The neighborhood association of a wealthy area near Chicago, Illinois, USA, rejected a McDonald’s proposal to open a store, saying it could harm the neighborhood atmosphere.
According to Chicago media on the 11th (local time), the operating committee of Wilmette, a northern suburban city of Chicago, decided the day before to not approve McDonald’s plan to open the ‘first Wilmette store’, which was planned to be built on the site of an empty stand-alone building at the intersection of a main road.
The Wilmette Management Committee said, “This decision was made after carefully reviewing residents’ opinions and McDonald’s plans.”
This location has remained vacant since Bakers Square, a casual restaurant chain that has been around since the 1990s, closed in April 2019.
McDonald’s planned to build a ‘Drive-Thru’ store here where people could purchase food while in their car, but more than 800 residents protested against this and started a petition to oppose the store’s opening.
This is because the construction of drive-thru stores increases traffic, noise, and exhaust gases, worsening the surrounding environment.
Residents said, “According to the survey, McDonald’s sells an average of 1,000 items a day, of which 700 to 800 are drive-through,” adding, “Based on business hours from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., one vehicle per minute. “It’s like taking it in and out,” he explained.
Some argued that bringing in low-income people from out of town could increase safety concerns. There were also opinions that McDonald’s was not a facility for Wilmette residents and could harm the neighborhood atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Wilmette is a town with a population of 28,000 located approximately 30 km north of downtown Chicago. It is an affluent village where many of Illinois’ wealthy people live. The median income is $180,000 (about 240 million won), the median home price is $787,000 (about 1 billion won), and the population composition is white, making up 80.9%.
McDonald’s, headquartered in Chicago, operates about 13,500 stores in the United States, with 645 stores in Illinois, or 1 for every 19,650 people.
Kim Ye-seul,
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.