No to McDonalds on Rue Montorgueil – the fight continues.

This morning at the door of Pierre’s school was a dad giving our these flyers (photo below). Prompting parents to get involved in the fight against?McDonald’s close to the school and in our neighborhood.

I’ll loosely translate most of it here:

The flyer I got from the dad at my son’s school.

The war is not finished against McDonald’s!

Refused?twice ?for the last 6 years by the city hall of Paris from placing a fast food restaurant on the historic Rue Montorgueil, they are now again forcing the city hall into court to accept the permit to create the new McDonalds.

The location would have 160 seating on 3 floors and open every day of the week.

The notice goes on to call out that the fast food is known to have too much sugur, too much fat etc basically bad for kids and that its location is across the street from a few schools. That it would also ruin the beauty of the “typical” french street.

In addition that the new McDonalds will destroy the charm of the historic street that is one of the few remaining one with historic facades. ?As a side note – sometime around 2 years ago I noticed there was a Starbucks close to the historic Place Tetre around Sacre Coeur (the sacred heart church) and I remember thinking “how freaking odd is that man – it just sticks out!” ?

It finishes by asking parents to come out at 6pm to the Sentier Metro, where there will be a Food tasting of “quality” products and a disco soup kitchen 🙂

I for one strongly oppose the installation of a Fast food establishment of this size on Rue Montorgueil.

It is a shame to find that many of the multinational food corporations because of their wealth can buy out spaces that were originally meant for smaller business that would keep historical charm and significance on this “typical french neighborhood street”. ?Already there is a Starbucks one door down from the proposed McDo location.

Rue Montorgueil is seriously one of the few streets where you can go in Paris and feel the neighborhood “local” vibe – with a large selection of local businesses; cheese shops, pharmacies, bakeries, butcher shops, hair dressers, fruit vendors, french cafes, flower shops, italian restaurants, clothing shops etc

Of course we can’t stop evolution – but I for one?know that the over-popularization of any neighborhood leads to increase in rent – and then the people who initially made this place livable won’t be able to live there any more. Paris is a small city and rent it so expensive already, and apartments hard to find, we are seeing where we live in a city where only the richest of the richest can survive. Let us do all we can for the “locals” to be able to live in Paris, so that “visitors” can of course enjoy the city but not at the expense of displacing families.

Putting a McDo here will drastically change the mood?of the street and it’s surroundings – and I’m not sure for the better.

There was an article last year on NPR on the sentiments of the people here towards McDonalds.?

What do you guys think? – wether you live here in Paris or coming from abroad I’m interested in your comments.

Should they allow the McDo?