By Ryan Van Lenning Oaksterdam University held its Grand Opening in their new space in downtown Oakland. I went to the ribbon-cutting ceremony out front where founder Richard Lee, "ganja guru" Ed Rosenthal, and even city councilmember Rebecca Kaplan were there to celebrate and praise the economic virtues of the enterprise.
In addition to raising money for the city from taxes on cannabis businesses, local dowtown shops have seen an increase in sales because of the increase in foot-traffic these cannabis-related businesses have spurred. At least that is the claim, one that I'm going to look into.
Enrollment in OU classes is way up and tons of people see the writing on the (economic and legal) wall. But people are attending classes for a wide range of reasons and even they no doubt make up a small percentage of folks who will be getting in on the new sector.
More to come with the full report.
More on the Oaksterdam University opening from the SF Chronicle and Sphere.
Posted by Ryan Van Lenning on 01/13/10
