Vote scheduled for Tuesday in Hazel Park's weed and music festival
HAZEL PARK, Mich - The Hazel Park City Council will vote on Tuesday on whether to allow Spark in the Park, an event designed to celebrate marijuana with pot sales, music, and something called ‘the Olympics of weed’.
Spark in the Park is a two-day music festival, that has a lot of Metro Detroiters excited, but also has a lot of nearby residents upset. It's tentatively set for June 18 and 19 at the Green Acres Park, and is expected to attract 4,200 to the festival. But people who live nearby aren't thrilled with the idea.
One of those residents is Jerome Zeoli, who lives off the park with his young family. Zeoli, who was playing volleyball with his daughters at Green Acres Park, says he doesn't want his kids exposed to marijuana— especially not at the park they visit once a week.
"It’s disrespectful to the kids and people that don’t believe in it," said Zeoli, who spoke with Fox 2 in late March. "I’ve never smoked it in my life. You’ve got a bunch of kids playing out here, they don’t need to see that."
RELATED: Proposed Hazel Park weed festival Spark in the Park has residents divided
Residents Scott Reinhart and Stephen Tarnowski were playing disc golf at the Green Acres Park — and say they are all for the event.
"I feel like it’s a blessing, because why do I have to hide in your house when you can smoke and have fun at some festival, that’s what I think," said Scott Reinhart, who spoke with Fox 2 in late March. "Just to have it in one area to just smoke and have fun, I don’t think anything is going to get damaged we’re just here to have fun, too."
Hazel Park City Councilman Luke Londo says the Spark in the Park organizers are working to address the concerns brought up by his fellow council members. As the council discussed at the late March meeting, most concerns, are logical.
"We are in a residential area right here, noise adjacent to a lot of the residences of Hazel Park, as well as Ferndale," Londo said when spoke with Fox 2 in late March. "Parking is going to be a bit of a challenge, I know there will be parking across the city and a shuttle situation, noise, and odor are also a concern."
Jared Jeffries, Government and Public Relations for the Cannabis Counsel, sent a statement to Fox 2, which says in part, "Our event will be non-alcoholic, with adequate security as mandated by the state, and feature enclosed fire-safe smoking tents with HVAC systems to minimize the impact on the surrounding community."
"Nobody has an issue with the festival, it's just more or less about making sure we're benefiting the residents," said Londo. "We’re about to open the first consumption lounge in the state, we just decriminalized (psychedelic mushrooms), no one has an issue with the substance of the festival - it is just more or less making sure we are benefiting the residents."