Columnists

It’s just so darn convenient when it rains overnight – as it did Tuesday – and you wake up to a freshly washed world and take a walk in the beautiful hills with your dog pals while the mist swirls overhead and vanishes into the heavens.

A few years ago, while taking a hiatus from my law practice, I spent some time working as a substitute teacher in our district.

Right now I’m nursing a memory with a poor substitute: dinner leftovers from the past weekend. But I’m comforted knowing that next week I’ll get what I’m missing right now—tasty morsels delivered hot and fresh from a mobile kitchen parked on Third Street.Yes, it will be Wednesday, June 7, and I’ll be sitting on an upturned red 5-gallon bucket with about 1,000 other foodies in front of the Third Street Plaza. The Moveable Feast is back!It doesn’t get much easier to join in the fun. Park in the Downtown Parking Garage and walk out into the Third Street Plaza. Just beyond will be a string of food trucks surrounded by fans of the diverse range of cuisines being offered. Maybe we can start to get some of the feasters used to parking in the VTA Parking lot across the railroad tracks too…The feedback I’ve heard from the community about the gourmet food trucks has been overwhelmingly positive, usually followed quickly by the universal question, “When will they return?”Short answer is next week.It seems that most of the residents I’ve heard from like the Moveable Feast trucks on Wednesdays, but how about the downtown businesses and the residents?That’s a mixed bag, but still mostly positive.A few businesses do not support the Moveable Feast events at all, but that’s a small number. Some don’t feel they benefit, but still support it in light of the exposure brought to the downtown. Others experience a benefit and are happy these events take place. This last group is a small number that we hope will continue to grow this year. By the way, this is from a business survey undertaken by the committee that brought you the Moveable Feast trial last year.I am obviously a huge supporter of Moveable Feast on Wednesdays but I’m just hoping you end up downtown eating and hanging out.I hope you, your family and friends come downtown on Wednesdays and find that something special at one of the gourmet food trucks. But maybe you won’t. Maybe the lines are too long, you’re not in the mood for what’s being offered that week, or you run into some friends and decide it would be nice to sit down and be served. Maybe you just walked past a restaurant and saw the most incredible plate of barbeque and your stomach just changed your mind for you.So I want to tell everyone that the Moveable Feast is coming but I also want to say that the rest of your favorite restaurants are here too. Maybe make Wednesday night the night where you commit to trying something new, whether it be a different food truck or a different restaurant. Can you say you’ve been to all of our downtown restaurants?Consider that a challenge.Give the kitchen a break on Wednesdays and get out and eat. It doesn’t have to be downtown (that would be nice though)—just get out and enjoy yourself on hump day. The rest of the week will feel a lot shorter. I promise.   Please dine out and shop often.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance and a city commissioner. He can be reached at [email protected].

Q: Ever since I came to work here a year ago, I have gotten nothing but attitude from the woman in the next cubicle.  I keep trying to be nice to “Mandy”, but she refuses to develop any kind of relationship with me. Sometimes she doesn’t speak to me at all. 

On April 22, we observe Earth Day. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day has grown into an international movement whose goal is to raise awareness of the need to take action to sustain a healthy, sustainable environment. You can do your part through recycling and other measures, but you can also apply some of the lessons of Earth Day to your financial situation – and, in particular, to your approach to investing.