turtle knife for dennis

so, i like knives. they're great tools. they're nice to have around. and, in a pinch, i might need to cut off my own arm to save myself. or, more likely, i'll inadvertently cut/stab myself. anyway, mike, adam and i were talking to dennis the other evening about carrying a pocket knife, and recommending it highly. tonight, as i perused the blogosphere i saw this beauty above. only $40. small (1" blade) and sexy. will fit nicely in a pocket. only 1.3 ounces!

i totally want to buy one right now. of course, i won't because i don't need one. i have a very nice pocket knife (ken onion leek). but i will recommend it to people.

99 problems but oasis ain't one

so, jay z played over @ the glastonbury festival. this was a big feat having a hip hop artist as the headliner. not everyone was pleased with this, and noel gallagher popped off a while back in an effort to remain relevant. i know, oasis is still huge in britain, even if the rest of the world has stopped caring. anyhow, noel felt that it was wrong for them to have hip hop at a rock festival.

here's jay z's response



i love this redo of 99 problems using ac/dc's back in black as well.

and i don't really even like jay z. or his sister.

smog city roller grrls on a particularly smoggy day

it's going to be a big one tonight over @ valdez hall. seriously, this roller derby match has been getting much love on teh internets @ the fresnan, the beehive, famous, everywhere. there are even dipholes over on the beehive comments throwing out elitist, classist, and near racist insults about the roller derby crowd. hey, it's a strange, diverse section of fresno. all sorts of people come out for this. and i love it.

anyway, it'll be packed in the house. i went to pick up tix for the match, and the first place i went, retro rag, was sold out. sold out! they were hoping to get in some more tix, but weren't sure and directed me over to la luna loca, where tix were also being sold. the funny thing is, i knew that and had walked by there on my way to retro rag. so, i got tix, but it didn't seem like they had a ton more before they would be sold out as well. i'm sure there will still be tix @ the door, but it's going to be popping.

hope to see you there.

friday night baseball

anyone want to go to the grizzlies game tonight? perhaps go to the downtown vibe before?

i think we got some tix available.

rademacher show review

ah, summer nights at tokyo garden usually mean two things: good music; me sweating. fortunately, it wasn't too warm inside tokyo, and i didn't have to do much of the latter. but, the former was present.

first off, fay wrays no play. they've recently added a bassist, and he was sick. and, apparently he's not even going to be in the band much longer. super fresno bassist, sam rocha from charlotte's bakery will soon be playing with the band.

the boxing lesson had a boring open. but, they totally redeemed themselves with the next songs. it was kind of loud and the vocals were a bit lost but the boxing lesson provided a nice set. their cover of white rabbit was awesome.

rademacher, oh rademacher. not quite as musically tight but that could be expected with a different bass player. their current sound also included more brad singing, which was not as good as greer singing. overall, it was not quite the same sound, and it just lacked a bit of the usual rademacher spark.

rademacher reminder

okay, i admit i'm a little nervous to see the show tonight. rademacher has a temporary bassist because greer's been kindly filling in for another band on tour. will it be as good as ever?

regarding their current line up, i heard two things last night:
1. that's a whole lot of ugly on stage
2. mike and brad are sexy

now, i didn't say either, and frankly it doesn't matter to me. i'm going for the music. and i want to hear eli play twice (fay wrays + rademacher). and, i missed the boxing lesson on their last time through, so it'll be good to catch them this time.

girltalk feed the animals

so, i was late to the party on girltalk's first album, nightripper. once i got it, i enjoyed it, although i do prefer true dj/turntablist albums to mash ups. but nightripper was an enjoyable enough mash up, and heather really liked it. liked it enough that i had to hear it about a hundred more times than i would have listened to it by myself.

so, i saw that girltalk had a new album out (via download only now, comes out hardcopy in a while). and, they were running the old, pay what you want. you could even pay $0 if you wanted, but if you do that you have to answer a series of questions essentially explaining why you're a cheap bastard. so, i clicked over to see my options, think about how much i'd like to pay, and download the album.

so, if you pay $5, you can get a real high quality bitrate and download it as one long seamless song. or, you can download it as different songs @ any price. for $10 or more you can download it and get a hard copy when available.

i went the $5 route and downloaded the high quality seamless single track. but, i also like having the individual tracks, so after that finished downloading i went back and downloaded the normal album @ a lower bitrate for free. so, yes, i got two copies of the album for $5.

you should go and do something similar because this album rocks. if you like mash ups at all, this is one for you. there is no sophomore slump in girltalk. that word is lost from his vocab apparently.

this album is better than the last because it seems that girltalk's musical lexicon has been expanded. the last album had a good mix of variety, and did span several decades, but it was pretty heavy on 90's alternative and hip hop. those two are still present, but now there's so much more. you hear songs from the 60's to present all mushed together in a fairly cohesive flow. i love when you hear a snip of a song, or a new backbeat starting and it blows your mind. you think, "what is he going to do with that." i'm talking songs from grease mixed with some hip hop to atomic (trainspotting soundtrack) to the cure.

