock On!