UPDATE: 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, March 21: The battle continues between Councilmember Gale Brewer and the Zaza Waza smoke shop.
After the store at 550 Columbus Avenue was padlocked last week because of illegal tobacco sales, it reopened on Monday after paying a fine, Brewer’s office told West Side Rag. However, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections returned on Wednesday and again found the illegal tobacco sales, prompting the city agency to once against shutter the store, according to Brewer.
The smoke shop is located on the same block as Brewer’s district office.
Gale Brewer vs. Zaza Waza is better than March Madness.
After getting the store padlocked last week over illegal tobacco sales, the UWS store paid the fine and reopened Monday.
Today, authorities went back and shut it down again for the same illegal tobacco sales.
🔒 back on. pic.twitter.com/z20aoXrfWT
— Gus Saltonstall (@GusSaltonstall) March 20, 2024
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
Stores selling cannabis illegally continue to proliferate on the Upper West Side.
A recent survey by interns in Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office identified 53 stores selling marijuana without a license on the Upper West Side. That was up from the 26 shops found by her office in December of 2022 to be selling marijuana illegally. Both surveys covered the same 54-block stretch from West 54th to 108th streets.
Brewer’s office conducted the survey in February, which involved visiting 89 local shops that did not have state-recorded cannabis-sales licenses. In 53 of those stores “they observed cannabis on the shelves or being sold,” said a Brewer aide.
But while the number of illegal pot stores in the neighborhood has doubled over the past couple of years, at least one was shuttered this week.
The Zaza Waza Smoke Shop at 550 Columbus Avenue, which sits just 200 feet away from Brewer’s office, has been a personal battle for the elected official. She took part in a raid on the store in January 2023.
On Wednesday, Brewer scored a victory as the city padlocked the door under a 2013 law that she says can play a large part in shuttering illegal smoke shops throughout the city.
Of the 53 stores found to be selling weed illegally on the Upper West Side, 33 of the businesses were also illegally selling tobacco, e-cigarettes, or banned vapes, according to the survey. Businesses also need specific city licenses to sell any sort of tobacco product.
Here is where the 2013 Sensible Tobacco Enforcement Law comes into play.
That piece of legislation allows city agencies, generally the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections (DCWP), to seal a shop on its third offense of selling tobacco illegally. DCWP has conducted six inspections of Zaza Waza since the store opened in April 2022, issuing 47 violations related to tobacco, e-cigarettes, and flavored vapes, according to public data.
This means that the city was able to padlock the store on Wednesday, and have the store shuttered until the owners pay more than $225,000 in penalties, and also commit to stop selling the cannabis and flavored vapes, and get licenses to sell tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Brewer has urged since 2022 to use this tobacco law, to help thwart the already famously hard to shutter, illegal cannabis stores popping up throughout the city. The tobacco offense puts the enforcement of the law under the city, as opposed to the state, which is in charge of cannabis-related matters.
The strategy is similar to arresting a mobster (the illegal smoke shops) on racketeering charges (illegal tobacco sales), as opposed to landing a conviction on something more serious (cannabis sales).
Brewer announced a press conference for Thursday morning outside the padlocked Zaza Waza to discuss the strategy. When the elected official and her team arrived at the illegal smoke shop on Thursday morning, they were met with a major surprise.
The business had somehow already reopened.
Zaza Waza is OPEN and selling again this morning – after being padlocked yesterday by the city for selling untaxed cigarettes.
I wrote about Gale Brewer vs. the illegal weed shop.
Will it stay closed, I asked last night? “Who the hell knows,” she said. https://t.co/ad1yaeG9Cr pic.twitter.com/7Q1EoGkhgB
— Jeff Coltin (@JCColtin) March 14, 2024
“What was supposed to happen after it got padlocked yesterday was that it would stay closed until the store paid $225,000 in penalties,” Brewer said, according to Politico Reporter Jeff Coltin. “Instead, it was back open and selling this morning.”
It looks like that reopening will be short-lived, though. Brewer’s office told West Side Rag that the store had cut the padlock themselves, and that, after a police response Thursday morning, law enforcement was coming back with a bigger lock.
Brewer emphasized that 12 of the 53 illegal cannabis stores on the Upper West Side are already eligible for sealing under the tobacco laws.
