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Bad to the Loan

News

Tom Gogola

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Apr 13, 2016

There was a fiery hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on April 5.

If you saw the highlight reel, it featured Sen. Elizabeth Warren scolding a former (and now disgruntled) staffer she hired at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency she spearheaded and which is now under intense scrutiny by congressional Republicans intent on reining in its regulatory overreach—or ending it outright.

So why did two local Democrats recently vote in favor of an anti-CFPB bill foisted by the GOP House majority?

Just before Thanksgiving last year, U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, voted with the majority to nullify new anti-discrimination guidance from the CFPB, which was directed at auto dealerships and the loans they offer to consumers.

The bill supported by Huffman and Thompson, HR 1737, was a reaction to the CFPB’s 2013 instructions to auto dealers to limit, or eliminate, salespersons’ discretion in interest-rate markups for would-be buyers, as a way to combat racial bias from seeping into negotiations on the sales floor. Loan markups based on race are outlawed under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

A bipartisan majority supported the GOP-led pushback to the CFPB guidance in the form of HR 1737; a companion bill in the Senate, S 2663, has been assigned to that same committee where Republicans spent the day disparaging CFPB on April 5. The vote on HR 1737 came amid furious backlash to the CFPB from the conservative American Action Network, which likened the agency to the Soviet Union in a TV ad buy that came just weeks before the auto-loan vote last November. The commercial depicted the CFPB as a rogue, Kremlin-esque agency acting without oversight and came complete with comparisons of Elizabeth Warren to Joseph Stalin. Talk about “overreach.”

Several issues that the consumer agency has taken on have come to a head in recent months—proposed federal regulations for payday lenders notable among them—but the auto-loan debate heated up just as the CFPB was hashing out a $22 million anti-discrimination consent decree with the Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC) in February.

The agency reached that agreement with the assistance and leverage of the U.S. Department of Justice—and the TMCC agreed, as part of the deal, to modify its policies around interest-rate markups.

A CFPB spokesman said he couldn’t comment on the fate of the recent CFPB auto-loan settlement, given the pending legislation now before the Senate. “CFPB is committed to creating a fair auto-finance marketplace for all consumers,” says CFPB spokesman Sam Gilford, “and has continued to work to ensure that lenders comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.”

The House bill to reject and redo the CFPB rule on auto-loan markups was strongly supported by the National Automotive Dealership Association, a leading auto-industry lobby. The association has contributed $45,500 to Mike Thompson’s campaigns for Congress since 1999, according to records at the Center for Responsive Politics’ online database, OpenSecrets. Thompson has accepted an additional $8,500 from other auto-industry interests since 1999. For his part, Huffman has accepted $12,500 from the association in his congressional races, according to OpenSecrets.

In their vote against the CFPB guidance on auto loans, the local representatives were joined by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, and more than 80 other House Democrats. The California Democratic delegation was split, 17 in favor and 20 opposed to the House bill.

Wasserman Schultz made headlines recently when she
sided with a Republican-led
effort to delay, by two years, the implementation of new federal payday-lender rules issued
by the CFPB. The Florida congresswoman—now known to some as “DINO Debbie” for her embrace of the GOP’s anti-CFPB mantle—was taken to the proverbial barn after it was revealed that she had accepted $68,000 from her state’s payday-lender industry, even as she was urging Democrats to sign on to the GOP-led payday-loan bill.

“The congressman is a strong supporter of the CFPB,” says Thompson spokesperson Megan Rabbitt via email, adding that Thompson’s vote on 1737 was taken to “make the process by which the CFPB regulates auto lending more transparent by requiring a public notice and comment period before issuing guidance. The congressman believes that the CFPB can and should issue guidance to address discrimination in auto lending, but that the process for doing so should be open and transparent.”

The pushback to the CFPB’s auto-loan guidance comes as the agency has already aggressively pursued settlements in favor of consumers. The February consent-decree with TMCC is the tip of the CFPB iceberg on the auto-loan issue, as the agency has in a few short years leveraged some $200 million in fines against the auto-financing divisions of Toyota, Honda, Ally (formerly GMAC) and other companies, Gilford says.