something that stands out again on this album, just like the first album, is how offensive and misogynistic that some mainstream hip hop lyrics are. they can get lost in their own songs, but stripped away and mixed with some 70's classic you really notice what filthy thing is being said.

finally, here are a few mixes that really stood out to me, got me nodding my head or weaving along the road on my bike:
public enemy over come on over
since you've been gone over head like a hole
jay z over radiohead's paranoid android
salt & peppa over nirvana's come as you are
'take yo broke ass home' over ewf's september then to god only knows by the beach boys
lipgloss over metallica's one
m.i.a. over cranberries

did abc wipeout?

so, i caught part of wipeout tonight on abc. one thing i'm sure of: it's no mxc.

i'm not even a huge mxc fan, but it's much funnier with it's overdubs and witty comments. wipeout is trying to be an actual gameshow in the style of mxc, using a lot of the same games, but doesn't have the wit or heart. mxc is good because it's not trying to be a gameshow anymore. there are no prizes, and many of the games barely make sense. wipeout, it's just goofy competitions with some terrible announcing. and a sideline reporter lady. it had a few funny moments, like some dude falling on his face and then into the water, but overall it was a bit of a dud.

after wipeout was 'i survived a japanese gameshow.' i didn't realize that this was more of a reality show, but it actually was sort of interesting as a mix of survivor and mxc. i actually think one of the japanese hosts may be from mxc, but what do i know.

rademacher your thursday

so, today i'm making up for lost blogging time with multiple posts.

this thursday, local fav of mine rademacher is playing @ tokyo garden (surprise surprise).

they'll be playing with the boxing lesson (austin, tx)- super freekin cool spacey rock music
primer skyline - experimental folk (their description)
and fay wrays, super cool loud fresno rock


i imagine the view looks good from here, fresno will be there.

malibu surf jerks attack paparazzi

so, last week while i was on vacation, matthew "i get older they stay the same age" mcconaughey was surfing in malibu. i don't really care about this, even if hmac from the beehive does.

today, as i caught up on news via teh internets, i saw this story on latimes.com. i was surprised and when i watched the videos, especially the tmz ones, i was appalled.

for those that want the short of it, some paps were shooting pics and whatnot of mcconaughey while he was surfing. some guys that were also on the beach, who apparently like to drink beer, party and get laid (their self description, not mine) wanted the paps to leave the beach. the public beach. where it is illegal to drink beer, or get laid. anyhow, these upstanding citizens decided to rid the beach of paparazzi with statements like, "Let's go. We'll draw a line in the beach, and we'll fight for the beach. If you guys win, you can have the beach."

ooooooh, crap, that's how we're going to settle it. shoot, i thought, i thought we all had a right to be there on a public location. didn't realize that it came down to one on one fist fights. i'm surprised these geniuses didn't break out the old standard, "locals only."

i'm surprised bunker and warchild weren't on the scene. perhaps if bodhi swayze didn't have cancer he could have helped the paps out.

i highly doubt this will be an isolated incident. i'm not a fan of these guys (paparazzi) stalking people with their cameras, but they have a right to be in public places. and, even though i dislike their jobs, there are plenty of people that want that info. i also doubt it will be the last incident when i read quotes like this gem, "Maybe they will think twice before shoving a camera in your face."

who said that gem? the mayor of malibu, pamela conley ulich. now, that quote was from before this incident, but that sort of statement justifies this sort of idiocy.

monday - the return to regular blogging

it's monday, i'm back in town, and i'm ready for somethings. shoot, it's monday and i'm already looking forward to saturday. what's then?

tower beautification - this is a monthly chance to help give the old tower district a spit shine. i've missed the last few months, mainly because i've been out of town a lot. so, here's a chance for me to re-engage.

smog city roller girls - there next match is saturday evening @ valdez hall. they're playing prison city (chino). should be fun. tix available @ several places, including retro rag.

in the meantime, i also recommend checking out fresno state's baseball team @ the college world series. i'm not a fan of theirs (fsu in general) but it's always nice to see a local squad doing well. i know the first game is tonight.

what am i not looking forward to?

work. for the next five weeks i have an evening course (5:30-7:40). the time isn't the problem. i just don't want to go back. vacation was too nice. mostly.

canon city cafe breakfast review

for those that are interested, here's a review of a canon city cafe, where i ate breakfast this morning.

beehive ale

for my beehive friends, here's a beer i saw on tap @ the golden bee, in colorado springs, co.



it's a honey wheat beer. you'll have to ask adam if it was any good.

toothpaste for dinner

i was catching up on my toothpaste for dinner, and thought i'd share a few.


