The city of Sacramento has temporarily shut down a large cannabis manufacturing facility, swiftly prompting an explosive council meeting and a lawsuit. Officials on October 2 ordered the closure of Natura, located on Elder Creek Road near Power Inn Road, citing fire code violations that make the Morrison Creek district buildings unsafe for its 450 employees. The decision prompted over 40 workers to come to last Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Several were near tears as they begged for the council to overrule the building inspector’s decision so they could pay their rent and feed their families.
“I believe my company is wrongfully under assault,” Michael Hicks, an employee, told the council. “My job and the job of hundreds of others are in jeopardy right now.”
Mayor Darrell Steinberg urged CEO and co-founder Ori Bytton to urgently spend money for construction, citing a Wall Street Journal article that said Bytton had recently listed his Los Angeles home for $38 million. “I don’t begrudge anybody’s wealth,” Steinberg said. “But I would suggest to you that you hire people to do double, triple, quadruple overtime to get this work done in collaboration with the building inspector and fire inspector and get these folks back to work as quickly as possible and/or pay you employees while this work gets done.”
Read more at: sacbee.com