The Journal Star is reporting that Adams Supermarket isn’t doing so well. Sales are slow, and expenses are high. So store owner Ahmad Abud (aka Hussein Alsalahi) is wanting to lower his costs.

A big cost is the city’s requirement that he hire an off-duty city police officer at $30 an hour to act as a security guard from 2:30 p.m. to midnight, when the store closes. He wants to change that to 8 p.m. to midnight.

The big story in the media is that he wants to lower the requirements. But to me the bigger question is: Why is the south side not supporting this store?

Here’s one possibility. Billy Dennis visited the store and reports that the place stinks like rotten meat and has no fresh vegetables. If that’s the case (and I don’t know if it’s a chronic problem, or if it was a fluke the time Billy visited), then Abud is never going to get loyal customers, and he’ll be back regularly asking for relief from other regulations to which he enthusiastically agreed just a few months back.

Perhaps another health inspection is in order.

Chicago developer Ahmad Abud complained to the media last week that the city wasn’t moving fast enough in getting him a liquor license for his new south side grocery store, Adams Supermarket.

Abud said, “I never expected to spend one-point-two-million and then having all these problems going through all these hard times. I was expecting that we, investors would be welcomed here. The city’s gonna help us, I mean no headache.”

But the City says he will get his liquor license and Certificate of Occupancy once he meets the conditions the City Council required and to which he agreed. City Manager Randy Oliver says that as of the last inspection, which was July 30, the following conditions have not been met:

• Parking lot lighting does not work (no power to the lights).
• Landscaping not complete.
• Misc. construction items (emergency lighting, exit signs, GFI and open electrical).
• We have also not verified operation of the security cameras.

Oliver added that the City is “prepared to reinspect and if the items are completed issue the Certificate of Occupancy and Liquor License upon completion of these items.” So it would appear that the ball is decidedly in Mr. Abud’s court.

Frankly, I don’t know what Abud is complaining about; these don’t appear to be unreasonable conditions for getting a permit; are we to believe that the requirements were any lower in Ohio or California (where Abud has other stores)? I think not.

Update: Mayor Ardis, who is also the City’s liquor commissioner, informed me that businesses “can’t get a city liquor license until they have a health department license,” and Abud doesn’t have a health department license yet.

WEEK.com reports that Chicago developer Ahmad Abud has yet to receive his approved liquor license from the City. I think it’s fair for him to question why. The council already approved it weeks ago. What’s the holdup?

Of larger concern, though, is this part of the story (emphasis mine):

The grocery store is phase one of the project. Abud wants to build a diesel fuel truck stop on this property next to the grocery store. But before that happens he says he wants more support from the city.

The city should only support Abud if he puts his truck stop someplace else, away from Harrison Homes. Imagine if you were a resident of Harrison Homes. It’s bad enough that you have to live in those conditions, but now imagine someone wants to build a large diesel truck stop in your back yard (this property is literally across a narrow residential street from Harrison Homes). Further imagine that the city was helping him put it there!

No, this is not an appropriate location. The truck stop either needs to be nearer the interstate (I-474) or somewhere along the more industrial portion of Washington (north of where Adams branches off) nearer the destination of many of those trucks. In any case, the place it most certainly does not belong is right next to Harrison Homes, where the some of the poorest of Peoria’s residents live.

Here’s a little test for this project: ask yourself, would this fly if the plan were to put it just north of Route 6, right across the street from some of our fifth-district residents? If not, then it shouldn’t go across from Harrison Homes either. It’s as simple as the golden rule.