toothpastefordinner.com


toothpastefordinner.com


toothpastefordinner.com

happy anniversary

on june 17, 2000 i married this lovely lady.



i love you heather, happy anniversary.

baby murderer shot

i hope there's a special place in hell for this guy.

weekend odds and ends

so, this has been an interesting little weekend filled with all sorts of things.

yesterday, i got my first crack at supernerdery. i mean, geocaching. it's really not as nerdy as it sometimes sounds, but i had an enjoyable enough time searching for little things around town in a high tech scavenger hunt type of way. we went twice on saturday, and it was more fun when we made a little competition out of it. and when we actually found things.

last night, we went and saw m.night shamalamadingdong's movie, the happening. i enjoyed it. i won't tell you anything about it, although marky mark, whom i enjoy, makes me chuckle @ points just due to his voice. he'll say something, and it will take me back to fear (nicole 4 eva). some of the foreshadowing was a little ham-handed, but i did like the film. go see it before you hear too much (if you're so inclined) because it'll be one of those movies that the word will spread and it can spoil it for you. i will warn you that it is graphic. and it's also r rated. so, i'm not really sure why there were kids in the theater for our 10:20 (PM!) show.

on the way home, we drove a guy passed out in a dirt lot behind one of the bars by our place. i didn't see him, but heather did and so we looped back to check out if he was okay. i had seen his shopping cart knocked over, but not him, and i had a good idea which of the regular homeless guys of the area. it was. when we had initially drove by i did see a car passing where he was in the lot and not stopping. when we pulled up, another guy, who was out picking up cans, was also there. basically the guy was super drunk and passed out, but he was sort of convulsing, so i called 911. there was also another car there, and these people did ask if the guy was alright, but when they saw i was calling for help they rightfully were able to leave the scene. now, i mention this story because it was odd to me the number of people in the area doing nothing. it's not like i did some amazing thing, i called a phone number. but while we were on the scene, there were easily a half dozen people that were standing with this guy in their line of sight that hadn't done anything. this guy had been there a while. and, while we were there another dozen or so walked by and didn't pay any mind. the cops weren't there, i was off the phone, so it's not like they knew help was on the way. but they just passed by.

die hard was on when we got home, and although it was edited for tv, i ended up watching a good hour of it before i went to sleep. got to pick that up on dvd.

this morning has been enjoyable. i watched a track meet (from oslo) on espn2. yesterday, i watched part of the ncaa championship meet on cbs. while i was happy to track and field on tv, i was frustrated by the coverage of the meet on cbs. i repeatedly griped about it to mike and adam, who were over @ the time. the coverage today was much better. i think the overall coverage was an hour shorter, but i know i saw a whole lot more of the meet. some networks know how to do some sports it seems. espn, naturally does a good job covering pretty much every sport they show. they really think about it. cbs does a great job w/college basketball and football, but the don't have a clue with track and field. nbc does a good job (i credit all their olympic experience), abc does okay (they're the same company as espn). fox sports does good work with the college meets they show. something funny about catching meets on cable is that you're not always sure when they happened. this meet was june 6th (today's the 15th) but it was still very enjoyable.

anyway, after the track coverage ended, the coverage of euro 2008 started, which i'm watching right now. today, both games are on simultaneously. i've been recording them both daily and watching most, today i'm only recording one and watching one. i'm not as intrigued by today's match ups. after these games i'll be recording the first game of qualification for the u.s. men's national team for the next world cup. i'll probably watch it this evening.

while recording that game, we'll be taking in a grizzlies game over @ the chuck'. it's father's day, and so heather and i are taking my dad to the game. we would have also taken her dad, but he had to be out of town this weekend. some other time. or, maybe we'll sneak up to sf and take in a game there.

finally, be on the lookout for the next episode of the view looks good from here, fresno. we'll be recording on monday evening, so the next one should go up on tuesday.

clean graffiti

check out this amazing video of a guy doing some "reverse graffiti" up in san francisco.



i'd love to get some local artists together to do this in fresno.

*thanks laughing squid.

show me them heels

last night, i was talking to sara and adam, amongst others, and the question of adidas high heels came up. being an adidas aficionado i gave it quite a bit of thought, but wasn't sure. so, when i came home i did some research.

of current styles, these flat-ish ones are the closest to heals.





however, i will say that there was a red pair in the y3 (high end adidas designer) line that i wasn't able to fully look @ or take the picture from. they looked likea short heel.

you brought it on yourself

today i had a most awesome experience. i was hanging out with sara and georgia. that's not the awesome part.



adam joined us, and here's where it got spectacular.



what's that on adam's leg? oh, it's urine. you see, adam had georgia sit on his leg. and she peed. awesome.

dorktown interviews

here's an interview i did last night w/the dorktown guys.

warning: there are some swear words

just a tad surprised

saw this pic this morning and thought, "who just got the shocker?"



