Keep KC’s
To the editor:
The city leaders of Cape Coral are about to take another ill-advised action.
KC’s Riverstop, at the Yacht Club Park, has successfully served the community for nearly 17 years by providing an informal, inexpensive, family friendly restaurant at the City’s only beach and fishing pier.
Their contract is soon up for renewal. The Mayor, City Council, and City Manager are determined to put this contract out for bids. I suspect with the city’s dismal economic situation, and wanting to squeeze every nickel they can out of city assets, they are probably hoping for a big-name, full-service restaurant with deep pockets to pay handsomely for the venue.
Well, those of us who regularly use the Yacht Club Park facilities do not want that. KC’s has been our little piece of paradise. Some of us have watched our kids and grandkids grow up at the beach under the watchful eye of Betty Serrago, the proprietor of KC’s. Betty has worked hard to maintain the family friendly environment and affordability. A mom out for an inexpensive day at the beach with her kids can send them up to KC’s order window, dripping wet and with sand on their feet, with three dollars in their hands for a hot dog and coke. That sure won’t be the case if a big restaurant gets in. The three dollars will likely be ten. And I’m sure they’d frown on the sandy feet.
At KC’s fishermen can get lunch or buy bait. Boaters can fuel up at the gas dock where the price is usually less than other spots on the river and the docks are always open later. And retired folks can meet their friends for a cup of coffee or beer, and perhaps a card game. KC’s is our place. It’s why many of us moved to Cape Coral. Without this piece of paradise Cape Coral would just be a bedroom community of about 160,000, mostly part time residents, governed by self absorbed bureaucrats and amateur politicians.
If the city leaders have their way they will cause the closure of a family owned small business that has successfully served Cape Coral for nearly 17 years. That would be tragic.
I urge everyone who is passionate about preserving KC’s to go down there and sign the petition so we can show the mayor and Council how important this issue is to nearly everyone who uses the Yacht Club Park facilities.
Joni Mitchell said it perfectly in her lyrics to the song Big Yellow Taxi:
Don’t it always seem to go,
You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Gary Charleston
Cape Coral