Kiwanis forced to move
Cafe struggles after contractor fails to finish work
Staff writer
Marion Kiwanis members were in for an unpleasant surprise last month when they went to Cazadores at noon for their weekly meeting and found the place locked up.
Since then, the club has found an alternative meeting place at city hall and arranged for sandwiches to be catered by Subway to the meeting.
Leora Ramirez, who owns Cazadores with her husband, Jonathan, said they were disappointed to have to stop providing a place for Kiwanis to meet, but circumstances forced them to do so.
The couple has been working on rehabilitation of their building for more than a year.
Much of the early work they did by themselves, but later they got a loan to hire someone for the work.
The problem is, she said, a Wichita contractor did only part of the work he was hired to do.
“We got a loan for the building and hired a contractor, and he took off with our money,” Leora said. “He’s in Wichita, so I’m working with the Sedgwick district attorney.”
Now they are back to doing the work themselves, and it’s taking a lot of their time when the restaurant isn’t serving customers.
“He had things apart and he told us he won’t finish it unless we gave him more money,” she said.
The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday. Having Kiwanis meet there on Monday gave the couple no days off, she said.
The Ramirezes would have liked to continue having Kiwanis meet at Cazadores, she said.
“It really does devastate us,” Leora said.