pages: CityCouncil/2022-05-10.pdf, 9
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CityCouncil | 2022-05-10 | 9 | Outlined his cannabis company's formation and plans to move the headquarters to Alameda; stated the proposed tax would put the plans in doubt; urged the Council to vote no on the tax proposal: Scott Palmer, Kiva Confections. Stated that she took the survey and was fairly cautious in what she would and would not support because she was not sure where the information was going; the emphasis seemed to be on the funding mechanism; she is a values voter; showing things will help with sea level rise and climate change is critical; encouraged more community engagement: Jennifer Rakowski, Alameda. Stated that she was priced out of Alameda; discussed the market collapse in the cannabis industry; stated the industry cannot absorb an additional tax; the tax would be paid by patients and consumers: encouraged having stakeholder lead process and a voluntary tax agreement: Nara Dahlbacka. Stated agencies throughout California are currently reducing or eliminating local excise cannabis taxes, including Humboldt, Lake, Monterey and Sonoma counties and the cities of Bellflower, Berkeley, Desert Hot Springs, Long Beach, Oakland, Palm Springs, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and many others; the tax being proposed would only further harm the viability of cannabis businesses and drive more people to the black market; discussed his business: Aaron Kraw, Park Social. Stated that he is a cannabis union worker and opposes the cannabis tax; discussed jobs being jeopardized: Zachery Gilmore, United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Councilmember Knox White stated that he is very unsupportive of the cannabis tax, which would be problematic at this point in time; after the cannabis industry has matured and stabilized, some form of tax can be considered, but it probably will not be in the next five years; the research is pretty clear; there would be a negative impact on businesses; the business license tax is similar with everything businesses are going through; the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is probably a little premature given that the travel industry has not rebounded in any meaningful way; the TOT could come back in a few years when the economy has shifted; he shares concerns about how razor thin the two-thirds support is for an infrastructure bond, but thinks it should be probed a little bit further; the poll found that people were concerned about traffic safety, traffic congestion, homelessness and housing costs; he hopes Council could make some kind of minimum commitment to looking at supporting replacement of Emma Hood, which is probably going to be shutting down sometime this summer or fall; he would be very open to staff coming back with alternative funding suggestions if the pool is not a good fit for an infrastructure bond. Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft concurred with Councilmember Knox White; stated a measure is jeopardized if voters are not given what they say they would support; there are other ways to support Emma Hood; the public needs a better understanding of what an infrastructure bond would look like; she would like to see TOT explored; Alameda's TOT Continued May 3, 2022 Meeting Alameda City Council May 10, 2022 4 | CityCouncil/2022-05-10.pdf |