A judge has ordered the closing of a South Whittier marijuana dispensary, which attracted complaints from a nearby La Mirada mosque.

The Tuesday Los Angeles County Superior Court ruling will stand until there is a trial.

Judge Holly Fujie ordered property owner Edward Lee to no longer lease to “The Plug – La Mirada,” which has been operating out of a former Conroy’s Flowers shop at 14203 Imperial Highway since March, according to her tentative ruling issued on Tuesday.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office sought the injunction at the request of La Mirada Masjid, a mosque located 200 feet away.

“This is an unlicensed, unlawful cannabis dispensary that has been operating in a community that doesn’t want it,” Hahn said in an emailed statement.

“I appreciate the judge for approving today’s injunction,” she said. “It is the first step to getting this dispensary closed for good. While shutting down unlicensed cannabis facilities has proven to be difficult, my office has made addressing this particular dispensary a priority because of its impact on the La Mirada Masjid.”

A man who answered the phone at The Plug on Tuesday afternoon refused to comment.

News of the ruling was received well, D.M. Rezaur Rahman, president of La Mirada Masjid, said in a Tuesday telephone interview.

“We don’t want to expose our kids to it, so they won’t be interested in marijuana,” Rahman said. “According to our religious belief, we don’t want any thing that will be addictive.”

The dispensary is so close to the mosque that sometimes its customers would park in La Mirada Masjid’s parking lot, he said.

The county’s current ordinance bans all cannabis businesses and activities in unincorporated areas.

In May, county officials filed a motion for preliminary injunction to temporarily halt the dispensary from operating until the matter can be brought to trial.

Sheriff’s deputies still must serve the order to The Plug – La Mirada to cease operating at this location or any other location in unincorporated Los Angeles County until a trial on the merits, which should take place later this year, according to a news release.

Want to open a recreational marijuana bushiness in Pasadena? The city is charging $24,000.

The Pasadena City Council last week approved two fees that will be charged to prospective cannabis businesses. The fees make Pasadena one of the more expensive Southern California cities in which to open up a pot shop.

A first-round application fee of $13,654 will be charged to all applicants when a 30-day application window opens in January. Staff will score those applications and choose the best of the bunch — defined as those very likely to pass Planning Commission review — who will be invited to move forward with the permitting process later next year at an additional cost of $10,639.

That second step is similar in style and cost to the city’s existing conditional use permits, which are required for non-marijuana, large-scope projects that must go before the Planning Commission for approval.

Voters in June approved a measure that allows up to six retail dispensaries, four growing facilities and four testing labs in Pasadena.

By comparison, application and permitting fees in Long Beach stand at $6,075, while Culver City hopeful marijuana entrepreneurs can be charged nearly $24,000, according to a Pasadena city staff report.

Pasadena has spent a lot of time and money developing its marijuana regulations. Processing applications through multiple city departments and agencies will cost even more. The city’s new fee schedule is meant to recoup those costs, according to Planning Director David Reyes.

“We used an outside consulting firm, we used in-house attorneys, we used outside attorneys. It took a long time to get this thing right — there was a lot of resources expended,” he said. “These are fees that are just cost recovery. There’s no cushion in there.”

Though there are 14 possible slots for marijuana businesses in Pasadena, it’s not a guarantee. No more than one of each type of business — retail, cultivation and testing — will be allowed in any one council district.

Plus there are other state and local rules that limit where cannabis businesses can open up shop. For example, they must be 600 feet away from residential neighborhoods, schools, churches and parks.

Add those restrictions with the array of currently available real estate in the city, and it’s likely the Pasadena might be able to issue only three or four permits, according to Reyes. Still, he’s anticipating as many as 70 applications.

Already, the city has received calls from people interested in doing business in Pasadena, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. The city will hold a workshop going over the application procedures and selection process from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Additional information from the city is available at www.cityofpasadena.net/planning/marijuana- regulations.

Pasadena has prohibited dispensaries since 2005, though that doesn’t mean some haven’t opened illegally. Those illegal pot shops will not be allowed to apply for permits, per the new rules.

