Does Country Club Hills Play Favorites When it Comes to Business Licenses?

Does Country Club Hills Play Favorites When it Comes to Business Licenses?
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Does Country Club Hills Play Favorites When it Comes to Business Licenses? (Country Club Hills, IL) – A local entrepreneur Monday night spoke to the Country Club Hills City Council about the city’s lack of transparency with its business licensing procedures. Marcus Davis, who wanted to open a high-end nail salon in a strip mall on 167th Street, told the council that the business licensing procedures were never clearly explained to him or the owner of the strip mall where he and wife wanted to open their salon.

Davis said he would not have poured as much money into the project as he did if he had known that Mayor James Ford has the final say in which businesses are and aren’t granted licenses to operate in the city. Davis added that even the strip mall owner was unaware that the mayor had final say in what businesses open in the city.

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Davis Questions Mayor’s Rationale

Davis questioned the mayor’s rationale for not granting the license. He said Ford told him there were other nail salons operating in the city and he didn’t want to create economic hardship on existing businesses. Davis said he questioned this, asking Ford about restaurants and other businesses in the city that were essentially offering the same items but were still allowed to open. After the meeting, Davis said that he felt Ford was being especially harsh on Black entrepreneurs in Country Club Hills.

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John Heiderschedit, Criminal Defense Attorney; Subscription Lawyer; Chicago Lawyer

Dr. Cornel Darden Jr., CEO of the Southland Black Chamber of Commerce and Publisher of the Southland Journal, also spoke during the public comments session of the meeting, inviting the city to join the chamber and work together to attract business to the city.

Meeting This Thursday to Discuss Business Licenses

Alderman Lisa Evans plans to hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the city’s business license
procedures, which gives the mayor final say in the granting of business licenses in the city.

Does Country Club Hills Play Favorites When it Comes to Business Licenses?

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