LETTERS ABOUT FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS

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OPINION PAGE...

Rosenfeld wants to protect town's ambience

Friday Harbor is not like everywhere else

posted 03/08/02
There are a number of reasons not to support a fast food chain here in the islands. Let me enumerate:

Wages: They are particularily low. In fact, MacDonalds was credited with what was commonly known as "The MacDonald's Bill" whereby the minimum wage barrier was at last broken and the corporation could go on to pay it's struggling workers even less than the national minimum wage during their "training period" (where the training involves such hard to learn tasks as wiping down tables and wrapping burgers in paper).

Economics: A lot of those dollars leave the communitiy. That's how new franchises are built.

Trash: Enough said.

Homogination: Tourists, who do spend a lot of money here, come here in part because it is NOT just like every other place. We have establishments they've never heard of that they can try. One of our economic "advantages" is that we DON'T look just like everywhere else. Adding fast food chains would reduce that aspect of the islands and make it a less choice destination.

Lastly a word to our detractors--a critical mass of us in the islands like it here because it is a rarity, because it is different. There's something quite tactless about moving to a place and then proceeding to tell that place what is wrong with it and how it should be changed. Hang out for awhile. Get to know it. If you still feel the same way after you've soaked up the charm of our island home, then we'll talk.

Ladd Holroyd

No in every language

Dear Editor,

Not only do I say NO to fast-foods I say Non! Nein! Iie! Nada! Just in case it isn't a joke.

Nancy Hieronymus

Who's behind the fast food survey ad?

Dear Editor,

posted 03/07/02
What is the truth about this "fast food" info in the weekly paper? Who's behind it and are "they" doing a market survey and public opinion of the locals to see if this possibility would be a reality? Feedback please.

Vivien Burnett

Former islander prefers Vics

Dear Editor,

posted 03/07/02
The idea of a fast food restaraunt sickens me. I would hate to think what would happen to Vics and all of the other restaurants on the island if fast food places were built. As a former islander, I miss the friendly service I got at Vics and other places. Most places I go to these days do not measure up. I urge every islander to say no thanks to fast food restaraunts

Way of life cheapened by fast food

Dear Editor,

posted 03/07/02
Fast food outlets will cheapen Friday Harbor, not in our pocket book, but in our way of life...

Marc Grotle

Say no to fast food

Dear Editor,

posted 03/06/02
Just another voice saying No to Junk food, er I mean fast food. If we all make clear our positions that we will not support such an intrusion of corporate-mini-mall infestation, perhaps these off-island developers will take the hint and take their grease and salt and minimum wage jobs elsewhere!

Jan Osborn

Fast food nothing but hype

Dear Editor,

posted 03/06/02
I have to agree that I think this whole "fast food restaurant" scare is nothing but hype. Let's look at this logically. In order for a fast food franchise to become established and flourish, it needs to have a large and regular customer base year-round. As anyone who has lived here more than 12 months knows, town can be fairly deserted during the lovely months of November-February.

No self-respecting (is that an oxymoron?) franchise will be willing to allow their store to flounder for so long a period of time just to pick up the few summer months that may turn a profit. And speaking of profits, tell me of a fast-food place that is willing to pay island wages to its' workers. Paying a young adult $4-5 per hour may be fine on the mainland, but it won't fly out here. There are too many other opportunities for youth to make much better wages.

Some have said the islands don't want/need any chain of any sort any where at any time. But let's not forget that we have chains here already--Texaco, Ace, Thrifty Foods, Radio Shack, Pacific Northwest Banks, KeyBank, Washington Mutual, CarQuest, NAPA to name a few. I know I've utilized these companies on many occassions, and they are good examples of a national corporation run well on a local basis.

If you don't want a particular company doing business in your neighborhood-in this case a fast food restaurant--show them you don't want them here in the easiest way: DON'T EAT THERE!

I cringe at the thought of being, for lack of a better term, the "ugly islander." Or maybe we could adopt the old Oregon motto: You're welcome to visit, just don't stay.

John Boyd

San Juan just a little behind the mainland

Dear Editor;

posted 03/04/02
Suburban Restaurants Ltd. has done us a favor. By offering us the chance to sell our opinion for a $4 kickback in its weekly conusmer opinion coupons, the company has reminded us that San Juan Island isn’t really different from the mainland. We’re just a little behind.

I’ve spoken to several islanders who think the SRL ads are just a joke at our expense, a little winter diversion from the Journal to get our blood up. This is just like that "McDonald's Coming Soon" hoax some years back. We’re still just too tiny a place for a corporate fast-food joint. We don’t have the population, right?

Maybe. Maybe not.

As our population and tourist traffic grows, our prominence on corporate strategy maps grows too. We’re virgin territory. We’re an ever more enticing target.

Personally, one of the reasons I moved to San Juan Island was to avoid mainland corporate culture. I don’t have worry about my kids eating corporate fast food. Like most things corporate here, it’s just not available.