alan autry, that's who.

dorktown birthday bash @ starline

looking for something to do tuesday night? this is where you'll find me:



you should be there, too. it'll be musictastic. great local bands, bloggers galore, what more could you ask

fresno bee's sports buzz continues to fizzle

let's see, fpu's baseball program is three years old. we have now had two players drafted. fpu had their second player drafted this year.

now, there were six bulldogs picked this year, so fpu has a way to go. and, i wouldn't imagine that the fresno bee would actually give it much ink. and realistically, they didn't. it was buried @ the bottom of an article about the bulldogs draft, then a few sacramento state players (from tulare), then high school players drafted, and then the guy playing at a fresno university, under a heading of other area players. hey, bee, he's not just an area player, he plays in fresno and is from the valley.

and, let's look @ their sports "blog," the sports buzz. i've mentioned here before that it sucks. so, i checked to see if perhaps they mentioned it. nope. not too surprising, but i did see a post asking people to name their top fsu sports memories of the year. here's my response:

"what a year for fresno state. great track athletes, top notch tennis and a resurgence in baseball & softball all provided great moments.

however, i'd have to say my favorite moment of the fresno state year is when i challenged the sportsbuzz for barely ever posting about anything other than fresno state football or basketball and the moderator had the gall to say that other posts got far fewer comments than the fresno state ones. which would might have been a good response, except it's not true. look @ all the comments in june alone, and only two of them on frestno state posts.

look @ may and june: most of the comments given are on 3 posts near the end of may. none of which are about fsu. the post about fsu w/the most comments is about a girl leaving the softball program. hmm, more comments on high school baseball honors than on anything fresno state in the past 30+ days. and, there were a whopping 7, yep 7 posts not about fresno state. 15 about fresno state. and the ones about other things continue to get more comments. something to think about.

keep up the good work. i can't wait to see another liveblog of a game that i could probably follow in twenty second increments on espn, presented without any real commentary."


i've blogged about all the international soccer being played right now, seeing deebo @ a track meet, and a grizzlies game. that's right, i've had just under half of the same amount of sports related post as an alleged sports blog. and that doesn't even count goofball things like blogger olympics, even though i did count one of their bloggers recounting of watching the family feud. so, throw that one out and i did blog about non-fsu sports half as much as the sportsbuzz. throw in blogger olympics and i'm at 66%.

blogger olympics - official vid

the beehive finally got around to doing their blogger olympics video and recap. it's pretty decent. check it out.

cheezburger levity

and now for a post a little less serious sounding


more cat pictures

goodbye, tower mosaic

some of you already know this, but tower mosaic is about to be done. tonight will be our last official event as we host art hop. last sunday was our final regular meeting.

as i look back over the last few years of my life, i'm glad to have been a part of tower from near its inception. honestly, it was a big step for heather and i to leave my home church, but we were really excited to get involved in a fellowship in our own neighborhood. i knew that church planting could be rough from watching my brother and sister inlaw do it down in pasadena, so i came into the experience with what i would consider realistic expectations.

so what happened with tower mosaic? where did we fail? well, i wouldn't say that we failed. and i'm not just trying to present a rosey picture. i think we met a need for the people we served over the last few years. i know tmc met a need in my life. and, i think we had an impact on local art & music communities through art hop, jazz jam, and the rogue festival.

but alas, it did come to an end. basically, it's hard work starting a new organization. we had built up a good momentum and were growing but i think there were some problems that we never addressed. part of it, at least in my opinion, is that we didn't grow a solid enough base in the tower community. we were spread apart about fresno, which hampered us creating community within ourselves, as well as engaging the tower community in it's fullest. another issue is that we were trying to move away from some of the established models for how church should look, act, do. it's difficult to make new ways, and that took a toll on us all, especially our leadership. as people began to become distant, we didn't do a good enough job to either keep them engaged or even really find out why they were moving on. and so it dwindled. momentum was lost. agendas seemed to change. i'm sure there is more to it, in fact i know there's more to it, but these are the things that stand out to me.

and so a little over a month ago our leadership team sat down to have an honest conversation about where it all stood. God had led us to start this endeavor, and it seemed that God was now leading us to shut it down and disperse us into other things. although it's difficult, it is a good thing. we're investing our people and assests into other ministries. and i hope those other ministries take on a bit of who we were.

our space (physical location) will continue on with one of our people. she's been leading a sunday morning study there and it has been rapidly growing. it excites me to already see a seed from the tmc tree growing. it also looks like she'll keep doing art hop & jazz jam, at least for now.

what's next for heather and i? we're not quite sure yet. it's summer, we'll see. what i think we do know is that we're probably not going to find a home in the old way of doing church. i hope we keep in contact with the people we've met during this season of our lives, even if it is just an occassional email or an accidental encounter.

it's been good.

