The big driver of this in the news was from Chicago. In Chicago there's a tradition of Aldermen using official privilege to block zoning and subdivision changes in their respective wards. On Wednesday, after hearing company president Cathy's comments the week before, Ald. Moreno said he was going to
use that privilege to block a second Chick-Fil-A in Chicago. Mayor Emanuel jumped in to support the Alderman.
The debate now rages here in that this opens the door to blocking a franchise just because the corporate parent takes has a certain belief. Many think that the city could be seeing a first amendment lawsuit. Today I heard that the Alderman is now claiming he'll block it because of the increased traffic. That sounds like a legal walkback to a safer reason to reject. However, it flies in the face of comments that Chicagoans wouldn't patronize a business with those attitudes. If so, then there wouldn't be a traffic problem.
The proposed location would be a franchise not owned by the corporation. The existing store in Chicago does not discriminate on either serving or hiring. Even some liberal lawyers in the state have sounded an alarm since this type of action can cut both ways.
