It's Complicated—NORML Opens First Cannabis Café in Center of Neighborhood Feud

On Friday the 13th, at 4:20 p.m., the nation's first Cannabis Café, run by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) opened its doors in the Northeast Portland neighborhood of Woodlawn. Housed inside the historic Village Ballroom, inside the former restaurant/private events club called Rumpspankers, the café welcomed NORML members with their medical marijuana and membership cards. There were no protests—not much fanfare—surrounding the opening. Despite the fact that representatives from NORML thought otherwise, a neighborhood association meeting held a week before the opening, showed that there was more to the story than they originally thought.

The only thing clear at the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association meeting on November 4th, was that no one was clear on what was bothering them. The meeting was originally scheduled to talk about some of the parties being hosted by Rumpspankers, a business that seems to have gone through a couple of different business models in their short time there. The day before the meeting, however, a newscaster from FOX 12 appeared on the front steps of area residents, asking them for their opinion on the Cannabis Café opening inside Rumpspankers. This changed the meeting agenda quite a bit.

 

Rumpspankers began its life on Dekum Street as a café, specializing in "American Pho" and breakfast foods, after a long remodel to the former record store. Run by Shelly and Eric Solomon, the move from their original Southeast location, coupled with a costly build-out and mediocre sales, Rumpspankers seemed to struggle with its identity in an effort to turn a profit. Not long after opening, residents noted the hours of the restaurant were somewhat erratic, and the "closed for private event" sign seem to appear with more frequency. Though they contend that they hosted all types of events, including Cotillions, square dances, and family parties, the activities that caught the attention—and often the anger—of area residents were of a considerably more adult nature.

Sex and Drugs?

The news leaked that there were parties thrown by the Dark Lady, a "polyamorous" sex writer and political activist who advertises "Parties with Benefits" on her web site. It is unclear whether this relationship began with the Solomons, or with the owner of the Village Ballroom, Sharon Flegal (who did not answer my request for information), but it clearly upset the neighbors regardless. There was also talk of "queer dance parties," presumably parties geared towards the gay and lesbian community, not affiliated with Dark Lady events, which, some neighbors complained, were the cause of much late-night noise, public urination, and general bad behavior. Throughout the changes from family-friendly restaurant to private adult events venue, the Solomons have been at odds with the neighborhood. The latest change, with no advanced notice or warning, seemed to only further the rift.

All along the owners of the Village ballroom, Sharon and Ryan Flegal, have kept a low profile, and have tried to deflect any blame away from themselves. As the conflict between the neighborhood and Rumpspankers has grown over the past several months, they have never attended a neighborhood association meeting, according to Anjala Ehlebe, board member. They wrote an email for the board to share with the meeting attendees.

"My mom and I are as surprised as you are by the intended opening of the Cannabis Cafe. The first we learned of this was this past weekend when my mom saw a flier and called me," Ryan claimed in the email.

"We wanted the building to be a gathering place for neighbors and community members," he asserted, "both of us strongly believe in the importance of having places where people can come together to explore what they believe in, strengthen community, learn and grow." He said that neither he nor his mother are marijuana smokers, and expressed sympathy for the neighborhood concerns, but claimed that they have no way of stopping what goes on in the building.

"We do not have possession of the property and do not have the ability to make choices on behalf of our tenants. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the ballroom business which requires the constant sub-renting of the space to others, our tenants by right do have the ability to rent to other groups." He went on to suggest dealing directly with their tenants, thusly washing their hands of any and all conflicts that the neighborhood had with Rumpspankers. Around the room, there were many shaking heads.

What Are We Fighting About, Exactly?

Enter Madeline Martinez, executive director of Oregon NORML, and her legal representative John C. Lucy, IV. They seemed ready for a fight. Lucy, without any talk that directly addressed the Cannabis Café, said that it "disgusts him" that people are trying to deny other people their first amendment rights. People in the group looked from side to side trying to figure out who he was addressing.

 

Ethan Jewett, board member commented that there have been no incidents of discrimination and that no one has said that they're against the café; people are simply looking for information.

"We are well within our rights to smoke marijuana in a privately owned building," said Ms. Martinez, a petite Latina woman, dressed in business attire, with a tiny gold pot leaf pin on her lapel.

And she is right. As long as café patrons have their medical marijuana ID card, a NORML membership card, and a current Oregon ID, there are no laws broken here. Medical Marijuana ID cardholders are also allowed to transport up to 24 ounces of marijuana, and are allowed to designate "caregivers or a third party individual" to grow their marijuana for them (these individuals would have to have a clean criminal history). Though they are allowed by law to reimburse their growers for the cost of materials and utilities (water, electricity), it is illegal to buy marijuana, so no money or valuable goods can be exchanged. This, Martinez says, causes difficulties. The Cannabis Café will create connections between people who can be trusted in such a situation, she claims.

 

Oregon is one of fourteen states that currently allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes. A recent legal memo from the U.S. justice department, stating that federal prosecutors should not arrest people who use or grow medical marijuana, as long as they are in compliance with state law, has further set the stage for the opening of a cannabis café.

