South of Sunnyside

Forget streetlights, on nights like tonight—I’ve got moonlight.

Riding back on Fowler Ave. from Starbucks tonight, Nature was smiling on me. Not only could I feel a noticeable drop in the temperature throughout the older part of the neighborhood, but the road was easy to see from the moonlight.

I took a brief detour to savor the ride. Good times.

“…Odd numbers water on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday…but never on Monday!”

The city’s song about sprinkler settings is annoying, but memorable. But does it apply to everyone? I’ve known homeowners who violated the rules, but on my evening bike ride tonight I noticed the green space (well, the shrub space lining the street, at least) was soaking in a sprinkler shower.

Are developers exempt from the confines described in the song?

Okay, I try not shop at Wal-Mart, but that’s for another post.

I enjoy conversations about why I should support local businesses over chains, and vice versa. The current topic around Fresno seems to be Starbucks and the death of several local coffee shops (and other locally-owned businesses) in Fresno.

Put simply, I’ll support any business that meets my needs, which are usually defined by value (which is a varying perception of price and quality), and experience/customer service. I can forego attentive service if the value is good, and I don’t mind paying more if the service justifies the difference. But I won’t pay more—or even the same in many cases—just because a business is locally owned.

When it comes to food, I argue that many of the national chains offer superior service, as they have developed processes for meeting customer needs. Local eateries often have great food, served with a sense of entitlement or arrogance.

Of course, this isn’t a food blog (though I have one…hint, hint). A more relevant example might include bike shops.

A couple of weeks ago, an experience on my bike led me to thoughts of a photo contest, which I’d eventually like to host here—part fun, part community awareness. To encourage participation, I took initiative to contact six or seven bike shops and sporting goods stores via letter, asking each to consider sponsoring the contest with a gift certificate for bike parts or repair.

In a couple of cases, I sent more than one letter to different people at the business. Only one (REI) was a chain; this also happened to be the only business to respond to my request. Granted, it was a letter declining the sponsorship, but it was cordial, and addressed from the top rank. And again, it was sent.

If I keep riding regularly, I’ll eventually look to upgrade from my Wal-Mart special, and I’ll think back to my experience; I wouldn’t have looked to REI previously, but I just might in the future.

All that said, I might follow up the other letters with a phone call, in hopes that a more direct line of communication will draw in local support.

We’re not sure if it’s from a response to increased crime in the area, or if it’s a preventative measure, but Kim and I have noticed more helicopters hovering nearby in the area over the past few weeks.

A week or so before we left for Mexico, Kim awoke to a flood light in our back yard, shining down from above, at 1:00 a.m. Then, tonight, as I was riding the bike down Butler Ave., I found myself pedaling through the center of another helicopter’s circular pattern.

Southeast Fresno isn’t known as the city’s crown jewel, but I consider Sunnyside to be a fairly safe area overall. Hopefully these sightings are the Police Department’s attempts to keep it this way.