[Rhetoric] Drive-Thru's for Bridgeport!

It is now time for another Action Project for my Humanities class, Rhetoric. This unit was called Challenge, and we have been taking a deep dive into the status quo and how we can challenge it. We took a look at the famous debate between James Baldwin and William Buckley, where we observed how Baldwin was aiming to challenge the status quo and Buckley aimed to defend it. We have also taken a look at some independent political organizations, or IPOs, in the city of Chicago. We visited 33rd Working Families, an IPO in the 33rd ward, and talked with them about the canvassing and campaigning they do to ensure a better community. We also took a trip to the 48th ward, where we talked with 48th Neighbors For Justice and talked about how they are attempting to get a new alderman elected who is more supportive of affordable housing, as well as how they have canvassed to improve their community. For this Action Project, we have been tasked with creating a "script" of sorts to use for the basis of canvassing an issue we feel should be solved in our neighborhood. Additionally, I won't spoil what my issue is, but I believe it is unique and unusual. Here is my project!


Hi there! I’m just a normal guy spreading awareness about a cause I think you’ll care about. Would you say you agree or disagree with the statement that you get fast food at least once a week?

Move on if agree

If disagree ask if they feel impacted at all by the restaurants and fast food in the area

If yes move on

If no say thank you for your time and leave.

Did you know that the zoning in the Bridgeport area dictates that restaurants cannot have drive-thrus?

I’m glad you’re informed that makes my job easier.

Well, they are!

This is quite inconvenient for everybody. Even the McDonald's doesn’t have a drive-thru, so it closely matches a Mcdonald’s you’d see in a food court. It is zoned as B1-2, which basically means it is meant for a low-traffic street. Halsted, the street it is on, is a major street that stretches nearly the entire length of Chicago. B1-2 zoning doesn’t have nearly the capacity that a whole urban area needs. Have you ever found yourself running late for work or school?

Pretty sure every human being on the planet has but in the event it is no, ask if they acknowledge that other people do.

Re-zoning to allow drive-thrus would make life much more convenient. When I lived north and I was running late and didn’t have time to eat breakfast, I could quickly run through a drive-thru and at least get something in my system. However, in Bridgeport, the options are much more limited because drive-thrus aren’t allowed. To stop at Mcdonald's and get a breakfast sandwich, you have to wait inside the crowded store on top of the time to park and walk into the store. Sometimes you simply don’t have the time to do that. But drive-thru's would solve that. Do you have an elderly or disabled person you are or were close to?

If yes begin the next section with “As you might know”

If not move one anyway!

it is a lot of effort for some people to get in and out of cars, like disabled people or elderly people, so that adds an extra level of hassle and potential hardship when instead you could just go through a drive-thru. Not having drive-thru’s is like saying these people’s needs don’t matter. Have you seen the Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts on 31st and Halsted?

Answer doesn't matter that much. Comment on it and move on.

There are some loopholes to this rule that make it even more pointless. Starbucks opened a location on Halsted and 31st very recently that has a drive-thru because of a loophole where places considered “Cafes” are allowed to open locations. Dunkin Donuts closed its previously Drive-Through-less location and opened one with a drive-thru shortly after. The fact that there are things that probably should be considered restaurants but are still allowed drive-thru's make the whole thing inconsistent and lacking purpose.

Some would say that since Bridgeport is a residential neighborhood, we don’t need the drive-thru’s because we aren’t meant to have the retail and business at all. I’d argue that if we don’t have a diverse selection of industries in a neighborhood, we could cause unnecessary traffic and congestion when moving in and out of the said neighborhood. Have you had Covid?

Would you like to have it (again)?

We have just (maybe?) exited the pandemic and many companies are choosing to increase drive-thru capacity to be more sanitary. Why would we have these locations that force people to be unclean and exposed to the germs when we could have drive-thru's that are just grab-and-go. Cleanliness protects everyone, but especially protects the immunocompromised and the people who can’t get vaccinated. It would be a service to the whole community. I think preventing the spread of Covid is a decent reason to want drive-thrus. Have you been to Bronzeville, just 13 blocks from these crippled restaurants?

Begin with “as you probably know,” if yes

They have many drive-thru restaurants! Normally this would work perfectly fine, unfortunately, these restaurants are way over capacity, especially at night. Since drive-thru's often stay open overnight, all of the night business from Bridgeport and Bronzeville are forced to come to these locations, leaving them packed absurdly late into the night. I myself have experienced this, as I was out one night with some friends and it was nearly impossible to find a place to eat where we wouldn’t have to wait for hours. If Bridgeport was able to serve its own residents at night, this wouldn’t be nearly as big of an issue. If you at all care about this issue, I’d urge you to sign this petition to get this zoning changed. It would benefit our community, our residents, and our lifestyles. If you feel really passionate, I’d urge you to contact Alder Nicole Lee at 773-254-6677. Adding drive-thru’s to bridge port would make my life easier, your life easier, and make the most vulnerable members of society’s lives easier. Thanks for your time and for having this conversation with me! Would you like a button?

I was specifically targeting three groups of people with this script. The first was the people I am describing benefitting from drive-thru’s, being elderly, disabled folks, and immunocompromised people. These people of course exist everywhere. The second would be middle-class working people who might benefit from the saved time in a pinch. These people don’t make up much of the immediate area where I live but they do often live nearby, as this is a very big police neighborhood. The third would be lazy, rich people. I live very near the Sox park, and so there are a lot of those. I used logos when I talked about the convenience and the existing loopholes making the zoning inconsistent and flawed. I used ethos when I talked about my experiences with the lack of drive-thrus and the consequences of that. I used pathos when I talked about helping immunocompromised or disabled people from getting hurt. I used a simile/analogy when I talk about not wanting drive-thru’s is hurting people. I used anaphora in my concluding statement “Adding drive-thru’s to bridge port would make my life easier, your life easier, and make the most vulnerable members of society’s lives easier.” I used meiosis when I talked about Covid being a decent reason for wanting drive-thru’s.

Sources:

“Boundaries - Zoning Districts (Current) | City of Chicago | Data Portal.” Chicago, 2018, data.cityofchicago.org/Community-Economic-Development/Boundaries-Zoning-Districts-current-/7cve-jgbp.

2nd City Zoning. “Zoning Districts - 2nd City Zoning.” 2nd City Zoning, 2022, secondcityzoning.org/zones/#B.

Ross, Beth. “Can Zoning Be Changed to Allow Your Use of Vacant Land?” Www.nolo.com, Nolo, 21 Mar. 2014, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-zoning-be-changed-allow-your-use-vacant-land.html#:~:text=Procedures%20for%20requesting%20a%20zoning%20exception%20or%20change%20depend%20on,zoning%20board%20or%20planning%20commission..

LAH, Button Design, 2022

    Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It was interesting to think about what I would be willing to say to people face-to-face and how I could try to convince them to see things my way. If I were to do something different in this project, it might be picking an issue that is more big picture and matters more globally, but other than that this was a very fun project. We may or may not have another AP for Rhetoric, but either way, stay tuned for the next AP from Design and Engineering!