Q&A
Council member inquires about smoke shop enforcement progress
3:15:21
·
3 min
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about the progress of smoke shop enforcement efforts in New York City. Commissioner Preston Niblack provides updates on the sealing of illegal shops, the timeline for processing cases, and the fines assessed so far.
- 175 smoke shops have been sealed
- $13,600,000 in fines have been assessed
- Enforcement teams include 10-15 teams with 5 or more members, predominantly from NYPD
Gale A. Brewer
3:15:21
Thank you very much.
3:15:22
On the smoke shops, my favorite topic.
3:15:26
The question I have is, it's good that a 175 have been sealed.
3:15:31
Do you have some sense if when they go to oath, how long it takes?
3:15:34
I think it's supposed to be 5 days.
3:15:36
Yeah.
3:15:36
And then the update and the dollars being paid.
3:15:40
I have some experience with these smoke shops, having closed a couple of myself under, the issue of, tobacco and how they pay or don't pay.
3:15:50
So just update on the money, basically.
Preston Niblack
3:15:54
Sorry.
3:15:54
And the first question was about the the, timeline
Gale A. Brewer
3:15:58
Timeline at all.
3:15:59
I think it's supposed to be within 5 days, and I know they're trying to staff up.
3:16:02
I this isn't your bailiwick specifically, but we're all interested in trying to get these things to stay closed.
Preston Niblack
3:16:08
It come it come it comes to me.
3:16:10
It comes to my desk, ultimately, because the ALJ recommendations are recommendations, so they all have to be approved finally.
3:16:17
And, so I've received a number of them, and we're expecting, you know, that to ramp up fairly quickly.
3:16:24
You know, so far so far, it's been going very smoothly.
3:16:27
I mean, I it's testament to OTA and the law department and everybody's hard work and fast work here that we stood up these processes very quickly, and so far they're they're running smoothly.
3:16:40
The money, you know, we've we've assessed, I think, about $13,600,000 in fines so far.
3:16:46
I mean, it's so soon that I can't really, give you a number as to how much has been collected.
Gale A. Brewer
3:16:52
Okay.
3:16:53
13,600,000 in fines.
3:16:54
Okay.
3:16:55
And so far, as far as you know, the 175 has stayed sealed because in one case, I had one open up again or a couple of cases.
3:17:02
Yeah.
Preston Niblack
3:17:02
Yeah.
3:17:02
Yeah.
3:17:03
No.
3:17:03
They they occasionally, you know, we I mean, I think your, staff, the OIB staff actually, you know, told us that the one that was closed on Church Street had the padlock cut and who went back.
3:17:16
So yeah.
3:17:17
I mean, people do occasionally cut the the padlocks.
3:17:21
We send out people to look at stores that have been closed.
3:17:24
The local precinct will send people by to make sure that they are still padlocked.
Gale A. Brewer
3:17:29
Okay.
3:17:29
I know that the, consumer and worker protection, some staff from there has gone to the sheriff.
3:17:34
I didn't know how many.
3:17:35
And is that permanent or is it on loan?
Preston Niblack
3:17:40
They they are so the the cannabis law amendments in the that were passed as part of the state budget gave the sheriff the ability to designate staff from other agencies in order to help carry out the the inspections and enforcement activity.
3:17:56
There are on any given day, there are 10 to 15 teams with 5, usually 5 or more members.
3:18:03
It's predominantly PD, and I can't tell you off the top of my head how many DCWP inspectors we're using, but it's, you know, it's for as long as we will need to continue this activity at this level of, at this level of, operations.
