Some of you already know that Luciana Cafe is closed. During their stint on the street they had windows broken, the “element” hanging out in and around them, and maybe the straws breaking the camel’s back were Douggie Jemal raised the rent and the ATM was broken into.
There is an ‘element’ around North Cap that makes it difficult, and how to address it I don’t know. What lessons can the community take from this so there won’t be a next time when a business that the residents like comes, or wants to develop into something nicer, has to close shop or take a siege mentality because of the ‘element’?
Even during that short period on Saturday morning when Catania bakery is doing retail, there are observable challenges. Last time I went to pick up croissants there was a woman there at the counter in mid-SOB story mode looking for a little something to help her out. She was asking Nicole for ‘something’ and then also the other customers in the store. We pointed her to S.O.M.E. around the corner, but she said they were closed. Then the other customers rattled off the locations of various other charities in the area, but no, too far. After the woman left we all exchanged stories. I had a tale of a woman known to regularly hit up people as they were in church. The couple inside had a similar one of a woman who constantly begged for medicine for her baby, to find out that the woman owned a house and didn’t have any children. And Nichol told of a man, who she thought was a customer, park himself inside the store for a long time. Anyway, I’ve been there on other occasions when people beg for a job (but not really), food (bread gets donated to a charity not individuals), and money. Imagine a business that is open during the week and what they have to contend with!
Don’t bother saying that S.O.M.E. or any of the other social services places need to move, because they ain’t. Maybe something can be done about the liquor stores, but they seem to be sticky too. So the question is how do you get business to flourish despite those challenges?
