When I relocated to California in the mid-1990’s, I was pleased to live in close proximity to one of the last family-owned orange groves in our City. It was a non-working grove, but still, it was nice to live so close. When I threw open the doors and windows to get some fresh air I was occasionally greeted by a Mediterranean fruit fly. I found them delightfully attractive, especially after hearing how dangerous they were to our crops. ” How could such a pretty little fly be so destructive,” I’ve asked myself several times over the years. Turns out, they weren’t destructive at all, at least not to our orchard. The developers were. They came to the neighborhood, stealth and under cover of night to mow down the orange trees like matchsticks. No parking lot — yet. Just two applications of Monsanto chemicals to keep anything green from growing back. Who are the real pests?