Kelsey's vs. Applebee's

I missed the planning commission meeting that may or may not have ended with first-stage approval for the proposed Applebee's on Grant Line Road.

Yesterday in the Tribune, there was one of the infuriatingly trite paid ads made up to look like a news story, this one on Kelsey's.

In large measure, with live music being the exception, Kelsey's is a locally owned Applebee's. Same concept, same menu, same target audience, and located a block away from the incoming chain menace.

Looks to me like a dagger poised to rip through Kelsey's sternum. Kelsey's means nothing to me, but I'm honor-bound to defend it as a local business threatened by a monoculture. Never mind that Kelsey's imitates monoculture. Strange bedfellows, and all that.