Her office also created an interactive map that shows you where all the illegal cannabis stores on the Upper West Side are located.
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“….Brewer’s office told West Side Rag that the store had cut the padlock themselves…”
If this is correct, the penalties need to be a lot larger. If a $250,000 fine doesn’t deter them, what would? $1,000,000?
Also, the landlords need to be involved as well. The landlords need to be incentivized to control the activities in their space, or face significant fines, including forfeiture.
Pushing the blame on the landlords would only encourage more landlords to keep their retail spaces empty even longer to avoid the risk of renting to a problematic tenant. You all have been clamoring for fining landlords who keep their properties vacant, and now you want them to take the fall once they rent them out? If that’s what you think is the way to go, then maybe the City should either make it much easier to get an eviction or the City should fund the landlord’s eviction process when there is clearly an enforcement lapse.
How are landlords supposed to control their tenant’s activities when the city makes eviction of a commercial tenant into a one year journey?
When we have store owners willing to cut government padlocks and not see any consequences, it’s clear a mere property owner isn’t going to be able to do much
And/or arrest the proprietors. Jail time is more daunting than a fine.
Fine the landlords!
Hi Fine ‘Em Til It Feels Good, thank you for reading. 10 landlords of the 53 UWS illegal smoke shops have received an enforcement letter from the New York City Sheriff about their role in the business. The landlord route seems to be an increasing strategy in the pushback against the shops.
Thanks for the additional information. But only 10 of 53? Any information about what triggers an enforcement letter? Is it size of the operation? Number of infractions? Relation of landlord to the illegal business?
And with respect to Boris’ comments above, I do not favor taxing or fining landlords merely for having a vacant space. But they have to do due diligence before renting for a big, quick buck to some shady, fly-by-night pot dealers who degrade the quality of life for the whole neighborhood.
And, YES, I definitely support making it easier and faster for landlords to evict tenants who are conducting an illegal operation in their premises–whether this is pot dealers, brothels, porn shops, or some other scourge.
Cue Jaws theme song. We’re gonna need a bigger lock.
Does a landlord have any liability for their tenant? Is the rent legit and are they part of something illegal like money laundering or tax evasion? What if it were a brothel?
When do we think Ms Brewer’s current tactics aren’t working?
In addition to enforcing relevant laws and regulations, perhaps the land lords should be either held to account for renting to those they know are engaged in illegal activity or perhaps convinced to enforce lease provisions that I am sure don’t permit illegal activity taking place on their property.
According to a regulation that was enacted last year when a landlord receives official notice of their tenant selling illegal items they are required to begin eviction proceedings or become eligible for fines themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if eviction proceedings already began at the 10 places already served but anybody knows that evictions take a long, long time.
The police need to arrest the store owners as well as the employees.
Arrest the Landlord under what criminal statutes? Failing to enforce the terms of a lease is a breach of contract, not a criminal offense. Fine the landlord, but arresting them is a bit unrealistic.
Also, do people understand how hard it is to evict anyone (or any business in NYS)? The rules in NY make it nearly impossible to remove a tenant that is in breach of a lease in short order.
If the City or State want to close these shops, then the City or State should be putting them out of business (fines, penalties, etc.).
Considering our extremely lenient tenant/landlord laws I don’t find it a good solution. A tenant can procrastinate moving out for a very long time and the eviction process will definitely take forever. Why should a landlord pay fines while a tenant is the one breaking the law and not moving out?
To flesh out the mobster example a bit: it’s easier to indict someone on a lesser offense like bribery, instead if trying to prove a higher level charge like murder. With the smoke shops, it’s easier and faster to catch them on the lesser offenses related to tobacco instead if wading through the new and complicated cannabis laws.
The lesser/higher offense example, bribery vs. murder, doesn’t relate to the tobacco vs. cannabis situation. New and complicated cannabis laws don’t necessarily imply that it is a higher crime.
A money grab by states has caused a complete mess. There are no positive aspects of smoking anything. Now we have millions of pot smokers so states can make a few million dollars on
the backs of people’s health and welfare.
I agree. On top of that, the State has the nerve to air those horrible quit smoking commercials. Absolutely a money grab
The same State also aggressively markets (and makes money from) the lottery, a game often referred to as a “tax on the poor”!