But here’s the thing: TMCC already reached a multimillion-dollar settlement on auto-loan discrimination in a federal class-action lawsuit that predated the advent of the CFPB. The suit, Baltimore v. TMCC, was settled in 2006 and turned on claims of racial discrimination in auto-loan markups offered by the Japanese auto giant at its dealerships. The class-action suit worked its way through the courts for about five years before a settlement of between $159 and $174 million was reached that affected thousands of African-American and Hispanic customers, according to online information posted by Lieff Cabraser, a plaintiffs’ firm that was involved in the suit.

The February settlement between CFPB and TMCC was directed
at African Americans and Asians who had experienced discrimination. The Baltimore suit had a local hook, as it included a state action, Herra v. TMCC, that had originated in San Francisco Superior Court before being enfolded into the federal lawsuit.

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In the 2006 settlement agreement, TMCC admitted no liability or wrongdoing as it agreed to implement “markup caps” on interest rates offered to consumers by dealers. Toyota was not accused of active discrimination against potential buyers, only that its policies and practices could—and did—lead to discrimination.

But there was a catch, says Stuart Rossman, director of litigation for the National Consumer Law Center, which brought the suit: the settlement agreement had a three-year sunset provision.

“Therefore, around 2010—three years after the effective date of the settlement—TMCC’s obligation to maintain its markup caps expired,” Rossman says via email. “Apparently they reverted to prior practice, which resulted in the DOJ/CFPB investigation and 2016 consent decree.”

In an interview, Huffman downplayed the $12,500 in campaign contributions the auto dealership lobby sent his way and said that there were good reasons to go along with the GOP bill, which he said was mischaracterized by opponents, not to mention reporters. His 2nd Congressional District includes strings of auto-dealerships along Highway 101 in Marin and Sonoma counties, and Huffman says that he heard from the car dealers, even as he expressed surprise at the contributions they sent his way.

“Nobody is saying, turn a blind eye to auto-loan discrimination,” Huffman says. “I was hearing from car dealers in my district. But put aside the prevailing paradigm where people say it’s about campaign donations, I’m just trying to do the right thing. I heard from them that it could drive up the cost of car loans and make them less accessible to some of those people—I felt like I had to listen to that side of the argument.”

Huffman also highlighted that HR 1737 did have support from members of the Congressional Black Caucus. On the other hand, minority-group opposition to the bill included the NAACP and the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers. Huffman added that he didn’t want to support a bill sponsored by an opposition party set on undermining or destroying the CFPB, but said that HR 1737 was an exception and “is not the thread that undoes the whole fabric.”

“I’m a big fan of the CFPB,” Huffman says, “and start with a position of strong support for their mission.”

The bill he signed, he says, “did not say that we don’t have a problem with potential discrimination or that this agency should not get involved with it.” He says the point of the bill was to get the CFPB to utilize better data “that was more inclusive of other input.”

Thompson’s relationship with the auto industry goes deeper than Huffman’s.

His 5th Congressional District includes the Port of Benicia in Solano County—entry point for all Toyotas that are sent off to dealers in Northern California. According to freight data posted by California Department of Transportation and other online sources, the Port of Benicia processes hundreds of thousands of Toyotas, Chryslers, Fords and Chevrolets a year.

Thompson’s office did not respond to the greater part of a set of emailed questions sent to his office, including whether his yes vote on 1737 was influenced by local issues—such as jobs at the port—back in the district. Nor did his office respond to a question about the CFPB’s proposed federal rules on payday lenders—or the GOP-led, Wasserman Schultz–supported effort to delay them.

Huffman says he continues to be a strong supporter of the CFPB—and of payday-lender reform—and that his vote on
HR 1737 was the only time he’s voted against a CFPB rule.

“You don’t need this rule to crack down on auto discrimination,” Huffman says, as he described it as “a supplement” to private actions that can be undertaken by plaintiffs’ lawyers or by action taken by other federal agencies.

But Rossman says the CFPB rule is especially needed, given that it has become harder in recent years to launch a class-action suit similar to Baltimore, which relied on information from driver’s licenses to ascertain who was a part of the impacted class. Critics of the CFPB auto-loan rule have said that its data-collection methodology is inadequate—even as some of that data has become more difficult to gather, especially when it comes to the race of a loan applicant. “Take in more data,” Huffman argues, “and don’t make [the rule] inadvertently work against the people you are setting out to help.”

