ILL-inois: Felon and gangbanger given city grant to open Chicago liquor store

The Chicago Tribune is right. There are already plenty of liquor stores on Chicago's blighted West Side.

However, I'm sure very few of them are beneficiaries of a city grant.

From the Trib:

With backing from the local alderwoman and money from City Hall, a new liquor store opened earlier this year in South Austin -- one more purveyor of alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets in a neighborhood desperate for something more.

Informing the original backer of the store that he would be getting $105,000 in city funds, a letter from the Department of Community Development exclaimed: "Thank you for reinvesting in the City of Chicago!"

Many residents weren't so enthusiastic. To them, the new business was an insult.

But what even they didn't know was that the store was bankrolled and launched by a convicted drug-dealer who has been tied to a street gang and is facing yet another narcotics charge.

There as a ban on new booze outlets on the block where that new liquor store, Convenience for You, opened. Ald. Deborah Graham (29th) lifted the moratorium blocking new liquor stores there.

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