political winds of change could be a storm

last night, a lot of monumental things happened. it was an election day, and obama, who i admittedly began supporting when edwards dropped out, wrapped up the nomination. in fresno politics, we firmed up two candidates that will be in the november mayoral election. one is a young (about my age) hispanic male, the other is a slightly older than me female. this wouldn't be the first female mayor fresno has had, and i'm not sure if it would be the first hispanic either. but, both of these local candidates represent the next generation of politics in fresno. and, i would say that obama represents the next generation of politics in america.

we also recorded a podcast, which is clearly nowhere near the same level of importance. on it we talked about the local election, and had intended to talk a little national as well, but i skipped it on accident. basically, i wanted to talk about the potential storm that is brewing for obama: will he chose clinton as his running mate?

i thought this could have been interesting talk, as adam supported clinton and i support obama. i don't know if there would have been any sparks, but i do think it could have been a little contentious.

i've been wondering who he might look to for this key position. and i'll admit, i hope it's not her. mainly, i see her as being very similar to the politic that obama represents a change from. now, i know clinton supporters get fired up for her, just like obama supporters do for him, so it's not about passion. to me, she is the establishment. she is a hawk. she is more of the same two families that have run this country for the last two decades.

some have stated that to pick clinton would bring back together a divided party, and that clinton supporters have been polled and have stated that they wouldn't support obama. sadly, i haven't seen a reason why given. i'm not saying it's race, even though it has been an issue. here's an interesting quote from cnn,
"Concern about the division in the party arose because Clinton and Obama appealed to such different segments of the electorate. Clinton did well with working-class voters and the elderly. Obama rallied the support of affluent, well-educated voters, African-Americans and the younger generation. "

i don't buy it that clinton only appealed to working class (whites - my insertion) and the elderly. just like i don't buy it that the younger people that obama appealed to were all young, or well educated, or black. where do working class blacks fit? where do hispanics fit? are the elderly not educated?

this is what i do know: if democrats that supported clinton refuse to vote or vote for mccain, they had better really agree with that decision. because it's not like obama would be a one term president. and frankly, i'm guessing all the energized obama supporters will have this treachery in mind in four years if he were to lose and clinton was running again.

let me throw this out to you: what does Clinton offer? why should obama bring her onto the ticket?

because i don't think it helps him.

gas price war

we complain about fuel prices, but the euros don't fool around. flippin cars, fighting the police. that's what i call doin' something. not that i advocate violence, i'm just saying, it's more than crying because it now takes $100 to fill up your recockulous s.u.v.

and people say the french won't fight

post art hop show

stoners, smoke weed and stare at this picture



the rest of you, come out to the show. it will be great. if you want, you can even hear a sample of death to anders in the latest episode (episode 5) of the view looks good from here fresno.

rademacher
death to anders
thelittlestillnotbigenough

$5
9:30ish start

fresno mayoral forum

one of the local news stations hosted a forum of candidates for mayor of fresno, here's my take as an undecided voter, although i do have my leanings. i have tried to accurately take down what was said and didn't leave out any responses.

opening statements
-jim boswell - thanks us for watching, says we'll see he's the best by the end
-tom boyajian - thanks 24, gives his past credentials/experience as a councilman
-mike dages - said opening line twice, gave veteran status, business experience, and said he had experience, current councilman
-jerry duncan - experienced fiscal conservative running, endorsements
-jeff eben - thanked 24, maddy institute, lifelong fresnan, deputy mayor, experience as a principal
-ignacio garibay - wants to unite the people, wants an independent police auditor, wants to protect homes of the elderly
-barbara hunt - started out by saying she is a child of God, is running for one reason, "i'm tired of city hall giving away the land away, all those people those private enterprise folks they're not supposed to be there, you're losing your homes, you don't have food on the table, pg&e is too high, (something i couldn't understand about hunt's cafe), ron cox is my son, played for the chicago bears got that green bay super bowl ring, i've been there longer than city hall and all these folks put together, in my seat for almost 20 years, i can bring city hall back to the people and the people are that are there got to go because they're not doing what God wants them to do for all His people which is take care and clothe all of His people (moderator stops here here, but she was pretty much done). -now i want to point out that i went with her whole intro not because i'm a jerk, but because she just launched in, it was like one breath, and she just went for it. and i'm watching on dvr.
-henry monreal - running for his neighborhood. not looking @ any single issues, but trying to address the overall, but wants to focus on family wage jobs
-henry t. perea - fresno is in a defining moment in history, we need leadership that will bring people together, he has the leadership experience to do this
-ashley swearengin - passionate for fresno, believes we can move forward based on autry experience, but we've got to move past that, bee endorsement
-doug vagim - 40 years of service, helped put the hybrid vehicle on the road, more about service experience

question 1 - what have you lead that failed, what did you learn
-perea - need transformational leadership. failures in the no neighborhood left behind plan, put together a broad based support.
-duncan - last week i failed to even get a second on a proposal that would cut the requirement for paying prevailing wage, that doesn't deter me, i'll come back with that with a different strategy, you've got to move forward with what you believe in
-eben - failure is an opportunity to grow, when i've failed it was because i wasn't able to build the right support, get the right people on the team
-hunt - i don't feel i've failed, i call them trials and tribulations, i'm trying to pull people together, more about private enterprise
-monreal - we all make mistakes, we all learn from them. (long answer about what he's done, moderator asks question again) i can't think of anything right at this moment that's why i said we all make mistakes and we all learn.
-vagim - perfected consolidation for all the police record management except for fresno pd.

