File Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
AURORA | A proposal to ban the opening of new vape and smoke shops for six months was narrowly defeated at the most recent city council meeting, but the debate it sparked revealed the challenges that council members might face in defining and enforcing zoning strategies aimed at reducing crime and urban decay.
Councilmember Alison Coombs sponsored the moratorium to put a six-month halt on new vape and smoke shops in order to allow the city time to assess a response to the growing concerns about the public health, safety and crime implications of these retailers.
“From my perspective, we have an issue of just not having clear enough regulations in place in our zoning codes about spacing, location and things of that nature,” Coombs said. “So we could have a block or strip mall that’s all vape and tobacco, and so we want to make sure that that’s not what’s going on, that we’re not having certain areas that are overburdened.”
At stake are areas of the city tabbed as troubled because of higher crime rates, commercial and private code violations and lower family incomes.
Coombs’ proposal was paired with a recent propsoed measure that would crack down on what city officials say are under-regulated psychoactive products and drug paraphernalia, said Treavor Vaughn, manager of licensing and finance. The ordinance to ban those specific drugs and paraphernalia from gas stations and vape and smoke shops was unanimously approved on first reading July 28.
Coombs’ moratorium was shot down after a tie between council members was broken with Mayor Mike Coffman voting “no.” Those in favor were council members Coombs, Crystal Murillo, Ruben Medina, Stephanie Hancock and Angela Lawson.
Besides the conversation among lawmakers about not wanting to interfere with a free market, Mayor Mike Coffman and Councilmember Françoise Bergan acknowledged that Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky is also working on something similar, but more encompassing.
“I am working on bringing forward something that encompasses what is considered all predatory businesses, so not just vape and smoke shops, but there are a lot of businesses that fall under that category, and it is an actual stated category,” Jurinsky said during the July 14 meeting. “I’m bringing forward something that has spacing requirements for all these different types of businesses.”
Words like “unsavory” and “predatory” were some of the terms used to describe businesses like vape and smoke, while it was never made completely clear what “predatory” actually includes.
“I noticed a vape shop in my ward that’s from the outside, it looks like a high-end cell phone store; very reputable, it seems,” Sundberg said. “Predatory? What constitutes predatory? How about lottery tickets? Aren’t those predatory? They’ve been called a tax on the poor. I mean, is that what we go after next?”
He added that he guessed that the answer would come down the road.
Gardner said he also wanted to know how the idea of “unsavory” businesses was being decided. Gardner said he was opposed to the moratorium because it was anti-business, and never fully stated his opinion on zoning businesses to space what Jurinsky referred to as “predatory,” but it still addressed the issue with the language.
“I know tobacco and nicotine products and vaping, and they’re generally accepted as unsavory by a majority of society, but there are also people in society who consider alcohol unsavory,” Gardner said. “We’re not looking to ban bars or liquor stores; adult content is unsavory. I mean, you can go through the list, and just because you find something unsavory does not mean we should ban something for legal adult use.”
Payday loan stores, pawn shops, plasma donation sites and some rent-to-own businesses, such as those offering rent-to-own furniture, have been tabbed as predatory businesses because they can increase debt and contribute to poverty or poorer living standards. They are also linked to urban decay in multiple national studies.
More recently, investigations and studies have identified so-called dollar stores as potentially predatory businesses, as they can contribute to the creation of food deserts and poor nutrition.
The New York Times and ProPublica conducted an investigation that found that dollar stores create food deserts because they offer cheap and unhealthy food options, staff fewer people while paying their employees low wages, and allegedly attract robberies and crime in many other cities nationwide.
Cities such as Atlanta, Birmingham, Cleveland and New Orleans are banning or making restrictions on dollar stores altogether.
Vape shops and liquor stores can also be considered predatory businesses, some urban studies assert, especially with some of the practices of some vape shops, such as advertising to minors, attracting crime and selling misleading products, such as Amanita muscaria, a legal mushroom, which is not permitted to be added to food ingredients, but is often sold in these store to be ingested.
Liquor and cannabis stores are already zoned in Aurora, and when grouped, have been linked to crime nationwide.
Early research in four separate studies has found a correlation between tobacco vape stores and crime, which is comparable to that of liquor stores and crime, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine.
During a city council study session in June, Vaughn cited one of the studies from the University of California that said that these “gray market psychoactive items and drug paraphernalia were being sold in these outlets.”
