June 13, 2009

McDonald's at Gila River

Gila River to get first McDonald's

By Luci ScottA groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for a McDonald's restaurant expected to be a magnet for other development.

It is the first McDonald's on Gila River Indian Community land.
Comment:  I'm not sure that McDonald's could or would open a restaurant on an actual reservation. Because of tribal sovereignty, it would face a number of legal and financial challenges.

Gila River may own the land, but not in trust as part of the reservation. It would be like any land owned by a non-Native business. The tribe would pay property taxes, McDonald's would pay business taxes, etc.

Still, this may be the first McDonald's on any type of Indian land. It's worth noting for that reason.

P.S. I bet this McDonald's won't be handing out Custer toys.

3 comments:

dmarks said...

I'm not so outraged about Custer toys, because Indian and non-Native kids alike can and will bust them into little pieces.

dmarks said...

And, abot McDonald's on a reservation:

There's a township in my area where a huge retail chain bought and and pushed forward with plans to build a store. The township board kept blocking it. They had a vote in the township over whether or not the store should be allowed. The store won. The township board kept blocking the store by constantly shifting the goalposts (the store would meet requirements and the township would keep adding new ones, including the bizarre "build a playground next to the loading dock where big trucks come and go").

There's a huge chunk of reservation land right near the would-be store site, and there have been rumors that the retail chain might locate the store on reservation land. This would get around the actions of the township officials which have just been to basically shut down the retail outfit's efforts no matter how well they comply with ordinances.

I know that in other places, McDonalds has been faced with ordinances designed to keep them from opening restaurants. Dealing with tribal governments can be a way to get around this.

Shonie said...

There are quite a few Micky D's here on the Navajo Nation.