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2017 ReSolUTIonS loCal aCTIvISTS on TRIal SaC’S InSTaGRaM fooD InflUenCeRS

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is changing’ Mayor Darrell Steinberg on homelessness, jobs, the arts—and Sacramento’s future

by Jeff vonKaenel

12 Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Volume 28, iSSue 38

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SN&R | 01.05.17

ONLINE BUZZ

Email lEttErs to sactolEttErs@nEwsrEviEw.com.

Protect the kids Re “Scouts’ dishonor” by John Flynn (SN&R News, December 29): Too many of these crimes go unexposed and the public remains unwarned and unaware. The Boy Scouts do not deserve the trust of parents to keep kids safe if they behave this way. I’m wondering whether Michael V. Johnson has been replaced or dismissed from his position as youth protection director or if this has happened on his watch. This doesn’t sound like anything he would tolerate.

Kids are never responsible. We adults must see ourselves as mandatory reporters of anything we see or suspect. Organizations exposed and sued should own the harm caused on their watch and never, ever shame or blame the victim. Sexual preferences have nothing to do with abuse. Every action taken to make it safer for victims to report helps prevent more abuse.

BarBra GraBer H ar r i s on b ur g, V i r g i ni a

Vaxxers’ greed Re “Return of the anti-vaxxers”

by Raheem F. Hosseini and Matt Kramer (SN&R News, December 29):

The vaccines are also lethal, just like the diseases. Three billion dollars has been paid out already to victims of vaccines or their surviving family members.

The payoffs do not compensate

for dead babies or for a lifetime of seizures and the multitude of other chronic disabilities. It is inexcusable to vaccinate pregnant women as the [Center for Disease Control] recommends for the flu. There is no testing or safety for the fragile unborn baby. I was pro-vax and I vaccinated both of our children fully.

It was when I held my infant son in my arms, and he issued a high-pitched, unwavering scream from vaccine encephalitis (brain swells within the hard skull) that I witnessed how helpless a parent can feel who chooses to vaccinate. The nurse said this scream was “normal.” No one ever reported his reaction. Most vaccine injuries go unreported because there is no attempt to look for or document vaccine damage. How would millions of American families who witnessed vaccine reactions in their family member feel about Sen. [Richard] Pan saying, “I will make it impossible to get a vaccine exemption?” Would

they vaccinate the second child after their first child died from vaccine injury? This is what Pan is asking for as he forges ahead this year with Senate Bill 88, “Child’s Bill of Rights,” which is the groundwork in his continuing push to force vaccines on every person. Is there no limit to vaccine company greed?

Jessica Denning Carmichael

ON the RiSe iN hate cRimeS afteR DONalD tRumP’S electiON wiN Yeah, hatred and bigotry is all President Trump’s fault. This never happened before he won the election! Oh wait, yes it did...... How about sharing real news instead of liberal corporate lies?

@SacNewsReview

aaron Duncan v ia Fa c e b o o k

Shame on SN&R

Facebook.com/ SacNewsReview

Re “Return of the anti-vaxxers”

by Raheem F. Hosseini and Matt Kramer (SN&R News, December 29): Why is SN&R on the wrong side on this one? I thought you stood for human rights. The mandatory vaccine laws are just getting started in this country.

It’s un-American, plain and simple, to force medications on otherwise healthy individuals.

Waste Nottingham Foresthill

on 2016 BeinG a GooD year: Much love to @SacNewsReview for highlighting the #PoetsOfColor showcase as one of the best events this year @solcollective_

@_salVinc Definitely Tres Hermanas; Right to rest; #RememberJoesephMann ; Sacto Poetry Center

@SacNewsReview

online Buzz contributions are not edited for grammar, spelling or clarity.

@sierracynic

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22

REBELUTION Thursday, February 9

DON RICKLES & REGIS PHILBIN Friday, February 10

RAIN

A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES

Friday, February 24

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PaY to knoW prosecutors in Alameda County, a political hotbed with a similar population and demographics, according to a review of court data obtained by SN&R. In all, Sacramento County’s halls of justice were the site of 1,089 criminal jury trials between January 2014 and October 2016. Exactly 24 of those were held to determine the guilt or innocence of a person charged with a misdemeanor count of obstructing a peace officer—the same charge Hampton faces for touching another protestor for a few seconds.

That means cases like Hampton’s represented 2.2 percent of all jury trials in Sacramento County in nearly three years. While misdemeanor obstruction trials are uncommon in Sacramento, records obtained by SN&R suggest local prosecutors are hauling far more individuals in front of juries for the charge than their counterparts in Alameda County, the California jurisdiction most similar to Sacramento in population size.

Alameda Superior Court held only seven jury trials for misdemeanor obstruction in the last three years, less than a third of Sacramento’s 24.

That’s significant since it’s a charge often connected to demonstrating.

Sacramento County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi confirmed in an email that misdemeanor obstruction is one of several violations his office can file for protest arrests, though he denied that bringing a higher rate of those cases to jury trials proves harsh treatment for activists.

“While resisting or interfering with a lawful arrest can often be associated with unlawful assembly arrests, the vast majority of [those cases] have absolutely nothing to do with protestors and demonstrators,” Grippi noted.

The DA’s office didn’t provide case logs to back up that claim.

Grippi also contended that the state capital is a bastion for activism, making legal confrontations more likely.

“Sacramento County sees an inordinate share of political protests and demonstrations,” Grippi wrote. “Despite that reality, we do not charge an excessive number of so-called protest cases.”

Yet the proposition that local law enforcement deals with more dissidents than their collegues in Alameda County is a shaky one: Between 2014 and October 2016, Bay Area news organizations reported more than 50 different demonstrations from the streets of Oakland to the UC Berkeley campus, some of which included crowds ranging

from 200 to 2,000 activists blocking The DA’s office eventually dropped freeways, shutting down the Port of the racially-charged violation against Oakland and laying on train tracks. One Hampton, but quietly kept the case going even included widespread public nudity. by pursuing the lesser misdemeanor Attorney Todd Leras, who’s worked obstruction charge. both as a local and federal prosecutor, Grippi declined to discuss the details said the yearslong court cases and jury of Hampton’s case or the impending trials he’s now seeing as a defense attortrial, which is scheduled to begin ney fly in the face of campaign promises January 10.

District Attorney Anne Marie Parisi told SN&R the costly Schubert made when event is going forward the two competed for because prosecutors office in 2014. have yet to offer “When Hampton what we were at the defense a debate, considers to be she made a reasonable comments plea bargain. that she The attorney wasn’t going added that to waste time the case is prosecuting complicated people for by the fact peaceful that Hampton protests,” Leras was exercising Jamier Sale said. “Regardless personal rights as activist of what conversaan activist during the tions she’s involved incident. with around these cases, “Peaceful protests and the prosecutors in her office are the right to expression are part of not keeping her campaign promises.” the foundation of a democratic society,” The stance that local prosecutors take Parisi said. toward activists came under national scrutiny during the early phases of Prosecutors gave Sunderland his own Hampton’s case. reason to rethink his activism.

The ordeal started at a Black Lives The labor organizer was one of Matter event near the capital in January several people cited for obstructing traf2015, when Hampton put a hand on fic during a protest at the Wal-Mart in a fellow protestor who was being Rancho Cordova in 2014. When he and grabbed by police. Video evidence the other ticket recipients showed up to shows Hampton touched the man out traffic court, prosecutors announced they of concern, for less than three seconds. were re-filing the infractions as more While police never ended up arresting serious misdemeanor crimes. It took two the man who was between Hampton and full years for a volunteer team of defense the officers, that didn’t stop them from attorneys to obtain an acceptable plea later taking Hampton into custody at deal and prevent taxpayers from footing home on a felony charge of “lynching” the bill for a trial. him out of their custody.

Leras represented Sunderland and Parisi said the charge against was surprised by the level of pressure Hampton wasn’t a case of a lone police from his former colleagues. officer being creative: It actually took “I can tell you that myself and the Parisi several court appearances to other defense attorneys thought the convince the DA’s office of how inapdistrict attorney’s office was being absopropriate the lynching allegation was. lutely ridiculous and punitive,” Leras Meanwhile, news that a 20-year-old, recalled. “The court itself finally made multiracial resident had to appear in its own offer to settle the case, because it court for “lynching” triggered a national was clear the matter didn’t deserve this uproar. California lawmakers and Gov. much attention.”

Jerry Brown unanimously changed the age-old state law that year, divorcing the historic connotation of lynching from the “aCtIvISm on trIal” crime of prying another person from the continued on page 8 hands of police.

“People wonder, ‘Why is the protest community so small in Sacramento?’ This is why.”

Sacramento News & Review will appeal a December court ruling that allows former Mayor kevin Johnson to escape reimbursing the newspaper $114,000 in legal fees incurred in a battle over public transparency.

SN&R won the case in July and is looking to hold Johnson accountable for resources expended defending the California Public records act. Attorneys say the appeal has broader implications for how newspapers monitor elected officials.

“We’re very disappointed in the ruling,” said SN&R CEO and majority owner Jeff vonKaenel. “Because of the costs involved, this has horrible implications for newspapers making routine public information requests. It puts a chill on reporters doing the work they need to do.”

The clash began in March 2015, when former SN&R contributing editor Cosmo Garvin filed an official request with the city to review communications from Johnson’s office. The city had a cache of emails involving city business from a private email server that Johnson set up using Gmail, evidently to circumvent public records laws. Johnson quickly sued SN&R and the city he represented to prevent these communications form coming to light.

The electronic documents, which SN&R received in batches following the July ruling, reveal to what lengths Johnson used city staff and volunteers from his education nonprofit to coordinate a successful “coup” of the National Conference of Black Mayors.

After Johnson got himself elected president in 2013, he steered the NCBM into bankruptcy and has since replaced it with the African American Mayors Association. (Read “K.J.’s shadow coup,” Local News, December 22, 2016.)

SN&R’s attorneys believe there are legal grounds to overturn the ruling. Nikki Moore, an attorney for the California Newspaper Publishers Association who has done work on a similar case involving the Los Angeles Times, said Johnson’s strategy should be challenged.

VonKaenel agreed.

“This is a dangerous bar,” vonKaenel said. “In an era when we have a president who regulatory abuses the legal system, we can’t set up an environment where public information is about who has the most money.” (Scott Thomas Anderson)

PartY CraSherS, SlaSher Three party crashers were robbed and one was beaten as they tried to leave a gathering they weren’t invited to shortly after midnight on Tuesday in the Parkway-South Sacramento area of the city, according to online police logs.

Police reported the incident as occurring on the 6700 block of 47th Avenue, which is near the Saybrook Apartments complex.

Online logs state the three victims ran into trouble as they were leaving the party, with several subjects demanding that they fork over their cellphones and wallets. Two of the victims complied.

The one who didn’t was beaten up and had his cellphone taken, logs state. Police say no one was injured in the robbery.

The suspects had left by the time officers arrived on scene, logs state, but the investigation remains active.

The incident was one of two party-related attacks police responded to that January 3.

At a small get-together near 63rd Street and Fruitridge Road, a woman suffered a razor-cut to the top of her head when she tried to break up an argument between an acquaintance and family member, police logs state. The victim transported herself to a local hospital. No arrests were made. (Raheem F. Hosseini)

01.05.17 | SN&R | 7

become an

Intern!

SN&R is hiring interns!

SN&R is hiring an intern for its 2017 spring semester Diversity Internship.

The Diversity Internship is open to Sacramento-area college journalism students of color. Students must be enrolled in an accredited college program and will also receive an hourly wage. Hours are flexible.

Interested students should emaIl a cover letter, resume and three clIps to sactoedItor@newsrevIew.com and put “dIversIty InternshIp” In the subject lIne.

8 | SN&R | 01.05.17

“ACTIVISM ON TRIAL” continued from page 7

Sale wasn’t as fortunate in 2014, when he had his most memorable brush with authorities.

Sale was among some 200 demonstrators making a show against police brutality outside the Arden Fair mall when police grabbed him— and only him—in the crosswalk to be cited for jaywalking. Sale later appeared in court with witnesses, photos and videos to prove he was inside the crosswalk.

Sale would never get the chance to defend himself.

According to an appeal filed in 2015 by attorney Jeffrey Kravitz, when Sale showed up to address the ticket, Judge Patricia C. Esgro allowed a Sacramento police officer to simply alter his charge as they stood there. The violation was switched from jaywalking to obstructing traffic.

Cres Vellucci of the National Lawyers Guild, the oldest U.S. bar association formed around protecting civil rights, watched Sale’s hearing unfold.

“Each time Jamier tried to explain himself to the judge, he was cut off,” Vellucci said. “It was just a matter of the judge telling him that he was guilty.”

Sale was fined $250, plus an extra $50 fee to have a payment plan implemented. He has come to refer to that fine as his “personal protest tax,” owed to the city of Sacramento.

The nexus between personal convictions and criminal prosecutions is at the forefront of Thompson’s story.

The military veteran made headlines in September by sidling up to the former mayor with a pie and drenching his face with coconut cream. Johnson responded by reportedly punching Thompson multiple times.

While the level of Thompson’s culpability in the incident is debated (Johnson faced no charges for throwing blows), a recent preliminary hearing reinforced for Thompson that his fate in court is intertwined with his position as an activist.

Thompson had spoken out numerous times about his belief that Johnson and other city leaders have pushed callous and dismissive policies toward their homeless constituents. He ultimately decided to make a public statement about the mayor with a soft, fluffy dessert not known for inflicting injuries.

On November 3, Thompson’s attorney, Claire White, walked into the preliminary hearing with hopes of getting the assault charge dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz argued for keeping the legal stakes as high as possible for Thompson. It was a position White told Judge Paul Seave made no sense given what usually constitutes a felony assault in California.

“The felonies we see in cases with this charge are for vicious attacks where significant injuries are sustained,” White asserted. “We have a young man who squashed a pie in

someone’s face. This is textbook misdemeanor behavior.”

Ortiz’s counter argument offered a rare glimpse into the district attorney’s approach to pursuing charges against political dissenters.

Addressing the judge, Ortiz acknowledged that Johnson’s claim of getting “whiplash” from the pastry wasn’t the only reason for wanting a felony assault charge upheld. The prosecutor pointed to Thompson’s current activism as a motivating factor in keeping the charge severe.

“Even after this incident happened, he called the mayor an asshole—he referred to him as a clown,” Ortiz said in closing statements. “The defendant has shown no remorse.”

Legally, remorse can be a mitigating factor judges and prosecutors consider when weighing the severity of charges or sentencing. Ortiz stressed that Thompson’s decision not to renounce his political statement about Johnson was an element of the prosecutor’s refusal to sign off on lowering his charges.

Seave ultimately sided with the DA’s office.

Walking out of the courtroom, a surprised White told her client, “I guess they want a real fight.”

It’s a fight the taxpayers will have to finance.

For the National Lawyers Guild, the common thread linking Sale, Hampton and Thompson is that they’re all considered leaders within the local activist community.

“Jamier Sale and Maile Hampton happen to be individuals who have helped organize some of these events. It’s not a secret,” Vellucci noted.

“Sean Thompson had been arrested for protesting numerous times, and he was well-known as a key activist before the pie incident with the mayor.”

Sunderland’s activism has been even better documented by Sacramento media.

When asked if county prosecutors ever discuss with arresting officers whether a defendant is perceived as a leader at a protest event, Grippi declined to give a direct answer.

His email did state that the office recognizes the importance of the First Amendment.

“We are cognizant of the vital role of protest in American democracy and strive to evaluate potential charges related to conduct occurring during demonstrations with sensitivity to the importance of free speech and dissent,” Grippi wrote. “We also recognize there will be those who will exercise their right to disagree with charging decisions. … This, too, is part of a healthy democracy.”

On a corner of the capital lawn, during a recent protest against the next president, Sale thought of Hampton and decided the pieces don’t add up.

“How many of our public resources are being used to hold this misdemeanor trial for my sister?” he wondered aloud. “The only reason they would spend all that money is to try to dissuade people from protesting.” Ω

On sales tax sharing, and on the, in terms of economic development, bringing in new manufacturing jobs that bring in new revenue to the area as opposed to retail, which just spreads revenue around.

And now you have Amazon.

Yes, so are you going to bring up sales tax sharing again?

Oh, my God, you know … it’s constitutionally barred now because of Proposition 1A. And you know, I am looking forward to being a strong regional leader, and a strong regional partner. I want to work with the rest of the region, and that was a very important debate that arguably led to a consensus around the blueprint. No, I am not going to bring that up.

That goes back to the thing that just came up in Natomas: to build more retail space in Natomas. Do we really need more retail space?

I don’t know, given some areas, we do. But in general I think we have to recognize the world is changing, people are shopping online now. I mean, I remember being in the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday down in the Bay Area, hardly anyone was there. The world is changing. I think you want to invest in the future.

So if we take the city’s limited resources and help to build more retail spaces, as opposed to Amazon, which is actually bringing in more jobs—

I don’t think our economic focus should be to create more retail jobs. Our focus needs to be on tech, research, innovation, it needs to be on food and nutrition, health care, education. There needs to be high-wage opportunities. That’s where we need to focus.

Let’s talk a little bit about regional leadership, and where the mayor fits in to that.

After the sales tax debate, of course, the region did the blueprint, and I did SB 375 [the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008], which really put the blueprint into state law and expanded it statewide. I am going to be an active member of [the Sacramento Area Council of Governments]. I think that is very important for the city of Sacramento to show that it wants to work with the region and not just … say, “This is how we are doing things”—but to work together. And I intend to do that. I am also not, in general, a borders and boundary guy. I respect that we have different jurisdictions and certainly within the city we have city council members who have real needs in each of their districts, but I also want us to be about the whole city, and I want us to be about the entire region. To me, to work with the [Greater Sacramento Economic Council] and the other economic development entities—yes, to locate high-wage jobs in the city of Sacramento—I will stand with mayors of other parts of the region as well, and help them locate high-wage jobs to their cities, because as the region becomes successful we will all be successful. If the city is successful, the region will be successful.

This goes back to the strong-mayor discussion; I would like to hear your thoughts on that.

Well, I was for it, and philosophically I’m still for it. I think the city government should evolve with its growth and with its sophistication. It’s not high on my to-do list to revisit it,

because (1) the voters spoke relatively recently, and (2) I believe genuinely a strong mayor under this system—No. 1, I can be strong by virtue of the relationship that I develop with the city manager and the departments. Partnership, not silos. Secondly, what is strength? Strength is having a vision, strength is coalition building, strength is counting votes and strength is actually producing consistent with your vision.

And I am ready to go to work to do all those things.

I always thought the strong-mayor discussion was a solution that didn’t identify the problem. Our problems are regional, and the city is only 20 percent of the region and the city budget is a billion dollars and the county budget is $4 billion. If you take control of the whole city budget, you can’t accomplish things without cooperation.

Agreed. But I think this system works in the city, where the mayor and the city manager are tight. When they work as partners, it works; if they’re not, then it’s not a great system.

It is the system; therefore, breaking down the silos and creating partnerships in the city and within the city is essential.

from the cap-and-trade investment plan to help complete the funding from the streetcar. … I think connectivity with West Sacramento is crucial and they have already started on their side of the road. And we’ve got to get at it. And we already have a master plan, we don’t need another. We need to pick two or three targets of opportunity and let’s get going. We’ve got the Powerhouse Science Center, we got Matsui [Waterfront] Park, we’ve got opportunities, we’ve got the docks, we’ve got Old Sacramento; we got to get going.

What else should I have asked you that I failed to do?

We didn’t talk about the arts. I grew up more of a sports guy than an arts guy but I know instinctively as a politician and a leader that a great city prizes arts as much as it prizes sports.

And, you know, we cut the budget for the Metropolitan Arts Commission and it hasn’t gotten back up to the level before the cuts. … I want to put some energy into not just the traditional arts here—Crocker [Art Museum], the ballet, the [Sacramento] Philharmonic, the opera—but, also, there is an incredible emerging arts culture here.

Let’s talk about the mayor in a Trump world.

You had to bring up that name, didn’t you? Well, first of all, I thought it was very unpatriotic for Mitch McConnell in whenever it was—November or December in 2008—to say his No. 1 goal was to assure Barack Obama failed. It is unpatriotic; it’s horrible. And, so, I do not want anybody in a position of leadership to fail. … Obviously, I am very unhappy with the result, but as I have said a number of times, we will work with him when we can and we will fight him when we must. I think my view of politics is very simple, and I think I have shown this over a number of years, 95 percent of the issues are worthy of principle compromise. You’ve got people with genuine differences, genuine value, differences various life experiences, business, labor, the environment, jobs, you name it, a whole host of issues. The one thing you never compromise is the civil rights of people. You just don’t do it. I know, I mean I read a lot, I read a lot about World War II, it’s seared in me about what happens when people turn their backs, or ignore, pacify or try to rationalize words or actions that violate the civil rights of people. Whether that be immigrants, whether it’s Muslim-Americans, whether, you know, it’s other groups of people who are marginalized.

We’re going to stand with people, our people.

Fight Trump in areas that we must—

Immigration, the Dreamers, the hard-working families.

Trump is obviously hard to read, and all over the map. He will say we just want to get rid of those who commit serious crimes, but then he uses the numbers 2 to 3 million. You know, nobody objects to people who have committed serious crimes to be deported from the country.

Like the Second Saturday kind of thing?

Yes, and the Art Hotel, and the [Warehouse Artists Lofts], and why can’t we have some more live entertainment at our [Regional Transit] stops to enliven, we need to enliven the urban experience.

Speaking of RT—so, Measure B went down, just barely.

Ugh, yes. We’re going to have to come back to the voters again, and were going to have to work with our state legislative delegation. We have a very good delegation here. You know, as the legislature grapples with a state transportation [tax], and we have to be more aggressive going after cap-andtrade money.

In Measure B, it was one-third for transit and about two-thirds for roads. Do you think that’s the right breakdown?

You know, I think it was both a substantive and political compromise, because we went countywide, so I thought the coalition that put that together did a good job. Now where do we go from here? Well, we have to look at the numbers, and see what it would take to get the additional percent plus to get over the threshold.

A lot of it was in context of RT not having—

Well, RT is on the move now. … You got great leadership on the board, you got great recognition to get RT on the board, and I think we’re going to turn the corner there.

So then, just on the culture of the city council?

Trump’s calculations don’t add up to 3 million?

The calculations don’t add up to 2 or 3 million. … If he puts forward a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan that has a benefit for California and for Sacramento, and you know we have to find ways to work with him on that.

We have two riverfronts, connecting up West Sacramento and Sacramento. The streetcar thing, are we going to revise that?

Yes … the streetcar thing is there, I mean, we got $30 million in cap-and-trade funding from my bill. You know

Lot of culture with the city council, interactions with each other, or with the public?

Well, both.

You know what, I think this is a very good city council and I also think that we can create a better … esprit de corps—not just between colleagues but with the city staff and with the public. City Hall ought to be a place of great energy, positive energy, and have everyone on the field welcome. Ω

01.05.17 | SN&R | 15

BaBy steps into 2017 see niGHt & Day

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For the most part, these people are social media influencers. Some live in the world of Snapchat, but most wield their power on Instagram.

In simple terms, they post photos of meals—some of which are received for free, some not—for their hundreds or often thousands of followers seeking inspiration for their next meal. Fahrenheit 250 wants to be that next meal.

Lorenzo Garcia waits for the crowd to die down before beginning his own photo shoot. He waves his hand in front of his iPhone, testing for shadow, and pivots three plates around so they line up just so: burger on the right, burger on the left, burger on the right. By the end of the night, he says he’ll take a few hundred photos but only post two. A shot of smoked ribs will be “liked” by 133 people.

He and his sister Diana Garcia run the @sacfoodandbooze Instagram account, which has more than 6,000 followers.

“I didn’t expect too much from it and it grew so much,” Diana says.

“It’s overwhelming at some points.”

Lorenzo is the photographer and marketing wiz, posting and engaging with others to gain as many followers as possible. Diana is the researcher, keeping up with restaurant news to figure out where they should eat next. They joined forces as an excuse to get together and spread their love for local food. The account was born in February 2015.