But fast food corporations, like cancer, survive on constant growth. American cities are already saturated with outlets. Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and others have stationed themselves on all the choice corners with the highest traffic flows. The overseas market is also filling up. Strategic airport locations are taken. Willing public schools and colleges have turned over their food service operations to the fast food industry. A next obvious step is small towns like ours.

I got a sample of what we might be in for a few weekends ago, on a trip up Highway 2 to Stevens Pass. Surprise, surprise, among the taverns and cafes of this beautiful, sparsely populated and economically depressed road; I came across a Taco Bell "Express". This is exactly what I picture Suburban Restaurants Ltd. has in mind for us: a corporate fast-food counter inside a gas-station mini-mart. It took up one corner of the mini-mart, in between the candy rack and the soft-drink cooler. This franchise employed one server –a high schooler. She wore the de rigeur Taco Bell uniform. I watched her go through the set procedures on the assembly line equipment fast food corporations require to ensure that all meals, no matter where served, are identical.

This server was smiling, polite and efficient, just like on the TV commercials. But when I questioned her about her job, she admitted that it was hard to get other kids to work there. The low pay ensured high employee turnover; so high that most of the potential local workforce had already done a stint at the outlet. They wouldn’t come back because corporate rules require a week’s training – at even lower training wages -- for all new hires. That includes previous employees with plenty of taco-stuffing experience.

It is a sure bet that a successful corporate fast-food outlet here will kill at least one locally owned restaurant. Old-timers may boycott this mainland invader for a while. Organic food lovers may stick with the delicious, high-quality fare at the Flying Burrito. Vic’s and the Blue Dolphin may keep their loyal clientele. But there are only so many food dollars to go around and like Pavlov's dogs we're all trained to some degree by advertising to salivate at corporate fast food fare.

Many new island residents will probably welcome a well-known corporate face. So will island kids who may have TV-installed images of cool corporate food. Working class islanders may be relieved at the opportunity to buy cheap fuel for their minimum wage workday. Tourists, always on the lookout for familiar eating experiences, will surely flock there.

Locally owned restaurants won’t be the only ones to suffer. Corporate fast food is designed to make us keep coming back for more, but its high-salt, high-sugar high-fat content is truly awful for our health. It is made of the cheapest possible, lowest-quality ingredients. It hammers the pancreas and is one of the main reasons America’s rate of diabetes (and obesity) is off the charts.

In fact, whoever is behind Juan Island’s corporate fast-food experiment might do better to invest their money in Eli Lilly stock. That corporation is building a $300 million insulin factory for diabetes treatment. It will be the largest facility in the world dedicated to the production of a single drug.

Corporate fast food will also degrade our environment. The bags, the wrappers, the cups, the Styrofoam clamshells will clog our garbage stream, litter our streets, and wash up on our beaches. It will also add to the degradation of the tropical rainforest, which is being converted into range lands for export beef cattle.

So if the arrival of corporate fast food on San Juan Island is a welcome change just sit tight and start salivating. If you’re delighted at the idea of our island becoming more like the mainland, get ready for those mad-cow burgers and super-sized fries cooked in beef tallow. But if you think corporate fast food is a bad idea, say so now. Write. Protest. Investigate Suburban Restaurants Limited. Attend city council meetings and speak your mind.

We’re in the corporate gunsights, but we’re not dead yet.

Bryn Barnard

Can't we draw a line?

posted 02/26/02
I would not like to have any of the fast food chains put a store here. Not only is it poor quality food, there is the issue of the amount of trash generated by such a store. What about parking? We go round and round about how much space is available in town for parking.

When I was in Tuscany a few years ago, I delighted in a sign that pointed down a charming allyway. It read "slow food." In my opinion, encouraging any fast food chain is in the same league as cutting down that tree and putting in a cash machine in its place.

Why can't we encourage quality and creativity?? Yes. there are other "chains" on the islands....banks, gas stations, hardware stores, etc. But does that mean we can't draw a line somewhere and say no, we don't want that???

Thrinley DiMarco

Just say no to fast food franchises

posted 02/26/02

Dear People of Friday Harbor,

I often come to Friday to get away and shop at Second Act. If I eat out on the islands it's there in Friday Harbor or on Orcas. Usually I eat at home when on Lopez.

I would not support a McDonalds or other Corporate-owned franchises. The food is very inferior to begin with. The reason to eat out is to support the locals and this I like to do. I don't understand the politics of why anyone would think this is a positive improvement for the folks of the Islands. For the life of me I can't come up with one good reason to bring it here. Even on the mainland we go out of our way to eat out in places that are locally owned and give more than assembly line attention the food that is offered.

Are we obliged in some way to someone? Our kids? I think it was 60 Minutes or 20/20 last week that showed the careful formulation McDonalds and the like give to FATS, SALT AND CARBOS to make this type of food fare addictive. It is very unhealthy for the kids (and all of us), the sales pitch is aimed at kids, why, they even get a toy. What does that have to do with sustinance? All we need is more plastic toys to haul off to the mainland to bury.

JUST SAY NO. Thank you.

PLEASE.

Sunny Derzay