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I'm often asked why my community is fighting McDonald's. It's quite simple.

Living in Australia's Dandenong ranges is an honour and a privilege. I should know, because last week I notched my 54th year here. I was born here and spent my childhood collecting lizards and frogs in the near by national park. I was married in the shadow of Mount Dandenong, bought my first home on one side of a hill and my second on the other side – in a small town called Tecoma.

On sunny days, I like to remind myself how good I have it, watching Kookaburras in my garden surrounded by nothing but trees, and listening to the whistle of the iconic Puffing Billy locomotive. It’s not a suburb; it’s very much a way of life.

So I was very much surprised when I first found out McDonald's wanted to build a 24/7 take away drive through store only 400 meters from my home. It was obvious that such plans in no way fitted the character of Tecoma. It was too close to the school and kindergarten, too close to the national park, and in a precinct that closes at 8:30pm each night. It made little sense.
tecoma residents Tecoma residents during a protest. Photograph: John Weeks

My community confirmed my feelings: 1,170 people wrote objections to the council, and the council listened. They voted it down 9 to 0. The people had spoken, and democracy was in working condition. That should have been the end of it, sadly it wasn’t.

McDonald's felt they knew better than the locals, and challenged it at the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal. They chose to launch the appeal a few days before Christmas, perhaps hoping to take advantage of the fact that many were off on holidays and wouldn’t respond. Regardless, 400 managed to pull together submissions from what was now a passionate community. In mid 2012, the tribunal heard our submissions, but they also heard from a large multi-national that had deep pockets and could engage experts and highly paid planning lawyers.

McDonald's won, and a community’s heart was broken.

At that point, something wonderful happened. A lot of people would have shrugged their shoulders, resigning themselves to the outcome. Tecoma did not. We came together and stood up. Everyone agreed that our democratic process had been breaking down.

A community garden was swiftly planted. The garden became a rallying point for what has become the most talented, tenacious and organised community most will ever see. I watched people offer their talents in a plan to move the battle away from the traditional courts, and in the court of public opinion: we would make McDonald's understand that they are not wanted and not welcome.
tecoma residents 'Burger off'. Photograph: John Weeks

McDonald's quickly tried to counter the sympathy we were generating by claiming that “whilst only a vocal minority are against the project, the vast community are supportive”. We were gob-smacked: at best, it was clumsy PR, and not at all reflective of our experience. So census takers volunteered to knock on every door in the town. Our results showed that nine out of 10 people did not want them in our town.

People offered us money, further support, and asked about marching and protesting. It was something we had not considered, but immediately planned. We hoped to get 400 to 500 out in the streets, instead 3,000 turned out. It was a major tipping point. CNN picked up our plight and our story was tweeted to millions of Twitter users.

Tecoma, the little town that roared, became an international cause.

Since then I have seen my community very much punching above its weight. When McDonald's tried to demolish an iconic building on the site some 17 days ago, we hoped to hold them off for a day. We are still holding. Our blockade consists of soldiers, doctors, teachers, builders, salesmen, nurses, the young, the old, the serious and the funny. In other words, a community.

Today the radio news led with the fact that McDonald's would try and stop our blockade through the supreme court. A guy in a business suit came to the blockade and asked, “who’s in charge?” He then opened his wallet and handed over $250. “I just heard on the radio, that’s for legal fees, I’ll bring more money and friends. Someone has to stand up to these bastards”.

Yes, Tecoma is special – its people are testament to that.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
So Geezer -

You don't think the people of Tecoma should have their opinion and their right to their community the way they want it, b/c you disagree with WHY you THINK they have their views.

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google street view

http://www.streetviews.co/?e=-37.916667,145.35:0:Tecoma,%20Australia

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Originally posted by Geezer:
So was it proposed to be sited on the 1500 block of Burwood Hwy, along with the other local take-away food stores?

Looking at the Google map of Tecoma (search 'Tecoma primary school, Tecoma, Australia'), it appears that if it's located across from the primary school (as noted several times), it'll be in the same block as Tecoma Charcoal Chicken/Big Al's Pizza (1563), Tecoma Fish & Chips & Pizza(1541), and Chicken A.go.go Tecoma (1527) (appears to be an Australian chain - not a local mom & pop).

http://www.localbusinessguide.com.au/victoria/tecoma/food-and-dining/t
ake-away-food/
So it looks less like opposition to fast food (or fast food chains) and related mess, and more like opposition to the name McDonalds.

