Photo Credit: TAPinto Roxbury
Photo Credit: TAPinto Roxbury
Roxbury nonagenarian Robert Kluska asks township council about its resistance to legal cannabis storesPhoto Credit: TAPinto Roxbury
By Fred J. Aun
Last UpdatedDecember 20, 2023 at 11:22 AM
ROXBURY, NJ – Robert Kluska - one of Roxbury’s oldest, but most civic-minded, residents - thinks the (much younger) members of the Roxbury Mayor and Council should stop acting like old fogies when it comes to cannabis.
A regular attendee at town council meetings, the 90-year-old Korean War veteran made his point at a recent meeting. During the public session, Kluska got up, walked to the microphone and pushed the politicians about their positions on pot.
“It looks like it’s the wave of the future,” said the Ledgewood resident, questioning the council about its apparent resistance to supporting a woman’s recent efforts to open a cannabis dispensary in Roxbury. “I’ve been thinking about this young lady who was presenting her idea to have a cannabis sales place in Landing … So I’m wondering: Is the council looking forward to having somebody (like that)?"
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Kluska was referring to Roxbury resident Ariel Mizrahi’s repeated appearances before the council earlier this year during which she unsuccessfully tried to get the governing body to rescind its 2021 ordinance prohibiting the cultivation and sale of cannabis in the township.
Mizrahi, who wanted to convert the former Fulton Bank building in Landing into a store called Bud 2 Bloom, eventually gave up.
In Their Backyard
She subsequently found a more receptive audience with the Netcong Borough Mayor and Council and now plans to open Bud 2 Bloom in the former El Coyote Restaurant building on Route 46 in the borough.
“We’re expecting to open in June,” Mizrahi said in an interview.
She assumes the Roxbury council’s resistance to her proposal had something to do with keeping legal weed sales away from the township. The building in Netcong is about two tenths of a mile from the Roxbury border.
“Every single time I drive to the dispensary I kind of chuckle when I pass the Roxbury Town Hall, Mizrahi said. “I find it entertaining, especially since there are businesses in Roxbury illegally selling cannabis right now. They pull it out from behind the counter.”
Wait and See Approach
When they adopted the cannabis ordinance, Roxbury officials said it was a temporary measure. That position was repeated by Roxbury Mayor Jim Rilee when Kluska brought up the matter.
“Our concern was, I think, we wanted to see how it worked before we started opening cannabis shops for recreational marijuana,” Rilee said. “We are not necessarily against it. We want to see how it’s working. There haven’t been too many places that have opened, and we haven’t seen any of the potential problems because there haven’t been any open long enough to see them.”
Roxbury Councilman Bob DeFillippo told Kluska he’s seen no influx of people asking for dispensaries in Roxbury. “No one else has come forward to ask,” he commented. “They’re not missing it. I don’t see any surge in public opinion. I’m comfortable with where we are right now.”
DeFillippo also questioned Kluska about his motivation for raising the topic. “Mr. Kluska, is your interest revenue or convenience for the people who need that?” he asked.
“I’m not interested in either,” responded Kluska. “If you get revenue, fine. I never touched the stuff myself, so I wouldn’t know it if I fell over it. But I’m realistic. It’s something that’s coming. I was born in ’33 when they got rid of prohibition, so I know that when people want something, they’re going to get it, you know.”
Not a Good Fit for Landing
Roxbury Councilman Shawn Potillo said the council’s failure to rescind the ordinance had a lot to do with Mizrahi’s choice of a site. The former bank is close to Lake Hopatcong and the proposed Landing Gateway redevelopment area that’s centered around the new Landing Road Bridge being built by Morris County over the NJ Transit tracks.
“I don’t think any of us are dead set against it,” he told Kluska. “The location she was proposing was not appropriate for what she wanted to open … She wanted to be right on the lake, about 50 feet from one of Roxbury’s newest parks, in an area that’s being redeveloped by the county’s largest project they have ever undertaken. So, there were a lot of factors there that went into it other than we just didn’t want it.”
Undaunted, Kluska said he thinks Roxbury should be ready to get on board.
“Like it or not, it’s the wave of the future,” he said. “And whether it’s that young lady or someone else who comes approaching you, I just hope you are that much ahead in preparation.”
Related TAPinto Roxbury stories:
Cannabis Store Proponents Fill Roxbury Meeting
Roxbury Native Pushes Council to Allow Her Cannabis Shop
Roxbury's Anti-Weed Law Just a 'Placeholder' Stresses Mayor
Roxbury Steps on the Grass with Proposal to Ban Weed Companies
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