What about the shop on Broadway on the west side between 96th and 97th st? I don’t see any license posted, and I am tired of walking down that block and inhaling pot smoke.
Best Budz? Another pillar of the community.
How can such a large number of illegal establishments be operating openly in flagrant violation of the law? I do not understand why there is no enforcement. It is obscene.
A large tacky one of these shops just opened in my neighborhood where a Korean grocer stood for years and years.
This is what I heard recently.
Passing a bill (making a “law”) doesn’t mean there is enforcement. Enforcement means an ‘agency” (generally speaking) has to be designated to enforce it. Also, the agency has to have funding to hire people to enforce it. What’s happening now is that laws are being passed with no means of enforcement. AND that ANOTHER law has to be passed to do that (designate agency, fund it). So I guess our state legislators aren’t doing their job. They (and their interest groups) want to wear down voters…
Come say high!! The worst. Our neighborhood is inundated. It’s so depressing.
Exactly. If one were to open a store that illegally sold booze to minors, or sold illegal fake IDs, or sold illegal guns, that shop would be shut down in 24 hours or less! Yet the illegal weed shops proliferate.
But you would be ok with them if they’re legal? How would your life be affected either way?
Finally something being done! Let’s get those 12 shops eligible locked up and fines issued. How can we help?
Nothing is being done about it! Months back the police raided the illegal. Store on Broadway between 96/97 streets (near housing works) the next day the staff is outside the front door smoking pot. Sent a message to Brewer with pictures and it’s still going on!
Best Budz. Very child-attractive colors.
What about 72nd street between Amsterdam and Columbus Ave? Only three on one block!!!!
And there’s another one about to open in the former goodwill shop. Both it and the one in the old green cleaners space advertise themselves as licensed, even though to date there are zero actually licensed shops on the UWS (the first one is opening soon on 66th street)
Yes, the one in the former Goodwill shop is advertising themselves as legal. I wish someone could explain why the police aren’t arresting everyone working in these shops. Last I checked, people who sell illegal drugs get arrested. How is this not the same thing?
Obviously, the building owners don’t care who they rent to, as long as the space is rented. If the landlords really cared, the UWS might be in better shape. Maybe its time to fine the landlords and deny permits to open legal shops. And give a tax breaks to landlords who lost their commercial tenants due to the COVID pandemic.
How many pot shops do we need here? Pot shops will sink this community into a drug habit worse than the one that we already have hidden from view. The illegal shops proliferate because they see how easy it is to open any shop. Pot entrepreneurs know that the landlords need their money – legal or illegal.
We have enough churches, synagogues and some mosques to have religious leaders available to teach landlords and illegal shop owners lessons in ethics and morals. There is NO civic instructions that I know of in NYC high schools and colleges. We are simply soulless, amoral residents of a city growing more soulless and amoral by the day. Fortunately, a lot of New Yorkers still care about their neighborhoods. I’d rather have immigrants living here instead of pot shop owners and their employees.
As the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants, I prefer their drive to succeed to anyone of any color or ancestry selling alcohol, pot, and illegal Rx drugs. And that includes lousy landlords who only care about the dollar and not the health of the people they do business with. as well as the health of the area they’ve chosen for their activities..
Fine and arrest the landlords. How can they get away with renting to/for illegal activities? Several people have brought this up. Brewer, Adams and the whole City needs to get on top
of this NOW!!
I don’t understand why we are still talking about penalties and not a permanent closing till the license is obtained.
“Brewer emphasized that 12 of the 53 illegal cannabis stores on the Upper West Side are already eligible for sealing under the tobacco laws….” So WHEN will this happen? If they’re eligible, then get it done!! Unbelievable that they’ve proliferated to 53 illegal stores.
Thanks for the map. I didn’t know about some of these to try
It’s like these hideous “smoke shops” are the only new stores that are opening. Together with maniacal ebikers treating pedestrians like obstacle-course cones, they are a blight on the neighborhood.
The city council passes a law outlawing green beanies. But kids wear green beanies, right out in public! NYPD just lets them walk by? Other agencies just let them walk by? An elderly lady accosts a youth wearing a green beanie, and she’s beaten?