Another measure voters approved in June will tax new retail marijuana businesses at 6 percent and all other new marijuana-related businesses at 4 percent.

When Montebello Mayor Vanessa Delgado resigned in August to become a state senator, it looked like the council was going to be deadlocked over bringing marijuana businesses to town.

There’s no question now that’s the case. The council voted 2-2 on Councilman Bill Molinari’s proposal to delay any further decisions on the issue until after the March special election to fill her seat.

Molinari asked the council Wednesday to wait until Delgado’s replacement is selected.

“We should hold this matter over,” Molinari said. “Obviously, nothing is going to happen. The community should be allowed to have a discussion over this.”

Molinari and Councilwoman Vivian Romero supported waiting until March; Councilmen Art Barajas and Jack Hadjinian voted against it.

The council make-up could change in the Nov. 6 election when Barajas, Molinari and Romero’s seats will be on the ballot. The three are among 10 candidates.

The City Council voted 3-2 in February to allow commercial indoor cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana. In May, by the same vote, council members agreed to allow home delivery businesses in the city.

Since then, the process of reviewing the 38 original applicants — the number is now down to 34 — apparently has bogged down. The City Council hired Diamond Bar-based HdL Companies in June to do that job of reviewing the applicants.

Then, acting City Manager Andrew Pasmant hired Los Angeles-based Tierra West Advisors to finish the first round of review when he felt the work wasn’t getting done.

There could be more disagreement ahead when Pasmant had Tierra West do more work for the second round.

In a discussion over the issue Wednesday, Romero questioned why Pasmant was using Tierra West, instead of HdL when the council had never approved a contract with the company.

Pasmant responded that HdL wasn’t getting the job done fast enough.

“The bottom line is that we needed to get these things reviewed,” he said, referring to the applications. “Staff had been chastised about we hadn’t completed the review.”

But Romero asked why city staff is “rushing” to finish the process..

“What is the urgency about bringing marijuana into the city that you had to bypass direction from the council?” she asked. “Why are we railroading this thing into the city?”

City Attorney Arnold Glassman objected to the term, “rushing,” saying if that was the case, licenses already would be approved.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Pasmant said he now expects HdL to finish the review by November, with a report going to the council in December.

Officials from HdL didn’t return a call for comment Thursday.

However, Romero said Matt Eaton, HdL’s cannabis compliance manager, had told her that his company was given only six days in July to review the applications – and that wasn’t enough time.

Pasmant said that HdL had months to review the applications and wasn’t getting the job done.

Hadjinian objected to Romero’s complaints, saying she was doing it because “it’s an election year.”

“You’re grandstanding,” he said.

Stymied by a short-staffed City Hall, the Pico Rivera City Council for a third time is “kicking the can” on tackling recreational marijuana and voted to extend a temporary ban on dispensaries.

The cultivation and sale of recreational marijuana will continue to be banned in Pico Rivera for another year after the unanimous vote Tuesday.

The council first passed a 45-day ban last November, about 1 1/2 months before pot shops around the state officially became legal. That ordinance gave the council the option of extending the moratorium for up to two years.

The idea at the time was that the ban would give city officials time to study health and economic effects of marijuana and craft a regulatory regime that best fits Pico Rivera. But that hasn’t happened yet, a frustration for Councilman Gregory Salcido.

“We can’t keep kicking the can on these serious issues,” he said.

There’s still a lot left to look at, acting City Manager Arlene Salazar wrote in a report.

“The city has not fully yet studied the full range of potential health, safety and welfare impacts of recreational marijuana on local residents, businesses, and the community, and the city has not yet made a final determination as to the locations, zoning districts or development standards that should be applied to nonmedical marijuana uses to preserve such interests, or whether a complete ban on such uses is necessary,” she wrote.

City officials have made some research progress on the matter, including reviewing the policies of nearby cities and working with the city attorney’s office.

But Mayor Gustavo Camacho signaled marijuana isn’t at the top priority given the state of City Hall’s top ranks. “Right now we have a limited staff, as we all know,” he said.