“We see a similar correlation,” Vaughn said during the study session. “We’re seeing a high concentration of these businesses in the poorer areas of town, or in areas where there are open-air drug markets, and that’s not just in Aurora. I’ve seen that elsewhere. That kind of fuels it.”
City officials say final language for the bill is still being considered, but many of the council members, like Coffman, Bergan and Coombs, voiced potential approval of the idea.
“I believe we should address concentrations of particular business types in one area and encourage a diversity of business uses throughout the city,” Coombs said to the Sentinel. “We need to be careful about how we characterize particular business, and I trust Trevor Vaughn to be thoughtful about the options that are brought to council.”
“I am working on bringing forward something that encompasses what is considered all predatory businesses, so not just vape and smoke shops, but there are a lot of businesses that fall under that category, and it is an actual stated category,” Jurinsky” AS usual, this concilmember is being a loose cannon with a Trump “concept’ she is ‘working’ on. I think free market is overblown. There are certain places that these items shouldn’t be sold, I agree. Then again, Early research in four separate studies has found a correlation between tobacco vape stores and crime, which is comparable to that of liquor stores and crime, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine. And most anytime we hear of violence? Alcohol is involved. So: there are also people in society who consider alcohol unsavory,” Gardner said. “We’re not looking to ban bars or liquor stores; adult content is unsavory. I mean, you can go through the list, and just because you find something unsavory does not mean we should ban something for legal adult use.” KUDOS to CM Gardner. I would like to see alcohol restricted just like tobacco. Restrict hours of sale. I’m sure Jurinsky would love that!
I might consider cell phone stores unsavory and predatory. They addict our youth and contribute to mental health issues such as depression, a lack of socialization, and poor performance in school. I might consider all stores selling liquor unsavory, grocery and liquor stores alike as liuor is a major factor in youth traffic accidents and in domestic violence matters. I might consider performance auto shops unsavory as they encourage street racing and corresponding deaths and accidents. Others might have other establisments on their list. The thing is Council is not smarter than the free market. Seeking to manage/regulate these establishments may well lead to a lower sales tax base and to abandoned storefronts inviting the dilapidation which accompanies empty property. How can a City Council who has authorized marijuana stores now turn around and decide that other stores are unsavory? Is it the relative lack of taxation of those non-marijuana businesses? Would they be savory if they paid more for the privilege of selling their wares? The history of managed economies is not good, yet some on Council think maybe this time, under their guidance, they will crack the code that others have universally failed to crack. The arrogance is stunning.
This is an example of Aurora council members having to make a decision based on how well they comprehend what lessons they have learned in life. Not some theories, not some academic study, you don’t need some PHD to get it. This popular consumer product looks to some on council like we’ve never seen anything like this before. This product involves vice trends. It’s all so new and who knows the fallout to come, so very complex stuff to a few officials.
We should not be shocked that some on council feel they are not ready to move forward. CM Combs the hard charger on social issues pushed for a deeper understanding. She feels after six months of study to corroborate and learn so much more detail about public health, safety and what crime to other retailers might look like. Some version of a sociology study. No- how about just look over the border to Denver, hang around downtown old Aurora a while, ride a RTD public bus downtown, what else do you need to analyze?
Most in Aurora already know about what “unsavory” businesses equals. It absolutely can create a magnet for problem areas, but so can any other business. You don’t need to be a genius and require some study. It’s quite beneficial for officials to get out and look around. A couple examples, the Cricket Wireless store in Auora on Mississippi not long ago did have armed security. Imagine that business guarded with a rent a cop so you could buy a phone or pay you bill? That “Unsavory” wireless culture you know. The 7-11 on Peoria and Colfax certainly now requires a 24-7-armed guard. Last year the guard was attacked and had to shoot someone in self-defense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZhEWO1H59c Pretty unsavory business getting your slurpy nowadays. Several King Soopers have guards at their stores and of course they’re armed. But now all of a sudden, these new vape stores will create a public danger not out there already. Come on. The owner of Legends bar- CM Sundberg, and JJ’s bar owner CM Jurinsky, already know about the risk of living under “vice laws”. These two have more hard learned experience than most, and definably more than the others on council. Both already face Dram Shop enforcement, these two understand the legal consequences of what this “unsavory” leads to. They don’t need to have some foolish cockamamie study on human nature and side effects of vice. Both bar owners although thoroughly qualified could offer to answer most questions on the vice culture to the other council…. Back to that life experience. Smoking and drinking go together. These vape shops will have their growing pains. But in the end, they’re not going to show us too much of anything new.