Costa Mesa mayor closes soup kitchen

Costa Mesa mayor closes soup kitchen
COSTA MESA (BDCi) – Mayor Eric Bever of Costa Mesa is so convinced that people are coming from all across the country to the Someone Cares soup kitchen, he has asked city staff to look into closing it down.

Bever claims he is not against the city “taking care of its own” but still insists that the soup kitchen in question is drawing outsiders that in turn “engulf” Costa Mesa with “nuisance and sanitation violations.”

Bever is also setting his sights on Share Our Shelves, another Costa Mesa company that offers free mental and dental care as well as groceries.

Seniors and the unemployed are only some of the people who regularly line up for a meal at Someone Cares, some even traveling from other Orange County cities.

And a Someone Cares survey shows that the vast majority of patrons are from within Costa Mesa, not from other cities and states like Bever suggests.

Bever dismissed the survey.

Despite of his intentions, whatever they may be, Mayor Bever’s proposal seems to come down to one thing: getting the homeless to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it’s not Costa Mesa.

By: Diego Díaz Source: LA Times Photo: OC Register 19 October 2012

6:05 a.m. P.D.T.