Cannabis Defense Coalition has opened an office in Seattle

[eridani]

Cannabis Defense Coalition has opened an office in Seattle's South Park neighborhood:

Cannabis Resource Center
8456 Dallas Ave South
Seattle, WA 98108

See a photo at: http://cdc.coop/crc

The building is an old bar (the notorious County Line) slated for eminant domain destruction (if and) when the South Park Bridge is replaced. At 5500 square feet, the building is huge, and awesome to behold. An old feed store built in the '40s, it has 16 foot ceilings with big timber beams.

We turned the old pool table room into our main work space. The back bar area is being prepared for event space, classroom space, meeting space, etc. There is a full kitchen and cafe in the front, which we plan to clean and fix up after the event space is complete.

Thus far we've received positive response from almost every single person in the neighborhood who has stopped by. If they're not specifically excited about pot activists moving in, they are excited that *someone* is using the building for *something*. Some folks ask if we'll be "getting rid of the drug problem here," and others think we are "the place down the street," which is what they call the Wormhole church.

Lots of our neighbors have already stopped in. So has the local fire inspector, who was baffled by the cement block fencing our landlord placed, limiting access to the back. The King County Sheriff's Office
stopped by last night and refused to file a report after some guy stole a payphone from inside, along with about forty bucks in quarters. When asked for some proof of ownership -- other than a large key ring -- the guy claimed that he "took this route over from somebody" and started swearing at us before leaving in a hurry.

The KCSO experience left us a little wanting, as the cops told us that we don't know how pay phones work, and that unless we can prove we own everything in our building, they believe the phone-taking guy has every right to take a phone he admitted to not owning. They told us we don't know how the law works, that we need to take the issue up with our landlord, and then chastised us for calling the police to deal with our "personal issues."

As if that wasn't enough, when asked if there was any recording devices on their persons or vehicles, they responded "are you kidding me?" and "so I guess when you wanna make your bullshit, trumped-up complaint against us you can say whatever you want to say, 'cause I can see that's where this is going." Seriously, see it here:

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEdSqnX63kY

So we're meeting the neighbors, and our public servants. Heh. This morning, a woman from King County DDES -- the permit people -- stopped by. Ben was outside, and tried to speak with her, but she simply walked past him and into our building. When he asked if she would come speak to him, she became agitated, saying things like "are you denying me access to this building?!" and "I can have a stop work order issued on this place." A video camera and several DDES calls later, we came to a calmer point in our relationship, and we were able to explain that we have only removed a false, drop ceiling at this point, that we haven't modified the structure of shell of the building, the HVAC or the electrical, and that we believe none of the work we are doing requires a permit.

Tomorrow we'll meet again with the DDES folks to see whether we need a "change of use" permit to turn a bar and cafe, which included an office, into a cafe and office. And we'll see what permits -- if any -- we need to clean up the back bar for meeting, classroom and event space. Having been down to the King County administration building, and having spoken to six different people from various departments who wanted little to do with us, and said we need no licenses or permits from them -- including DDES -- we're anxious to do everything by the books, and not have county personnel come screaming at our door at 9:30 a.m. Heh.

That's life at the new CDC headquarters in South Park! The CRC is staffed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you wanna check the place out, stop on by.

Cannabis Resource Center
8456 Dallas Ave South
Seattle, WA 98108

[eridani]

1. Lots of projects proposed

We are looking for regular volunteers to staff the Cannabis Resource Center.
Ideally, volunteers would be able to commit to a one-day-a-week schedule, like
coming in every Tuesday from 2-6, or every Friday from 10-2. At this nascent
stage, here's what we need:


* Office managers. Open or close the building, provide presence, manage
volunteers, chat with the interesting folks who stop by, etc. Must be a CDC
member to wield a building key.


* Potline workers. Answer the phones, and work on case tracking. Most questions
are redundant and easy to answer, and some are not. Answer the easy questions,
seek help on the hard ones. For arrest and prosecution reports, fill out an
orange WSP Intake Form. For cases we are tracking, touch base with the patients
involved to get their next court date.


* Office organizers. We desperately need help organizing our office. We are
getting stuff done here, but many of us feel scattered, and like things are
getting lost in the shuffle of paper and stuff around our new office. We need
office systems, and feng shui, and a run to the office supply store.


* Special projects people. Beyond our core, "routine" work of case tracking, we
have a lot of "special projects" that require dedicated volunteers to bring to
fruition. The two biggest ones right now are the Can Filter Project and the
Cafe Project:


** Can Filter Project. With the CFP, we hope to sell charcoal filters and
Advanced Nutrients products to medical marijuana patients, in response to a
rogue Seattle DEA agent who has, through threat, caused most local grow stores
to stop carrying such products. We need some bodies to hook up a wholesale
account or two with folks who can get us the stuff we hope to sell.


** Cafe Project. We are opening a cafe. As soon as we get the necessary
permits. And as soon as we get our food ordering systems in order. And as soon
as we have enough volunteer labor (customer tips go to the vollies) to
make it happen. Some bodies have to take the lead on this to make it fruit.


Also, if you happen to know a (corrugated plastic) sign printer who can give us
a good deal, do tell. And if you can obtain a cheap stage curtain around 8x12'
to seperate the cold event space from the warmer office, our winter selves will
love you.