Having been abruptly shuttered and boarded up two weeks ago, the long-standing McDonald’s at 600 Van Ness Avenue has already become a magnet for graffiti and urban blight. And considering that McDonald’s has yet to file any plans for building upon the Van Ness Corridor site, a site which is zoned for development up to 130-feet in height, it’s a blight which could easily mar the corner and burgeoning corridor for years to come.
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I see graffiti, not so much the blight.
one and the same
Agreed. Graffiti is pure blight. And it brings more blight, and trash.
I like it, better than most new buildings.
While there is such a thing as a “graffiti art style,” there is no such thing as graffiti art. Pure criminal vandalism. Knock the thing down.
The blight is not the graffiti, but the dead animals McDonald’s sells as food. Veggie for life!
Magnet. Not Magnate. But boarded up buildings = blight.
is mcdonalds developing the site too?
[Editor’s Note: See Van Ness McDonald’s Closed, Zoned For 13-Story Development (as linked above for reference).]
Graffiti is blight. Letting graffiti remain on buildings shows a neighborhood on the downhill slide.
Graffiti is art.
Feel free to share your address, so that we may encourage people to festoon your house with “art”.
Please also clarify the principle – moral or legal – that allows one person to unilaterally decide it’s OK to change the appearance of another person’s property. I can’t wait to start randomly stripping aluminum siding off old Victorians around the City, given that I think that would be an aesthetic improvement and beneficial to society that I do so.
Hear hear.
Do Victorians have aluminum siding?…
ones that were ruined in the 1970s do…
Yep. Or those that have been stucco’ed over. There is a prime example of those on Scott St at Duboce. A row of six Italianate Victorians where one has a stucco facade. They probably thought it looked great compared to the high maintenance wood facades of their neighbors. Now it looks silly, of course.
Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VeNmf
Great response! Given that his name is “StirringThePot”, he might just be trolling. But I do know morons who truly believe that graffiti adds to the “character” of a neighborhood and should not be punished. I wish people convicted of certain crimes which harm a city could be banned from setting foot in that city, at least for a time. Or at least make them ineligible for all city benefits.
Or lose said foot in the city. There may be diabetic patients/amputees in need of a perfectly good foot transplant. How about graffiti taggers lose their hands to those patients with deformed hands from dehabilitating injuries? Learn to be grateful when you have fully functioning limbs and put them to good use. Go build a house, help someone carry groceries, or learn a trade.
The corrupt government institutions in the area are more of a blight. City hall to the south, ABAG to the west.
The photo is facing Van Ness. What was previously a patio on the side of the building is now a homeless camp. It’s blight. McDonald’s should tear it down or be forced to secure it.
McDonald’s should AirBnB the place.
Wait, I think you’ve created a concept – AirCafe – a furnished kitchen and restaurant space can be leased out by someone who wants to operate a restaurant for a brief period of time, without long-term commitment or investment.
A popup?
Yup, instant visibility and customers. Better than subletting an industrial kitchen, save on marketing expenses.
The McDonald’s kitchen is highly tuned to their menu and not very flexible for preparing any other food. Yeah, it could be adapted but you would end up not using a lot of expensive equipment. There’s even a special bun toaster that just toasts Big Mac buns. Not burger, fish sandwich, quarter pounder, or chicken sandwiches. Just Big Macs.
Well WTF did you expect to happen?? geez
Well, cool – now the Opera crowd has a convenient place to score a hit of smack before the show.
Wouldn’t indulging in a central nervous system depressant make enduring the opera even more difficult?
Looks better than the day to day stench of piss inside when the doors were open.
At least housing will be built relatively soon.
the graffiti is better than a blank pink wall
No, it’s not.
I bet those luxury apartments will always have the faint whiff of mcnuggets & fries…
I reported it to the city. I urge others to do so as well.
Was painted over this afternoon. Let’s see how long it takes to reappear.
Will likely reappear soon. But if it’s painted over shortly after, it will make the graffiti “artists” less likely to vandalize it again. Their goal is to “show off” their “art” for as long as possible. Risking possible jail time for something even more ephemeral is not worth the effort for them.
Bulldoze it. Put up a pop-up beer garden. Problem solved.
This needs to go to market!
What about the “Urban Blight” at the former site of “Home Restaurant” on Upper Market?
Hopefully, the proposed residential development (as reported upon previously here) will be replacing it soon enough.
I walk by this homage to post-apocalyptic buildings every day on the way to work and can’t stand it, especially in the midst of the good things that are finally making their way to Van Ness. (not that many yet I realize, but there are some!)
I started tweeting pictures of it with @McDonald’s with the #McDonald’s hashtag so brand followers (I don’t know why they would be) start seeing this jacked up visage show up alongside their happy meal and quarter pounder pictures. If you have time, access, and interest in getting this thing squared away, as a neighborhood resident, I ask that you spread the word on all the internets too. Thanks in advance!