Keep McDonald's Out, Say Loma Linda Residents

The possibility that Happy Meals might be sold in Loma Linda has a whole lot of locals unhappy.

It was not on the agenda, but more than 10 people attended Tuesday night’s council meeting to voice opposition to allowing a McDonald’s restaurant into the city.

Terra Linda Commercial LLC is proposing to build a business center on a 7.7-acre parcel in the area of Barton Road and Mountain View Avenue. The property would be subdivided into seven plots. The McDonald’s with a drive-thru could be a tenant.

A couple the speakers were concerned about the safety issues that increased traffic in the area could cause. But most of those who spoke had a medical background, and were concerned that opening the doors to the fast food chain would tarnish the city’s standing as a “Blue Zone.”

“Please stand up for the Inland Empire,” Loma Linda resident Olivia Moses told the council as she asked them not to let the restaurant in. “And stand up for our families.”

Loma Linda has roots in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Most members follow strict vegetarian diets and lead healthy, active lifestyles. Several residents have lived beyond 100 years. That caught the attention of researchers who designated the area a Blue Zone.

Loma Linda is the only Blue Zone in the country and one of a very few in the world.

So the idea of bringing in a McDonald’s was alarming to the residents no matter how much it was dressed up. After one speaker suggested the city require the restaurant provide healthy choices, another responded, “trying to have McDonalds improve their menu by changing the menu is like trying to put five milligrams of vitamin C in a cigarette. It’s still a cigarette.”

The council made no comment since the item was not publicly noticed. Mayor Rhodes Rigsby said the matter was first going to the planning commission.

The commission meets tonight at 7 in the council chambers in the civic center, 25541 Barton Road.

Information: (909) 799-2800