Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

Pour one out for McDs

Word on the street is the McDonald’s franchise store nearest to my home is inexplicably closing permanently. Quite a rapid turn, too. Today - June 23rd, the year of our lord 2024 - is the final day of operation after many decades in business. The cynical part of me thinks the workers there were equally as surprised as the general public. That is a sucky situation indeed to suddenly be out of work - and the financial security that comes with it - just like that.

I can still remember going to the Stonestown McDonald’s as a high school student. Back when a few dollars can get you quite a bit of food. These days? You’d need three of those dollars to buy just the apple pie. As much as it is lamentable to see the restaurant close down, I have to be honest: I’ve stopped patronizing that McDonald’s ever since food prices started inflating like crazy. If I’m going to spend $12 to $15 for a burger/sandwich meal, I rather go to an In-N-Out, or the Shake Shack that recently opened at the same mall.

But it seems I’m amongst the minority of price sensitive restaurant goers. The Stonestown McDonald’s remains busy, at least it looks like so every time I walk past it. If revenue isn’t the issue, then perhaps it’s the newly instated California fast-food workers minimum wage law? One month of this increase in payroll cost and the franchisee is already crying uncle? As much as it's en vogue to besmirch owners as evil, profit-hoarding fat cats, I think often times the math simply isn’t math-ing. It’s not like restaurants aren’t already infamous for ultra low margins and frequent failure.

According to this article, the owner also points finger at the Stonestown mall for the store’s demise. To put it most succinctly: the rent is too damn high. This I can definitely believe. McDonald’s would not be the first food establishment to be chased out of Stonestown due to exorbitant rent.

Not this one, though.

There goes the neighborhood

Word on the street is our local mall is being inundated with rowdy teenagers. Lots of fights and general mayhem. The mall has pledged additional security presence, and SFPD promised more officer patrols. Things have definitely changed for the worse since my high school days. We used to go to the same mall after school all the time. I can’t remember even one incidence of fighting. Honestly, what Lowell kid would risk suspension and missing class time? No way.

While it’s understandable that teenagers will be rowdier than the average adult, causing fights and disruption is definitely unacceptable. We expect them to pull some tables together at the food court and be loud and rambunctious. What we don’t expect is dozens of them gathering together and duking it out. This isn’t West Side Story. Where the heck are your manners?

It’s good to see the mall and SFPD doing something now. What I would hate to see is nothing being done until some kid gets stabbed and killed. The lawsuit against the mall from the hypothetical aggrieved parents would be massive. As private property, the duty is on the mall to keep a pleasant, non-stabbing, environment. I certainly would visit the mall less if the unruly teenagers problem continues.

Who I most feel sorry for are the mall workers. They definitely do not get paid enough to deal with this shit.

There’s a general sense the San Francisco government, from the very top on down, simply do not care about fixing quality-of-life crimes. We are the car break-in capital of America, we can’t buy laundry detergent at Walgreens without asking a clerk to unlock the shelf, and open drug markets run unabated in one district. To live in a society where reporting a theft will only illicit a shrug of the shoulders from the police: it’s utter madness. Why can’t we have nice things?

New keys.

A tall crane

My neighborhood is the residential type with homes no taller than three stories. The tallest thing nearby is San Francisco State University, of which the highest building on campus is nine stories. The university is in the middle of constructing a new science building. Consequently, a giant crane have been erected for that purpose. This thing absolutely dominates the skyline, and honestly, a bit of an eye sore.

I get it now: I can see why NIMBYs all over protest against tall, dense housing. It’s not very nice to have your horizon of pure sky suddenly get obstructed with some monstrosity. What NIMBYs have to do is admit that is the real reason for their opposition - in additional to lowering the values of their home, of course. They chose to buy in a suburban area, and indeed it would suck to have that changed from under them.

Saves us the "we don’t want luxury apartments and developers to get rich” bullshit.

Just because I understand NIMBYs, doesn’t mean I am with them. San Francisco need to build more housing, full stop. And it cannot all be concentrated in the north east part of the city. Our nearby Stonestown mall is planning to develop addition apartments and shop areas to surround the existing mall. It’ll be interesting to see if it gets approval, because the skyline of our neighborhood will be changing with it.

Who knows if I’ll even be around to see that come to fruition. Not because I’d be dead, but because I might have moved away. Major constructions in this country - unless it’s a stadium/arena for a sports team - takes a long time. That aforementioned science building at San Francisco State won’t be complete for another four years!

Sugar, we’re going down.