Corporate McDonalds Please Don’t Build A Store In My Front Yard While I’m Deployed To Afghanistan

Here’s a letter Vince Schneider sent on Thursday 9 September to Vivian Valdivia, Development Director, Atlanta Region, McDonalds, copied to Kay Harris of the VDT, Fox News, MSNBC on the Internet, and NBC News:
Vivian Valdivia, et al.

Corporate McDonalds=2C please don’t build a store in my front yard while I’m deployed to Afghanistan. And please continue this policy after my return. Since 30 June 2010 when I first learned of Corporate McDonalds’ plan to build a store in my front yard this Fall=2C I believe I’ve done everything that I could to stop it. My local and state governments refuse to help by simply saying that there is nothing they can do. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else from an elected official. This is my last appeal to Corporate McDonalds to not build a store in my front yard this Fall.

I am deploying next Friday to Afghanistan to help secure the rights and liberties of the Afghan peoples. Because of this 6 month deployment I will not be able to prosecute any more actions in the attempt to dissuade Corporate McDonalds from building a store in my front yard. Now, because of Corporate McDonalds’ greed, it’s only a wish that I could enjoy some of the same rights and liberties that I am helping to secure for the Afghanis, at my home upon my return. Rights and liberties that Corporate McDonalds is effectively taking from me to name a few include the right to peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness.

I will no longer know peace at my home. Traffic congestion, noise (drive through speakers, automobile engines, etc…) generated by a Corporate McDonalds will effectively take away my peace. Also=2C let’s not forget the lights, automobile and McDonalds’ exhaust smells, and varmints that a McDonalds generates. Oh and least we forget, McDonalds is a 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week fast food establishment so once again I will never know peace again in my own home.

I will no longer know prosperity at my home. Most if not all American home owners consider their home’s value as a vital investment in their future well being. Of course, I am one of those Americans. Not one single professional investment counselor or semi-knowledgeable layperson I’ve contacted has stated that a McDonalds this close to my property will have NO effect on my property value. In fact it’s quite to the contrary. A McDonalds this close to my property will shrink the pool of home buyers to such a degree that I may never be able to sell my home.

I will no longer know happiness at my home. Corporate McDonalds, you are building in a known wet lands area. My home is also in this wet lands area. Water drainage ditches that you plan to use run both beside and behind my property. In fact, my property line begins in the center of both ditches. If you were to take a look in these ditches you would see that the water is waist deep and is nearing the top. Soon, with the added water drainage from your store, I will be flooded out of my home. This makes me very unhappy. You may say that the county government is responsible for maintaining the water drainage ditches, but I’ll have you know that for the past three years, ever since I’ve owned my home, no county agency has ever come to clear these ditches. I do what I can with the resources and tools that I own, but still the water level is high and is threatening my home. I also need to mention the McDonalds trash that will undoubtedly be blown into my yard. This too makes me very unhappy.

Corporate McDonalds, I implore you not to build a store in my front yard. Please live up to the image you so flagrantly spout=2C that is of a family and community friendly fast food establishment and not build where you are not wanted.

Consumer Reports, Sept 08, 2010, Ranks McDonalds Hamburger America’ s Worst, FOX News.com Sept 09, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/09/08/consumer-reports-ranks-mcdonalds-hamburger-americas-worst

Build a better burger, not more burger stores.

Respectfully and sincerely

vhs
Vince Schneider
4608 Foxborough Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31602

We’ll see if any of the local or national news media will cover this story.

-jsq