Virtually everybody in central Ohio---along with millions of newspaper readers and TV viewers around the world---is aware of the fight over the proposed Bexley McDonald's.
But it's a wild story, so let me briefly summarize:
At its birth a half-century ago, the big white Bexley Theater, at the corner of Main and Cassingham, was a state-of-the art movie house. Reputed to be the first in the US with double screens, it showed quality films for decades.
Then it went downhill, becoming a porn theater, then a mega-X video store.
The people who run the town of Bexley long wanted the theater gone. Finally two years ago, they came up with what they thought was the perfect solution. A local developer would buy the theater, tear it down, and put up a McDonald's.
But there were a few problems.
For one, Main and Cassingham is already a crowded, polluted and dangerous corner. It also sits across busy Main Street from an elementary school. Slapping in a fast food joint there would be like throwing gasoline on a crowded fire. Many people have already been hurt at that corner; sooner or later, someone---possibly a schoolchild---would be killed.
There were a host of other problems with the zoning code as well.
But when these were raised, along with the traffic issue, the town powers-that-be treated the opponents with scorn. Those questioning the project asked merely that it be put to a vote of the town. Up or down at a local election; if the town says no, then there would be no McDonald's. If yes, then build it. Either way, there would be no court battle.
The town establishment said no. They basically told those opposed to the McDonald's to shut up and, if they weren't happy, to sue.
So they did. The fight became the cause celebre in this quiet, tight-knit community of 15,000. So far it has cost Bexley taxpayers at least $120,000, with two appeals still pending.
But then the burger really hit the fan. A reporter from northern Ohio, working out of the statehouse, picked up on the fight. She wrote a cutsy little feature about the fight between the porn theater and the McDonald's.
Ironically, the feature hit on a classic slow news day, one of those doldrum moments when anything on the wire will make it into the paper. And so, the little folksy feature on the town fighting over the porn theater and the burger joint suddenly wound up in hundreds of newspapers all over the world. Smirky calls poured in to friends and relatives about how little Bexley, Ohio was finally "on the map."
The publicity did give Steve Elbert, a lead litigant, the opportunity to deliver one of the great lines of modern culinary history. The choice of a porn theater over a fast food joint was reasonable, he said, because fast food was to cuisine what pornography was to cinema.
Then Jay Leno took it all to a new level. His writers apparently picked up a clipping somewhere. One night Leno included in his monologue a joke about how people in Bexley, Ohio were "fighting for a way of life," ie the porn theater. Two days later, in an unprecedented repeat performance, he said he had figured out how the conflict could be resolved. The porn theater and the fast food joint should merge, he said, creating a "truly happy meal."
At this point, the fate of the Bexley Theater remains uncertain. The porn shows and video store are long gone, with the building sitting empty. Preservationists say it is a unique structure that deserves saving, and that it could be put to better use. The traffic arguments remain as strong as ever. And McDonald's sales have suffered their first decline ever, calling into serious question how well the restaurant will do anyway. The Wall Street Journal has even carried a front page feature about franchise owners complaining that McD's is (aptly) over-saturating the market, making it harder for them all.
The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to hear the key contentions on traffic laws. But two other challenges remain, meaning the issue is still unsettled. The odds seem to favor the restaurant, but other more logical enterprises are interested in the property, and there is some speculation as to whether McD's will follow through on a project that makes no economic sense.
Which brings us to a major point of this piece. As a result of the global publicity given the Bexley fight, we've made contact with a worldwide network of very sophisticated activists who are fighting McDonald's everywhere. They've stemmed from a mega-libel trail in Britain dubbed the "McLibel" case. It began when two vegetarian activists picketed a British McD's and handed out leaflets attacking the company's product. To its everlasting regret, the company sued, spawning the longest, most expensive libel trial in British history---and this electronic network.
One of the network's most recent pieces appears below. I heartily encourage anyone interested to sign on. Much of the material contains excellent information about diet and activism, not to mention a great deconstruction of one of the world's largest and nastiest corporations.
Contact them via:
U.S. McLibel Support Campaign
Press Office
PO Box 62
Craftsbury VT 05826-0062
Phone/Fax: 802-586-9628
Email: dbriars@world.std.com
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