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Fighting a McDonald’s in Queens for the Right to Sit. And Sit. And Sit.
The New York Times ^ | JAN. 14, 2014 | SARAH MASLIN NIR and JIHA HAM

Posted on 01/15/2014 12:17:56 PM PST by moonshinner_09

Shortly after New Year’s Day, Man Hyung Lee, 77, was nursing a coffee in his usual seat in a narrow booth at a McDonald’s in Flushing, Queens, when two police officers stepped into the fluorescent light of the restaurant.

Mr. Lee said the officers had been called because he and his friends — a revolving group who shuffle into the McDonald’s on the corner of Parsons and Northern Boulevards on walkers, or with canes, in wheelchairs or with infirm steps, as early as 5 a.m. and often linger until well after dark — had, as they seem to do every day, long overstayed their welcome.

“They ordered us out,” Mr. Lee said from his seat in the same McDonald’s booth a week after the incident, beneath a sign that said customers have 20 minutes to finish their food. (He had already been there two hours.) “So I left,” he said.

“Then I walked around the block and came right back again.”

For the past several months, a number of elderly Korean patrons and this McDonald’s they frequent have been battling over the benches inside. The restaurant says the people who colonize the seats on a daily basis are quashing business, taking up tables for hours while splitting a small packet of French fries ($1.39); the group say they are customers and entitled to take their time. A lot of time.

“Do you think you can drink a large coffee within 20 minutes?” David Choi, 77, said. “No, it’s impossible.”

And though they have treated the corner restaurant as their own personal meeting place for more than five years, they say, the situation has escalated in recent months. The police said there had been four 911 calls since November requesting the removal of the entrenched older patrons.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: billdeblasio; chirlanemccray; davidchoi; donutwatch; entitlementattitude; flushing; koreans; loitering; manhyunglee; mcdonalds; memebuilding; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; occupymickyds; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; queens; seniorcitizens; squaters; squatters
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To: lee martell

I will say that I’ve spent more than 20 minutes eating at McD’s before. Of course, that was because they had playground equipment, and my kids would play. And I’d get up every 10 minutes and buy another 4-pack of nuggets or chocolate chip cookies. Definitely not a healthy way to spend time with the kids.

Nowadays, I’m not sure I’d let my kids play in a restaurant play area, I’d be afraid of the germs.


101 posted on 01/15/2014 2:17:20 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Valpal1
"Is it bad that I laughed at that?"

Don't worry ... you weren't alone ...

102 posted on 01/15/2014 2:18:05 PM PST by BlueLancer (Pachebel --- The original one-hit wonder.)
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To: Usagi_yo

Except parents who bring kids to the play areas tend to spend money, and then spend more money, as they wait, so the play area makes money for the restaurant.

A senior area where old people can sit while not buying anything would not be that good for business, in a store like this that appears very constrained by the environment.


103 posted on 01/15/2014 2:18:49 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT
I’d be afraid of the germs.

LOL...next week on "America's Most Toxic" we visit.....

104 posted on 01/15/2014 2:19:11 PM PST by nascarnation (I'm hiring Jack Palladino to investigate Baraq's golf scores.)
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To: Richl
They would just bring their sleeping mats

If these oldsters are from Korea they are probably accustomed to sleeping on mats.

105 posted on 01/15/2014 2:20:50 PM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: Doctor 2Brains

“What would you do if bums refused to leave your private property?”

this is an ongoing problem with harmless old men, I think I’d just call the local precinct, NYC also has “311” which is a non-emergency number, but I’m not sure if those people can take any action or if they just give and take information.


106 posted on 01/15/2014 2:29:58 PM PST by jocon307
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To: moonshinner_09

Each one knows that if s/he waits just a little longer, their Seoulmate will arrive...


107 posted on 01/15/2014 2:33:34 PM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: discostu

“Whatever happened to hanging out in the mall, that’s what oldsters used to do. Had a neighbor that did it every day, go to the mall around 9:30 and just sit on one of the benches and stay there until 3 or 4.”

If my life ever gets to that point, please shoot me.


108 posted on 01/15/2014 2:35:16 PM PST by Rebelbase (Tagline: optional, printed after your name on post)
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To: jocon307

The bloods, crips and harmless old Korean guys.... lol


109 posted on 01/15/2014 2:35:28 PM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: Cowgirl of Justice
I rolled my window down and found a classical station on Sirius and CRANKED Pacabel. After a moment, all of their windows rolled down, they turned down their music and all I could see was teens in the back and front seat grinning with their thumbs up.

I did that once, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I had some serious acoustic firepower set up in the car (a pinto station wagon) including a pair of really good Electrovoice home stereo speakers in the back. I had a big amp, an equalizer tuned the way I like it. I never listened to it up loud- at a conversation volume it sounded like a concert hall in there.

Except this one time. At a stoplight on Railroad Ave. in Pittsburg, CA. With a thug in the next lane, blaring his crap. This would've been in the late Eighties sometime.

I turned it up to...11. Tone stayed perfect. Concert lasted a couple of minutes. Aferward, my ears felt like I'd forgotten my earmuffs at the range, but decided to shoot anyway.

Priceless.

110 posted on 01/15/2014 2:35:58 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: moonshinner_09

The restaurant owner/manager should remove all the seating and instruct his employees that all orders are to be “to go”.


111 posted on 01/15/2014 2:52:15 PM PST by Two Kids' Dad (((( ))))
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To: moonshinner_09
Is this why the Korean War is not officially over, because the peace negotiators are really still on a coffee break somewhere?

-PJ

112 posted on 01/15/2014 3:03:42 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: discostu

Whatever happened to hanging out in the mall, that’s what oldsters used to do.


They’ve torn several down here due to the economy.


113 posted on 01/15/2014 3:12:04 PM PST by MWestMom (We are not designed to sacrifice for the state, we were designed to sacrifice for each other.)
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To: GeronL

when I worked in the all night donut shop we had a woman who would come in every night about midnight and stay until 6 am. I don’t know what the deal was with her. She didn’t seem to be homeless, she never talked to anyone, I was told “don’t worry, she always leaves before it gets busy” which she did.


114 posted on 01/15/2014 3:32:01 PM PST by jocon307
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To: 2nd amendment mama

Agreed, like one of their own homes!


115 posted on 01/15/2014 4:07:54 PM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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To: jocon307

Nothing harmless about the theft of private property.


116 posted on 01/15/2014 6:28:36 PM PST by Doctor 2Brains
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To: moonshinner_09

In my town there’s a MacDonald’s near two of the local colleges, and they have free wi-fi. Homeless people come in all the time and get a free cup of ice water, and then just sit around with it until the students come in to eat and study with their laptops. Then they get in their faces and panhandle, sometimes aggressively. It got so bad that the manager has called the cops several times. But what can the cops do? The cops can’t hang around there all the time, and when they chase the bums off they just come back after the cops leave.


117 posted on 01/15/2014 8:36:04 PM PST by jespasinthru (Proud member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

> The restaurant says the people who colonize the seats on a daily basis are quashing business, taking up tables for hours while splitting a small packet of French fries ($1.39); the group say they are customers and entitled to take their time. A lot of time.

Seems like a perfectly good reason to bash cops though. Thanks moonshinner_09.


118 posted on 01/19/2014 9:32:56 AM PST by SunkenCiv (;http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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More shilling by the drive-by to push unionization of Mickey D’s, still in the vilification phase.

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/mcdonalds/index?more=10654680


119 posted on 01/19/2014 9:40:25 AM PST by SunkenCiv (;http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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