Rossman notes that recent changes in class-action certification rules implemented by the Supreme Court, “and the fact that most states no longer include race data on their driver’s licenses, would have made our cases from the earlier 2000s or any applicable private right of action under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act much more difficult to pursue. We believe that there should be strong enforcement of the anti-discrimination provisions of the ECOA. There also should be greater access to information regarding the race of individuals who receive auto loans.”

Drive On

Music

Charlie Swanson

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Apr 13, 2016

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On Nov. 1, 2012, Santa Rosa indie rock quartet Manzanita Falls were in the middle of a U.S. tour and passing through the small town of Abilene, Texas.

Singer and songwriter Jeremy McCarten, guitarist Stuart Markham, bassist Matt Robinson and drummer Matt Coit were packed into the band’s van, hauling a trailer full of gear, when one of the tires blew. All four members survived the ensuing wreck, though Coit suffered a fractured neck and the others suffered minor injuries.

The band was left not only with traumatic memories, but they lost most of their gear and had to reassemble from scratch. Such an experience might be the end of most bands, but it was only the beginning for Manzanita Falls.

“It was so unreal,” says McCarten. “We could have just not existed anymore. Thinking about that, there were a lot of cathartic moments that came after it.”

McCarten and the others used those experiences as inspiration for the band’s forthcoming sophomore album,

Abilene, due out in June. After spending the last four months recording in Markham’s White Whale studios, Manzanita Falls will preview the new material at their first show of 2016, the Next Level showcase in Santa Rosa on April 15.

Lyrically, the upcoming album, and especially the title track, is the group’s attempt to come to terms with their graze with death; the lyrics also compare that experience to the recent death of McCarten’s grandmother, who died last month after a lengthy illness.

Musically, Abilene is much more collaborative than the band’s 2011 debut, Vinyl Ghost. “This is our first record of really writing together as a band, in terms of the music,” says Markham, who handled the recording duties at White Whale, which he co-owns and operates with Derek King and Nick Tudor.

Abilene is also a markedly more ambitious sound for Manzanita Falls, taking cues from the likes of Brian Eno to develop walls of sound and textured layers of guitars backing McCarten’s lyrics.

Looking back, the four friends know that the crash in Texas was a catalyst for their cohesion and maturation as a band. Still a touring outfit, they also know they couldn’t let the accident paralyze them from moving forward, and they see the new album as a new chapter in their ongoing journey.

All My Stars

Theater

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Apr 13, 2016

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Two commanding dramas—one a classic, one destined to be—are now playing in the North Bay.

In 1948, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons became his first critical hit. Not an easy show to pull off, Miller’s ingeniously unfolding post-WWII drama gets a solid, emotionally truthful production courtesy of director Carl Hamilton and the Raven Players.

Manufacturer Joe Keller (Steve Thorpe, quite good) lost his youngest son, Larry, in the war. But because the body was never recovered, his wife, Kate (an appealingly raw Rebecca Allington), believes he’s still alive. When Joe’s other son, Chris (Jeremy Boucher, excellent), reveals he plans to marry Larry’s fiance Ann (Angela Squire), the stage is set for a family conflict with far more at stake than anyone knows.

Though casting puts certain actors in roles too old or too young for them, Hamilton’s fine direction and the generally outstanding acting make this a rich, powerful experience, with an emotional impact that does not fade away.

Rating (out of 5): ★★★★

At 6th Street Playhouse, Lauren Gunderson’s enthralling and lovely Silent Sky tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt (smartly played by Jessica Headington), a pioneering astronomer whose passion for the stars puts her at odds with her devout sister (Juliet Noonan) and the male-dominated scientific community within which she worked at Harvard University.

As a “computer,” the name given to female clerks responsible for charting the skies, Leavitt initially bristles to learn that the male professors will get credit for any discoveries made by her and the other “computers” (Laura J. Davies, Maureen Studer, both excellent). Eventually, despite the confusing attentions of her male supervisor (an effectively quirky Devin McConnell), Leavitt defies authority in studying a star pattern that might contain a clue to the size and scope of the universe.