question 2 - what would you do differently than autry
-garibay - fight for justice, fight for civil rights and human rights
-dages - no wasteful spending in the budgets.
-boswell - be more visible in the community, more transparent local gov't, create solutions instead of relying on or pointing fingers @ sac & national gov't
-swearengin - autry's been the right mayor for the job, he's created opportunity, the next mayor needs to be someone to mobilize people based on the opportunities autry created
-boyajian - i wouldn't advocate on issues that aren't city issues, my growth plans would be different, hire brightest and smartest for city hall

question 3 - specific questions for individuals
for eben - why hasn't autry endorsed you?
-i have his unqualified support but his responsibility is to the city and to support all the candidates.

for swearengin - bee writer mcewen says you confuse collaboration with leadership, can you give an example of how you've lead?
-california for partnership for san joaquin valley - didn't have consensus as we advanced it, spilled political blood, and so on (she said more, but i didn't see how it answered the question).

for duncan - effective leaders have to work with other including those they disagree with. you sent an email about dirty bombing liberals & mayor should be nonpartisan
-my record shows i've worked well with others, my district is diverse and i've represented all. we all have our opinions and we've made mistakes. i'm a good listener and i bring that to mayor

for boyajian - what experience do you have to build on the current mayor's effort to get fair share of state and federal money for fresno
-i'd be a full time mayor, i know people in the house, in the senate, in the assembly, i work well with people, i've been elected council president twice, rda leader twice...it's important that we're a business friendly city (cut off)

for perea - an outside of fresno agency has raised a large amount of money for you, you said you didn't know, what's the deal on this spin
-i'm glad the bee got the story right the second time around on the amount actually going towards my campaign, need to acknowledge that there are several groups raising money for and against campaigns, my campaign is being attacked by several candidates, other independent sources, i'm proud to have been endorsed by groups

for vagim - you claim the city has fiscal irresponsibility but the mayor says we've got a surplus
-because that surplus is our reserve based on credit, it's a lie to say that we're balanced or surplus with debt

question 4 - (this was after an explanation about how many candidates said they would add cops and about how about half the city's budget is spent on police, comparisons to amounts other city depts get. how would you add more cops, where would you make cuts, what taxes would you raise?

-duncan - no raising taxes, we'll budget for it. make every dollar justified, we'll be surprised how much money is freed up
boyajian - we're over the national average for police officers. we need to alleviate poverty, adding officers hasn't worked, we need to add more jobs
-perea - do it in a way that is fiscally responsible. holistic approach to beating crime including after school programs and jobs
-eben - i would hope the budget reflects a strong commitment to safety. we shouldn't think that we won't get help for state or feds.
-monreal - we're not making any cuts @ the pd, we will hire 150 officers, we'll consolidate police and eliminate waste

question 5- will we have an independent police auditor?
-dages - i do not support it, i've voted against it, we have internal affairs, a d.a. the city council, and on.
-vagim - i don't support it, duty of mayor & deputy mayor, to appoint one would wouldn't be unbiased
-boswell - i said the said the same thing. if they can stay independent...it's recipe for corruption. i'm for one if they can stay independent
-hunt - no, we have the best police as it is, they (auditor's) are more of a crook than all the rest of them
-garibay - for it, we (hispanics, people of color) have a lot of complaints against the police, we need one to investigate every complaint
-swearengin - supports oversight, we need transparency especially because of the large amount of money spent

question 6 - follow up for individuals
for perea - you said you want to add officers with money that is basically spoken for, how will you do it
-we won't raise taxes, and it won't happen over one year. we will go to sacramento and fed gov and ask for money. i have support and connections to federal & state legislators and to governor

for dages - do you want to cut parks & public works to add cops
-we have funded open positions that we can already hire, and then create hiring practices to attract people to fresno

for duncan - you want 150 officers, say we've only added 5 officers in the last years, we're at record lows in crime, why do we need more
-the chief gave that number, we need more officers so the city isn't shorthanded and we'll have good response

for swearengin - you say you would increased the number of officers see we're higher in the numbers, but we're already there
-it's not just about numbers, but about the level of service, an increase of 10% would allow us to be @ the levels that the police leadership would like