Salazar was tapped by the council last week to serve temporarily in the city’s top position after the Oct. 2 departure of another interim city manager, James Enriquez.

Enriquez was named about six months ago to that position after the departure of former city manager René Bobadilla. Meanwhile, two other high-ranking city officials, assistant city manager Ben Cardenas and community development manager Michael Garcia, resigned earlier this summer and their positions remain vacant.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have charged 515 people for helping to run 105 illegal marijuana operations, the City Attorney’s office said Friday.

The sweep is part of an effort to level the financial playing field for licensed cannabis businesses, which have suffered by competing with black market operators who remain active despite new licensing requirements and regulations that kicked in Jan. 1.

“Our message is clear: If you are operating an illegal cannabis business you will be held accountable,” Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said.

After months of only issuing warning notices, state officials announced in August that they were starting to pursue criminal charges against unlicensed cannabis retailers, distributors and growers.

It’s widely believed that Los Angeles has the world’s biggest marijuana market, and businesses have thrived for years under the state’s loose medical marijuana laws. But since the start of the year, new California laws have required all cannabis businesses to have both a state and city license to operate — licenses that can add costs to operations in the form of fees, testing requirements and hefty taxes.

The new laws also let cities regulate the marijuana industry, and many cities so far have opted against allowing such operations. Los Angeles, however, began licensing retail outlets in late January and most other types of marijuana businesses on Aug. 1. As of Friday, the city said 163 businesses have been given temporary licenses to operate.

But that represents just a fraction of the overall marijuana market, and for the past eight months, the City Attorney’s office coordinated with the Los Angeles Police Department to identify and investigate businesses that were operating without licenses. Most are retail shops, the City Attorney’s office said, but action also was also taken against marijuana growers, extraction labs and delivery services.

Since the investigation started, Feuer said 23 of the 105 unlicensed businesses identified by his office have shut down.

Most of the 515 people charged in the crackdown were business operators, according to Feuer. But he said there are also some landlords and employees facing charges in 120 separate criminal cases.

All of the defendants face misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines. That’s based in part on Proposition 64, which reduced the punishments for nearly every marijuana crime in addition to legalizing recreational marijuana use.

The action was well-received by City Councilwoman Nury Martinez. Buoyed by a concern that black market cannabis businesses can congregate in poorer neighborhoods and minority areas, Martinez has advocated for policy that cracks down on illegal dispensaries and regulates legal ones in her district, which includes Van Nuys, Panorama City and Sun Valley.

“Since the city began its work on laws regarding cannabis, I have been consistent in my argument that we must enforce these new regulations,” she said in a statement. “Today, we are letting our residents and those who want to flout our laws know that the city is not going to stand idly by, while the safety of our communities are at risk.”

Both Feuer and LA Police Chief Michael Moore acknowledged that they still have a lot of work to do to eliminate the black market.

“There are still hundreds of these locations out there,” Moore said.

Authorities are reviewing another 40 marijuana businesses now, Feuer said, to see if they are operating properly. He encouraged residents to report businesses that they believe may not be operating illegally through a new online portal at cannabis.lacity.org.

Greg Meguerian, who operates the licensed dispensary Reefinery in Van Nuys, said the crackdown announced by Feuer on Friday “is not enough.”

Meguerian says that he has had to raise money to operate his cannabis shop legally. Meanwhile, unlicensed businesses can still claim some legal protection under the state’s medical marijuana laws, since so-called “collectives” don’t have to dissolve until the end of the year.

Until then, Meguerian said, “We’re just trying to survive.”

The crackdown in Los Angeles isn’t happening in a vacuum. Last month, after giving businesses more than seven months to comply with new licensing requirements, state authorities said they have started to team up with local police to target unlicensed marijuana businesses. The state agency that regulates marijuana, the Bureau of Cannabis Control, last month said it helped to shutter an unlicensed marijuana shop in Costa Mesa and launch an enforcement action against an unlicensed delivery service in Sacramento.

Both businesses were included in the more than 1,000 complaints the state has received since Jan. 1. In that time, the bureau also has sent more than 2,500 cease and desist letters to marijuana businesses that appear to be operating without licenses, according to spokesman Alex Traverso, who added that more than 500 complaints remain under investigation.

Cities and counties throughout the state are also stepping up enforcement efforts.

San Diego authorities announced in August that they’ve shut down 11 unlicensed marijuana delivery services and arrested 34 people as part of a year-long operation.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office also recently formed a new marijuana task force that served its first search warrant Aug. 23 on an unlicensed dispensary operating out of a large trailer in Jurupa Valley.

Staff writer Elizabeth Chou and editor Ryan Carter contributed to this report.

A group of property owners in downtown Pomona is making it very clear: Despite a proposed measure on the November ballot that could usher marijuana businesses into town, they don’t want them in their neighborhood.

Earlier this year, proponents of an initiative that aims to overturn Pomona’s ban on commercial marijuana operations completed the first step in getting the measure on the November ballot. The signatures are under review by the City Clerk and could be placed on the ballot in the coming weeks.

In an open letter dated Aug. 1, Larry Egan, executive director of the Downtown Pomona Owners Association, said there was never any input from property owners about the initiative.

“No one was ever consulted by the cannabis industry,” he said by phone Friday. “We’re not anti-cannabis. We’re not anti-marijuana. It’s just not a good fit. We want to see a comprehensive plan that doesn’t put it all in the downtown.”

Arts Colony developer Ed Tessier raised the issue with the association’s board after learning some in the community believe the business district is behind the proposed ballot.

To the contrary, property owners take issue with it because the cannabis act seeks to throw out the zoning plans that have guided the development of Antique Row, the Arts Colony and Western University since 1994, Tessier said.

Tessier didn’t mince words: The proposed ballot measure is “a direct threat to all the ways the downtown is helping to improve the reputation of Pomona.”

While the property owners recognize recreational and medical use of marijuana is the “law of the land,” Tessier said, that doesn’t mean cannabis-related businesses should locate “in the heart of our historic downtown.”

Pomona banned commercial marijuana operations in late 2017.

In recent weeks, the City Council has had numerous discussions about the resident-backed proposed ordinance. It would amend Pomona’s laws to allow commercial cannabis use in two new zones: a self-described “safety access cannabis” zone in the middle of downtown and pockets of industrial areas throughout the city.

The safe access zone, which would be two blocks north of the Civic Center and in a portion of the business district, would allow storefront, retail, micro-business and distribution uses in the area bound by Monterey Avenue, Third Street, Locust Avenue and Parcels Street; 100 parcels are within this zone.

The ballot measure could allow as many as six dispensaries in the downtown, Councilman Rubio Gonzalez said. Pomona leaders are considering putting up a competing ordinance which would allow activity in other parts of the city, not concentrated in the historic core.

“The City Council’s cannabis ordinance, which is guaranteed to be far more conservative, would at most put one dispensary downtown,” said Gonzalez, who is also an alternate member of the downtown association’s board of directors.

The association’s board of directors unanimously voted their desire to be “a cannabis-free downtown,” the Aug. 1 letter stated. Gonzalez, Councilwoman Adriana Robledo and Kirk Pelser, Pomona’s deputy city manager, and planning Commissioner Carolyn Hemming abstained.

The resident-backed proposed initiative would prohibit cannabis businesses within 600 feet of a school, daycare, or youth center as defined by state law. Because of that, Tessier said the cannabis measure would concentrate marijuana activity in Pomona in just a couple of blocks on the east side of Garey Avenue between Second and Fourth streets.

In the last decade, Egan said he’s heard of about three or four shops that have opened illegally downtown. But weeks before the ballot initiative was presented, a cannabis operator approached a property owner on the north side of Second Street, proposing to pay $3 a square foot for a 5,000-square-foot space. A downtown spot, on the high-end, might rent for $1.10 a square foot, Egan explained. The property owner declined the offer, he added.

“We’d like the council to come out with a more thoughtful ordinance,” Egan said. “We think a well-regulated cannabis ordinance will work for the city and bring in new revenues.”