BTW, Tecoma looks like a nice suburb of Melbourne, but hardly in the center of undisturbed wilderness. Try the Google street view to see what looks like a typical suburban commercial shopping street.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Oh yeah, btw - are you also claiming that what I posted ISN'T Tecoma?

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Yes, it is opposition to both McDonalds the multinational, but also the impact of having a 24 hour drive through in that location. The difference in numbers of cars and people (and resulting detritus) who would use McDonalds 24 hours around the clock and the Charcoal Chicken takeaway or Pizza place cannot be compared. Most of these shops are very small business, owner and one or two staff at most and open fairly restricted hours. Certainly none are 24 hours.

yes, people object to big name fast food multinationals as opposed to locally owned stores.

Tecoma is by no means a wilderness, but it is the gateway to an area known as the Dandenongs which contains mountain ash national parks and a city/rural fringe population. The Dandenongs or "the Hills" as it is known locally, has a particular community feel. It's an interesting demographic, very mixed politically and economically, but what a lot of people want from this area is not to live in your standard suburbs, but somewhere with a bit more community and less chain stores/parking lots. A bit more rustic,villagy if you like. In either direction, about 15 - 20 minutes drive you get all the fast food/supermarkets/chain stores your hearts can desire if that floats your boat (including McDonalds)


It is a nice area to live in, but one of the most dangerous for severe fires, given the mountain ash forests.

Edited to answer other posts. People have been honest about the reasons why they don't want the McDonalds in numerous submissions. They include problems with traffic, the 24 hours opening, litter, the visual impact and lots more.

You're the one that used the term 'pristine wilderness'. Garry said

" It was obvious that such plans in no way fitted the character of Tecoma. It was too close to the school and kindergarten, too close to the national park, and in a precinct that closes at 8:30pm each night. "

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Originally posted by Geezer

Thanks for being honest about it.

The first article you cited went on about how a McDonalds on the main street of Tecoma would be too close to schools and the local national park, when it wouldn't have been any closer that the many businesses, including fast food take-away, already there. Not sure what effect 24 hour service would have on the school, unless the kids go to school all night. Claims about rubbish from a drive-thru have more to do with the patrons than the store itself.

So it's all about the good folks there opposing multinationals; unless they're the multinationals making the Toyotas, Mitsubishis, Nissans, Mazdas, and various GM and Ford products folks are driving down Burwood.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Oh yeah, btw - are you also claiming that what I posted ISN'T Tecoma?

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Well, since the picture on your link shows an approximate address of 63 Kaola Street, Belgrave, Victoria, I kind'a have my doubts. Per the map on the link you provided, it's about a kilometer South of Tecoma Primary School and the Burwood Hwy.

Also not too sure what a residential street that's not near where the proposed McDonalds would be built has to do with anything.

BTW, here's the street directly across from the school.
http://www.streetviews.co/?point=-37.91644,145.34998:0:Tecoma, Australia:sv:0

ETA: Oops. Try this one. Not sure why the previous link defaulted to Koala St. again.

http://www.streetviews.co/?point=-37.906856,145.345117:100.81575952267
167:Tecoma:bigsv:0


"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
A lot of people really dislike McDonalds. It's visually ugly, it produces rubbish food, it underpays its workers, it underpays farmers for produce and its gotten a rotten reputation as a company for being litigious.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Geezer: So what?

This is small government, direct-action, local democracy at work. Isn't this what you claim to espouse? Seeing as YOU'RE not in control of this little community (altho it appears you would love to be) they're going to decide on things you don't particularly like. So suck it up, man, or realize that what you REALLY want is small gubmint direct action local democracy that only decides things the way YOU think they should be decided.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Geezer: So what?

This is small government, direct-action, local democracy at work. Isn't this what you claim to espouse? Seeing as YOU'RE not in control of this little community (altho it appears you would love to be) they're going to decide on things you don't particularly like. So suck it up, man, or realize that what you REALLY want is small gubmint direct action local democracy that only decides things the way YOU think they should be decided.

