Planning Resource
UK 4/10/09
Urban Land Institute planner Edward T McMahon tells Katie Daubney of the importance of community vision in creating places that preserve vital assets and improve quality of life.
...He has written extensively on chain stores and franchises. He relates McDonald's first dealings with historic buildings. In 1980 the company planned to tear down a classic New England courthouse in Freeport, Maine, and put up a typical suburban replacement. The town asked it to restore the building instead.
McDonald's sued and lost twice. Yet within three years a picture of its Freeport outlet in the restored courthouse appeared in its annual report as an example of good community stewardship. Nowadays, this is a model for McDonald's all over the world - but only in communities that are smart enough to reject the off-the-shelf model and demand something that fits with their town...
FMI
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