Martinez went on to explain that the NORML organization would have free marijuana for patrons, as well as snacks and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase. People can also bring some of their own Cannabis to share—no money would be exchanged for pot, though; staying within the limits of the law, all will be free.

One neighbor who identified himself as a recovering drug addict, was concerned that they would not be able to effectively police the café, and that people would bring in other types of drugs.

 

Martinez assured him that the security would be very tight, (about three times that of a regular bar, added Eric Solomon), and that the people they would be serving were sick, but not addicts. She shared a bit of her own story; she had been prescribed the drug Oxycotin, which is now widely known to be addictive and with effects and consequences that have been compared to those of heroin.

"If you were me, would you choose to take opiates for the rest of your life, or take a natural plant to ease pain?" No one seemed interested in protesting.

Andree Culpepper, Woodlawn resident and board member, brought to light more of what was at the root of the problem.

"The issue bothering me is a business owner who is already not managing the business well," she began. "Combining sex events in the same venue [as the Cannabis Café] is not a good crossover. They are already not a community oriented business—there are complaints of noise, of public urination; these events are not monitored." Culpepper went on to insist that, despite the Solomon's cry of discrimination, bad food and service is what turned the neighborhood away from them.

Others chimed in with similar stories of long wait times, bad coffee, and a general disappointment in the restaurant whose opening they so eagerly awaited.

 

Eric Solomon dismissed the comments about the food and service as "personal opinion," and asserted that he and his wife have been giving a "home to those who have no home," and insists that 50% of the people who come to the adult parties are from the neighborhood. "Doctors, lawyers, teachers—they're your neighbors," he said.

Kevin Turner, Woodlawn resident and board treasurer, spoke in defense of the owners of Rumpspankers, the Village Ballroom, and the Dark Lady, saying that he believes they all have a commitment to building community here.

Martinez expressed gratitude to the Solomons for providing a space for people who use medical marijuana, and encouraged an open dialogue with concerned neighbors. Teri Pierson, the facilitation program coordinator from Resolutions Northwest, who had been asked by the board to come and help keep the meeting on track, interrupted to ask a very important question. Since the meeting was called in order for the board to vote on a stance to take with regards to the Marijuana café, and the sex parties, Pierson asked the question, "Is it important to you that the board takes a stand on the types of businesses that will operate in the Village Ballroom?" No one raised their hand. "Well, I'm glad I asked that question," she added.

 

It seemed as though there were two conversations going on—the people for NORML were there to fight for their rights to have a café, and the neighborhood was just mad at Rumpspankers. Though some residents expressed concern over parking, ventilation, and whether or not second hand marijuana smoke would affect people who lived nearby, the conversation had much more to do with a general mistrust of the owners of Rumpspankers than with whether or not they wanted a Cannabis Café to open in their small business district. Joined by Paige Coleman, executive director of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN), Judith Mowry, Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI), and Kelly Ball, city crime prevention, Pierson suggested a Good Neighbor Agreement. There seemed to be an overwhelming, positive response to that suggestion.

Ethan Jewett added, "The managers have been disrespectful to neighbors and nearby businesses, they lack credibility in their own neighborhood, and they're people who don't notify their own next door neighbors when something major is changing. I don't support the WNA taking a position on this. I just want NORML to know that the Solomons do not have a good track record."

The meeting adjourned with hope that an agreement could be reached, but with a prevailing tension between the Solomons and residents of Woodlawn. I asked one neighbor if her fears about the Cannabis Café had been squelched, and she replied, "I just don't trust Rumpspankers. I feel like there are a lot of unanswered questions about how this place will be run."

Martinez, also felt less than settled.

"I felt discrimination that disappointed me," she remarked.

The Ugly Truth Expressed

When interviewed a few days later by Portland Mercury reporter Sarah Mirk, Eric Solomon accused Woodlawn neighbors of having "West Side sensibilities," and said that the meeting amounted to little more than a "vicious, despicable" attack. The article, and especially the quotes from Solomon, spurred a whole host of comments from people identifying themselves as neighbors (though not by name).

"We have no problem w/ diverse clientele or businesses as such," wrote ‘Drunkensound' a neighbor who referenced loud parties that woke him from sleep. "It's much more the disregard [Rumpspankers management] have for their neighbors."

‘Iheartwoodlawn' advised the Solomons: "you don't help yourselves by isolating yourselves from the neighbors and the neighborhood. YOU SHOULD EXTEND SOME ASSURANCES," suggested the writer.

‘Mauveman' offered this view of the situation: "Eric Solomon's allegations of persecution and intolerance are delusional or dishonest. The Woodlawn Neighborhood Association has fairly and even-handedly attempted to address the legitimate concerns of neighbors. Solomon has wasted much of the goodwill that greeted Rumpspankers in its incarnation as a family restaurant."

Clearly, the issue at the heart of this matter was not the Cannabis Café as much as it was a huge rift between neighbors.

"We don't have a very big business district," one business owner confided. "It's just a shame that we aren't all working together for what is best for Woodlawn, for the people who live here, and for the businesses that are struggling in a less than ideal economy."

