Mayor Kevin McCarty and Sacramento City Council,

Sacramento cannot continue pretending these are isolated incidents.

This week, in South Sacramento, an armed security guard at a marijuana dispensary shot and killed one robbery suspect and critically wounded another during an attempted robbery. Burglary detectives, homicide investigators, crime scene units, and numerous law enforcement personnel responded to the scene after multiple calls from nearby residents and businesses reporting spillover impacts and fear throughout the surrounding area.

This occurred in Council District 6.

Cannabis businesses are not coffee shops or ordinary retail stores. They contain high-value cash and product and have become repeated targets for armed robberies, burglaries, vehicle rammings, organized criminal activity, and violent crime.

The industry has been warning the City about this for years.

In 2022, CBS Sacramento reported on more than 100 public records and law enforcement documents tied to cannabis-related robberies, burglaries, and public safety incidents throughout Sacramento. Operators openly stated the City knew these problems were escalating but failed to take meaningful action.

Yet despite these ongoing incidents, the City is now considering:• Weakening sensitive-use buffers• Reducing spacing requirements between dispensaries• Expanding cannabis consumption lounges• Increasing reliance on discretionary Conditional Use Permits instead of hardline protections

This is backwards public policy.

Hardline sensitive-use buffers and anti-clustering protections exist for a reason. Sacramento should not weaken protections around schools, parks, youth centers, daycare facilities, rehabilitation centers, churches, residential neighborhoods, and other vulnerable community spaces while violent crime tied to these uses continues escalating.

When dispensaries cluster too closely together, they create concentrated robbery targets and increase the likelihood of violence spilling into surrounding neighborhoods.

This is no longer just a District 2 or District 6 issue. It is becoming a Sacramento-wide public safety issue.

The City cannot continue ignoring the reality that residents, surrounding businesses, employees, security guards, pedestrians, and nearby families are increasingly being placed in harm’s way.

Protect neighborhood safety first. Maintain and strengthen buffer protections before Sacramento creates long-term public safety consequences that cannot easily be reversed.

Happy Mother's day to all district's moms .I was raised by my mother, youngest of five,four older sisters.I rode next to her in a station wagon manning our way to SoCal,Arizona,and Sonora Mexico.