With a burst of fanfare, Westchester’s first cannabis dispensary opened on Feb. 20, with Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard claiming bragging rights as the county’s home for legal weed.
Beaming with pride, Patterson-Howard stood front and center with a pair of oversized scissors at the ribbon-cutting for Elevate, located on South Terrace Avenue in a neighborhood by the Mount Vernon West Metro-North station, with a mix of industrial buildings, two-family homes, and a church.
She was flanked by city Comptroller Darren Morton, Elevate owner John Ruggiero, and Chris Alexander, executive director of New York’s beleaguered Office of Cannabis Management.
Here was the chance for Alexander to snip the ribbon and welcome Westchester’s first legal adult-use retail outlet for recreational cannabis, located in a former auto-body shop that underwent a gut renovation in 2023 to emerge as the county’s flagship cannabis dispensary.
At long last, Westchester had a legal dispensary.
At a time of growing concern over illegal smoke shops in southern Westchester, Patterson-Howard viewed the retail cannabis outlet as a promising opportunity for economic development. A press release from the Mayor’s Office noted that Mount Vernon “is set to embrace the burgeoning legal cannabis market.”
“We are growing our industry,” said Patterson-Howard that chilly February morning.
