Archive: Restaurants
Last Updated 5/4/11
(23/10/10 - P) Objecting to Maccas is about the same as saying "no" to suburbia, isn't it?
On Saturday 23 October, you can show your opposition to McDonalds moving into Gisborne . The 'SayNo2Maccas' group is holding a rally opposite the site where McDonalds want to be (on Robertson Street, next to the car wash and call centre). Gather in the park, next to Petstock. The rally starts at 3.30, and is expected to last an hour. Bring your own afternoon tea, and the kids - this is a peaceful expression of resistance to suburban icons like McDonalds muscling in on Macedon Ranges.
If you haven't yet signed the petition that has been circulating, most shops in Gisborne have it.
Those wishing to return signed petition sheets can drop them into the Guardian Pharmacy in Hamilton Street, Gisborne.
(2/11/10 - P) Despite massive community opposition, Maccas is still try to buy its way into Gisborne with promises of a community cash-splash - as you do
At last Wednesday's Council meeting, Cr. John Letchford announced that the SayNo2Maccas group had collected some 8,600 signatures on a petition opposing approval of a McDonalds fast food outlet in Gisborne.
The petition called on Council to not approve changes to a Development Plan that are required for the proposal to go ahead.
"We the undersigned call on Macedon Ranges Shire Council to not approve changes to the Development Plan applied to 25 Robertson Street, Gisborne which would allow a McDonalds Restaurant to be constructed on the land, on the grounds that a McDonalds Restaurant is an international business that would have an adverse impact upon local businesses, create a suburban visual intrusion within the town and on nearby recreation areas, and damage the town’s rural character and attractiveness to tourists. We further call upon Council to give effect to its existing policy to support local business by not supporting major fast food proposals in the Macedon Ranges Shire."
The 'McDonalds site', fronting Robertson Street, is owned by Nexus Property Investments P/L, a director of which is local identity Viv Glennister, who has been central to most of the development in the Hamilton/Prince/Goode/Robertson Street block, including the infamous AAMI call centre.
Some petition sheets are still out there, and SayNo2Maccas says it will keep collecting signatures. Signed petition sheets can be dropped off at the Guardian Chemist, Hamilton Street, Gisborne.
MRRA Says:
Now that's impressive! Possibly the biggest petition ever produced in Macedon Ranges, and there have been some good ones. Well done to SayNo2Maccas, and to locals and visitors who flocked to sign on.
Local scuttlebutt is that almost a million dollars may be made on the sale of the land. McDonalds' planning application documents show the land was bought for $990,000 in November 2007 by Nexus Property Investments P/L (per Viv Glennister), so if there's any truth in the scuttlebutt (i.e. that the selling price is $1.8 million), it sure would be a tidy return on investment. It does make us wonder, though, why a restaurant/cafe facility (which is still empty) was incorporated in the ground floor of the infamous call centre. The AAMI call centre itself only got the nod after a controversial VCAT decision and even more questionable 'assistance' and interference by the State government and then Council in the disgraceful planning process (and exclusion of local residents) that characterised the whole project. Click here to see MRRA's archive on the call centre.
Can 8,600 people be wrong? That's more people than the entire population of Gisborne township.
We hope Maccas gets the message. Thanks, but no thanks. We're fine just the way we are, and your dangling money in front of us won't change the reality that all you really want is to make money out of us, and don't give two hoots about what the people of Macedon Ranges value. What do we value? Here's a hint: gaudy golden arches and the crass suburban design and identity of Maccas premises definitely aren't at the top of our list...
(16/12/08 - P) A similar application this year didn't fly before the election - this time it's Wiedermann - will it now?
An application for a planning permit has been lodged with Macedon Ranges Shire Council for 34 and 40 Victoria Street, Macedon. Michael Wiedermann, a director of Macedon Ranges Residents Secretariat Ltd and a recent candidate for South Ward in the council elections, is the applicant named on Council's Greenlight planning application website. The application, for a change of use from Residential to Bed and Breakfast accommodation, increase of seat capacity to 152 for the restaurant, reduction of carparking requirements, and construction of buildings and works associated with the restaurant [Clock and Beaver] was submitted on 2 December, the day after election results for South Ward were declared.
This application follows on another lodged last year (on behalf of MRRS Ltd director Fritz Boegel?) for an expansion to 40 seats was withdrawn last September (coincidentally, just before the 'election period' began).
MRRA Says:
We've heard the theory behind this application is that the facility will HOLD 152 people, so should have a permit for it (although we suspect this may be more like 152 people can be CRAMMED into the facility). The previous permit for the Patchwork Cafe which used to occupy this site allowed, we believe, some 20 people.
Not only is this permit ramping up the number of people allowed, but it also wants to reduce car parking requirements. Poor old Macedon, with its handful of shops, could be jam packed with cars, if this application gets the nod from Council...
Then there's the Bed and Breakfast element: conversion from residential?? Strange, bed and breakfast is usually no permit needed - as long as it occurs in a house that residents live in, and it's not for more than 6 people. Or is something else being proposed here...