No Maccas in the Hills! Power to the People, Right On!!!!

Veeeerrry satisfying evening was had by at least 600 of us last night, as we all fronted up to our local shire council meeting...the planning services department had approved the construction of a Maccas up here in the hills. Disgusting.
the council voted unanimously to reject it! YEAH!!!!
Our local greens council rep Samantha Dunn did a STELLAR job of decimating their application, as did the marvellous Tecoma Village Action Group, who had the common sense to pile some people specialising in traffic and road planning on board.
Fave moments of the council meeting would include:

- Councillor to Maccas rep: 'So...in this town of 2000 people, who do you think will use the restaurant? Macca's rep:'ummm...locals?' (appreciative guffaws all around...they received 1200 objections and there were 600 of us in the room- many folk couldnt get in b/c we hit capacity)

- Councillor to MacRep: 'Referring to your proposed plan, I see an enormous tree drawn at the front of the restaurant. Are you going to put that in for us?' Macrep 'Umm...that's an artist's impression' Councillor: 'Well, it's very creative then.' snort, chuckle...

- Councillor to room at large: 'I would like to table this letter from McDonalds to the Shire of Yarra Ranges Councillors, in which McDonalds remind the Shire Council that should McDonalds be required to appeal the council decision, it will be costly for the shire, and that we might be better off saving our money to spend on more worthy community projects. And I would like to in turn, invite McDonalds to spend money on our worthy community projects, rather than on appealing the council decision...' (prolonged applause)

- Councillor to room at large: 'this is a slow food region! Let them eat Maccas in the flatlands!' (Room erupts in cheers; MacRep looks genuinely confused; 'flatlands' being hillspeak for anyone who doesnt live in the hills...)

Hmmm. We havent won outright yet. More than likely they'll take us to VCAT. But a very exhilarating start. if all social activism was that immediately satisfying, the world would be a better place. Thanks again for your tip about The Blueys and Cittaslow, Darthy- I sent it all along to the action group, and folks are very interested. Someone sent me a 5 page document of your entire campaign- you lot got David Suzuki involved, which is pretty cool. The Blueys decision was invoked at the meeting by the local speakers calling on precedents, too.

Keep on truckin!