Montebello’s plan to welcome marijuana businesses to town is not exactly on a fast track. In fact, applications from would-be entrepreneurs were due three months ago, and city officials have only concluded a cursory first round of review.

Since the City Council voted in February to allow commercial indoor cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana, the first of three review steps was moving so slowly, the city hired a second contractor to speed the process.

But in doing so, City Manager Andrew Pasmant took some heat from marijuana opponents.

At last week’s meeting, Councilman Bill Molinari questioned why Pasmant hired Los Angeles-based Tierra West Advisors when the City Council had selected Diamond Bar-based HdL Companies in June to do that job.

“This process is totally inappropriate and possibly illegal,” Molinari said. “What happened to the (company) we awarded the (contract) to?” he asked.

Pasmant said he was trying to get the process moving, considering applications were due April 18 and the first round of review was plodding along. HdL will handle the next rounds of work, he added.

Chris Cardinale, assistant city attorney, said Pasmant has authority to award contracts as long as they total less than $20,000.

Even after the first review round, only two applicants have been eliminated, and that’s because they didn’t pay the required $900 fee. Three dozen applicants remain, city officials said.

The second phase, which will include background checks and verification of locations the applicants control, is under way, Mayor Vanessa Delgado said.

Although Tierra Advisors ranked the 38 applicants into four tiers, the council elected to let them all go to the second round of review.

“I believe we should move forward with more applicants than not,” Delgado said. “This process will have attrition.”

The city released the names of the companies but without addresses or phone numbers. Only four of the 38 didn’t identify a future operating location.

Michael Kimbrew, 45, of Santa Clarita was convicted in March.

Kimbrew, who lived in Carson when he was arrested in August 2017, attempted to extort the marijuana dispensary and threatened to shut down the shop if the owners did not pay him a $5,000 bribe, the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

In exchange for the payoff, Kimbrew promised to use his power as a federal employee and public official to help the shop obtain a permit to continue operating, according to court testimony officials said.

Prosecutors said Kimbrew claimed to “oversee all activities in Compton” and threatened the shop’s owners, as well as an employee. He was accused of later threatening an undercover FBI agent in recorded meetings that he was going to shut down the shop unless he received the bribe.

He claimed, as part of his federal employment for the Congress member, he had “authority” and “jurisdiction” over what Compton public officials and departments did. He was accused of promising to use that authority to help keep the shop running in exchange for the $5,000.

During a 2015 lunch meeting in Compton, Kimbrew accepted $5,000 in cash hidden inside a restaurant menu from the undercover agent, officials said, and he pledged his support to protect the shop.

In addition to the sentencing, Kimbrew was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay $5,000 in restitution and $4,000 in fees.

Whittier leaders considered Tuesday reversing the city’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries; but much to the dismay of a dozen pro-cannabis residents who stayed until 11 p.m. for the discussion, the City Council decided to nix the subject.

“We are no longer living in a time of reefer madness but in a time of science, technology and statewide legal cannabis,” resident Christine Singer-Luna said in championing change.

Officially, what the council did was to “receive and file” the report presented by Whittier’s director of community development, Conal McNamara. It offered several tacks the council could take, including recommendations for permitting and regulating medical marijuana dispensaries.

The council members’ action essentially means they acknowledged the report but may not be taking further action.

Last year, city leaders banned recreational pot dispensaries and the public’s ability to grow marijuana plants in Whittier. The vote was in response to the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016, the state initiative that legalized the adult possession, cultivation and sale of marijuana in California.

After last year’s ban, the council asked city staff to bring back information about legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries. McNamara’s report was in response to the request.

Council members said the report fell short in providing enough facts about medical marijuana.

“What the conversation needed to be is that if we want to explore the idea of medical marijuana, what are the pros, what are the cons, what is the research, what data is out there, what scientific studies have taken place,” Mayor Pro Tem Josué Alvarado said.

Council members Cathy Warner, Fernando Dutra and Mayor Joe Vinatieri were adamant: They do not support the legalization of medical marijuana.

