Children of refugees get a free meal at St. Francis Episcopal Church as part of a new program put on by the San Antonio Food Bank, the church and a nonprofit.

A forum on the pros and cons of six proposed streetcar routes turned into a passionate public referendum on the purpose and worth of the rail plan itself Monday night, as more than two dozen people expressed their opinions on the project. The meeting was one of the first opportunities for anyone to publicly air thoughts on the downtown streetcar system that VIA Metropolitan Transit plans to build. Twenty-nine people signed up to speak, addressing nine VIA board members and VIA interim President and CEO Jeffrey Arndt. Generally, those against the project strongly opposed it, questioning the high cost and the value of a system that will only travel between 4 and 5.7 miles, and at most carry about 4,600 people a day. Voters here soundly defeated a sales tax increase to pay for a light rail line in 2000, a fact brought up several times Monday night. Jose Garcia, who lives in a downtown loft, encouraged VIA to build the project in phases to ensure it's done right.