* All is not lost for mass transit in Chicago. On Monday, the State Senate will meet in a previously-unscheduled session to vote on Julie Hamos’ transit bill that the State House failed to pass earlier this week.
* In spite of the fact that the personable owner of Hot Doug’s, everyone’s favorite “encased meat emporium”, broke his leg a few weeks ago so badly it required surgery, he is coming back starting next Wednesday! From the website: “It appears that Doug’s leg is coming along nicely (and his bank account is not), so, HOT DOUG’S WILL RE-OPEN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. We appreciate your patience during this solemn time of convalescence and look forward to serving you a nice sausage (that’s assuming Doug can ween himself off the vicodin).” Dang, I need to find an excuse to get into the city next weekend…
* The owner of the local Krispy Kreme franchise has filed for bankruptcy and plans to close half of their 15 outlets in the Chicago area.
* The Chicago City Council approved a measure that will allow people’s dogs to dine with them at outdoor cafes. One restaurant plans to celebrate by offering beer for dogs!
* And finally, even though I don’t think anyone I know has a membership but a few do have T-shirts from there, the owner of Cheetah Gym is closing all three locations due to “employee theft and graft”.
Krispy Kreme is one of our clients here (we provide customer contact support for them) and I am curious as to whether we’re going to be reducing staff. The financial problems for the chain aren’t limited to the Chicago area.
Krispy Kremes going out of business? Dude, that’s like blasphemy down here in the south…
Shame to hear about Cheetah gym. Too bad there wasn’t any notice, I’d have liked to have had the chance to steal a t-shirt before they closed.
On another local Chicago (and New England) note, somehow I missed this, but White Hen has been bought by 7-Eleven. I passed by the one at Montrose and Francisco last night as they were changing the signs, and presumably spraying the store’s interior with tanks full of that smell that 7-Elevens all seem to share. I wonder if they’ll get to keep those Wawa style touch screens that let you order a sandwich without talking to anyone.
That would explain why the one in DeKalb literally changed overnight a couple months ago. RC gave me instructions to get to his place on a Weds night, and mentioned turning at the White Hen, then called me the Friday I was driving to turn at the 7-11.
In other news, Apus all over the US can breathe a sigh of relief.
Dear Chicago, if you want to save the CTA, cur back on the bureaucracy and waste and try running it like a corporation and not an entitlement program — The overtaxed people of the rest of Illinois
Well, that reduced a nuanced, multidimensional issue of crumbling infrastructure, spiraling labor costs, overextended pension plans, political quid pro quo, and intergovernmental infighting down to a nice, tidy slogan. Thanks for taking care of that for us.
Yep all the more reason why everyone else in the state shouldn’t have their hard earned income thrown down a monumental black-hole, sometimes tough love is the only love that works.
So..you can bring yer dog to dinner, but you can’t feed him Pate?
Ahhh…such great priorities in that town!