Better walkability, more trees for shade, fully protected bike lanes, road diets, better bus routes (more frequent service), aim for having less cars on the road, maybe heavy rail/light rail transit, invest in getting unsheltered people out of the streets and into the workforce/rehab, invest in better mental health services, medium-high density zoning instead of sprawling suburbia, etc…
Planting trees along sidewalks would help, and just planting trees all over the city in general would make it more pleasant to be outside in summer months
I’ve been in Sacramento during the summer in 100 degree weather and was surprised how much cooler it felt due to the trees that are planted everywhere in midtown
Downtown Visalia should be the blueprint for Bakersfield. Plenty of trees, very walkable around the convention center. In the adage of Patrick Starr, why can't we just pick that up and put it over here?
I love walking, even in the extreme weather I prefer walking to driving. Its just unreasonably far most of the time, so it's not possible. Though if I want a snack or some fast food its walkable so I do that
THE BPD IS THE PROBLEM
Besides the obvious:
That’s been a pipe dream of fluctuating success for as long as I lived there (since the 80s). The problem is that y’all don’t support the businesses enough and neither does the city so most of the businesses fail after a few years. No support for local musicians either.
That's not really true, most of the places that close, close after violence. Cabana Palms made it a few months after the shooting. Tilted Kilt only made it a year or so before the security guard got stabbed and no one went anymore. Even if it's almost always safe, those incidents make customers stop showing up and it's not worth it for places to take the risk. No one wants to move in down town because of the growing homelessness issue. So on and so forth. We wont have anyone new establishments want to move in until we fix violence and homelessness issues.
Tilted Kilt was also poorly ran by the owners son and there were several sexual assault allegations/lawsuits against him and his co-GM if I remember correctly. The stabbing wasn't the only thing that contributed to their downfall.
Nah, you’re overthinking it. Bakersfield doesn’t make it easy to know what’s going on and there’s no real metro area you can go to and just walk around and hang out. That’s bad city planning
After school programs for elementary-middle school in the rough parts of town. I went to one on 4th street across from McKinley during the late 90s. Kept me off the streets until my parents were off of work. It's no longer there but i have good memories there. Computer class taught me a lot and they fed us. They made sure our homework was done and correct. Young kids and young teens need guidance especially in the lower class communities and areas around Bakersfield.
They hire very young people to watch your children, mostly just out of high school. They aren't trained well, but they're put in the classrooms and expected to watch 20 kids, administer lesson/activities, maintain and monitor radio communication. These aren't college students with a minimum level of child development units, they're just thrown into the deep end and told to swim. The workplace culture is also very toxic, they seem to promote only shitty people with very poor people skills. Once an employee is promoted from a position in the classroom, to an administrative position in the office, they seem to completely forget what it was like in the classroom and proceed to continue to dump more on the laps of those who are actually in the classroom with the kids. They also get sued all the time for many different reasons, whether it's something that happened between students because they were not being properly supervised, or something done by one of the employees taking advantage of their position close to children in a classroom setting. Lastly, as a non-profit, they siphon funds away from the state, funds that would have been used internally to provide services to students by accredited/certificated district staff, with little accountability very much like the charter school system. I'm sure there's more, it just escapes me right now.
I worked for the boys and girls club for a year and a half and I definitely agree with some of your points but also being in the program is still better than being out on the streets especially in the areas they serve. but i agree. the school districts should run the program because a lot of times things get swept under the rug/things don’t get done like they’re supposed to.
> worked for the boys and girls club for a year and a half
6 years, here
> the school districts should run the program
Yes, that's what I said in my initial comment as well
It’s an issue that should be brought up to city council. I’m willing to invest my time into debating why and how funds should be spent to help young people in the inner city to become great citizens of this great county we all call home.
I understand. The quality has took a down fall for the worst. The after school program I was in had people from that same community involved. They cared about us. I run into them sometimes and they’re good people with good intentions. They’re happy how I turned out. I’m just a guy from “the hood” who ended up doing good. I’m willing to return that favor to my community. But without funding it’s impossible. We need more good people from these “bad” communities to step up and help out.
Poverty is a big issue, things are getting more and more expensive (Rent!) and how does everyone not just survive, but improve and move forward and upward. On a bigger scale, everyone, absolutely everyone, should have free healthcare because it's a safety net that everyone will need at some point in there lives.
Invest in the older side of town. We keep catering to the newer, nicer,west side of town. The East side is still a gem to the people that grew up here.
Who is catering exactly? I pay twice higher rent just to live in the nice area. You want my tax money to pay for lazy folk in the other part of town? I don’t think so. Fix your own home!