The chances of coming to an understanding between the neighborhood and the owners of Rumpspankers seemed dim. But another business owner had high hopes for the café, imagining that the fact that this was the first NORML sponsored cannabis café in the country, and would be scrutinized closely, would create a great incentive to do things right. "The last thing they want to do is screw up," he believes. "They'll follow the law to the letter."

Is he concerned about what it will do to the neighborhood?

"My only concern is that they'll drive more business to me and I'll have to open for lunch," he says with a smile. "I need my sleep!"

The Logistics

Opening day arrived, and NORML, perhaps still anticipating a backlash, held a press conference. Anna Diaz, co-founder of Oregon NORML, and Madeline Martinez led the charge to explain the lengths they intended to go to keep the café running legally and safely.

All café patrons (except those in wheelchairs) will enter the building from the upstairs entrance that leads directly into the ballroom. There they will fill out paperwork and present their legal documentation. There will be one more check downstairs, to make sure that nothing illegal is entering the café. Patrons in wheelchairs are the only people who will enter the café through its ground-level front door.

Patrons will be monitored throughout their stay to check for signs that they should not be driving. Martinez, who is a retired peace officer, assures the crowd that she can recognize the signs, and will make sure that person is invited to stay, or sent home on a bus.

"This is a respectful element coming to the neighborhood," insists Diaz. "The typical stoner thing doesn't work any more; times are changing." She also praised the Solomons for creating jobs for card holders who are often discriminated against in the workplace for their medicinal use of marijuana.

 

"The Solomons are open to supporting diverse lifestyles," Martinez adds. "Portland is supposed to be forward thinking. If you substituted the word Black, Asian, or Mexican this sort of discrimination would not be okay."

Though somewhat combative in group situations where she may feel threatened, Martinez was easy to talk with on a one to one basis. She is excited about the recent developments that she feels are steps towards the legalization of marijuana—the basic goal of her organization.

"We really want to be good neighbors," she insisted. "We want to exceed their expectations." She tells me that NORML volunteers are planning a Dekum Street clean up—a gesture aimed at building goodwill.

"This is our neighborhood now, too, and we want to help keep it clean," she said. She told me that one of the main goals of NORML is to educate both users and the general public. They provide support for medical marijuana users, so that they can know and protect their legal rights, and not stray outside the law.

 

"Prohibition created gangsters, crime, mayhem," she said. "It's disturbing to see the way legislature handles [marijuana use]. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." She goes on to say that, though alcohol has destroyed lives through addiction, disease, and violence, it is deemed legal, while marijuana, "with no known case of overdose" or disease, is an illegal substance.

"Hemp is part of American History," she contends. "It has been ingested since 2700BC and has uses as fuel, medicine, fabric, and food." She shakes her head, but adds with a smile that she recognizes progress is being made.

Hope for Amends

Speaking of progress, my conversation with Eric Solomon, barely a week into the life of the Cannabis Café, indicates perhaps a bit of a change of heart as well. He has surrendered his liquor license, and has ceased to hold the so-called "queer dance parties" and Dark Lady events (later I find out that these groups feel unceremoniously "dumped" by Rumpspankers, and now have a bit of their own disappointment in the management).

Solomon comes across as a survivalist; someone who changes quickly at the first sign of trouble. Whether this is good or bad is completely subjective. He says that in the midst of this latest change, he became "an activist."

 

"If rosemary could help people with cancer, then we'd become a rosemary café," he asserts. Solomon himself is a card holder; he suffers from a narrowing of the spine, and once took 120 mg of oxycotin a day for pain. Addiction, he says, was imminent. He claims to have already had the physical symptoms of it, stating that he sometimes had good days, where he thought he might be able to skip a pill, "But my body would revolt," he says.

He began to use marijuana for his pain, and feels that it has given him back a quality of life he didn't have before. He says he feels a personal connection to this project and to NORML, which, he feels, "saved my life."

"I have young children," he says, "now I have hope that I'll see my grandchildren."

He insists that this isn't a drug house.

"If you could see the 55 plus crowd, the people in wheelchairs," he says, "these people are hurting and in pain and it would be just wrong to deny them their legal right to feel better." He says that the "hugs and thank yous" he has been receiving have helped him to feel really good about what they're doing.

 

"I would open more of these," he admits. And, according to Solomon, more are coming.

"This is a baby step towards greater social awareness," he claims, adding that there are two proposed cafes in Denver; possibly in New Mexico and Michigan as well.

"Oregonians take heart," he says, "It's not just here, not just Northeast Portland. It's coming to everywhere."

I spoke to a few of the neighbors about the fact that there will no longer be liquor in the establishment, no more adult parties or late night dances, and the overall response was that they were extremely, pleasantly, surprised.

Perhaps the Solomons saw an opportunity in making nice with the neighborhood, perhaps, as he claims, Eric Solomon's activism won out over his desire to make a buck. Whatever the cause, the effect remains to be seen, and there will be many eyes on the Cannabis Café and Rumpspankers, hoping for an outcome that everyone can tolerate.

View the slideshow for more images of the Cannabis Café, or visit our Flickr gallery: