Seven small restaurants comply with codes
only through public funds

By ERIC LINDEN

Seven small Oak Park eateries who haven't complied with some codes and
with the rules for insuring accessibility by disabled persons soon will
have the work paid for by monies provided by Oak Park village
government.

Unlike all their food-serving colleagues in Oak Park, the seven small
food businesses have not complied with either state plumbing codes or
the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. After more than a year of
trying to gain compliance from these seven and gaining compliance from
other restaurants in Oak Park, officials at Oak Park village hall have
come up with the plan to give financial grants totaling at least "in the
six-figure range" for the private businesses to have the work done, a
village hall official said.

Village hall staff drafted the grant plan, and the Oak Park village
board endorsed making the grants during a Committee of the Whole meeting
in September, said Ann C. Weebles, the grant manager at village hall.

The exact costs are not known yet because village government is seeking
competitive bids for the work on the seven eateries. Weebles said the
grant plan calls for the village board to pay for the work by allocating
a portion of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money village
government is receiving from the federal government this year.

Until bids come due on Nov. 21, Weebles was reluctant to reveal how much
money is on hand to fund the grant project because she feared it could
influence the amounts that contractors would bid to perform the work.
Weebles did concede, however, that money available is "in the six-figure
range."

CDBG money by law must be spent on programs that assist low- and
moderate-income people, that improve economic development and that
address some other uses. Weebles, the staff person at village hall who
directly oversees the CDBG program, said complying with rules for
accessibility by disabled persons is a proper and allowable use for CDBG
money.

Costs to Oak Park residents and taxpayers will not increase under the
grant plan for the businesses. But if the federal money were not going
to the eateries, the money could be used for other programs
traditionally funded by CDBG money. So instead of more money going, for
instance, to street repairs, to local social service agencies serving
village residents, to help fund village hall's racial diversity efforts,
to the programs of the Oak Park Development Corporation or to other
alternatives, it will go to the following eateries.

* Minou, the small cafe, bakery and sandwich establishment at 104 N.
Marion St. on the Marion Street pedestrian mall in Downtown Oak Park

* Scotti's Deli, another small sandwich shop at 1110 Westgate St.,
almost one-half block west to Minou

*Jimmy and Deans, which serves hot dogs and other sandwiches at 1141
Garfield St., in a strip mall on the southeast corner of Harlem Avenue
and Garfield Street

* Edys Ice Cream,  946 Lake St., an shop serving ice cream and other
frozen treats on the edge of Downtown Oak Park and a half-block east of
Forest Avenue

* The Daily Grind Cyber Cafe, which serves coffee and other drinks,
bakery and other light food fare and rents time on computers to patrons
from a shop at 119 N. Marion St., virtually across Westgate Street from
Scotti's Deli

* Grape Leaves, which serves Middle Eastern cuisine from a small
storefront at 129 S. Oak Park Ave.

* Village Bake Shop, a larger food-service business on the southwest
corner of Marion Street and South Boulevard at 101 S. Marion St. The
restaurant changed ownership last year.

As far back as early 1999, village hall officials have been trying to
get the seven businesses to comply with the accessibility and plumbing
codes. Through the efforts of officials, other restaurants initially
found not in compliance eventually met the codes by paying for
improvements to their businesses. That list includes the following.

* Baskin Robbins, the ice cream business at 7117 W. North Ave., in the
strip mall on the southeast corner of Harlem and North avenues

* Happiness Restaurant, 6222 W. Roosevelt Road

* Imperial Restaurant, 20 Lake St.

* Pete's Hot Dogs, 6346 W. Roosevelt Road, on the northeast corner of
Ridgeland Avenue and Roosevelt Road

Compliance with the codes also was not addressed by Thai Taste
restaurant, which had been at 330 Madison St., but has since closed
there, leaving a vacancy for the past several months on the northeast
corner of Madison Street and Ridgeland Avenue.

Now, instead of the other seven grant-receiving eateries using their own
money as the others had, the seven have virtually turned over their
spaces to the village hall repair process, which is to work in the
following fashion.

To supervise the project, village hall has hired the architectural firm
DC Group Inc., 403 N. Grove Ave. in Oak Park, and architect James Pabin
of that firm. The seven eateries involved in the grant plan are to make
their premises available on Thursday, Dec. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. so
prospective contractors may inspect the layouts of the businesses before
making their bids.

In a move thought to be cost-saving, village government officials want
one contractor to perform the work needed at all seven eateries
receiving the grant money. The work is to include the addition of new
and accessible rest-room and toilet facilities, removal of various
physical barriers to aid access by disabled persons and, perhaps, other
work.

Bids are due from contractors by Monday, Dec. 18 to DC Group, which will
then take the bids to village hall, where the bids will be opened
between 2:30 and 3 p.m. in Room C8, which is on the second floor of
village hall.

Weebles said officials hope that the work paid for by grants to the
seven Oak Park eateries could be completed in late March or early April
of 2001.