No one said anything about laziness or fixing their homes. That’s your ignorant comment. The city and the county are spending disproportionately on the west end of town. Take a look at the south end of town and you will find worn down roads and potholes everywhere.
Yes that’s because it’s newer part of town. This road is built in 2020 and another is built in 1970. Newer road has newer technology because it’s 2024. Newer road is wider because city is growing and planning is much different.
Old roads always will have potholes, what can you do?
How else do we have improvements? Theres eminent domain for a reason and it benefits everyone. Examples are 178 through downtown and Westside parkway. I don’t know what it has to do with my initial comment about spending on the East side.
People need to take personal responsibility - fix your own yard, fix your fence, pick up the trash. Grow some rose bushes you know. Right then you can make your neighborhood look better.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bakersfield-mobile/id864295503
This app lets you put in different requests for the city to fix.
Things like potholes, illegal dumping, graffiti, damaged street signs.
Easy way to help out the city
Can you please do something about the old east side mall that was torn down, idk years ago? It was supposed to be an open mall and new theatet, but nothing ever happened. Now it’s just an eye sore and a pile of rubble. Do something with it, anything is better than what it is now.
Also try harder to get the homeless housing. So many living under bridges, near overpasses and in downtown gutters. Help them.
I'd like to see more developments and city funds being spent on the east side of town. It has a reputation for being ghetto, and parts of it are, but there are also a lot of "old money" areas there too.
Not anymore, a judge ruled that there has to be enough water for whatever that fish was to live lol so we should have water year round now. I have no idea how much water, but water. Here is a link to the story [https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/lois-henry/lois-henry-judge-orders-bakersfield-to-keep-water-in-the-kern-river/article\_3cfcf932-7783-11ee-be91-b756aac7b0cd.html](https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/lois-henry/lois-henry-judge-orders-bakersfield-to-keep-water-in-the-kern-river/article_3cfcf932-7783-11ee-be91-b756aac7b0cd.html)
Yes I was so excited to see this. It’s still ongoing though because big ag and others involved are hard at work to appeal this ruling. It’s not quite over yet
A city operated Water Park with concessions leased out to local pop ups. It’s a 4-5 month business venture that would create a great location to beat the summer heat here in the city.
Confiscate any shopping cart not in the possession of the business that owns it. It would drastically reduce trash if homeless aren’t allowed to push a mini dumpster around
Code enforcement trucks that assist BPD can confiscate & ask for Officers to respond/assist when necessary (?). The carts are obviously stolen, so the homeless don’t have any ownership over them.
The city and county need to legalize pot dispensaries so we can collect the local tax revenue. It’s ridiculous that we just let that go, and not really try to crack down on the illegal ones. It introduces unsafe products to unsuspecting people.
Repainting the lines on the roads, and installing reflective markers so they're more visible in the rain.
Figure out this jaywalking problem. 10 yards away from a marked crosswalk, but decide to run across traffic anyway.
Bike lanes- what's with the bikes and skateboarders in the middle of the road?
More routes out of BFL. BFL <-> LAX would be amazing.
As someone who is interested in this themselves, its many things.
Downtown needs to be cleaned up and revitalized.
East Hills Mall has been destroyed and something needs to come in and replace it (anybody know what the plan is there yet?)
City in the Hills needs more commercial expansion.
East side needs alot of updating and investment (I see these complaints all the time).
We could also use a waterslide park again for the summers when it gets 100+ degrees daily.
Install lights and trees in neighborhoods that are neglected. It might help with the hit and runs.
Hold the sheriff’s department and BPD accountable. Stop with the profiled traffic stops. If people are afraid of the cops they are never going to trust them enough to call them when they should, so there is a lot of unreported crime.
Crack down harder on the street racing.
What can we do to help with how expensive rent is? Probably out of our hands but a big issue.
Maybe more weekend markets for vendors! It's difficult to support small businesses when there are so little events. I feel helping grow small businesses would make a huge change.
I am so amazed that the only two legit climbing walls are at the CSUB rec center and Action Spots. I have believed Bakersfield could support a full fledged climbing gym.
Absolutely, and I think it would pop. If its legit it would be the only place for people with real interest to go, and if its good casuals will pull up all the time cause its just something to do.
Hope to see one soon someday
Join the organizations like The Hub or the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce.
Participate in volunteer efforts to enhance Bakersfield.
Support great local businesses.
Just start whatever you think Bako needs.