This is what we have come to. Why do we have laws and regulations that are not enforced? If the law is unjust, we should get rid of it. If it is just, we should enforce it, i.e. levy penalties on those who break that law. If our agencies just don’t have the will to enforce the very laws that their legislative bodies enact, then … Imma get mine. /s
This is a very bad scene for our city.
Are these pot shops required to display their licenses?
If not, why not?
None of them have licenses.
Great article. Walking through a nuanced issue. Thank you, Gus.
From the consumer’s perspective it would be most helpful if there was a way of knowing if the place you’re buying your weed is an official, licensed, legal dispensary. Thanks for the map of the illegal pot stores. A map of legal, licensed ones would actually be useful.
you can go online at the following website and find the legal dispensaries in NYS. As of now there are only 7 “legal” dispensaries in NYC and none open on the UWS yet.
All “legal” dispensaries are required to pot the NYS verification near their entrance. So, if you don’t see a verification, then assume they are not licensed by the state.
What a joke – they just keep opening back up with fines. Worst thing NYS did was legalize weed. The city smells awful
What about the truck thats selling pot and other “things” between 95th and 96th and broadway se corner for last 1 plus years.
One thing to decriminalize pot – that was correct.
Another thing entirely to be messaging how cool it is, encouraging it, doing “fun” media articles about planning dinner parties with pot etc.
Just one more “do whatever you want” (no matter if it impacts others, breaks rules, breaks laws) ethos that is now pervasive in NYC.
Law enforcement in NYC is a joke. It’s all about money. Between the subway crime, the physical assaults on the streets, AND, the illegal pot shops, only a fool would not recognize the sound of law-abiding behavior circling the drain.
Enough already.
Duh. What do you think would happen when you legalize pot? Doesn’t anyone think? It’s like bail reform.
Padlock? Chortle. Never more than a speed bump. Confiscate the inventory. And evict the tenant.
The shops in CO and CA (and MA) are clean and provide believable numbers for the edibles (no more than 100mg in a package). Here I wouldn’t believe any labels in these illegal shops. I don’t understand why NYC couldn’t copy the successful model of these other states.
There are 2 legal shops on the UES , very upscale, with a 3rd to open on 86th btwn Lex and Park next week. I think that if/when legal shops do start to open on the UWS there will be the exact same criticisms that we’re seeing now. Judging from the posts during the past 2-3 weeks (in all topics) it seems most UWSers just want to be in their own little bubble separated from the rest of the city.
Funny thing-focus on supply vs demand. What one can deduce is there is a market demand for this and people are greatly relieved to come out of back alley’s and questionable spooky delivery or meet ups to get the product they wanted. The incompetence of NYS is to blame for this as they have failed to roll this out successfully to the priority distributors they hoped to uplift. They have also failed the growers who have had to destroy crop after crop and lost their livelihoods after making incredible investments based on NYS’s inability to open the marketplace.
Given the current state, what boggles the mind is the clear and obvious solution. Have the pot shops collect the taxes on the product, license them and charge a significant fee and move on.
What also is head scratching about this situation is the fact that there are quite a few illegal businesses that are actively open and working in plain sight that no one acknowledges: the massage parlors with blinds where special needs are met often located in basement locations, the nail salons & threading/waxing places that violate wage and labor laws, etc.
What we should be focused on is the safe consumption & distribution of cannabis, ensure that it is taxed in every store, and create livable laws that create an environment that everyone feels comfortable breathing and socializing in. There has to be a safe space to smoke-if you don’t want it on the street or in public places and one adheres to that and smokes at home – then the outrage from neighbors is intolerable. We need to find solutions & it shouldn’t be so hard;)
“Come back with a bigger padlock” are you kidding?
The only padlock needed is the one one on the prison cell that whoever cut that lock should be sitting in.
Does anyone know what’s happened to the beautiful fluffy grey cat that lived in Zaza Waza? Hopefully it’s not been abandoned. If it’s homeless or up for adoption, we would happily give it a forever home.
They have reopened again. Lights were on at 10:15pm on March 18th. NYPD is a laughing stock
This isn’t a landlord problem. It is a lessee problem. Its not like drug dealers who move to different corners. You know where they are. Get the records of the lessee, where the payments are coming from. Freeze the accounts, seize the inventory. Arrest the people who work in the store and don’t let them out. If you do this enough, no one will want to work there. Make it unprofitable….