“From my perspective, is a medical marijuana dispensary going to add a benefit to increase the standard of living for the city of Whittier, for my city? I just don’t see where it will,” Dutra said.

Warner and Vinatieri’s opposition are rooted in the fact that both recreational and medical marijuana are illegal under federal law.

“The bottom line is that (marijuana) is illegal — whether or not the U.S. Attorney General is implementing that law, to me, is not part of the equation,” Warner said. “Article 6 of the Constitution further states that federal law trumps state law, so from that perspective, I don’t support having a medical marijuana dispensary in our city.”

Alvarado was the only council member voicing support for the change. He has received many emails from Whittier residents who shared positive stories of using medical marijuana to cope with pain, he said. He believes a dispensary will benefit the many residents who have medical conditions.

“Whittier needs to look at this from a humane perspective and really stop treating this like a drug trafficking thing,” Alvarado said. “There are people out here who medically need this to survive and to be be comfortable.”

He added: “When you have someone in their 70s or are 75 asking someone of my age to help them, I’m going to do what I can.”

Councilman Henry Bouchot would prefer city staff to provide a more nuanced report, with the pros and cons of medical marijuana, before he can take a stance.

From 2010 to 2012, Whittier was home to one legal medical marijuana dispensary. Called Whittier Hope Collective, it closed down after the U.S. Department of Justice threatened its operators and landlords with federal prosecution.

Dutra, who was part of the vote that approved the dispensary in 2009, said there were problems with the source the dispensary relied on for its marijuana.

“We tried it and guess what, it didn’t work,” Dutra said. “So there are other issues than just allowing medical marijuana dispensaries being given applications or authorization to proceed than what you see on the surface.”

Singer-Luna said Whittier residents are forced to travel to Orange County or West Los Angeles for cannabis products. She’s personally visited dispensaries near and as far away as San Francisco and Alaska.

“Let me tell you, I did not feel unsafe in any of those places. There are armed security guards, there are security cameras, it is totally legal. There is no stigma,” she said. “The only stigma is here in Whittier.

Tickets are on sale for the Smoke Me Out y Los Reyes Del Corrido festival set for Aug. 18.

The festival will feature many young up-and-coming bands playing various genres of regional Mexican music, including soaring rancheras, popping norteño tunes and banda music. But the event will focus on passionate corridos, the storytelling songs, and judging by the pot leaf design in the poster for the fest, expect plenty to reference marijuana.

San Diego-born singer Roberto Tapia, who blends banda, norteño and hip-hop, is among the dozen and a half artists on the lineup.

He’s joined by Sinaloan trio Los Hijos de Barron, which brings a guitar-driven sound to rancheras as well as Orange County-based norteño group Legado 7, which is known for corridos about marijuana. Also on the bill is Arsenal Efectivo, which performs a style the members have termed “trap corridos,” which landed the group on Pandora’s “Artists to Watch in 2018.”

Other artists on the bill include El De La Guitarra, Los Alegres Del Barranco, Régulo Caro, Christian Felix and Maximo Grado, Los Hijos De Garcia, Omar Ruiz, Cornelio Vega & Su Dinastia, Enigma Norteño, Noel Torres, Fuerza Regida and Adriel Favela.

Smoke Me Out is the latest in a series of festivals that are turning the Queen Mary into one hot ship.

So far this year the venue has hosted the One Love Cali Reggae Fest in February, the sold out Smoker’s Club Festival, which celebrated hip-hop culture and marijuana in April, the R&B heavy Smoking Grooves in June and on July 7 Snoop Dogg and Warren G return to Long Beach for the Summertime in the LBC show. That’s followed on Aug.12 by Alt 98.7’s Summer Camp music festival headlined by Death Cab for Cutie.

It’s all happened after a partnership with concert organizer Goldenvoice was announced late last year to put on more festivals at the ship.

Smoke Me Out y Reyes Del Corrido

When: 11 a.m.. Aug.18

Where: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach

Tickets: $60-$150 for general admission, $150-$200 for VIP

Information: www.smokemeoutfest.com