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Tuesday night's Bartender Challenge was such great fun! While Vance and Devoya were cocktailing behind the bar we had special guest DJs Mike Oz (Fresno Beehive) and Taffy (Meatball Magic) providing some kick-ass beats that put everyone in the mood to have fun. We had a great crowd that included the Beehive and several members of Fresno's own SCRGs!

After the drink making was done the night's winner, Ms Soulflower aka Devoya Mayo took over the turntables spinning an awesome mix that ended the evening on a wonderfully cool note.

At the Downtown Taskforce meeting I attend, there is talk of bringing the concept of the Mills Act to Fresno as a way of help preserving historical buildings in Fresno. It is a 1976 State of California enactment that provides reduced property taxes on an eligible historic property if the owner agree to preserve and maintain their historical properties for ten years. The contract is transferable if the house is sold, and the contract can be renewed for another ten years.

Every week or so I receive an email from Neal Peirce, a national columnist. He regularly publishes, but I can't find a site that archives the contents of his emailed columns, so I'm posting it below. This particular one is about the resurrection of an abandoned downtown, the infusion of arts, and the commitment of a community. Sound familiar?

NEAL PEIRCE COLUMN
For Release Sunday, June 13, 2008

© 2008 Washington Post Writers Group

This is a week late, so I may have left out a few of my original thoughts. Overall, this was a great event, and I thank Kiel and the others responsible for organizing it (and thanks to Sam Davis for responding to the invitation); I've tried to fold a recap into the reflections I previously shared with Kiel. I have, no doubt, left out and/or misinterpreted many valuable points.

May is Bike Month
Join the 2008 Bike2Work Corporate Challenge
May 15, 2008
Sign up to ride on the Creative Fresno Cyclists team - Laura Fultz is the team captain http://www.fresnobike.org/
- Save gas
- Ride the Fresno city bus FREE
- Clean the air
- Get some exercise
- Win prizes
Prizes
Every rider signed up for the Corporate Challenge is entered in the raffle, and everybody has equal chance of winning.
Tri-Sport is once again sponsoring our raffle grand prize, a Trek Soho commuter bike!

Okay... So I was able to meet with city officials to get some info about the Kern Street "Sports Town" project. I have to say that I'm conflicted. On one hand, I really do want downtown vibrancy. On the other hand, I'm not sure this is the project to do it. However, I'm all for improved streetscapes. Well, before I go off too much on what I think, let me share what I learned and dispel some of the rumors.

Rumor #1.
Construction on the Kern Street "Sports Town improvements" is scheduled to begin next week.

True.

Here's what Creative Fresno wants...
View Creative Fresno's Presentation on Downtown Desires
Flash 8 plug-in required

This is a post from MindHub (reprinted with permission):

Jaime Holt posted:

A friend of mine from LA is one of those people that ripes out articles from magazines and sends them to folks she feels might enjoy them. Last week she sent me an article from United Airline's inflight magazine on Fresno. It really is a good article, my friend mentioned that Fresno really does seem to be "on the move"...I responded with a strong "I told you so". I encourage you all to check it out online. Fingers are crossed that the link below works :)

This weekend (Saturday at 11am to be exact) downtown Fresno's latest mural, located at the H Street Studios on H street between Amador and Sacramento, was finished! This is the third mural in what we hope will be a long series of murals and various other forms of public art projects. Of course this mural could not have been possible without your generous support!!