By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy
Chick-fil-A, a Southern restaurant chain that features chicken sandwiches, will break ground next month on locations in Aurora and Orland Park.
Company spokeswoman Cindi Pickett said company officials will be in Chicago on April 20 for the groundbreaking ceremonies.
Pickett said the Aurora restaurant is scheduled to open first a few months later with the Orland location opening about three weeks after that.
Pickett said the Orland location is planned for an out lot on LaGrange Road in front of the Lowe’s home improvement store.
Wild wings coming to Calumet City
A Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant is expected to open any day now at 1250 S. Torrence Ave. in the former Bennigan’s restaurant. The Calumet City Council last week approved a sign variance for the restaurant.
Mattress Express closing
Mattress Express is closing its store at 358 S. LaGrange Road in Frankfort in the Jewel plaza. The store’s last day is scheduled for March 31. The phone number is 815-806-8090.
Deal of the week
BlueStone Bar & Grill, 2387 E. Joliet Highway, New Lenox, is offering half-price pizza during Chicago Black Hawks and Chicago Bulls games. For more information, call 815-463-9707 or visit www.bluestonebarandgrill.com
About Me
- Bob Bong
- I have more than 40 years in the news business and have successfully evolved into an electronic journalist. Comings & Goings and Southland Savvy track news about businesses in Chicago's Southland.
Criminal, prejudicial, comical and hopeful
GuidePosts: Southland educators get jobbed again. The ugly face of racism speaks on the Southwest Side. First GM, now the local pancake house? Government bailouts run amok. And finally, Toni Preckwinkle discovers the Southland. Every week, GuidePosts points you to the must-read stories of the Southland.
Education just isn't that important
Phil Kadner tells it like it is when it comes to the corruption in the useless office of the Cook County Regional Schools Superintendent and the utterly senseless decision of some state lawmakers to turn a blind eye. The office, held by Charles Flowers, is under a cloud of scandal exposed by Southtown reporter Duaa Eldeib, who's now at the Chicago Tribune. Thanks to her reporting, Flowers is now charged with theft and official misconduct.
The Daily Southtown first drew a bead on Flowers back in 2006-2007 when Southtown reporter Angela Caputo, now at Progress Illinois, exposed the nepotism in the office and rampant financial mismanagement, which forced Cook County to loan Flowers money to run his office
Timeless sensibilities
"Mike Corrigan doesn't want to be anybody's villain or a neighborhood hero," writes Casey Cora in one of the most interesting Southland stories of the week. "He's just a guy who wants to see his West Beverly neighborhood packed with white people and no one else."
"What's so wrong with that?" the 62-year-old South Sider asks.
Bowing to pressure, Corrigan covered up the racist signs he posted to scare blacks away from buying the house for sale next door. Clearly, the age-old racial divisions that define so many interactions in the Southland still fester here.
The pancake bailout
This would be funny if it weren't for the fact that the joke is on Country Club Hills taxpayers. Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch gave a city loan to a local eatery that couldn't pay its utility bills. And residents are fuming.
Welcome to our suburbs
Toni Preckwinkle, the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board President, doesn't know much about the Southland. But she's willing to learn. Recently, she's met with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, the East Hazel Crest-based group that tries to promote the economic interests of 42 suburban communities in south Cook and Will counties, according to the Times of Illinois.
"They presented me with their economic development agenda, and I will do what I can to help implement those projects they desire," Preckwinkle told the paper. "I know that one concern here is access to hospitals and the health care system that the county provides."
She says she'll pay close attention to the fate of Oak Forest Hospital.
Education just isn't that important
Phil Kadner tells it like it is when it comes to the corruption in the useless office of the Cook County Regional Schools Superintendent and the utterly senseless decision of some state lawmakers to turn a blind eye. The office, held by Charles Flowers, is under a cloud of scandal exposed by Southtown reporter Duaa Eldeib, who's now at the Chicago Tribune. Thanks to her reporting, Flowers is now charged with theft and official misconduct.
The Daily Southtown first drew a bead on Flowers back in 2006-2007 when Southtown reporter Angela Caputo, now at Progress Illinois, exposed the nepotism in the office and rampant financial mismanagement, which forced Cook County to loan Flowers money to run his office
Timeless sensibilities
"Mike Corrigan doesn't want to be anybody's villain or a neighborhood hero," writes Casey Cora in one of the most interesting Southland stories of the week. "He's just a guy who wants to see his West Beverly neighborhood packed with white people and no one else."
