We say it a lot around here these days: Times are tough. And they just got tougher for the homeless people in San Francisco who had relied on a local McDonald’s for their discount sustenance. A few weeks back, that particular Golden Arches — located in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood — jacked up the price on their former Dollar Menu items to $1.50, much to the consternation of the homeless.

While the franchise’s owner says her reasons for the increase were all about trying to make more money, some of the local homeless folks are convinced it’s all a way to make it too pricey for them to eat there.

Writes the San Francisco Chronicle:

Many homeless think taking away the Dollar Menu is the restaurant management’s ploy to get them to go somewhere else. Management locks the bathroom door and frequently calls the cops. On top of that, Mayor Gavin Newsom and several Haight Street merchants are pushing a November ballot measure that would ban sitting or lying on public sidewalks.

In addition to being a cheap source of sustenance, the former Dollar Menu also gave the homeless who hung out on the restaurant’s patio a semi-affordable option when police would tell them they needed to buy something or move on.

Adds one homeless former McDonald’s customer:

Yeah man, it … sucks… I eat less. I have to get more money. If I don’t have a dollar and I want food, I just end up going to a trash can.

Hassle in Haight over McDonald’s menu change [SFgate.com]

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