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KLEINFONTEIN, South Africa — At the entrance to this rural settlement is a well-kept shrine to the primary architect of apartheid. Nearby rests an old wheelbarrow, a symbol of the white Afrikaners who once ruled the country. Inside the coffee shop, at the bank, everywhere, there are only white faces.

A white security guard, wearing gray camouflage, checks cars at a gate on the main road. Race is a key factor for entry. No blacks are allowed to buy or rent houses here.

Two decades after the end of apartheid, a system of brutally enforced segregation, this hamlet exemplifies the deep racial divides that still preoccupy South Africa. The existence of Kleinfontein and places like it has set off a debate about the type of country that South Africa should be today.

As Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president, battles a serious lung infection, many South Africans are examining whether their nation has lived up to his vision of equality, engaging in conversations about race, politics and the economy. That has drawn new attention to all-white communities and the festering legacy of apartheid.

To blacks, Kleinfontein is a remnant of a painful past, a gated community of whites determined to perpetuate racist, apartheid-era practices. The several hundred whites who live here say they need to safeguard their Dutch-based Afrikaner culture and language and seek refuge from affirmative action policies and high crime rates that they blame on blacks. They insist that they are not racist, noting that they don’t welcome Jews, Catholics or any English speakers, either.

Under apartheid, the white Afrikaner-led government forced blacks to live in homelands to separate the races. Today, the residents of Kleinfontein say the creation of Afrikaner homelands is the best way for South Africa to progress under the black-led government of the ruling African National Congress party.

“I am here because outside there’s no place anymore for us. We don’t feel welcome,” said Dries Oncke, 57, a resident. “That’s why we start places like this and build them up. We know as Afrikaners we can be safe here. We have a place where we can be ourselves.”

There are three criteria for living in Kleinfontein: Residents must speak the Afrikaans language, be Protestants and be descendants of the Voortrekkers, the Dutch settlers who left the British Cape Colony in the early 1800s and migrated to the interior of what is now South Africa. They came to be known as Afrikaners.

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WORK is still on hold at McDonald?s controversial construction site in Tecoma, despite workers showing up to reportedly prepare the site for demolition works earlier this week.

'No Macca's in Tecoma’ spokesman Garry Muratore said workers had been on the roof of the building set to make way for the new restaurant, removing sheets and protesters' signs.

The temporary 2.4m-high hoarding fence, built to keep protesters out of the site, was finished on Tuesday, Mr Muratore said.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Skye Oxenham said the company was "working behind the scenes to progress with works on the site".

She could not say when construction would resume on the new restaurant. It has been more than three weeks since the fast food giant indefinitely delayed construction work after CFMEU union representatives removed workers due to safety concerns.

WorkSafe has visited the site a number of times this week to ensure construction work was being carried out safely.

Spokeswoman Rosanna Bonaccurso said inspectors were "satisfied with current work practices" and would continue to monitor the site.

The "No Macca's in Tecoma" fight continues to gather steam online, with signatures on the group’s change.org petition topping 20,000. Close to 8000 people have signed since Tuesday alone.

Mr Muratore said Supreme Court writs levelled at eight anti-McDonald’s protesters last week had sparked the petition’s rapid growth.

"People can’t believe a corporation would do this to try and silence a community," he said.

Mr Muratore said he was "gobsmacked” by McDonald’s Australia chief executive Catriona Noble’s admission on ABC radio this week that she was not familiar with details of the Supreme Court injunction, specifically that the writ stopped protesters from using social media as 'a call to arms'. "We’re not really trying to fight them,” Ms Noble said.

"All we want is to be able to access our site and build our restaurant.

"I don’t have any problem with them having freedom of speech."

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, thanks for pointing out the flaws of Libertarianism! Good thing I don't support it.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, thanks for pointing out the flaws of Libertarianism! Good thing I don't support it.

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Best just let the nanny state/mob rule tell you what's good for you,huh?

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As you once again demonstrate that you not only have no concept of what libertarianism is, but that you'll go out of your way to avoid knowing.

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What does democracy mean in Victoria? We vote every four years, and if we don't approve of what elected governments are doing on our behalf we can protest - write letters, call talkback radio, sign petitions, demonstrate, blog, Twitter and mobilise our Facebook friends. We talk back to power with impunity, not without risk of surveillance, but generally free from fear of incarceration.