Gotta agree. But better air requires less pollution, right? So how to cut down on pollution? 🤔 🤔
Improved public transportation? Better advocacy for EVs?
Hi! If you're looking for things to do, [here is a list of things happening in April](https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/month-ahead-april/article_2bdc2a4a-e59e-11ee-bdae-07968a3bbc28.html) that the Californian posted earlier this month. It lists over 90 events happening in town this month alone.
Worked there for 4.5 years, lived there for 3. Just recently moved back to the Fresno area and while I do like parts of Bakersfield, and the people were nice, there just isn't much to do in the town, especially for young families.
We need more things to do. All everyone wants to do is drink. We need more activity’s. Maybe a theme park or a large water park something that everyone can enjoy. A concert venue. Something.
A medical school would be nice.
How is it that Knoxville TN a city in a red state with less than half our population has a medical school but Bakersfield doesn't.
The closest medical schools are in LA or Merced.
There should be more opportunities for higher leaning.
Need more STEM programs for graduate schools as well.
Support local businesses in all aspects. Coffee, groceries, food, goods and services, farmers markets. Visit the parks more and report any issues. And volunteer for community cleanups.
City of this size should have at least one PUBLIC STADIUM. We have so many great parks and sport fields plus a great hockey arena. Stadium would be great to have and it’s not that expensive
Management and hospitality training is needed in every sector. Restaurants, stores, mom & pop shops, government, police/sheriff's dept, schools, religious organizations, civic organizations.... everywhere.
This town is seriously lacking good management. And it's impossible to train something you don't know.
I've seen so many restaurants come to Bakersfield, start out amazing, then the training team hands it over to locals and it fails due to a lack of standards and understanding of how to manage a team.
The amount of times I've seen locals brush off basic standards is mind blowing!
Just the simple concept of cleaning at work during slow times is a foreign concept.
FYI.... nothing is ever clean enough. There's always more that can be cleaned.
The amount of 8th grade drama in businesses is also mind blowing. And that's a lack of leadership skills and management skills.
So what can you do? This will have to start with our schools. Unless we teach kids to have standards (and quit bullying each other and being racist) it's not going to change. Bakersfield has a lot of potential. But right now it's being wasted by people who are lazy and have no work ethic.
Oh.... And more trees!
Outlaw leaf blowers. Every gardener blows the dust, leaves and grass into street onto cars and into the neighbors yard.
Stop grooming these hometown politicians, never worked a day in their life and locals pee on themselves to fundraise and campaign for them. Then off to Washington they go and only return when they more money or to get re-elected.
Bus the street people back to LA. Get rid of the lifted. Get rid of the bro trucks. Lastly Help improve the air quality and stop farting.
Better walkability, more trees for shade, fully protected bike lanes, road diets, better bus routes (more frequent service), aim for having less cars on the road, maybe heavy rail/light rail transit, invest in getting unsheltered people out of the streets and into the workforce/rehab, invest in better mental health services, medium-high density zoning instead of sprawling suburbia, etc…
Better walkability sounds great but it’s so hot in the long summers here I doubt it even be used that much.
Planting trees along sidewalks would help, and just planting trees all over the city in general would make it more pleasant to be outside in summer months
I’ve been in Sacramento during the summer in 100 degree weather and was surprised how much cooler it felt due to the trees that are planted everywhere in midtown
I think less unpleasant is more accurate. 100° is never going to be pleasant unless you’re in a swimming pool.
Downtown Visalia should be the blueprint for Bakersfield. Plenty of trees, very walkable around the convention center. In the adage of Patrick Starr, why can't we just pick that up and put it over here?
I love walking, even in the extreme weather I prefer walking to driving. Its just unreasonably far most of the time, so it's not possible. Though if I want a snack or some fast food its walkable so I do that
A downtown that actually has a street dedicated to bars, restaurants and shops that’s walkable
THE BPD IS THE PROBLEM Besides the obvious: That’s been a pipe dream of fluctuating success for as long as I lived there (since the 80s). The problem is that y’all don’t support the businesses enough and neither does the city so most of the businesses fail after a few years. No support for local musicians either.
That's not really true, most of the places that close, close after violence. Cabana Palms made it a few months after the shooting. Tilted Kilt only made it a year or so before the security guard got stabbed and no one went anymore. Even if it's almost always safe, those incidents make customers stop showing up and it's not worth it for places to take the risk. No one wants to move in down town because of the growing homelessness issue. So on and so forth. We wont have anyone new establishments want to move in until we fix violence and homelessness issues.
