Haight-Ashbury homeless think McDonalds dropped 'dollar menu' to get rid of them

[Liberal_in_LA]

Hassle in Haight over McDonald's menu change

What would seemingly be an issue of capitalism and supply and demand in any other city, or any other neighborhood in San Francisco, has instead morphed into another battle between merchants and the homeless in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood:

The McDonald's at the corner of Haight and Stanyan streets eliminated its Dollar Menu about a month ago, making the items on it too expensive for the people who spend the better part of their day on the sidewalk in front.

Street people who for years have depended on the McDonald's to eat say it's become a de facto sit/lie ordinance. But the franchise owner says she's just trying to make a little extra money.

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While that price increase may seem trivial, for Newhart and his colleagues it can mean the difference between eating and going hungry. Many homeless think taking away the Dollar Menu is the restaurant management's ploy to get them to go somewhere else. Management locks the bathroom door and frequently calls the cops. On top of that, Mayor Gavin Newsom and several Haight Street merchants are pushing a November ballot measure that would ban sitting or lying on public sidewalks.

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"Yeah man, it ... sucks," he said Thursday while sitting foodless on the McDonald's patio with a half dozen hungry friends. "I eat less. I have to get more money. If I don't have a dollar and I want food, I just end up going to a trash can."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/05/BA7H1F4J2T.DTL#ixzz0ylrtUCT2