Chilango’s Going to Pot

Motorists who parked their cards Sunday morning in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parking lot  were surprised to find letters under their windshields when they left the 9:30 mass, urging all to attend the Thursday (March 9) meeting of the Highlands Land Use Board to oppose the planned Pot shop at what is now Chilango’s at the corner of Bay Ave and Seadrift Ave.

While VeniVidiScripto certainly not only respects but certainly admires  everyone’s right to speech, we do wonder…..where the heck have you been?

This blog has been reporting on the Pot ordinance, requests, and approval of Pot retail licenses since last year. While VeniVidiScripto can be, and is,  critical of the governing body when they are wrong, this is not one of those times.  While they may not have been as public as they could be, they are certainly not in any violation of any Sunshine Law.  Nor is the Land Use Board.

Thursday night’s meeting at the Community Center at 7 p.m. has been advertised, is the regular meeting of the Land Use Board, and in fact, when the last approval was granted to ANOTHER Pot hopeful last month, the hearing on this one was on the agenda and put off because of lack of time.

So while I admire everyone going to the meeting, and go you must, since the meetings are not offered on ZOOM and nor are accommodations offered for the disabled or impaired…..it has been properly advertised, it seems.

To those who placed the notices under windshields, it appears to be a case of NIMBY….Not In My Back Yard!  You weren’t there to object when the idea of cannabis business in Highlands was approved. You weren’t there when another Pot license was approved. Where were you when the Cannabis Commission said it would act on one license for the borough?  Those issues weren’t in your back yard. Now you plaster flyers on cars because this one apparently IS IN YOUR BACK YARD! So now you want everyone who went to Mass Sunday morning to come out  and fight for YOUR BACK YARD.

This is how the town and other towns got to where they are in the first place. Were you there when the council decided the new borough hall had to go up on the hill on the corner of that same church property where you stuck your notices under car windshields?

Were you there when they said the building would cost $10 million and are only now finding it’s going to be a heck of a lot more?

Where were you there when not enough people filed for election to the board of education to fill all the seats?

Were you there when they introduced the new classes in the schools? Or cut back on class time at Henry Hudson?

Were you there when the borough sold that piece on land between two restaurants and blocked off access to the Shrewsbury River?

Were you there when the borough just subdivided another piece of borough property ostensibly to clear a title for one person’s land sold but certainly with other plans in mind?

Were you there when not only Highlands, but the two neighboring towns were seeking input on the question of regionalizing education with Sea Bright and getting more educational opportunity and money for the borough?

Do you vote in every election?

But you want US there because you don’t want Pot in YOUR BACK YARD.

You’re probably correct not all Highlands business is easy to find and follow. Even searching minutes of meetings is a challenge, since minutes from 2017 are a heck of a lot easier to find than minutes from 2020. Or even the agenda for upcoming meetings. But they are there. Let the governing body you don’t like how that’s handled either. They won’t change unless they know you want them to.

VeniVidiScripto probably will not attend Thursday’s meeting…not because of lack of interest but rather because the borough does not provide ZOOM,  an easy, inexpensive and available  remedy that would meet the needs of my disability.  But I will listen to the recording. I will communicate with the land use secretary, a wise, hardworking  employee who always makes herself available and always answers questions.  And VeniVidiScripto will have a story as soon as possible after the meeting.

Good luck to you and your cause Thursday night. Learn more about what it’s all about first. Go to the Borough of  Highlands page, scroll to Land Use Board, click on Agenda with Packet, and read the pages long application complete with drawings and recommendations. For this license.  Know that the Chief of Police, as well as both the mayor and a councilwoman are all on the Land Use Board. Then attend the meeting and be heard during the public portion. They really do listen.  While you are at it, better check the state Cannabis Commission now and then as well. They’re about to approve at least one cannabis retail license for the borough.

And win or lose, let it be a lesson to you to get more involved in your town even when it doesn’t look like it infringes on your back yard.. The entire town is your back yard.