On Tuesday night there was a forum (at a local hall) about drive-thrus in London, Ontario.

A mob was there wearing blue t-shirts associated with this pro- drive-thru lobbying web site. (I've written about that web site and those blue-shirted people in this post.)

The local campaigners challenging drive-thrus have been taking pioneering steps, so industry lobbyists have tried to stamp out the campaign. (This aggressive lobbying has come from Tim Hortons and the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, in particular.) London thus has been made into a sort of flashpoint--within the province of Ontario at least. (I don't know how contested drive-thrus are elsewhere.)

Several local environmentalists went out to the event to speak. One of them was there on behalf of Post-Carbon London, which I'm part of as well. Others (like the gentleman in the photo, who is from a neighbourhood association) also came out to raise different concerns about drive-thrus.

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Before the event the Council of Canadians sent out this announcement:
http://londonontario.indymedia.org/?q=node/582

They also distributed these posters:
http://www.relocalize.net/files/drivethru-idling.pdf
http://www.relocalize.net/files/drivethru-oil.pdf

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Here's some mainstream coverage of the event -

Videos -
http://www.achannel.ca/london/news_59453.aspx
http://torontosun.feedroom.com/linking/index.jsp?skin=oneclip&ehv=http://sunvideo.canoe.ca&fr_story=45ac70340aebefd48700a4d1eb6a6d557ec94cfd&rf=ev&hl=true'%20width=402%20height=338%20scrolling='no'%20frameborder=0%20marginwidth=0%20marginheight=0

Photos:
http://www.lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?x=galleries&s=gallery&p=2546&pg=6

Written journalism -
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2008/07/16/6170906-sun.html
http://www.londontopic.ca/article.php?artid=10054

A blog post -- and the comments on it -
http://frommybottomstep.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/drive-thru-debate-turned-circus/#comments
(I think that the author's responses to my comments show that they are intent on misrepresenting the event. For instance, this person dismisses the idea that the blue shirted people were "causing a scene"--despite how their propaganda shirts were an obvious "scene," and despite how they would respond to happenings en masse--usually by clapping.)

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Update -
Here's the PowerPoint presentation that Cory Morningstar -- the head of the local chapter of the Council of Canadians -- prepared for the Tuesday forum on drive-thrus:
http://www.relocalize.net/files/Drive-thru%20Presentation%20CoC%20-%20Ju...

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=250)