ComEd Fixes Broken Pole That Was Blocking Restaurant Parking Lot
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It took two weeks and lots of phone calls from restaurant owner Riyaz Muhammad, but ComEd crews have fixed a broken power pole that blocked a café parking lot, costing Muhammad thousands of dollars a day.
Somebody's car ran into the utility pole and came close to bringing it down, leaving it damaged and tilted at a 30-degree angle, propped up by a long boom mounted on a ComEd truck.
The Com Ed truck and yards of yellow "keep out" tape blocked off the rear parking lot the Pakeeza restaurant at 1011 N. Orleans. It's a café popular with cab drivers. But because the entire lot had been closed by Com Ed until a few days ago, customers have stayed away in droves.
It stayed like that for two weeks, until CBS 2's Mike Parker reported on Muhammad's plight on Monday and ComEd crews fixed the problem Tuesday morning.
Muhammad said that ComEd was dragging its feet and, despite promises, failed to fix the problem until Tuesday, after CBS 2 aired a story on the situation.
He said that, while the pole was damaged and propped up by a ComEd truck, virtually all of his customers stayed away, costing him thousands of dollars a day in lost business.
Late Monday, after CBS 2 called the utility, ComEd promised that a repair crew would be on the scene at 9 a.m. Tuesday to fix the broken pole and reopen the lot. A CBS 2 crew was there Tuesday morning when a crew showed up and fixed the broken pole.
