Author Archives: Admin9

Today we happened upon this fantastic reportback from a local supporter:

“I was just walking around a park in Stawell (central Victoria) and a man approached me and said is that your car. He pointed to my car which was about 400 meters away. I at this stage became very cautious and nervously said yes. What seems to be the problem. He said nothing, reached out to shake my hand and said I like your stickers. We then launched into a 10 minute conversation about Tecoma and McDonald’s. He was very supportive of our campaign and new all about it. By the way he lives in Horsham.”

Consider these wise words from the wonderful Peter Cundall: “You’ve got to involve yourself in doing something for other people all the time. I know that sounds sentimental, but you see, ordinary people are the most generous people on Earth without question. And what I think we should do is constantly try to give as much of ourselves as we can to each other – that’s the secret of happiness for all of us.”

Be it a hand shake, a smile, a thumbs up or a supportive toot, every encouraging gesture is appreciated.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON INTERNET TROLLS

1 Reply

TECOMA’S ‘NO MACCAS IN THE HILLS’ GROUP
SUPPORTS ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON
INTERNET TROLLS, BULLYING AND INTIMIDATION.

As we reported just a couple of weeks ago a handful of serial pests have trolled this campaign mercilessly. At no point have they ever put up a solid argument for McDonald’s, instead their modus operandi is to make personal attacks, lie and slander.

Yesterday one member of our community elected to share her eyewitness account of proceedings that unfolded in the Ringwood Magistrates Court as follows:

“Today I attended the Ringwood Magistrates Court with a number of community members to offer support to a lovely young woman Amy.
The article attached here details the reason for our attendance.
As a mother I have always instructed my children to report any threats or intimidation to a teacher and have the issue dealt with swiftly, but as a community campaigner I have not acted as quickly to threats made to myself. As a community we have elected to ‘turn the other cheek’ again and again but I am left wondering if this has been the right thing to do.
This is clearly a very serious matter that many campaigners and community members are rightfully extremely upset about, many of whom attended today’s hearing to provide moral support. Despite the highly emotive nature of this issue, I must ask that all members of this page remain mindful when commenting that this matter is still before the courts.
With this in mind comments regarding this article will be monitored closely by Admin and moderated where necessary.
Our community campaign has taken a zero tolerance stance with regards to the type of behaviour alleged in this article and I applaud Amy for taking a stand.”

This post has now been flooded by supportive comments and other community members sharing stories of personal attacks they have endured over the past couple of years.

NMITDR declared on the 25th of April that far too many times this campaign has turned the other cheek to the antisocial trolling and bullying, today we say STOP!

Today we declare our continuing support to those that are suffering due to both the direct impacts and peripheral impacts of the unwelcome McDonalds development in Tecoma.

As noted above we request that all people intending to comment on this thread remain mindful that this matter is still before the courts as Mr. Coutinho-Hogan intends to contest the intervention order. The case will be heard on July 4 at the Ringwood Magistrates Court.

Gang-rape threat allegations in ugly court stoush between Tecoma McDonald’s campaigners

www.theage.com.au

YARRA RANGES COUNCIL MUST ACT

Leave a reply

Last night our campaign made a presentation to a council meeting outlining a range of concerns that the council need to address. The council are yet to address the recent breaches of permit conditions regarding construction hours (which were consistently ignored in a rush to open the store) and the illegal attempt to install “blade” signage higher than mandated by VCAT. Also presented was our google litter map to illustrate the litter spread the Tecoma store has caused. Naturally issues such as light pollution, smell and traffic were also addressed. Below is a copy of a press release that was distributed immediately after the meeting
=================================

“COUNCIL MUST ACT”

A vigilant community catches a greedy corporation out as they attempt to break VCAT conditions and council by-laws

Tecoma, Dandenong Ranges 13/5/14: At tonight’s Yarra Ranges Council meeting, the No McDonalds in the Dandenongs (NMITDR) group have called on the council to act on various breaches of VCAT conditions and council by-laws in the rush to open the controversial store.

Last month in what can only be described as an outrageous display of corporate arrogance, McDonald’s was caught “red handed” attempting to install high visibility signage 25% higher than the mandated VCAT conditions allowed at their controversial Tecoma store. Although the illegal signage did not go ahead it is believed that the Yarra Ranges Council have yet to act on this breach. NMITDR Campaign spokesperson Garry Muratore told the council “If they were prepared to break this important VCAT condition, how many other conditions have possibly been broken and not yet bought to the council’s attention”

Muratore also pointed out that in the last week of construction McDonald’s building contractor operated out of permit hours including an entire Sunday despite many in the community bringing the breaches to the council’s attention. “The council needs to act, if by-laws were broken then McDonald’s needs to face the same consequences as anyone else on the community” said Muratore

The council presentation also included issues such as litter, smell and light pollution that are yet to be addressed properly by the council. The community are also concerned over insufficient line markings on Burwood Highway and the problem of McDonald’s customers making illegal right turns into traffic when leaving the store.

Muratore went on to say “The store is obviously operating below expectations due to the community effectively turning its back on the franchise, however if the store was to achieve customer targets then the issues raised at tonight’s council meeting would only get worse and will need to be urgently addressed by the council”

– End –

About No McDonalds In The Dandenong Ranges: No McDonalds In The Hills (aka No Maccas In The Hills or No Maccas In Tecoma) is a grassroots community lobby group opposed the establishment of a McDonalds franchise being established and operated in Tecoma and the surrounding Dandenong Ranges. The group is made up from a comprehensive cross section of the community based in and around the Tecoma village area. The group’s charter is to lobby the relevant government bodies whilst providing the general community with information on an on-going basis via local and national media, Social media channels, newsletters and town hall style meetings. The group has enormous support from almost the entire ranges community as well as similar communities from all over Australia who have found themselves in a similar situation(s) due to inappropriate development and corporate bullying by multi-national organisations who wish to defy local democratic decisions. Further information can be obtained from the group’s website www.burgeroff.org. or the campaign’s Facebook page: