McDonald’s On the Move; Free Speech Locked Up
One of our sharp-eyed Friends took a photo of this banner last Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, it was gone.
During its brief life, it asked the telling questions:
- Why is the City Council spending millions of tax dollars to move the McDonald’s?
- How did the Fox project morph into subsidizing teen obesity?
The sign hits McDonald’s hard, though—to be fair—McDonald’s doesn’t want to move at all. Just like the residents who lived in the demolished homes didn’t want to move. Redevelopment hard at work!
- Who tore the sign down? City crews or the McDonald’s owner are the likely suspects.
- Who’s afraid of a little free speech?
After all, that fence is paid for by the taxpayers, just as everything else in this $6 million supersized boondoggle!
And it was covering the eyesore of the vacant lots where vintage homes once stood.
Take pity on your campus, you FHS alums Quirk and Keller! Listen to the District Board members. Superintendent Escalante told City Manager Armstrong back in 2001 that the school does not want a McDonald’s across the street or its drive thru lane accessing already congested Pomona Ave. That information has been covered up for years!
There is an ordinance against posting signs on public property. Funny enough, if they left this one up it would be a violation of everyone else’s first amendment rights.
Curiously, this sign was taken down right away while the pink “Save our Schools” sign on the railroad overpass at Euclid has been up for months.
Touchy ain’t they?
Our staff hate to be seen doing dumb things and they hate being criticized. This kind of attitude isparticulary prevalent in organizational cultures that lack accountability in the first place. Unfortunately most of what Redevelopment does is dumb or counterproductive.
But it’s McDonalds!!! They have HAPPY meals!!!! This should make everyone fat, but at least they’ll be HAPPY!!!!
Seems that part of this deal hinged on the development of the Fox Theatre project. If the Fox went through, then there would be a need for increased parking. However, as far as I can see, the Fox Theatre is still a big maybe. They haven’t raised the funds they need, and it was never established whether or not it could truthfully be financially viable after construction without continued city support.
I know that the Fox Theatre is a popular subject around these parts of town. Say anything against it and you will be branded by Reifer as utterly hopeless. But what is hopeless is a pit that you have to throw money at again and then ignore vital projects that really do deserve more support.
This is an issue I tried to bring up when Reifer and the others were passing the hat. When the live theatre that we already have can’t sell out tickets, when the arts are not on the main radar of most Fullertonians, why is the city throwing tossing more money at it, such as the demolition of homes and the building of a 6 million dollar hamburger?
Seems to me that the Fox should have been a “go”, not a “maybe” before other funds were committed.