A year later, it finally reached 1,000 followers and grew rapidly from there. In the process, they not only became closer as siblings but turned into recognizable local food people themselves.

Last spring, the Garcias began receiving invitations to events. Would they like to join a media preview party for the new Temple Coffee?

Would they like to sample some new menu items at Kupros Craft House?

Would they like to try the mobile goods at Off the Grid?

Of course, of course, of course.

Ali Zamanian started his @ sacfoodie account, which is inching toward 5,000 followers, roughly three years ago. Back then,

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Instagram wasn’t really as popular.

The king was Foursquare, which is now all but dead. Zamanian didn’t mean to become such a fixture in the restaurant community—he just loves going out to eat. He’s dining out two or three times a day, and his feed looks like an aspirational bucket list of must-eat Sacramento dishes: the Farm Plate at Localis, beef stew at Magpie Cafe, sashimi at Kru. “A lot of people think I’m a food reviewer or in the food industry,” he says. “So, I get a lot of messages like,

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According to articles in Bon Appetit Magazine, Bloomberg and others, social media influencers in big cities like New York and Chicago not only rack up hundreds of thousands of followers, but they basically live off of their Instagram accounts. As professional influencers, they might eat all of their meals for free or even get paid enough to avoid needing a conventional job.

Zamanian has attended events where everything is choreographed: the table, the arrangement of plates,

THESE MEAlS AREn’T AbouT THE food—EvEn if THE inSTAgRAMMER iS ExpEcTEd To guSH AbouT A diSH’S dEliciouSnESS onlinE lATER.

‘Hey, come in, we’ll give you all the food you want for free.’”

Zamanian almost always declines.

He doesn’t want to be told what to eat or what to photograph. He says it would ruin the fun. But he knows what could happen if he took advantage of these offers; he follows this influencer trend flourishing on a national level.

“More and more restaurants are starting to hire PR people,” he says—and those public relations experts know social media is the way to tap into the coveted millennial market.

the lighting. He acknowledges that these meals aren’t about the food— even if the Instagrammer is expected to gush about a dish’s deliciousness online later.

“You’re not eating that food for an hour,” he says. “It’s ice cold.”

But the reliance on influencers is relatively new in Sacramento. Even those behind the biggest accounts— like the Garcias—aren’t totally sure how the system works.

“People don’t always say photos, but you know,” Lorenzo says of those who invite them to events.

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“Sometimes it’s vague for what they want,” Diana adds. “One photo?

Three photos? Four photos?”

Beyond events, influencers are starting to earn a seat at the industry table. One restaurant invited the Garcias to take advantage of its restaurant industry discount. A festival with a cooking competition invited them to be expert judges.

Victoria Vlahos, media relations director for Insight Public Relations, has organized four social media influencer events within the past year. She says they’ve proven to be successful on a grassroots level, creating buzz about clients like El Rey, Kasbah and Fahrenheit 250. Insight doesn’t dabble in paying influencers for posts—Vlahos tries to make the experience as organic as possible, though she does encourage the use of specific hashtags and sharing photography with restaurants. The other method is starting to look more and more obvious to consumers.

“You can tell when X company paid X influencer to share on their page,” she says, sitting in Fahrenheit 250’s rustic space while Instagrammers feast on complementary pulled pork tacos and sliders. “This isn’t paid for—this is a trade.”

Influencers know some of their followers eat at certain restaurants and order certain things based on their posts. While Zamanian only posts what he actually likes—and what looks aesthetically pleasing, and ideally what was shot with good lighting—the Garcias are more prone to ethical dilemmas. What if they’re fed something gross?

Luckily, that hasn’t really happened yet.

“When people give us things, they try to give us their best,” Lorenzo says.

Plus, there are always multiple dishes to try, and he’s always enjoyed at least one of them.

And the influencer phenomenon might be influencing dining in less obvious ways.

“I think a lot of restaurants are changing their plating, their lighting,” Zamanian says. “They notice the first thing people do is take their phone out of their pocket and take a photo of what they’re eating.” Ω

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