Directed with affection and humor by Lennie Dean, Gunderson’s prose is lean, inventive and captivating, turning the language of science into the stuff of poetry. There are a few moments throughout when the emotion feels forced rather than natural, but on the whole, Silent Sky is a thing of beauty, as luminous as the stars its heroine longed so deeply to understand. ★★★★

Gold Mine

Movies

Richard von Busack

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Apr 13, 2016

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Clearly, a person needs to eat before they see City of Gold, the lovingly made documentary about
LA Weekly and Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold. The scenes of the simmering black Oaxacan sauces, flaming Thai curries and gourmet taco trucks are food porn of the rarest order. But even non-foodies can enjoy this profile of an erudite yet funky writer.

With large brow, larger girth and a Ben Franklin haircut, Gold could be a model for Dutch master Frans Hals, or anyone’s picture of Falstaff. During ride-alongs in the Dodge truck of this eminent critic, we get more than just profiles of restaurant highs and lows, and supporting commentary by the likes of Calvin Trillin. Laura Gabbert’s documentary gets as close to zeroing in on the soul of L.A. as anyone since Thom Andersen’s Los Angeles Plays Itself.

Gold merited his Pulitzer Prize; he got the Los Angeles papers of record to recognize the seemingly humble ethnic, strip-mall restaurant in the parts of that city that rarely see a film crew. Gold’s perceptiveness as a food writer is similar to the rare film critics who were sharp enough to recognize that ashcan directors like Samuel Fuller and Edgar Ulmer understood so much more about life on the streets than their more celebrated, better paid Hollywood colleagues.

Gold was a failed classical cellist who studied at UCLA; happily, he was also part of that small moment when punk rock briefly opened social barriers. (A poster shows us that either his band opened for the Urinals or the Urinals opened for them). Images of a sweet home life season this film with commentary by his wife and former editor Laurie Ochoa, and his daughter Isabel, a talented cartoonist. The film is also a small meditation on the way L.A. suffered the effect of the ’65 and ’92 riots. An unalloyed success, this documentary makes the city and its subject one.

Hotel Mike

Swirl

James Knight

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Apr 13, 2016

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Mike Barber wasn’t looking for a career in wine when he dropped into a San Francisco wine shop one day. He was just joking around. First, he was helped by a guy named Mike, followed by another guy named Mike. “What, do you have to be named Mike to work here?” Barber joked. “Why, do you want a job?” Mike asked him.

“I got into it randomly, off the street,” says Barber of his 10-year stint in retail wine. Later that month, he was supposed to have flown across the world to pursue a career in museum studies, but he took the wine job instead. Starting in the warehouse, he moved on to sales and was eventually sent across the world after all to visit producers in Italy and elsewhere—even filling in for the store’s whisky buyer on a trip to Scotland (perhaps inspiring a single malt rye project of Barber’s that’s still in the works).

With the help of friends in the East Bay wine scene, Barber began making wine commercially, and recently opened Petaluma’s first off-site tasting room in Hotel Petaluma. Formerly a residential hotel familiar to readers of the police blotter, Hotel Petaluma is in the midst of an ambitious renovation: a one-time clubroom and taproom has become an outdoor courtyard again, walls have fallen to reveal a grand lobby, and Barber excavated several layers of decayed flooring to reveal original Douglas fir planks in his annex tasting room.

“We’re trying to keep it local here,” says Barber, who specializes in wine from the Petaluma Gap area, and honors local dairy heritage with a cheese plate and monthly “meet the cheese-maker” events. That said, he’s “not a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir kind of guy,” which narrows his choice of local vineyards considerably. Instead, Barber discovered Zinfandel from a Sonoma Mountain vineyard originally owned by yet another Mike—Michael Topolos. Barber named his 2013 Sonoma Mountain Zinfandel ($25)
Mr. Beast after his cat, which I think is great, and I like the 2012
Mr. Beast ($25) even better, with its riper, wilder liqueur aromas.