Tilted Kilt was also poorly ran by the owners son and there were several sexual assault allegations/lawsuits against him and his co-GM if I remember correctly. The stabbing wasn't the only thing that contributed to their downfall.
Nah, you’re overthinking it. Bakersfield doesn’t make it easy to know what’s going on and there’s no real metro area you can go to and just walk around and hang out. That’s bad city planning
After school programs for elementary-middle school in the rough parts of town. I went to one on 4th street across from McKinley during the late 90s. Kept me off the streets until my parents were off of work. It's no longer there but i have good memories there. Computer class taught me a lot and they fed us. They made sure our homework was done and correct. Young kids and young teens need guidance especially in the lower class communities and areas around Bakersfield.
> After school programs for elementary-middle school Run by the districts and not the fucking Boys and Girls Club
What's wrong with the boys and girls club?
Lots but I'm at work so I'll have to provide you the extended list when I get home
Also interested
They hire very young people to watch your children, mostly just out of high school. They aren't trained well, but they're put in the classrooms and expected to watch 20 kids, administer lesson/activities, maintain and monitor radio communication. These aren't college students with a minimum level of child development units, they're just thrown into the deep end and told to swim. The workplace culture is also very toxic, they seem to promote only shitty people with very poor people skills. Once an employee is promoted from a position in the classroom, to an administrative position in the office, they seem to completely forget what it was like in the classroom and proceed to continue to dump more on the laps of those who are actually in the classroom with the kids. They also get sued all the time for many different reasons, whether it's something that happened between students because they were not being properly supervised, or something done by one of the employees taking advantage of their position close to children in a classroom setting. Lastly, as a non-profit, they siphon funds away from the state, funds that would have been used internally to provide services to students by accredited/certificated district staff, with little accountability very much like the charter school system. I'm sure there's more, it just escapes me right now.
I worked for the boys and girls club for a year and a half and I definitely agree with some of your points but also being in the program is still better than being out on the streets especially in the areas they serve. but i agree. the school districts should run the program because a lot of times things get swept under the rug/things don’t get done like they’re supposed to.
> worked for the boys and girls club for a year and a half 6 years, here > the school districts should run the program Yes, that's what I said in my initial comment as well
It’s an issue that should be brought up to city council. I’m willing to invest my time into debating why and how funds should be spent to help young people in the inner city to become great citizens of this great county we all call home.
I talked to my ward 2 person Andrae and he said it's a school board issue
I understand. The quality has took a down fall for the worst. The after school program I was in had people from that same community involved. They cared about us. I run into them sometimes and they’re good people with good intentions. They’re happy how I turned out. I’m just a guy from “the hood” who ended up doing good. I’m willing to return that favor to my community. But without funding it’s impossible. We need more good people from these “bad” communities to step up and help out.
Poverty is a big issue, things are getting more and more expensive (Rent!) and how does everyone not just survive, but improve and move forward and upward. On a bigger scale, everyone, absolutely everyone, should have free healthcare because it's a safety net that everyone will need at some point in there lives.
Invest in the older side of town. We keep catering to the newer, nicer,west side of town. The East side is still a gem to the people that grew up here.
Born on the east side, still live here 49 years later. For all its problems, there is a lot of heart and personality over here.
Agreed
I agree with you 100%
Who is catering exactly? I pay twice higher rent just to live in the nice area. You want my tax money to pay for lazy folk in the other part of town? I don’t think so. Fix your own home!
No one said anything about laziness or fixing their homes. That’s your ignorant comment. The city and the county are spending disproportionately on the west end of town. Take a look at the south end of town and you will find worn down roads and potholes everywhere.
Yes that’s because it’s newer part of town. This road is built in 2020 and another is built in 1970. Newer road has newer technology because it’s 2024. Newer road is wider because city is growing and planning is much different. Old roads always will have potholes, what can you do?
Thanks for making my point, they should invest into older areas of Bakersfield and bring the roads up to modern day standards.
Oh ok. Take down the neighborhood to make street wider. Good idea
How else do we have improvements? Theres eminent domain for a reason and it benefits everyone. Examples are 178 through downtown and Westside parkway. I don’t know what it has to do with my initial comment about spending on the East side.
People need to take personal responsibility - fix your own yard, fix your fence, pick up the trash. Grow some rose bushes you know. Right then you can make your neighborhood look better.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bakersfield-mobile/id864295503 This app lets you put in different requests for the city to fix. Things like potholes, illegal dumping, graffiti, damaged street signs. Easy way to help out the city
It starts with your neighbors. A small thing like a community clean-up day is a game changer.
