Judge Grants Temporary Restraining Order Against Highland Park Pot Shop Owners

By City News Service

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday, blocking the opening of a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in the Mar Vista area.   

The City Attorney's Office filed court papers earlier this month looking to prevent members of the Highland park Patient Collective from opening an outpost at 3472 S. Centinela Ave., inside a vacant, 7,565-square-foot building that once housed Mrs. Gooch's Natural Food Market.  

Judge James Chalfant concluded the opening of the dispensary would violate city laws, including Proposition D, which was approved by voters in May and banned all but 135 medical marijuana shops.   

A Jan. 7 hearing was set to determine if a preliminary injunction should be issued.   

“The court's order is another important milestone in the work our office has taken to aggressively enforce Proposition D and uphold the will of the voters,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said.   

Officials with the collective could not be reached for comment.   

The planned shop was decried by neighbors, prompting City Councilman Mike Bonin to urge the owners to drop their plans “or meet with stiff opposition from neighbors, from the community and from me and my office.”

If the collective were to open, it would be a “slap in the face to residents who voted in good faith to support” Proposition D, Bonin wrote in an Oct. 8 letter to one of the business owners.