Wendy’s Coming To Whalley

Hell yeah, finally a place to get a baked potato in under 3 minutes.

As a neighbor, this project is the worst. Whalley Avenue has been held back by its out-of-date zoning for far too long, and approving a 22-space parking lot (and a drive-thru!) a block away from Broadway is the latest symptom. One has only to look at the Popeye's and the Burger King nearby to see that this size parking lot is unwarranted.

This lot could be developed to fit nicely with the existing mixed-use buildings adjacent to it, with multiple apartments and multiple storefronts (including a Wendy's, if they so desired). All of this is apart from the fact that the City's Plan plainly calls for higher density mixed-use development in this section of Whalley Avenue.

Honestly, trying to make the sign more aesthetically-pleasing is lipstick on a pig, and I'm extremely disappointed in our alder for supporting this development.

Snake-Oil and Three card Monte Being Sold by Judas Goat Leaders.

People Of Color Bear The Brunt Of Fast-Food Explosion
Black America has a fast-food problem, and the U.S. government helped create it.
According to Chin Jou, an American history lecturer at the University of Sydney, this didn't happen by accident.
Jou's new book, Supersizing Urban America: How Inner Cities Got Fast Food with Government Help, details how the U.S. government has helped subsidize the growth of fast-food outlets in minority communities through Small Business Administration grants, as well as urban revitalization and minority entrepreneurship initiatives that prioritize fast-food establishments over other industries.These efforts — along with a heavy advertising push from the industry itself — have pushed many African American families a long way from the healthier diets of previous generations. As a result, Jou points out, minority communities are disproportionately affected by obesity and related health issues.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fast-food-minority-communities_us_59035fb5e4b02655f83c9999

How the fast-food industry courted African American customers
Decades later, the fast-food industry has seen a severe decline in popularity in the United States. But black customers remain as important to the industry's bottom line as ever before.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/06/11/the-origins-of-fast-foods-enduring-popularity-with-african-americans/

At least White Castle is selling the Impossible Burgers which is plant base.


Impossible Burgers Are Captivating White Castle Customers

It's been about seven weeks since White Castle rolled out its Impossible Burger slide

https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciakelso/2018/06/08/plant-based-proteins-are-captivating-fast-food-customers/#3c22833f79d7

Impossible Burger website

https://impossiblefoods.com/

Bottom line Go Vegan!!!

Fast food = cardiologist's job security. About the last thing I would wish for the Whalley Avenue area residents is more garbage food, trash and low paying jobs.

Good job, Alder Douglass. Kill the long-term hotel Residence Inn proposed three years ago, but support the fast food restaurant!

bnmuller: Actually, it sounds like the city's plan for the area remains automobile sales, although the many auto dealerships decamped for the suburbs and lower taxes decades age. So, auto row becomes fast food row. I would agree it's too many parking spaces. I would expect the building would be happy to have less paving and therefore less cost, although Marchand pretends he wants more parking lots. No, its not the best, but it is far better than what is there. The city will get some new tax revenue and some jobs, both of which it needs. Besides, of all fast food, Wendy's is the closest to palatable.

Wait - wasn't Frank Douglass the alder who helped kill the proposal by Marriott to build a Residence Inn in his neighborhood?

Curious set of priorities: championing giving his constituents close access to yet more unhealthy food yet denying them the opportunity for additional jobs.

New Haven's "pro-labor" BoA.... not one of them can speak up about the relationship between chain (franchise) businesses like Wendy's and Family Dollar and corollary wage stagnation in the job market.

There is no possible issue of unionization in fast food, so Marchand and Douglass wave this one through. Thanks to all who point out the hypocrisy as compared to the Residence Inn, which would have benefited the city even more, but where the alders (who represent the hotel and restaurant union, more than the city of New Haven) wanted to exercise their hold-up veto over a non-union hotel. That cost us tax dollars and jobs.

And, yes, why on earth is there still "automotive use" zoning here? BAR on Crown was once an auto dealership, I believe, and then the auto businesses moved out to Whalley and then decades ago it moved out to Amity and the suburbs. Our zoning regs lag reality by a half-century.

Interesting that the alders are all so happy happy and the commenters have (what appear to me to be) very legitimate reservations about this project.

1644: New Haven's Comprehensive Plan from 2015 clearly highlights this portion of Whalley Avenue for "General Commercial Mixed Use," (pg. III-18) and even includes a handy doodle of taller buildings with zero setback! (pg. III-14)

https://www.newhavenct.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=25812

Plainly this proposal, though in line with the current zoning, isn't in line with the city's long-term planning.

New Haven's Zoning Ordinances/Regulations are in desperate need of an overhaul. Form-based code anyone?

Cove'd, New Haven's land use law is indeed badly outdated. Its basic structure was adopted nearly a century ago, at a time when density and mixed uses were seen as evil.

Mayor Harp proposed a re-write of the zoning ordinance, but that would take a fair bit of money and City Plan staff time, both of which are in short supply.

Perhaps people with experience and/or interest in land use could form the equivalent of FRAC. It would be useful if such a group reflect diverse perspectives, e.g., 3/5ths as well as Jonathan Hopkins. Even if this initiative did not come up with a complete re-write of the zoning ordinance, I believe there are ways of making land use more transparent, environmentally sustainable, and economically inclusive.

Ensuring a robust supply of research subjects for Pfizer's chronic disease drug development division just round the corner.

1 out of 3 New Havenites has a weight problem. Unless there is a radical menu change, I fear for my neighbors' health. The city has no shame when they allow cheap, fatty, fast food enterprises to feed the poor and line the main thoroughfares of NH.