Fight breaks out at Harlem Dispensary across the street from the Apollo Theater

There’s a battle underway to fight the opening of a new dispensary in Harlem, in a location known for its place in music history.

CBS2 reports that plans are being developed to open a pharmacy in a building on 125th Street across from the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

The 125th Street Business Improvement District (BID) filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court. “We took this action to really provide transparency and create a communication channel to understand why this location is there,” Mukaram Taheraly, chairman of the 125th Street BID, told CBS2.

According to BID, state regulators worked in secret to avoid backlash from the Harlem community, especially given the importance of the site. “We just want to know why the decision was really made without consulting us,” Taheraly said.

The lawsuit also accuses the state of violating its own ordinance that prohibits dispensaries from opening within 500 feet of a school. In this case, they say the pharmacy is too close to Touro College, a high school senior school in the area. The lawsuit lists a total of 47 businesses serving or supplying minors.

As a solution, the BID recommends that the pharmacy open in the state-owned Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building so customers have a safe environment.

Crain’s New York Business reports that the proposed location has a sign indicating it was a recent COVID testing center.

Local residents recognize Apollo Theater in music history

The Apollo Theater is no ordinary place: it has been synonymous with legendary black musicians and performers since the swing era.

Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and comedians like Richard Pryor often performed in the theater. Other artists’ careers began in theater including Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., Diana Ross & The Supremes, Parliament-Funkadelic, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Jackson 5 and later Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, The Isley Brothers and the list goes on.

This might add to the reasons why locals don’t want a pharmacy right across the street.

When asked about the location of the pharmacy, some local residents gave a balanced answer.

“You’re going to have customers who feel like this is a facility that I can actually walk into and feel safe in,” said Breeze Fabre of Harlem.

“If they give people jobs, maybe I’ll come out there and work,” said another Harlem resident.

“That’s maybe [a] Situation where there is no right answer, but before we proceed I think all key stakeholders and their positions should be considered,” said Muna Heaven of Harlem.

Other residents are not so lucky. “It’s the worst thing they can do,” Harlem resident Brenda Balthazar told ABC7. “Like right now, a lot of things are happening on the train, and not just on the train, but in the neighborhood.”

While the location is a few doors down from the Lazarus Children’s Clothing Store, there’s also a tattoo parlor next door, and nobody’s complaining about that.

The New York Cannabis Control Board approved 99 new licenses on April 3, bringing the total number of provisional retail pharmacy retail licenses for conditional adult use (CAURD) to 165.

The Cannabis Control Board wrote in a press release that the “licenses included four for Western New York, one for Central New York, five for Mid-Hudson and three for Brooklyn, representing the first provisional licenses issued in those regions after the last.” Week Modification of a court order that had prevented the board from issuing it.