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1. Central NY News
SHOP OWNER’S LAWSUIT CLAIMS SYRACUSE MAYOR BEN WALSH ACTED WITH RACIAL BIAS IN
CANNABIS CASE
* Updated: Nov. 30, 2023, 6:00 p.m.|
* Published: Nov. 30, 2023, 11:57 a.m.
The owner of this shop at 410 S. Warren St. in the Dey's Centennial Building has
sued the city of Syracuse, claiming ethnic bias during what it calls the city's
illegal shutdown of the business in September. A judge ordered the city to let
the shop reopen in October.Don Cazentre
*
*
*
*
Subscribers can gift articles to anyone
By
* Don Cazentre | dcazentre@nyup.com
The city of Syracuse, including Mayor Ben Walsh himself, acted with anti-Muslim
and anti-Arab bias earlier this year when it closed a retail shop accused of
illegally selling marijuana, according to a lawsuit filed by the shop owner.
The bias claim was added this month to a lawsuit against the city originally
filed in State Supreme Court in October by Tarek Shehadeh, owner of T’s Wireless
in the Dey’s Centennial building in downtown Syracuse. The original lawsuit,
claiming the city overstepped its authority and violated the law by shutting the
shop down, named the city and its codes enforcement director, Jake Dishaw, as
defendants.
This month, Walsh was added by name as a defendant, and the case has been
transferred to federal court.
The amended lawsuit claims that the city’s action to close T’s Wireless and four
other shops accused of illegal marijuana sales in September showed
discrimination because all are “Arab-owned, Palestinian-owned, and/or
Muslim-owned businesses.” The suit claims the city has failed to act against
other shops that are “similarly or identically-situated” but not operated by
Arab, Palestinian and/or Muslim owners.
“Each defendant has, at all times relevant to this action, been motivated by
racial, ethnic, and religious-based discriminatory animus toward Plaintiffs and
their employees, all of whom are Muslims Palestinian Americans,” the lawsuit
claims.
The lawsuit describes Shehadeh as a “Muslim Palestinian American and natural
born United States citizen.”
In response to a syracuse.com request for comment on the allegation of racial
bias, the city provided a statement from Corporation Counsel Susan Katzoff, the
city’s top lawyer:
“The allegation in the amended complaint is a baseless and transparent attempt
to distract from their unlawful behavior,” Katzoff said.
Shahedeh’s shop, whose address is 410 S. Warren St. in the Dey’s Centennial
building, reopened on Oct. 25 following a temporary restraining order issued by
State Supreme Court Justice James Murphy following the original lawsuit. T’s
Wireless sells phones, clothing and shoes and also has a valid state license to
sell hemp-derived CBD products (but not marijuana, which is separately
licensed).
The lawsuit stems from a series of actions the city took against the five
businesses in September.
In each case, the city codes office declared each location “unfit for human
occupancy.” The codes actions followed inspections conducted by agents of the
state’s Office of Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance,
who claimed they found evidence the shops were selling marijuana (cannabis with
higher levels of THC than hemp products).
In addition to T’s Wireless, the shops shut down were:
* EXscape Exotic, a smoke shop and vape lounge, at 167 Marshall St.
* NY Exotic, a smoke shop, at 123 Marshall St.
* North Side Express, a convenience store, at 400 Wolf St.
* Smoke City 420, a smoke shop, at 1105 N. Salina St.
Shehadeh’s lawyer, Brady O’Malley of the Nave Law Firm in Syracuse, said he is
also representing one of the other shops, but declined to identify which one.
The September crackdown represented a new tactic in the city’s effort to contain
the growth of illicit cannabis shops since New York state legalized adult-use
cannabis in 2021. The state has been slow to roll out its own legal and licensed
shops, called dispensaries, allowing a gray market to thrive.
In Syracuse, the city codes office has attempted to close about a dozen such
shops in the past year or so, but often found that they just popped up again.
Dishaw, the code enforcement director, has told syracuse.com the state’s
decision to inspect and cite shops for illegal marijuana helped provide the
legal authority to declare the locations “unfit for human occupancy.” That
declaration means they can’t be used for any purpose until they work out a plan
to be in legal compliance. They are also subject to fines.
“The difference now is that we are working together with the state agencies,”
Dishaw told syracuse.com in September, comparing last month’s action to the
city’s previous efforts. “Now the state can come in and find them in violation,
and we can come back and since they are operating contrary to law, we can
declare them unfit.”
O’Malley said this week that he’s heard from the state cannabis office that the
illicit marijuana charges against T’s Wireless will be dropped. The state
cannabis office’s efforts to follow up on its inspections has also been hampered
by delays.
In any case, the basis of Shehadeh’s original lawsuit is that the city did not
have the right to shut the businesses down.
“The city’s improvisational use of code enforcement power as a means to
‘regulate’ the local cannabis market plainly violates state and local law,” the
lawsuit states.
In October, a City Hall spokesman told syracuse.com the city’s actions were
based on state and city codes, not cannabis law.
The original T’s Wireless lawsuit noted that Walsh himself stopped into T’s
Wireless on the day before the state cannabis and tax agents inspected it for
illicit cannabis. The suit includes exhibits showing Walsh taking pictures of
cannabis products on a counter in the shop and then leaving. At that time, the
shop was located in a different part of the Dey’s Centennial Building, facing
Salina Street.
The lawsuit also includes videos taken by surveillance cameras in the shop. One
shows a man identifying himself as an employee of the city codes department
sympathizing with the person at the counter. He appears to say he didn’t think
the shop was doing anything wrong, but that the orders came “from City Hall.”
Another video, according to the lawsuit, “shows Dishaw laughing, gloating,
flashing his code enforcement credentials, smearing and mocking Plaintiffs and
their employees, and casually describing his plan to shut down the store the
next day.”
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him
at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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