By Stefene Russell
It’s a food fight: A McDonald’s franchise on South Grand is up for renewal, and the current owner must rebuild, move or shutter. 15th Ward Alderwoman Jennifer Florida is dead set on relocating the drive-thru at Grand and Winnebago. Urbanist/blogger Steve Patterson says it will affect the integrity of an up-and-coming neighborhood. Call us civic geeks, but we haven’t been able to take our eyes off the blow-by-blow account on Patterson’s blog (www.nodrivethru.com), which describes the dustup in detail. Not satisfied with the virtual jabs, we called each and let the verbal fisticuffs commence.
Round One: The Plan
She says: “McDonald’s provides 500,000 jobs and a lot of revenue for the city of St. Louis.”
He says: “I know there’s supposed to be retail there, but I don’t think they ever thought they would end up with just one establishment on a 42,000-foot site, much less a fast-food drive-thru.”
Round Two: The Design
She says: “I use urban-design guidelines. It’s not going to be the yellow, red and white building with the red roof.”
He says: “Taking a typical suburban concrete-block McDonald’s and wrapping it in red brick does not make it an urban building.”
Round Three: The Local Impact
She says: “Right now, they’re looking at a Firestone and a Discount Blah-Blah-whatever-it-is ... This strip has been commercial for 30 years, and, looking at it, it’s all messed up anyway.”
He says: “If I really wanted to kickstart sales of the home lots backing to this vacant parcel, the very last thing I’d put there would be a McDonald’s complete with bright lights and car fumes.”
Round Four: The Morality
He says: “My concern is that they have amended [a 1996 ordinance meant to beautify and unify South Grand] for the entire redevelopment area, and we shouldn’t be changing that just to suit the McDonald’s.”
She says: “I know we don’t like to admit it, but we all eat there. Why not do the best McDonald’s we can and set it up for success?”
Round Five: The Opponent
He says: “They have no vision ... they can’t see anything beyond the conventional.”
She says: “He is a minister of disinformation ... He’s a zealot, the take-no-prisoners, no-compromise type. Why do I do this for $32,000 a year?”
