Protest Details:



We are going to be participating in a protest against the South Grand McDonalds development. Once we hear when the hearing on this proposed development takes place, we will have the time and date posted.



As you know, there are many reasons to protest this development:



1. Suburban design which wastes valuable land, in exchange for parking lots.

2. Proposed in an area that already has many fast food restaurants.

3. Residents do not want this development in their back yard. City residents do not want this type of development to occur in their neighborhood.

4. Fast Food restaurants create a lot of trash, as well as, noise pollution; they also negatively impact public health.

5. The franchise owner, who resides in the Central West End, has no fast food restaurants in his back yard. His existing McDonalds has numerous health violations. Should he be allowed to open a new McDonalds instead of changing existing policies?

6. The plan to turn the old McDonalds into a Senior Citizens home has not been finalized, nor have plans released; in effect, we are taking Florida's word.

7. Previously, before Florida's election, an ordinance was passed prohibiting the construction of new fast food restaurants.



In summary, as citizens of Ward 15, and the surrounding neighborhoods, we are overwhelmingly against this development, for a wide variety of reasons. We generally feel that our politicians, especially Jennifer Florida, are not representing the neighborhood, and our goal of urban progress and vitality. Florida obviously has ulterior motives, evident in Pyramid financing her campaign. She obviously feels threatened since she introduced Proposition R, which limits our ability to have a recall.



The reasons are many. We smell collusion. Make a sign. We will give you the time and date.



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Latest from Dale:

Hi Sam.



Good meeting all y?all tonight. Thanks for writing Rita with the invitation.



For the flyer, I believe I can come up with succinct text, bulleted and digestible. To make it more powerful, however, my partner Eric Bothe suggests a graphic for the top, an equation even:



[McD arches] + [outline of state of Florida] + [Pyramid Companies logo] = BAD FOR S. GRAND



You know visuals engage the reader to possibly read the rest of the sheet.



Could anyone you know put this together easily in a JPEG or something we can insert into a Word document? Maybe the three graphics and the equals sign take up the top line of the page and the BAD FOR S. GRAND the second. The resolution should be high enough that we could print it out big for protest signs, to save a step in the future.



Also it?s a quick turnaround but I?m thinking of Tuesday?s election. Those voters who do bother to turn out will be, I?m guessing, also those likely to actually write or act upon receipt of the flyer. Also they?ll be those likely to vote on future aldermanic races. We might do better passing out flyers on sidewalks in front of Ward 15 precincts, you know, rather than going door-to-door. How many precincts are in the 15th Ward, and how many people would it take to put someone on the sidewalk outside of them from 7-7 on Tuesday? I can call the Board of Elections. Can?t seem to find this easily online without inputting various, random 15th Ward addresses?



Thanks.



Dale Sweet

I can't attend on Tuesday because of school. At least I wouldn't be able to be there until after 5.



Is there anyone proficient with graphics who could work up the McD's + State of FL etc idea?

Dale also forwarded me a rough draft of a flyer.



I need everyones email addy so I can forward this around.



We've also been in touch with Rita:

Hey Dale,



That is a great idea!. You are really doing some great thinking.

You are like the energized bunny. I am working on doing some

signs for the protest but please feel to come up with some slogans

as well. Dale, we can use those sticks that we had from the judge

protest. I will also have some made up in poster size. Those get a little

expensive, but we will need them. Let's try to come up with a date for the

protest. I was thinking Sunday April 9th or the following Sunday after our neighborhood

meeting. ( That will give us some time to get the word out ) What do you guys think?.

After we have decided upon the date, I will call the TV stations and other media.



Thanks All

664-3425



Rita Ford

Gravois Park Block Link Neighborhood Association

Meeting: 2nd Tuesday 6 P. M.- St. Matthew Church"

2613 Potomac @ Jefferson & Potomac

" Where Citizens Drive the Process of Neighborhood Change"

and I'm not sure who Shirley Wallace is, but she has been in contact this morning with the emails...

Dearest Dale, the passion jumps right off the page. The problem is it starts to look like a witch hunt against Jennifer.

We don't want the Mayor and Alderpersons to feel sorry for her.

The fact that she received $2400 dollars is good information but not part of our issue. It is not illegal.The fact that she doesn't balance is a problem (for her). We need to find out who we report that too. It's a lot easier to hammer her on a blog than on a flyer with Gravois Park's name on it.

We need to stay on message. $850,000 to get the ground ready for 26 market rate houses that do not exist. While a land swap may be legal it is improper and unethical.

We can't hammer the tax abatement this round because we want the Lawrence group to stay neutral and they will be getting it also. The difference being they paid for their ground. Remember at the end of the day Jennifer is still their Alderperson.

Rita and I have been discussing whether or not the Journal main office on Chippewa is also in Jennifer's ward.

Your information about who to contact is great. I wouldn't put the are you not lovin' it part but I could be wrong (would not be the first time) but you did ask for input.

Shirley

And here was my reply to Dale regarding the flyer:

Dale,



First, regarding the date...I will bring it up with the others, but I know that I won't be able to be there. I work at a high school, and on Tuesdays I usually don't get out until after 5. I will approach the other STLUP members to see if they can be there.



Also, regarding the flyer, I think it's good. But it reminds me of a democratic vs. republican campaign. The democrat trys to get in too many issues, and their overall message gets lost, whereas the republicans are almost over simplified which is why they've been so successful in the last 15 years. We need to approach this more like the republicans. Keep it simple.



What are our main issues against this project? I personally wouldn't even bring up the trash/noise issues. I also wouldn't put in the campaign contributions to Florida, because I don't think what they did is illegal. Unethical, probably, but not illegal. I think the main points for this need to be the ordinance against the fast food drive-thru, Pyramid not following through on their promises (the bailout), the Lawrence Group developments, the McDonalds current owners other problems with his restaurants.



Basically, you take the main players in the deal, and cloak them in the illegality of them building something that is specifically against ordinance.



That would be my approach. If you frame them as the bad guys, its much easier to understand them as the bad guys. I also wouldn't even worry about the 'pro' part on the flyer. Because frankly, there isn't one as far as we're concerned.



Thanks,



Sam

I also included some discussion about the flyer itself, but I omitted that since it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense without first seeing the flyer.