Catering for small children

I have to agree with Shane Steele's letter (Peninsula News, Jan 14).

I am happy for McDonalds to come to Umina Beach and am of the opinion that McDonalds fills a need in any community.

My husband and I often frequent the local cafes in West St as we love the ambiance and feel of the small cafe and would continue to visit them when McDonalds arrives in Umina.

However when my children were small, they were quite active and it was useless taking them to a lovely cafe as they couldn't sit still.

They created a lot of noise and you could bet once our food arrived they would need to use a toilet.

Now that they're older, a visit to a lovely Umina cafe has become a pleasant experience.

McDonalds caters to the family with small children supplying everything that is needed to have a meal out and meet up with other families.

I believe McDonalds has worked hard on their menu over the years and now there are healthy choices as well as their regular menu.

McDonalds will supply much needed part time work for some of the teens in the area and training in the much needed role of customer service and dealing with difficult customers, something my daughter learnt working part time at KFC while attending university.

I don't appreciate the No McDonalds group speaking on behalf of the majority.

As Umina Beach has a population over 15,392 (2006 census) unless they have handed over 8000 plus signatures of Umina only residents to Council they're speaking for the minority.

I have found some of the letters against McDonalds in the Peninsula News to be quite over the top and pushing their views onto others in the community.

I have only one real concern and that is traffic at the roundabout as this can be a bottle neck at times, but with some clever thinking on the Councils behalf I am sure this can be addressed.

While driving around the Central Coast I've been paying attention to all the McDonalds restaurants and find they all have well kept premises with gardens and feel this would be a much needed lift for Ocean Beach Rd.

As for the claim McDonalds would create rubbish in the area, it can't be any more than what we have at present in Umina and most of it comes from outlets that don't label their packaging.

This litter problem is a human problem not a McDonalds' problem.

Email, 26 Jan 2012 Colleen Boyd, Umina Beach