for eben - you don't give any specific plans for public safety, you're deputy mayor, shouldn't voters expect one
-they should, a comprehensive approach includes improvement of many things including improving the dropout rate, incremental increase in officers, better pay and benefits for current police, lobby sacramento for income tax money return to fresno

for boyajian - pretty much same question as eben
-we need to look @ public safety in wide range view. neighborhood patrols, reasons for crime, work with education, mitigate poverty, lower unemployment rate,

question seven - economic development. 43% of fresno is in extreme poverty. what would you do, how would you pay for it
-vagim - more proactive with education
-swearengin - comprehensive approach, grow local business, grow work force, get resources from sac & dc
-perea - grow business, train workforce
-eben - economic development start with education, grow workforce by cutting dropout rate, encourage businesses to hire & expand
- boswell - i've released plans that will create surplus and revitalize the city and provide jobs
- dages - i've already been working with people (provided examples)

question eight - how would you handle the running horse issue
- garibay - i would have done everything to allow someone to do business
- duncan - the mayor came to me on this, we tried to put together a fair deal for everyone, trump didn't want to do it in a fair way
- hunt - a judge told them not to go that area
- monreal - there was too much risk involved for the city and taxpayers
- boyajian - running horse was a great project, we had a real opportunity with the first developer and there wouldn't have been any city expenditure. i left the council and don't know what happened w/trump.

question nine- for individuals
for monreal - you talk about bringing family wage jobs, what are they, what would you do differently
-around 40k with benefits. parents can be home w/children @ night. other initiatives brought jobs, but they weren't good ones.

for boyajian - city leaders have allowed federal money for redevelopment to be siphoned of to other areas. how much, where did it go?
-about 33 million into other departments to subsidize our departments. that money should be allocated for economic development and job development and affordable housing

for perea - 28 promises for economic development but no discussion of how it would happen
-thinks sac & dc will be a partner in fresno, we need to invest in our infrastructure, create partnerships w/union and non union contractors to create apprenticeships, work more w/fresno state in investing in entrepreneurship

for duncan - city should be more business friendly, by doing things like let builders self inspect, isn't this the fox guarding the hen house
- not at all, it works in phoenix. builders are liable so if they do it wrong they'll pay for it

for swearengin - there is a big discrepency in the number of jobs you say you've created compared with what outside sources say have been created, has yours been a success
- yes, (the rest of her answer didn't make sense to me, i admit it)

question ten - the creative economy council had a goal of smart growth
-garibay - great idea, would want to help more businesses do this on the fulton mall
-swearengin - it's all about stopping the brain drain, the mayor needs to implement these principles and not just talk about them
-hunt - how are you going to bring more people here if we already have people without jobs
-monreal - we need to have downtown thought of as a place where people actually live, i would only allow development on edges if it also happened in core
-dages - i've brought this to fancher creek area, it's not done yet.

question eleven - what are you planning to do w/downtown revitalization
-perea - i'm one of the coauthors of the creative economy report, i'm committed to mixed use, high density housing, want to encourage cultural arts
-boyajian - make it unique, make it cultural arts, work with stake holders
-duncan - downtown will thrive when it's a unique experience, i've been an advocate for forest city, need to invest in infrastructure
-vagim - allow for adaptive use, private money
-eben - unique, celebrate fresno's history
-boswell - talk is cheap, i've released plans, a central park that offers something for everything, build up

question twelve for individuals
for swearengin - weighing cost of revitalization
- balance what is unique to our history, need to be creative and flexible, maintain character

for duncan - eminent domain & neglectful owners
- it's against the law for us to just take them unless they are unsafe or breaking the law

for perea - same questoin
- duncan hit the nail on the head. we can't do it just because they're not investing in it. it's got to be the last resort.

question thirteen - how would you maintain roads & streets differently
-swearengin - support public works department, make sure we have right leadership in place, keep track of benchmarks
-boswell - mayor needs to be proactive, address the city as if it were your own business and think about everyone
-vagim - money has been misappropriated, it needs to be spent properly
-boyajian - new development needs to pay for the infrastructure that it creates, increase public works, need to do better than just pave over
-dages - shorter time periods on road contracts
-eben - people need to call and let us know when there are problems and we need to listen and create a priority system

question fourteen - bring new airlines
-perea - the challenge is to maintain the service we already have and then increase
-duncan - where carriers go isn't our decision, we need to provide a better business environment
-hunt - market the airport instead of new buildings
-monreal - be business friendly and competitive, meeting the same costs as other cities. i know how to find waste.
-garibay - invite more airlines to come.

question fifteen - follow up
for boyajian - high speed rail, is it realistic (cost)
-yes, if the voters approve it

for dages - you promise to improve transportation systems, how, who pays
-it possible in our current transportation monies, using our current system on a 15 minute schedule, it can be done. create park and rides.

