Coming from the colder mid-Atlantic region, I was amazed by the valley’s ability to produce citrus and other exotic fruits, such as pomegranate and persimmon.
Then I saw juicy tomatoes smashed near highway exits, lemons and oranges moldy underneath their trees, plums dyeing sidewalks purple. So much abundance, so much waste.
Matthew Ampersand and partner Tessa D’Arcangelew Ampersand experienced the same shock when they arrived in town and noticed food rotting in plain sight.
People file lawsuits for money, publicity or vengeance. District Attorney Thien Ho is different. He wants documents.
Ho’s lawsuit against city officials over negligent management of homelessness brought relief to residents and outrage from Mayor Darrell Steinberg. A key target of Ho’s litigation was overlooked: pretrial discovery.
Ho wants the city to enforce local ordinances and state laws and clean up the streets. To understand why the city failed, he needs to see private emails, text messages and memos that guided city officials to their acceptance of tent camps and drug markets.
The city wants the suit dismissed.
“Old heads” are basketball fans who go way back. They’re eager to reminisce about Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Not mere nostalgists, they’re up on the current scene as well. Magpie Café is old head central for the farm-to-fork crowd in Midtown.
Owners Janel Inouye and Ed Roehr bring history with them. Roehr worked in Midtown eateries before Midtown was cool. Inouye has been in the restaurant business for decades.
Their passion for fresh, local ingredients and seasonal cuisine predates the slow food peak. Their farm-to-fork credentials go back before the city slapped the logo on the Pocket water tower.
“This painting is based on a small drawing of my front yard in Land Park. I was given a challenge to make a drawingusing only analogous colors. I chose blue, green and yellow, but I didn’t want to use blue for the sky. It was fun mixing all the values and variations.”
