When picturing McDonald's, I think of greasy (yet delicious) cheeseburgers, my kindergarten birthday party, kids meals, obesity, fruit smoothies and of course—golden arches. However, these blazing yellow beacons for a fast food empire have apparently been wronged by our beloved city, and McDonald's wants Madison to pay for it in the only way a corporation that owns over 31,000 restaurants worldwide can find justice—in cash.
The controversy first arose with the construction of a pedestrian footbridge that spans over East Washington Ave. It was developed with the safety of Madison Area Technical College students in mind, as the street can sometimes be very busy and dangerous. But what nobody seems to have thought about during the planning process was what this community project might obscure. After construction was complete, McDonald's and city officials realized the bridge covered up two golden arches.
For decades, the big yellow ""M"" has beamed its way across highways, alerting hungry drivers to a fast food oasis. It is fair to say that this emblem is a big conductor of business for the corporation, but $312,000 worth of business? Eh. Yet this is the price the city has settled on in compensation for business disruption caused by the footbridge.
McDonald's claims that the walkway blocks visibility of their trademark golden arches until passing underneath it, therefore preventing potential customers from seeing the restaurant until they have already passed the only turn that can get them their fast-food fix.
Being a restaurant chain that depends heavily on impulse buys, this can be a crippling blow. It's not like you plan a night out with your friends and decide in advance to hit up Mickey D's too often.
So I agree they probably lost business because the sign was obscured, but you'd think the collaboration of several adult officials could come up with a better solution to a problem that's been in negotiation since 2008. But reality continues to rest on a $312,000 settlement.
This whole problem could have been solved by a quick relocation of the sign for far, far less than what was paid, but Assistant City Attorney Doran Viste that the community would prefer not to have their new pedestrian bridge marred by a billboard. Apparently, they'd much rather have their taxes raised to pay for the settlement and legal fees incurred in the process. I don't think so.
Though, perhaps taxpayers will not have to pay an additional fee. The city says they should be able to draw on some of the leftover funds from the original project to cover the costs. I think these extra funds could be put to much better use by expediting the other construction projects that riddle our avenues and boulevards from April until November every year. It seems as if the one-way streets didn't make it difficult enough to navigate this area, now we must weave our way through detours as well.
And how many other, smaller businesses have been set back some income due to construction? As far as the public knows, Madison didn't go throwing money at them in compensation fees. For lawsuits such as this it comes in handy to have the best corporate lawyers money can buy. If they hadn't settled and had this ordeal been brought to trial, the city stood to lose almost twice as much as the $300k settlement fee. All because moving those damn arches was just not enough.
I say suck it up, McDonald's and let us fix your business up with a new billboard that will set you back on the fast track to profit. During all this fussing you've only been losing more business, and it would have only cost Madison mere thousands of dollars versus hundreds of thousands.
This whole lawsuit has been a waste of everyone's time and money and a more reasonable conclusion should have been drawn long ago. Corporate bullies need to leave Madison alone, we just want to walk to class and enjoy our organic food in peace.
Jaime Brackeen is a sophomore majoring in journalism. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
