Editorial: Cafe of Life

Bonita Springs City Council today should consider carefully an appeal by the charitable Cafe of Life to set up shop inside the Old 41 Road community center for four days each week through the week before Labor Day instead of its current two-day schedule.

City staff has recommended against the request by the Cafe of Life, which serves food to the needy outside of the community hall each weekday on picnic tables under the hall's signature Banyan tree.

The charity seeks temporary shelter from the coming summer rains. The staff says the food distribution operation detracts from other uses of the community hall property and cites "unsanitary" actions by the needy and consumption of alcohol.

While we believe the city can be a better neighbor by allowing a temporary respite from downpours for Cafe of Life, Bonita Springs needs to keep the facility a community hall and not downtown's soup kitchen.

The city needs to entice families and residents to the community hall area, which is across the street from the newly renovated Riverside Park, rather than create a magnet for the less fortunate.

The right tone has to be set for the revitalization of the historic downtown area.

With efforts under way to establish centralized social services, including one facility in Rosemary Park and the mayor's initiative of getting private organizations to find a group home for other charities in Bonita, the city ought not be pressured to provide a permanent headquarters for Cafe of Life.

The city is certainly in the best position to lend a hand but not carry the load in this mission.