A month into her tenure as Oakland’s new czar of race and equity, Darlene Flynn got thrown into a maelstrom.
Her first assignment: to conduct an analysis of the city’s cannabis industry as the City Council fights over whether to pass laws that would allow scads of underground businesses to operate legally.
Flynn, who came to Oakland from Seattle, where she worked at another race and equity program, said in a recent interview that she had little knowledge of the cannabis trade. In Seattle, Flynn said, her office conducted a similar analysis on the race and equity impacts of a proposal to shut down hookah bars.
Her Oakland report, due in February, will look at the effect of the cannabis market on unemployment, poverty, and arrest rates for various race and ethnic groups in Oakland. It will include recommendations to the council as it decides what to require of pot businesses in the city.
