McDonald’s franchise at 2455 W. Wisconsin renewed after manager vows steps to reduce loitering, noise and rodent complaints

The Licensing Committee renewed the food-dealer license for the McDonald’s at 2455 W. Wisconsin Ave., despite recent police calls and neighborhood complaints about fights, noise and rodents.

The applicant, franchise operator Sean M. Kennedy, told the committee he purchased the location two years earlier and described personnel and security changes that he said reduced problems. Kennedy said employees involved in a recent physical altercation and other incidents were fired, the restaurant now has on-site security during peak hours, and the operator installed a parking-lot camera-monitoring unit. He said the store is closed to lobby service at 9 p.m., the drive-through opens at 6 a.m., and the drive-through closes at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends.

Neighbor Quetzalit Tzib testified about years of noise, rats in the alley and the drive-through loudspeaker waking her family early each morning. Alderman Bob Baumann, the 4th District representative, said the location is difficult for any operator, but praised the current franchisee’s work to reduce nuisance calls and told the operator to move garbage pickup later in the morning to reduce early-morning noise. Kennedy agreed to ask the hauler to avoid pickups before 7 a.m. and to provide licensing staff and the alderman a contact for his IT or camera vendor to make sure police can access footage promptly for investigations.

The committee moved approval of the renewal on a voice motion; the chair recorded no objection. The record shows commitments from the operator to security staffing, de-escalation training for managers, and a cleaning/garbage schedule.