Freedom of speech is no small thing, but is anyone with power actually listening? If you are speaking on behalf of a community that sees its quality of life threatened by fast food outlets, freeways, power stations or coal mines, you probably shouldn't hold your breath waiting for someone in power to respond. You think it's a bad idea to invest in roads when overwhelming evidence points to the need for public transport, never mind destroying precious parkland in order to move gridlocked traffic from the end of the Eastern Freeway into a tunnel? It's not up for debate, least of all by the people immediately affected by it! Government determination to build the east-west tunnel without regard to expert opinion, community opposition, fiscal responsibility or common sense sends a clear message. They have the power and they intend to use it.

Government refusal to engage with the community leaves people opposed to what they consider inappropriate development doubly aggrieved. They are angry about the blight on their landscape, but at a deeper level they are angry about what they see as the circumvention of democratic process involved in its approval. It matters little that the letter of the law has been followed if people feel that the spirit of democracy has been defiled.

The current standoff between protesters and developers at Tecoma is a prime example. Yes, the VCAT decision to allow McDonald's to proceed with their plan for a 24/7 franchise in the Dandenong Ranges was legal, but it lacked legitimacy in the eyes of the community. A consistent theme in published interviews with protesters relates to their sense of democratic outrage. Their elected local government refused McDonald's application for a permit; 90 per cent of surveyed residents did not want McDonald's in their town. Unsurprisingly, people feel cheated when an unelected tribunal rules in favour of a global corporation over the wishes of local government and the community it represents. It might be legal, but it doesn't feel ''democratic''. Nor does McDonald's resort to legal action feel ''just''.
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While McDonald's is legally entitled to initiate court action against the ''Tecoma 8'', the asymmetry of money and power leaves people feeling that the law is being used for corporate bullying. The possibility of risking the family home to pay legal expenses deters even the most determined community activist. It is certainly ''legal'', but it is not experienced as ''just'', and when people lose faith in the legitimacy of social institutions, social cohesion is damaged. Naive as it may seem, ordinary people like to think that citizens in a democratic society are equal before the law; McDonald's versus the Tecoma 8 does not feel like ''equality''.

Faith in democracy has also been challenged in the inner north, where the Planning Minister overruled local objections to Singapore Power-AusNet's proposed expansion of the Brunswick Terminal Station's capacity from 22 to 66 kilovolts. Company plans had been twice rejected by the Moreland council on health, safety and environmental grounds, first in 2010, then in 2011. In February 2012 the Planning Minister intervened, rezoning the terminal station site in King Street, East Brunswick, as ''Special Use'' rather than ''Residential 1''. Nothing substantial had changed. The site was still in the middle of a residential area at the edge of the Merri Creek parkland, but this deft stroke of the ministerial pen removed the community's right to further appeal, except through the courts. As in Tecoma, this would be a contest between a global corporation and citizens whose homes were on the line if they lost the case.

While the Planning Minister's decision was ''legal'', those destined to live with its consequences saw it as hijacking democratic process. They responded in the usual ways - wrote letters, held meetings, organised rallies, handed out leaflets, maintained a weekly vigil near the site and presented the Premier with a petition signed by more than 3000 people calling for an independent review panel. A delegation visited minister Guy's electoral office in the hope that, as their representative in the Legislative Council, he might be persuaded to listen to their concerns. They spread their message on social media with a Facebook site, YouTube videos and Twitter. This vigorous exercise of the right to ''free speech'' has been met with resounding silence from Spring Street, with neither Premier nor minister responding to requests from community groups and three councils for a meeting, much less an independent inquiry.

Reflecting on these community campaigns, what might we conclude about the current state of democracy in Victoria? Immediately apparent are the limits to grassroots participation in decision-making about matters of planning and infrastructure. Once elected, state governments are free to impose their vision for the future, over-ruling decisions of local councils and ignoring feedback from constituents. If government power to make these decisions was backed by the authority that comes from being seen as competent and impartial, this would not be a problem. There are always winners and losers in planning disputes, and sometimes local concerns have to be disregarded in the interests of society as a whole. What is at issue here is whether these contested planning decisions are in the interests of society as a whole. If not, whose interests are served? How you answer these questions will shape your views on whether Victoria is better described as a democracy or a corporatocracy.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/corporatocracy-killing-grassroots-dem
ocracy-20130731-2qze5.html#ixzz2aiI2TTbM

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