COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, Ill. (CBS) ― A struggling restaurant in south suburban Country Club Hills is getting a second chance, thanks to the municipal government.
The Country Club Hills city council will pay the $7,200 overdue electric bill for the Chatham Pancake House, located at 18348 S. Pulaski Rd.
Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch tells the Chicago Tribune these are “unusual times” and local business is precious, so the community has to get creative.
Two of the eight aldermen on the city council opposed the loan, one of them complaining that the municipal government already gave pancake house owner Leslie Noel $50,000 in tax incentives to help open his business, the Tribune reported.
There may be other political problems with the electric bill bailout. CBS 2’s Susan Carlson said on Monsters & Money in the Morning that Welch’s move could set a precedent that would lead other businesses to ask for help from the city government.
“It turns out the mayor is a longtime customer of this particular restaurant, so is he playing favorites? He goes there all the time. He’s always seen there,” Carlson said. “That’s going to be the problem for him is it sets a precedent, and he’s going to get criticized for it from all the other businesses who are going to say, ‘Pay my bill.’”
The pancake house operated for more than 20 years near 87th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood, but moved to Country Club Hills in 2008, the Tribune reported.
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