Long ago and not so far away a community was faced with a challenge.
A developer sought approvals to locate a McDonald's restaurant in Burlington’s Parkwood Plaza, a small strip mall adjacent to a new subdivision in the sleepy suburban town.
It was a long-drawn-out battle but over time the developer was winning. The neighbours objected and got organized. The municipality, having taken conflicting positions on the applications, was incapable of resolving the matter; the whole issue dragged on for seven years.
Years later a writer, let’s call him Bob, found that the story had been forgotten as stories often are. Memories were fading. No one had written it down.
So, he wrote it down. It took a while. One hundred and fifty-three (153) newspaper clippings to read and, interviews with those who were there and who remembered. In the end Bob pounded out 12,000 words. Great stuff. Well, maybe not.
Bob, the greenhorn writer, read a draft of his story to a writers’ group that he was part of it. Boring, they said. But they said it politely. Bob had to admit that some people might find the story a little dull. On the other hand, many people told Bob that boring is in the eye of the beholder. He carried on.
Yes, Law and Order it was not but within the story were Ontario Divisional Court appearances, illegal lotteries, ombudsman interventions, mandamus orders* and jurisprudential gymnastics that would keep anyone reading this story wide awake well past the six o’clock evening news.
Can it be boring when the story has conflict?
A local residents’ group was organized to fight a big corporation. Think Erin Brockovich up against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
Local politicians argued with each other over planning matters, funding and had differing views of whether they had received advice from a lawyer. Then come decision time, according to one Council member, their “blood turned to water.”
Important people from out of town, like Toronto. made it into the story. Like the Premier. The neighbourhood group gained a meeting with Bill Davis. Brampton Bill was fresh from killing the Spadina Expressway. Surely, blocking the hamburger chain was an equally just cause. Then east Burlington could remain a cheeseburger free paradise. Later on, Adrienne Clarkson, then with the CBC’s Fifth Estate, came to town to interview key players.
The story had the public engaged on both sides of this issue. A local educator speaking for the “silent majority” took out a newspaper ad calling for all BIG MAC Lovers to speak up. Eighty-five Lovers responded and signed a petition declaring that they “suffer from Mac Attacks” and demanded the restaurant proceed as planned. Until the Golden Arches added distinctive elegance to the east end there would be no cure for such acute attacks. That is what we were told.
There were heroes and there were villains. There was the Ward Councillor fighting the good fight for his constituents. He was accused by the owner of the plaza of having “a trick he has of maneuvering everybody.” Then there was a McDonald's spokesperson who lamented the fact that that his company’s reputation had not been enhanced by the publicity but could take solace in the final OMB statement that the hamburger chain is a “good corporate citizen, placed in the role of villain since their marketing success makes them the target of every criticism and objection, real or imagined.”
In fact, in the middle of it all the local rag referred to the matter’s “long and sordid history” lamenting the fact it had become THE THING in Burlington, forcing other, more important matters aside.”And speaking of history it was being made throughout the drama. McDonald's new slogan back then boasted they were “changing the eating habits of Canadians.” How had they done this? By introducing a breakfast menu of course. Bob suspected that few Canadians were able to remember what breakfast was like before this epicurean breakthrough.
Lessons were learned.
Regarding municipal planning one had to ask if city bylaws mean anything or as one of the community group’s leaders said: “The community is really in jeopardy when by-laws can be overturned like pancakes.”
What exactly is a family restaurant? A resident who had initially supported the restaurant had assumed he was supporting a quiet family eatery in his neighbourhood, not a high-volume fast-food restaurant, had second thoughts. “It never occurred to me that McDonald’s is considered a restaurant. If I said to my wife, I was taking her to a restaurant and I took her to McDonald’s she would be disappointed.”
And perhaps the biggest lesson learned: The development industry is a powerful force in municipal politics. Someone once said that local politics is, in fact, mainly about real estate.
r.w. timberline
------------------
*A mandamus order is a writ that commands an individual, organization (such as a with legislative responsibilities to perform a certain action within their legislated powers, in adherence with the statute.