From a neighboring vineyard, the 2014 Sonoma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ($40) hints at Barber’s “first love,” Italian wines—the fruit murmurs darkly in the glass. With three hours of skin contact, the 2013 Sonoma Coast Pinot Gris ($18) shows Roussanne-like weight without excessive fruit, and the 2015 Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18) isn’t just grassy, but subtly glistens like dew on grass.

On the first Thursday of the month, Barber hosts a silent movie screening after dark, with musical accompaniment courtesy of—keeping it local—a keyboard enthusiast by the name of Petaluma Pete.

Barber Cellars, 112 Washington St., Petaluma. Wednesday–Sunday, 11am–6pm. Tasting fee, $10. 707.981.7034.

A New Purpose

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Apr 13, 2016

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The history of the building that sits at 1200 River Road in Fulton is not pretty.

A slaughterhouse for decades, the warehouse space fell into ruin until Rami Batarseh bought the property in 2012 and spent two years repurposing it into the current industrial-chic Fulton Crossing art gallery and studio space.

Now Fulton Crossing offers three showroom galleries, plus over a dozen art studios with 15 artists currently working and displaying their pieces. Open to the public every weekend, Fulton Crossing hosts its next free monthly Open Studios event on Friday, April 15, when the public can meet the resident artists and view their works.

“We are a nontraditional gallery,” says manager Karen Finkle. “We don’t do things like normal galleries. A lot of times, if I have artists in their studios working, the customer gets to go in, meet the artist, see the work they are working on and purchase art from them directly.”

“We’re taking it to the next level by not only supporting local Sonoma County art, but also exposing the artists themselves to the world,” says Batarseh. “Artists like to be together, and they’re here for the environment. They need the space to work, but they also want to be among everyone else and get their art exposed. It’s a win-win.”

One of the largest gallery spaces at Fulton Crossing is dedicated to vintage furniture restorer and artist Craig Janakos, of the world-renowned Janakos & Company. “It’s been a joy to see the space be rejuvenated into what it is,” he says.

Husband-and-wife artists Cliff and Paula Strother echo that sentiment. Sharing a space on the second floor, the pair have been at Fulton Crossing since the early days. “It’s been exciting,” says Cliff. “Somebody would come in with an idea, and [Batarseh] would create it, and—boom!—there would be a new studio, built from repurposed stuff. It’s a little village down there.”

“It’s gone through a lot of changes,” says assemblage artist Rebeca Trevino, whose studio space is a colorful mishmash of found objects like doll parts, fishing lures and Scrabble tiles that she assembles into fantastical pieces. “Overall, it’s a good work space and there’s lots of activity that comes through.”

In addition to the resident artists, Fulton Crossing also rents out gallery space to visiting artists like Henrik Liisberg, a Danish-born artist and designer now living in Sea Ranch.

“There’s a lot of different
styles on display here,” says Finkle. “There’s something for everyone.”

Letters to the Editor: April 13, 2016

Letters to the Editor

Bohemian.com

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Apr 13, 2016

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Forest for the Trees

Thank you, Jennifer Coleman (Open Mic, April 6), for your well-researched and -documented article on the Santa Rosa City Council’s failure to uphold the city charter guidelines for including resident input for spending their tax money for capitol improvements. The charter is ineffective if its rules aren’t enforced. That would seem to make it easy for “special interests” to influence the city council and bypass citizen review of proposed expenditures. I think this could be a big case for an attorney willing to step up to the plate, and “step” on some toes of the offending parties, whose actions would be considered criminal activity in a court of law. You’ve done the preliminary detective work, so it should be easy enough for an attorney to take up this very important cause.

This is just another action, in addition to the missing “millions” that should have been spent on much-needed housing. Looks to me like the Santa Rosa City Council is getting away with illegal activity bordering on embezzlement. I hope that your hours of dedicated research to represent Santa Rosa citizens is recognized and honored with a lawsuit.

—Sandy Murphey

Via Bohemian.com

I am still pissed that they removed the redwood trees. The two new side streets are unnecessary. There are three parking garages within two blocks that are usually half empty. Why can’t people walk anymore? This removal of beautiful old redwood trees for the sake of cars is so short-sighted. We want walkable cities that encourage pedestrians, not more streets and cars. And now they have the nerve to host Earth Day in the Square again. I encourage a boycott or protest that day. The city leaders are completely out of touch and operating in a vacuum.

