Signal Tribune Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. XLIII NO. 31
INSIDE: For this Long Beach shop, the resurgence in roller skating feels like victory see page 5
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
LOCAL BUSINESS
Friday, July 30, 2021 SH COUNCIL
Will Signal Hill allow cannabis retailers? Residents to vote in November 2022 Anita W. Harris Senior Writer
At Signal Hill’s first coffee roaster, fair trade comes close to home
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Emma DiMaggio Managing Editor
rom a machine straight out of science fiction comes a soft crackle, much like the sound of gravel lightly crunching underfoot. Francisco Portillo’s ears are well-tuned to the rising and falling crescendo of sound that abounds from the large chrome coffee roaster at Black Dog Coffee Roasters. The “first crack” means the beans are blonde, a light taste that yields the most caffeine. The “second crack” means they’re medium-roasted, the most aromatic of the roasts. A “third crack” means the beans are dark roasted, taking on charcoal notes as oils turn the pale green beans into shining brown gemstones. He only uses the large-batch machine when he closes for the day. If he’s distracted, the beans may come out too burned, too light, not light enough. Portillo doesn’t look at the temperature gauge on the machine. He only listens. It’s imperative that he does justice to the beans—they come straight from El Porvenir, his family’s coffee farm in El Salvador. “The whole idea was to support my family, obviously, and the small farmers,” Portillo said. “The dream for everybody is to export, ‘I want to take my product out of the country.’” see BLACK DOG COFFEE page 7
Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
(Top) Black Dog Coffee Roasters owner Francisco Portillo poses for a portrait while sitting on coffee beans imported from El Salvador on July 19, 2021. (Bottom) Black Dog Coffee Roasters owner Francisco Portillo pours freshly roasted coffee beans into one of his bags on July 19, 2021.
During its July 27 meeting, the Signal Hill City Council decided to add a ballot measure to the November 2022 election allowing residents to decide whether the City should allow up to two cannabis retail outlets. Since California voters legalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2016, the council has been weighing potential tax revenues from allowing such businesses to operate in the city against associated costs, both fiscal and social. The City hired Georgia-based cannabis consultants Harris & Associates in January for $50,000 to study the costs and benefits of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in Signal Hill. The 2.2 square-mile city is surrounded by the larger city of Long Beach, which has 32 licensed cannabis retailers. Hitta Mosesman, senior director at Harris & Associates, told the council that given State zoning rules and the city’s real-estate landscape, Signal Hill can viably grant licenses for up to two cannabis retail outlets. The City would benefit economically from those businesses, Mosesman said. At the regional average tax rate of 7.5%, the City could expect net revenues of between $251,000 and $966,000 per business in the first year, based on $3 million to $5 million in cannabis sales. Each business would create 18 to 32 new jobs, Mosesman added. Each would also contribute between $7 million and $13 million per year to the local economy from direct sales and indirectly through purchases from other local businesses. Harris & Associates used objective data in making its projections, Mosesman stressed, especially the budgets of Santa Ana and Long Beach, which see SH CANNABIS page 4