: Lucy et. al.:: I recently joined the reporting staff of the Register-Star, a daily newspaper published out of Hudson, NY, in their Red Hook/Northern Dutchess bureau. I read with great interest of the McDonald's issue and would appreciate any follow-ups. Thanks.
: -Rich Restaino
: Register-Star (914) 758-8855
I didn't know this was here, or I would have posted follow-up sooner. Please email notify me of updates.
In Red Hook, McDonald's is "inactive," which is to say the mall into which they were locating is indefinitely delayed because of litigation among the developers.
However, we have the agreement of McDonald's that, if the mall goes ahead, they will build their franchise in a manner that is sensitive to the historic context of Red Hook and the Hudson Valley, and the Red Hook community has specified many features of that design, should it happen.
Of course, the consensus in Red Hook is that the community would rather have the franchise locate in the village and not have drive-up service. Another issue entirely.
The concerns that we have expressed locally and to McDonald's have been of architectual compatibility and respect for the character of place in Red Hook. We see the McD Corporation's agreement to build sensitively as a step in the right direction, though the matter is far from resolved.
Further, if every community similarly requested custom buildings that respect the character of place, McDonald's would comply, as they have done elsewhere. Ironically, the first McDonald's representative we spoke with claimed that the corporation no longer built custom buildings because "they compromise our identity." Well, isn't that a shame. And just think of how that "identity" is homogenizing and scarring the American landscape.