—Daisy

Via Bohemian.com

A Living Wage

The recently passed $15 minimum wage (Debriefer, April 6) will help, not harm, small businesses and Sonoma County’s economic health. For over 30 years, my husband and I have owned and operated a local business, and we pay all employees a living—not minimum—wage. Paying a living wage is more than good business; it’s the right thing to do, for our staff, our community and our local economy. And when the economy thrives, so does our business. We invest in our employees and they in turn contribute to the community by spending close to home. There’s a sign posted in a Sebastopol store window that says it well: “The best way to occupy Wall Street is to shop Main Street.” We’re honored to be a B Corporation, using our business as a force for good, and to continue being voted Best Solar Retail in Sonoma County by Bohemian readers. I’m pleased to say it’s our staff who make us most proud of our accomplishments.

—Laura Goldman

Sebastopol

Write to us at le*****@******an.com.

Wild Things

Dining

Ari LeVaux

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Apr 13, 2016

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For most of human history, winter has been a time of nutrient depletion, if not starvation.

After months of living on the likes of sugar and flour, and with hardly any fresh vegetables, it was common for survivors to forage for whatever nonpoisonous, or even semi-poisonous green leaves and shoots they could find beneath the melting snow. To this day, the idea of a “spring tonic” lingers in the remnants of rural America, and virtually anywhere else in the world where winter is a thing.

Today, though we aren’t wanting for nutrients in spring like we used to, this annual ritual is still a great way to get outside and recalibrate your body to the landscape of home, and expose yourself to the elements. And after a winter cooped up inside, getting out there on the hunt for some spring tonic is a lovely way to help clean off the cobwebs of winter. You breathe the fragrance of melting mud, get wet and scratched by sticks.

Urban dwellers can participate in this exercise just as much as rural folk. In addition to the parks, alleys, hills and flood plains around town, there is also a wilderness to be found in one’s own little yard or garden.

In early spring, before you’ve turned the soil or decided what to plant, the weeds are often already out in force. Many of these invaders are edible, and can make just as potent a spring tonic as a wild plant.

I first heard of the idea from writer and radio personality Kim Williams, who wrote, in

Eating Wild Plants, “Before the era of supermarkets and vitamins in bottles, the first wild greens of spring were not only a treat but a medicine. Sulphur and molasses was the tonic for some families, but for others it was a mess of dandelion greens or a salad of watercress or tea made from fresh strawberry leaves dug from under the snow.”

Bitterness, the flavor of both medicine and poison, is well-represented in the flavors of these wild plants, which tend to be more nutrient-dense than their domestic counterparts. If you aren’t prepared to eat some bitterness, then your botany skills should be particularly on point.

If you could find some sorrel, wintergreen, asparagus or even the leathery, still-fragrant rose hips my little boys like to pick through the winter and into spring, you’ll have some sweet options. Indeed, a good plant-identification book is a valuable tool for any forager in any season. In addition to telling you what to eat and what to avoid, it will also key you into legends, stories and traditional uses of the various species.

If you’re new to a place, learning the plants and ingesting their terroir is a meaningful step toward fully inhabiting that place. Even if you have spent your entire life in a particular place, tromping around with a plant book for the first time can open your eyes, so it feels like the first walk you’ve taken.

Experts can bring home their miner’s lettuce and watercress, but if you’re just a normal dude or dudette living the semi-urban lifestyle but looking to get your spring tonic on, and you want to maximize the return on your time spent foraging, the real hay to be made is in the nettles and dandelions. These plants are so plentiful, especially the dandelions, and so nutritious and delicious, that there really isn’t much need to go any further.

Nettles, to be sure, are problematic in that they can hurt you in the field. Once they are cooked, the nettle stingers wilt and become harmless, but alive and raw, nettles don’t mess around. Scissors are essential, along with a bag for the nettles, and you may want gloves as well. Your scissors, used gently, can serve as tongs. In addition to being tricky to handle, nettles can be a bit harder to find. They tend to grow near running water, but not next to it, and can be well-camouflaged.

Dandelions, meanwhile, are easy. They flourish pretty much everywhere, and they won’t punish you for touching them. Just wash them and eat.