"What's so wrong with that?" the 62-year-old South Sider asks.
Bowing to pressure, Corrigan covered up the racist signs he posted to scare blacks away from buying the house for sale next door. Clearly, the age-old racial divisions that define so many interactions in the Southland still fester here.
The pancake bailout
This would be funny if it weren't for the fact that the joke is on Country Club Hills taxpayers. Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch gave a city loan to a local eatery that couldn't pay its utility bills. And residents are fuming.
Welcome to our suburbs
Toni Preckwinkle, the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board President, doesn't know much about the Southland. But she's willing to learn. Recently, she's met with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, the East Hazel Crest-based group that tries to promote the economic interests of 42 suburban communities in south Cook and Will counties, according to the Times of Illinois.
"They presented me with their economic development agenda, and I will do what I can to help implement those projects they desire," Preckwinkle told the paper. "I know that one concern here is access to hospitals and the health care system that the county provides."
She says she'll pay close attention to the fate of Oak Forest Hospital.
Ridgeway Chevrolet to remain GM dealership in Lansing
By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy
Ridgeway Chevrolet in Lansing has a new lease on life as a GM dealership now that the automaker has decided not to end its franchise agreement with the 83-year-old car store.
Sales manager David Crutchfield said the dealership was notified last week that it was one of 600 dealerships GM said would not have to go through the appeal process to remain in the GM family. The automaker last year said it was dropping franchise agreements with more than 2,000 dealerships, but more than 1,100, including Ridgeway, appealed that decision.
Some longtime Southland GM dealerships have already closed, including Gibson Chevrolet in neighboring South Holland.
Crutchfield said the news was icing on the cake for the dealership. “We just had our best February ever,” he said. “It’s nice that we are going to stay a GM dealer, but we were going to stay open no matter what. We were ready to be a great used car store.”
Crutchfield said the dealership was down to its last dozen 2009 models and a half-dozen 2010 models.
“As soon as the paperwork goes through we’ll be ordering 200 new cars,” Crutchfield said. “But we have a great used car inventory right now.”
Crutchfield said the dealership’s service department “carried us through a tough time.”
He also attributed the store’s success to owner Bob Van’s philosophy. “Bob defies logic,” Crutchfield said. “But he’s always right on.”
Ridgeway was opened in 1927 by Van’s grandfather and the store is the second oldest business in Lansing.
For more information, call Ridgeway at 708-872-1012 or visit www.ridgewaychevy.com
Vic’s Barbecue in Worth
A new barbecue restaurant opened recently in Worth. Vic’s Barbecue is now open at 11306 S. Harlem Ave. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The phone number is 708-448-5000.
Southland Savvy
Ridgeway Chevrolet in Lansing has a new lease on life as a GM dealership now that the automaker has decided not to end its franchise agreement with the 83-year-old car store.
Sales manager David Crutchfield said the dealership was notified last week that it was one of 600 dealerships GM said would not have to go through the appeal process to remain in the GM family. The automaker last year said it was dropping franchise agreements with more than 2,000 dealerships, but more than 1,100, including Ridgeway, appealed that decision.
Some longtime Southland GM dealerships have already closed, including Gibson Chevrolet in neighboring South Holland.
Crutchfield said the news was icing on the cake for the dealership. “We just had our best February ever,” he said. “It’s nice that we are going to stay a GM dealer, but we were going to stay open no matter what. We were ready to be a great used car store.”
Crutchfield said the dealership was down to its last dozen 2009 models and a half-dozen 2010 models.
“As soon as the paperwork goes through we’ll be ordering 200 new cars,” Crutchfield said. “But we have a great used car inventory right now.”
Crutchfield said the dealership’s service department “carried us through a tough time.”
He also attributed the store’s success to owner Bob Van’s philosophy. “Bob defies logic,” Crutchfield said. “But he’s always right on.”
Ridgeway was opened in 1927 by Van’s grandfather and the store is the second oldest business in Lansing.
For more information, call Ridgeway at 708-872-1012 or visit www.ridgewaychevy.com
Vic’s Barbecue in Worth
A new barbecue restaurant opened recently in Worth. Vic’s Barbecue is now open at 11306 S. Harlem Ave. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The phone number is 708-448-5000.
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