The director of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ cannabis office was abruptly shut down by a Queens community board chairman during a raucous meeting at Christ the King High School in Middle Village on Wednesday night — drawing a rebuke from City Hall.
“Will you sit down please!,” Community Board 5 chairman Vincent Arcuri barked to a stunned Dasheeda Dawson, the head of Cannabis NYC, as she offered to take questions after endorsing the opening of a licensed cannabis store in the district.
Although Dawson had already identified herself as representing the mayor, Arcuri oddly asked, “Are you representing Brad Lander?”
Dawson: “No I’m not.
During the videotaped meeting at Christ the King High School, other baffled CB5 members tried to stand up for Dawson and allow her to continue talking after being cut off but a defiant and grumpy Arcuri put his arms up in the air and said, “Who would like to run the meeting? Anybody?”
City Hall quickly denounced Arcuri’s mistreatment of Adams’ representative as unprofessional and inappropriate.
“The disrespect shown to Dasheeda Dawson at the Queens Community Board 5 meeting last night is unacceptable. [She] attended this meeting because the agenda included the first CAURD [Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary] licensee to go in front of a community board in Queens,” a mayoral spokesperson said in a statement.
“Thankfully, Dasheeda is a class act and a professional, and waited until the end of the meeting to connect with community members and answer all their questions,” the Adams rep added.
Osbert Orduna, CEO of The Cannabis Place, slammed Arcuri’s treatment of Dawson, as well.
“The fact that Ms. Dawson is a woman — a woman of color — makes her mistreatment that much more reprehensible,” said Orduna, a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq and runs a cannabis delivery service nearby.
A defiant Arcuri defended his decision to stifle Dawson.
“The question is when someone is supposed to speak. There is one person in charge of the meeting,” Arcuri testily told The Post before ending his conversation with the reporter.