GAVIN COOTE
Residents opposing a McDonald’s development in the Victorian community of Tecoma plan to travel to the company’s Chicago headquarters in the United States in the next few weeks.
They will hand-deliver a petition with almost 86,000 signatures to stop the development that got underway two weeks ago when several “iconic” buildings were demolished to make way for a local McDonald’s.
Petition organiser Garry Muratore told The Source they’re not going to give up.
“This is currently the most contentious McDonald’s development in the world,” he said.
“We’ve had some excellent help from change.org and the petition is the second biggest petition that change.org has ever done here in Australia.
“It’s certainly doubled the size of petitions that made companies like Myer and David Jones change their corporate behaviour.
“Given the way the petition’s going, it could be number one within a week or so.”
Protestor Kate Furnell said she’s concerned the McDonald’s restaurant would “erode the economic viability of our town”.
The trip to Chigago is noting more than a Junket. This so called petetion holds not value when Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have signed. Not to mention people that don’t even know where Tecoma is. And to say the Macca’s would erode the econimic viabltly of Tecoma is rubbish. The proestors have already helped that along. One business in particular has dopprd 80% since the protesting started. Car parking spaces taken up, placards waved in your face when you walk by, blocking the footpath and they also impeed traffic flow by continually pressing the pedesrian button and forcing traffiic to a stand still, every time they want to cross the road.