These two plants go very well together in a pesto. The dandelion leaves can be left raw, but the nettles should be cooked. If you can find one and not the other, don’t sweat it, just use what you have. By the same token, lamb’s quarter, mustard greens, chickweed, purslane and just about any other edible weed or foraged plant can go in, too. Pesto is a forgiving dish.

Dandy-Nettle Pesto

10 nettle shoots

2 c. dandelions, cleaned and chopped

1 tbsp. almond butter (or whole almonds)

3 tbsp. pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, walnuts or favorite pesto nuts

1 clove (or more) grated or pressed garlic

1/4 c. (or more) grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

olive oil

Blanch the nettles in salted, boiling water for 90 seconds. Remove from the water and immediately plunge them into an ice water bath. The nettles are now safe to touch. Squeeze into a ball and wring out all the water.

Add the nettle ball to a food processor and whiz until coarsely chopped. Add the dandelions, garlic and a tablespoon or two of oil, and process again. Add pumpkin seeds, almond butter, cheese and more olive oil, and spin again. Add olive oil until it makes a smooth vortex. Wipe down the sides, season with salt and serve.

Out of the Woods

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Apr 13, 2016

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As the Golden State gets closer to legalization, it’s increasingly important that cannabis growers, providers and other related businesses know how to stay legal and compliant with government regulations and laws.

That’s the goal of the Elevated Cannabis Compliance Conference, taking place
April 16–17 in Rohnert Park. As big corporations and governments start encroaching on the market, mom-and-pop canna-businesses are at risk of being pushed to the side after decades of working to establish the industry. Elevated is designed to help these small businesses remain current with upcoming laws and share information on best practices.

Guest speakers include state assemblymember Jim Wood (pictured), a Healdsburg native, who gives the opening keynote on April 16 and talks about the Medical Marijuana Regulations and Safety Act. Other politicians include former Sebastopol mayor Robert Jacob and Sonoma County supervisor Efren Carrillo. Business leaders like Lynnette Shaw, who opened California’s first licensed dispensary in 1997, and lawyers like National Cannabis Bar Association president and executive director Shabnam Malek also offer their expertise.

The Elevated Cannabis Compliance Conference runs Saturday and Sunday, April 16–17, at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 1 Doubletree Drive, Rohnert Park. $499. elevatedccc.com.

Service with a Snarl

Open Mic

Rich Hinkle

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Apr 13, 2016

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I always figured that, if I ever opened my own business, I’d want a motto that expressed a certain insouciance, a certain playful attitude. I came up with “Service with a Snarl.”

I was recently involved in two business transactions that were as different as different can be. One made me want to avoid that business—and tell others about the slight—and the other made me want to shout accolades to the hillsides.

The first was a smoothie at the Juice Shack. I had a coupon for 50 cents off. Not a huge deal on a $5 smoothie, but the coupon served as an introduction to the product as well as the nudge to come back again. But when I presented the coupon, the young lady behind the counter informed me that it had just expired.

What would you have done, had you been running that business? I believe that a good businessperson would have honored the coupon. By doing so, you encourage return business, the very foundation of any successful business.

Now let me tell you about Great States in Indiana. They make the Garden Shredder, a modest backyard wood chipper. The one I bought worked great for just over two years. Then, all of a sudden, it wouldn’t start. A loose wire in the starter switch? Unfixable.

So I phoned Great States, and spoke with one of their representatives. “You’re two weeks past our two-year warranty,” she informed me. “Unlucky for me,” I replied forlornly. “Well,” she mused, drawing her musing out with a purpose, “if you’ll send me your dated receipt, I think we can replace it anyway.”

The replacement shredder arrived on my doorstep a week later. It’s not the same model as the one I bought. It’s twice as powerful and sounds like a professional model.

You tell me: Which of these two businesses am I going to pledge my undying fealty to? Which one of these businesses has the right attitude? Which one of could get away with—in a positive light—a motto like “Service with a Snarl”? I think you know.

The author of nine books, Rich Hinkle posts a twice-weekly ‘Philosophy of Life’ blog at richardpaulhinkle.wordpress.com. He lives in Santa Rosa

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