Mattapan residents wary of planned pot shop

Trio of entrepreneurs seek to open shop on Blue Hill Avenue

Yawu Miller

Yawu Miller is the former senior editor of the Bay State Banner. He has written for the Banner since 1988.... VIEW BIO

Scores of neighborhood residents gathered at the Mattapan branch of the Boston Public Library last Tuesday as a trio of entrepreneurs outlined their plans to open a marijuana shop at 1292 Blue Hill Ave.

Mattapan residents were mostly patient as Jody Mendoza and Richy Peña — the husband-and-wife team that owns Mojitos Country Club — and investor Carlos Castillo described their planned 1,000-square-foot operation, which would include two security guards, satellite parking and an unadorned storefront lacking any signage indicating what’s sold inside.

(l-r) Carlos Castillo, Richy Pena and Jody Mendoza brief residents on their plan to open a marijuana shop called Mojos. Banner photo

“The reason we’re here is to offer a safe and regulated alternative to what is out there,” Mendoza told the audience. After an hour-long presentation, elderly Mattapan resident Joyce Durst made her way to the microphone, thanked the trio for their presentation and delivered a tersely-worded verdict.

“In terms of the recreational marijuana shop in Mattapan, the answer is hell no!” she said. “Anyone who wants to bring that can take it to another neighborhood.”

The Mattapan residents’ concerns centered around parking, traffic, crime and security, with the overwhelming majority of those who spoke voicing opposition.

The shop Mendoza, Peña and Castillo are calling Mojos is one of two proposed for Mattapan. A company led by former District 7 City Councilor Tito Jackson is planning to open a medical and recreational dispensary at 1589 Blue Hill Ave. in Mattapan Square. Because the Massachusetts law authorizing the opening of marijuana retail stores forbids them from locating within a half-mile of each other, only one of the two proposals is likely to be approved.

In other neighborhoods across the city, similar meetings are being held. In Dorchester’s Uphams Corner neighborhood, residents expressed opposition to a proposed pot shop on Hancock Street during an October meeting. Last Wednesday, Roslindale residents heard a proposal for a recreational marijuana shop at 882 South Street being advanced by Mitch Rosenfield, the owner of the Newbury Street store Hempest. That same day, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council met to discuss a retail shop proposed by Core Empowerment at 401 Centre Street in Hyde Square. Tuesday this week Omincann was scheduled to present its plan for a retail shop in East Boston’s Central Square.

Taking the half-mile radius into consideration, as well as prohibitions on siting the shops in close proximity to schools, as many as 57 shops could open in the city of Boston, theoretically. And while neighborhood support or opposition could be a factor in the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal’s consideration of the applications, the law authorizing the opening of pot shops is on the side of the purveyors.

Mendoza told the audience that her team would at least be accessible to neighborhood residents, unlike their corporate competitors.

“If you need my cell phone number, you can have it,” she said. “You will not be calling a company spokesperson.”

The Mojos team is the sole minority-owned cannabis business currently seeking to open in Boston. Castillo, who owns a liquor store in Boston and invests in real estate, said he is a lifelong Dorchester resident and genuinely wants to open the shop in a way that works for abutters. Peña, who graduated from Madison Park High School, is a Grammy-winning Latin music producer and writer. Mendoza said they plan to hire local residents and pay between $15 and $25 an hour. The employees, like those in their nightclub, would be predominantly people of color, she added.