Fresno's Best

Naindeep Singh is running for Fresno City Council in District 1, and he's framing this race as a question of insider versus outsider — a contest of values and integrity rather than the old red-versus-blue divide.

Jordan sits down with Deep to talk about what it's actually like to run for council in Fresno, the trade-offs of the district voting structure, and the critique that community organizers struggle to govern the people they used to organize against. They dig into the West Fresno sidewalk problem and Deep's pitch for a dedicated city fund matched by the county; the parking conversation nobody's having about Tower; how the city could be a partner instead of a hindrance to events like Porchfest; vacant buildings and the missing middle in commercial real estate; and historic preservation through a Strong Towns lens.

On the citywide side: Fresno's strong-mayor system and the absence of checks and balances on Mayor Dyer, why Deep opposes SEDA and what smart growth looks like instead, capping utility rate hikes (trash is already up 80% in five years), whether the city should take on its own public health services, and how to think about the FPD budget when non-emergency calls are going unanswered.

Stick around for overrated/underrated — yard signs, Me-N-Ed's, the 180 Freeway, the Tower Theatre, door knocking, and public comment — plus Deep's current reading list and where to find the campaign.

Find Deep: @Deep4Fresno on Instagram • Text 559-647-4700

Upcoming events: Ice cream socials at Inspiration Park (this weekend, 4–6 PM) • Final District 1 candidate forum at Big Red Church, Monday May 18 at 6 PM.

Book Recommendations

Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution Anand Gopal

No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes Anand Gopal

California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric — and What It Means for America's Power Grid Katherine Blunt

Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It M. Nolan Gray

On this episode of Fresno's Best, Jordan sits down with Fernando Macias, the General Manager and Creative Director of the Eden Wine Lounge, to talk about why Fresno's nightlife has been missing somewhere you can actually hear the person across from you. Fernando opens up about the philosophy behind Eden: dim, neo-soul-soundtracked, intentionally conversational, and built as a juxtaposition between elevated ambiance and dive-bar comfort. Along the way, he and Jordan dig into the economics of pouring wine, why Eden pivoted away from imports toward Napa, Paso, and local Central Valley producers, the surprising rise of their cocktail program, and the art of building a charcuterie board people actually photograph. Fernando also weighs in on a rapid-fire Overrated vs. Underrated round (listening bars, Me and Ed's, wine influencers, kegged wine, sommelier certifications, QR-code menus, THC drinks, and the death of the cork), and previews what's coming next at Eden — a new rum-forward May cocktail menu, micheladas, jazz nights, expanded patio seating, and the eventual transition to a full bar.

Eden Wine Lounge Website

Recommended Books: 

The Creative Act: A Way of Being Rick Rubin

Anything by Hunter S Thompson

In February, Gilbert Quesada opened the PM Lounge — Fresno's first private business and social club — on a bet that the city has a higher-end hospitality appetite nobody's been serving. This week, Jordan is joined by special guest co-host Vince Mancini to sit down with Gilbert inside one of the club's private suites and talk through what it takes to build something like this here, and what it might mean for the rest of Fresno.

The conversation covers the real difference between a social club and a country club, why the PM Lounge skipped initiation fees and F&B minimums, how Forbes-level training actually works (all 960+ criteria of it), and Gilbert's vision for a menu that moves between Fresno steakhouse roots, French and Italian technique, and a rotating cast of visiting chefs. Along the way: Macallan dinners, Shaq's oversized DJ rig, the fight against Fresno's brain drain, and Gilbert's vision for the future of the city. 

Sandra Celedon is the President and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities and a lifelong resident of California Assembly District 31. The daughter of Mexican immigrants who began their lives in the U.S. as farm workers, she grew up in Calwa, graduated from Roosevelt High, and earned her public health degree at Fresno State. Over more than two decades in public health and community organizing, she has led the coalition behind Measure P, helped secure $70 million to build the first community college campus in West Fresno, served on the city's Commission on Police Reform, and worked on clinic construction, clean air, and transportation policy across the Central Valley.

In June 2026, Sandra is on the ballot for California State Assembly District 31.

In this episode, Jordan talks with Sandra about what moved her to run after more than twenty years outside electoral politics and how she thinks about coalition-building as a state-level skillset. From there, the conversation moves into policy: Fresno's 2014 General Plan and why she says the problem is enforcement, not the plan itself; the Valley Air District's gap between education and real accountability; the Better Roads Safe Streets Initiative that recently filed 32,000 signatures to succeed Measure C; her time on the Commission on Police Reform and the forty-one recommendations that were never implemented; and healthcare, where she makes a specific case for auditing the $5 billion that California's nonprofit hospitals self-report as "community benefit" every year.

Learn more about Sandra's campaign at sandraceledon.com. California primary: June 2, 2026.

Book Recommendations:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning by Vanessa Priya Daniel

Seven seats are open on the Fresno County Superior Court bench this June — the largest judicial shakeup in recent memory for a system that touches almost every resident, usually on their worst day. Jordan sits down with two of the candidates running for Seat 6: Rosalina Nunez, a 16-year family and civil attorney whose path into law began as a second-grader in immigration court during the Reagan amnesty era, and Deidre Adams, a deputy public defender on Fresno County's Major Crimes team who decided to become a lawyer at age nine, after reading the police report of her father's death.

The conversation moves past campaign talking points and into the texture of the job itself: what trial judges actually do versus what television depicts, the role of empathy in sentencing, Prop 36 and the mental health placement crunch, the flagging of Fresno County's care courts, the bumpy eCourt rollout, the quiet interpreter crisis hitting smaller language communities, AI-generated case law showing up in real motions, and the philosophical tension between rehabilitation and accountability when someone has failed treatment more than once. Both candidates weigh in on pretrial detention, juvenile sentencing, court backlogs, and why representation on the bench matters in a county as diverse as Fresno.

Plus: the best tater tots in downtown Fresno, Deidre's systematic march through every meal of the day, and book recommendations from Bruce Springsteen to Ketanji Brown Jackson to The Alchemist.

Election Day is June 2nd. The judge races sit at the very bottom of the ballot.

Books recommended: 

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

In this episode, Jordan sits down with Minkah Taharkah — multidisciplinary artist, land steward, and coordinator for the California Farmer Justice Collaborative — for a wide-ranging conversation about food, equity, and what it means to put down roots in Fresno.

Minkah traces her relationship with ecology from her childhood on Crenshaw Boulevard, where she watched the city cut down a boulevard full of trees to make way for the Space Shuttle, to her years farming with Black Earth Farms in the Bay Area, to her current work supporting BIPOC growers across California. Along the way, she and Jordan dig into the real barriers to agricultural equity — from a farmer driving refrigerated produce from Fresno to San Francisco each week just to make ends meet, to the challenge of getting small farms the marketing support they need to sell local.

They also get into it on permaculture and regenerative agriculture (and why the definitions matter more than people think), the spirituality of planting a seed and trusting it to grow, and what happened when the city of Fresno sent Minkah a complaint about her front yard garden — which she promptly got certified as an official wildlife habitat. 

Links

Books recommended:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard

In this episode of Fresno’s Best, host Jordan Mattox sits down with Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco, who is now running for Fresno County Supervisor, District 1. Drawing from her lived experience growing up in poverty, raising children as a young parent, and navigating social services firsthand, Pacheco offers a deeply personal perspective on the systems that shape life in the Central Valley.

The conversation moves from education and mental health to housing, homelessness, and the challenges facing rural communities like Kerman. Pacheco makes a case for rethinking how the county invests in social services—especially mental health care—and argues that real change begins by listening to the people most affected by policy decisions. She also reflects on her time as mayor, the realities of rural infrastructure and transportation, and what it would mean to bring a more community-centered voice to county government.

Maria's County Supervisor Campaign Website

Books:

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez

In this episode of Fresno’s Best, Jordan Mattox sits down with Ariana Martinez-Lott—community organizer, District 7 city council candidate, and longtime advocate for neighborhood-driven change.

Ariana shares how her background in child development, her family’s immigrant experience, and her early exposure to disability through her brother shaped the way she understands systems, culture, and community. The conversation explores the tension between science and culture in public-facing work, and how organizers can better “translate” across those divides.

They dive deep into Fresno-specific issues, including:

The unique challenges of representing District 7’s complex and fragmented geography

A vision for Manchester Mall and the Blackstone corridor

The role of Fresno City College as a community anchor

Parks, Measure P, and the realities of implementation and accountability

Transparency, media fragmentation, and civic engagement in Fresno

Jordan and Ariana also explore what makes an effective city council member—from project management to neighborhood-level civic engagement—and how the culture of City Hall could shift toward greater responsiveness and trust.

Plus, a lively Overrated vs. Underrated segment covering everything from protected bike lanes to faith-based organizing to burritos.

This episode is ultimately about what it looks like to move from frustration with systems to building new ones—starting one conversation, and one neighborhood, at a time.

Books:

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds adrienne maree brown

Homegoing Yaa Gyasi

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez

In this episode of Fresno’s Best, Jordan Mattox sits down with tennis coach Zach Ocegueda for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of tennis in Fresno and what it takes to grow as a player. Zach shares his coaching philosophy, emphasizing accessibility, repetition, and building confidence in athletes of all ages—arguing that anyone can become a great tennis player with the right mindset and practice.

The conversation explores key debates in youth sports, including specialization vs. multi-sport development, the role of mental toughness, and how to recognize and overcome performance plateaus. Zach also offers practical insights on equipment, training routines, and injury prevention, while highlighting Fresno’s underrated tennis scene and the importance of community courts like Roeding Park. The episode wraps with a fun “Overrated vs. Underrated” segment and a glimpse into Zach’s journey as a young coach finding his voice and leadership style on the court.

Fresno’s Best host Jordan Mattox sits down with Miguel Arámbula, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative, for a wide-ranging conversation about housing, entrepreneurship, and the future of downtown Fresno.

Miguel shares how his early experience rehabbing homes and working in community development led him into housing policy, and why he believes the Central Valley needs a stronger regional voice when competing for state housing resources. The conversation explores the complexity of housing—from land use regulations and financing to the cultural narratives around suburban development—and why increasing housing supply remains one of the most important factors in addressing affordability.

The second half of the episode turns to Miguel’s entrepreneurial projects in downtown Fresno. He discusses the origin story of Moses McQueen’s, a new bar he co-owns near the stadium and brewery district, and the long process of renovating a historic building and navigating the challenges of financing and development. Miguel also talks about launching a neighborhood farmers market in Tower District and why small, walkable gathering spaces are essential for vibrant communities.

San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative

Moses McQueens

Books:

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Ian McGilchrist

On the Aesthetic Education of Man Friedrich Schiller