Please, keep commenting!!
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From: Jessie
Posted: 7th May 2009 at 01:23pm
This is ridiculous. To think that the southern most tip of the beautiful Mornington Peninsula has to fight to stop the homogenisation of its seaside towns!! Can you imagine the outraged reaction if fast food giants were homing in on Sorrento or Portsea?
Someone that doesn’t live in Rye told me yesterday that Rye needs development and doesn’t believe that Rye is OUR TOWN. I think the town meeting held on 23rd April, where approx 300 people attended, demonstrates how passionate locals are about our community! Development does not have to include fast food giants! So many wonderful ideas were discussed, if you want to stay informed check out the campaign’s website: OurTownRye.blogspot.com.
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From: JamesPosted: 6th May 2009 at 05:01pm
I can not believe what McDonald's is spouting about job opportunites and giving back to the community. We all know that the cost of living with McDonald's on our foreshore will far outweigh any false claims of ‘benefits’ to the community. 80 jobs for local people? What about those already employed by local traders? How will their employment be affected because small independent business’ can’t compete with the giant monopoly that is McDonald's? And jobs for local tradies. “Potentially” is the key word here, I think! The idea of McDonald's sponsoring sporting and community events is ludicrous - it would make me stay away!!! And watch out local schools in the area, McDonald's will be keen to offer you bribes too for a bit of promotion, say its logo stamped on text books, newsletters, etc. McDonald's is not an altruistic company whose focus is to better the community. McDonald's say they give but only if they are getting a lot more in return. This really would be a disaster for Rye, just when the community is putting forward great ideas on how to improve the culture of our town.
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From: MichellePosted: 6th May 2009 at 02:09pm
80 Jobs? This will not be fulltime jobs but casual jobs, poorly paid and peak season jobs. Let us weigh that up against those who will become unemployed in our cafes and food outlets when McDonald's drives these local, family-owned businesses out of town. How do you think Old McDonald's keep their dollar menu going by their employees breaking their backs working two or three positions at the same time just to keep the labour costs low. Is that what we want our local teens doing for part-time jobs? Serving up bad food under bad conditions, for low wages and abuse by non-caring, mostly one-off customers just passing through, and just imagine the clientele late night in the summer. Jobs for trades-persons? McDonald’s buildings are public buildings. How many local trades-persons are registered to build public buildings? I bet your bottom dollar McDonalds already have their preferred suppliers who churn out the pre-fab McBuildings (mostly out of china) at a very cheap price that many of our local building companies would find it difficult to compete with. Sponsorship opportunities? Don’t be fooled, it is all part of their marketing plan to get at our children.
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From: Andrew Humphrey
Posted: 6th May 2009 at 09:19am
The article seems to have a lot of 'coulds', 'mights' and 'potentiallys' in it for the “benefits” McDonald's will bring. I prefer to focus on the concrete: we know a McDonald’s will greatly increase rubbish in the area, we know a McDonald’s in the area will lead to a decline in diversity of local traders, we know a McDonald’s in the area will lead to a decline in the quality of food consumed by our kids, we know a McDonald’s in the area will cause localised traffic problems, we know a McDonald’s on the foreshore would be an eyesore.
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From: Joy
Posted: 6th May 2009 at 08:20am
Oh McDonald's, you have not convinced me yet! I am filled with questions. What type of jobs are on offer here? Is it well paying employment that will help someone in our community provide for themselves and their family? Perhaps it is low paying, casual work for 15 year olds who will take their money out of town to spend it? As for local tradies getting more work, does this mean local contractors will get the bulk of the build or will that be given to your usual building suppliers who are experienced at piecing together pre-fab commercial buildings? I ask how much good quality, well paid and consistent work is really on offer? Of course, the next question to ask is ‘how much of this type of employment will be lost when our local traders have to close their doors’? You can not buy me with your offers of sporting sponsorship and the like. I wish to teach my children about a healthy lifestyle and a good work ethic. An enjoyable, community-minded fundraiser may take a bit of work but that doesn’t scare me. McDonald's offers do! This is OUR town, we should get to make the choice. We do NOT want your type of community support, but thanks for the offer!
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From: Ben
Posted: 5th May 2009 at 11:48pm
What a load of rubbish! We don’t want McDonald's here and especially don’t want them offering money to schools and sporting events like bribes. “Giving back to the community” - yeah right, as long as they can see an advertising opportunity in it for them, somewhere to put their yellow arches. Keep them away from our town and our kids!
Please be patient with us, there is a huge amount of paperwork to process and there was an incredible influx of people arriving at the sign in desk on the night. We all have done our best but if there are any errors that you notice, please just let us know and we will try to rectify them.
Thank you again to everyone for displaying such an amazing amount of enthusiasm, passion and generosity. I feel so overjoyed and grateful to our amazing town. If McDonalds, Hungry Jacks and the like aren't aware of the incredible spirit and positivity that Rye has by now they soon will.