for eben - you say we should do street cars like portland, what is your answer to the naysayers
-we've got to challenge the status quo, work with developers to create a public line and change people's habits. we have the population density to do it

question sixteen - what sacrifices would you ask fresnans to make to improve air quality
-eben - habits need to change, people need to invest in public transport habit
-dages - solar to every new construction
-garibay - electrical buses (and then he said something that was something unintelligible due to his accent)
-hunt - charge trucks as the come into the valley
-boswell - change habits, i have plans online, high intensity air conversion system, fight for fresno's rights

question seventeen - how do they plan to improve air quality
-swearengin - comprehensive plan online, be leaders, be a model of air quality and energy, good practices of land use, support new tech
-vagim - we have more regulations than any other basin, and most of our pollution comes from somewhere else and we have to address that
-perea - i've done it for seven years on city council, use more renewable energy, build greener buildings, invest in alternative fuel fleets
-monreal - my dad won't go outside because of the air quality, encourage city to invest in solar, exchange programs for lawnmowers and edgers
-duncan - eliminate city bottlenecks at intersections, synchronize traffic lights, improve bus system
-boyajian - have to look @ urban sprawl, and how development relates to public transportation. look @ alternative fuel sources for city vehicles

question eighteen - for individuals
for duncan - you list a 12 things we need to do but list no cost or show sacrifices
-a lot of things we can do don't cost a lot of money and that's how we need to approach the problem, we're all going to sacrifice and change habits

for eben - you don't address the biggest sources of polution
- we've got to look @ our own fleet @ city hall and change over

for perea - you make 20 promises that mostly involve outside funding w/o discussion of how we'll get that money
- there is an upfront cost for investing in alternative fuels, but we need to do it (didn't really answer question)

question nineteen - our parks are 70% below the national standard, how would you get it there
-boyajian - work w/developers, collaborate with people like schools,
-eben - collaborate with schools for joint use agreements
-garibay - every district should have green space not just north side, use tax money for parks
-vagim - make sure money is spent right and not used in other areas, make sure parks are used
-swearengin - update parks' master plan, explore other resources, metropolitan trail system
-duncan - money is bonded so we can't update the master plan, work with developers, and think outside the box

question twenty - how can we increase the number of parks
-hunt - we don't have enough parks, we're taking parts and putting schools there.
-boswell - limit developers on how many homes can be built, require certain amount and stick with it
-perea - work with schools, work with public works like caltrans to create parks
-dages - master plan an area, like i've already done
monreal - expanded gang initiative will somehow relate to parks. infill. eaton trail could be better used by people.

question twenty-one - for individuals

for swearengin - how many miles of trails would you create
- i can't give a specific, but i'll get back to you, it will take leadership, measure c money, and public partnership

for perea - our regional parks have seen record numbers but don't see the money, is that fair
- we have to look @ the city from an overall perspective so that everyone can go to a quality park

closing statements
-vagim - thanks, it's been an incredible journey, i'm honored to be a part of the panel, i'm qualified, have most experience, knowledge and substince
-swearengin- three reasons: independent from politics of past, bring executive leadership experience, no bigger political ambitions
-perea - the campaign has gotten dirty, i'm spending my time attacking problems not the other candidates
-monreal - i know how to find waste, my life represents fresno's diversity
-hunt - my father was a plumber, my mother was a corporate person...the people here (@ the debate) created the mess we're in.
-garibay - i'm the only person fighting for justice, represent the poor and seniors
-eben - vision, team builder, inspire
-duncan - i'm prepared by business and city experience. when gov't works efficiently you're safer, the air gets better and the economy can improve
-dages - i can provide: gov't and business experience, have met a payroll, and can get us through tough economic times
-boyajian- education, vision, experience, passion, will be full time mayor, fiscal responsibility, business friendly, independent, agenda of the people
-boswell - we've heard from politicians and wealthy that are bought and paid for by special interest. i'm not and will work for the people.

wow. that was a whole lot of typing, listening, rewinding, and doing my best to not color the comments. i admit it isn't perfect, most are summaries, and i'm sure people could quibble over what i typed or didn't type.

cross posted @ fresno famous.

guerilla gardening.

saw a really cool idea over @ l.a. times.com, something i think i could get into doing, and something that could really help beautify fresno, if it's done properly.

guerrilla gardening.

"At a time of shrinking city budgets and skeletal landscaping staffs, it's a hint at where guerrilla gardening could go -- to approved brigades of citizen gardeners helping cities turn wasted space into food and flowers."

can you imagine a group of people working together, on their own dime and time, to drop some good drought resistant seeds onto empty medians and lots with some source of water? honestly, i'd love to make a little run down olive dropping some cactus seeds, or maybe some aloe.

sure, it's done without permission. and, it could be done very haphazardly and not aesthetically pleasing. but it's a much more interesting, and perhaps even more artistic than graffiti.