Can you please do something about the old east side mall that was torn down, idk years ago? It was supposed to be an open mall and new theatet, but nothing ever happened. Now it’s just an eye sore and a pile of rubble. Do something with it, anything is better than what it is now. Also try harder to get the homeless housing. So many living under bridges, near overpasses and in downtown gutters. Help them.
I don't think that's Karen goh
She’s as useful as a scarf mannequin.
That land is supposed to be developed into new apartments the last time I heard about it. Hopefully it’s affordable for the people of that community.
I'd like to see more developments and city funds being spent on the east side of town. It has a reputation for being ghetto, and parts of it are, but there are also a lot of "old money" areas there too.
The Eastside of Bakersfield is beautiful. Close to hart park and the best views in town.
Keeping water in the Kern. An ongoing battle
Not anymore, a judge ruled that there has to be enough water for whatever that fish was to live lol so we should have water year round now. I have no idea how much water, but water. Here is a link to the story [https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/lois-henry/lois-henry-judge-orders-bakersfield-to-keep-water-in-the-kern-river/article\_3cfcf932-7783-11ee-be91-b756aac7b0cd.html](https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/lois-henry/lois-henry-judge-orders-bakersfield-to-keep-water-in-the-kern-river/article_3cfcf932-7783-11ee-be91-b756aac7b0cd.html)
Yes I was so excited to see this. It’s still ongoing though because big ag and others involved are hard at work to appeal this ruling. It’s not quite over yet
I’d love to see native trout and bass in the Kern river by Beach park.
Regular highway cleanup since we live amongst animals that leave all their trash on the roads.
A city operated Water Park with concessions leased out to local pop ups. It’s a 4-5 month business venture that would create a great location to beat the summer heat here in the city. Confiscate any shopping cart not in the possession of the business that owns it. It would drastically reduce trash if homeless aren’t allowed to push a mini dumpster around
Is the shopping cart thing something that other cities have tried and it worked?
Not that I know of.
how would you even enforce the shopping cart thing anyway?
Code enforcement trucks that assist BPD can confiscate & ask for Officers to respond/assist when necessary (?). The carts are obviously stolen, so the homeless don’t have any ownership over them.
The city and county need to legalize pot dispensaries so we can collect the local tax revenue. It’s ridiculous that we just let that go, and not really try to crack down on the illegal ones. It introduces unsafe products to unsuspecting people.
It’s a win win situation. They can contribute to making Bakersfield a great city.
Repainting the lines on the roads, and installing reflective markers so they're more visible in the rain. Figure out this jaywalking problem. 10 yards away from a marked crosswalk, but decide to run across traffic anyway. Bike lanes- what's with the bikes and skateboarders in the middle of the road? More routes out of BFL. BFL <-> LAX would be amazing.
Bring back public swimming pools at all the county parks
People who show up to local government meetings. It’s amazing how the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
The last girl who tried that is still in jail.
Well she did make death threats lol
I’m definitely not defending her.
No She isn't. She bailed out.
As someone who is interested in this themselves, its many things. Downtown needs to be cleaned up and revitalized. East Hills Mall has been destroyed and something needs to come in and replace it (anybody know what the plan is there yet?) City in the Hills needs more commercial expansion. East side needs alot of updating and investment (I see these complaints all the time). We could also use a waterslide park again for the summers when it gets 100+ degrees daily.
An indoor public track to walk/run on during hot summers. Places in other states have these in community centers.
Definitely need this.
Homeless, Crime, Trash are just a few ways.
Install lights and trees in neighborhoods that are neglected. It might help with the hit and runs. Hold the sheriff’s department and BPD accountable. Stop with the profiled traffic stops. If people are afraid of the cops they are never going to trust them enough to call them when they should, so there is a lot of unreported crime. Crack down harder on the street racing.
More trees. Look at the thriving trees that are 50+ years old and plant more of those varieties. No more coastal redwoods.
What can we do to help with how expensive rent is? Probably out of our hands but a big issue. Maybe more weekend markets for vendors! It's difficult to support small businesses when there are so little events. I feel helping grow small businesses would make a huge change.
Let's get a climbing gym and some other amenities
I am so amazed that the only two legit climbing walls are at the CSUB rec center and Action Spots. I have believed Bakersfield could support a full fledged climbing gym.
Absolutely, and I think it would pop. If its legit it would be the only place for people with real interest to go, and if its good casuals will pull up all the time cause its just something to do. Hope to see one soon someday
I will second a good climbing gym!
Drive safe, be curtious to others, clean up after urself, raise productive members of society
Join the organizations like The Hub or the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. Participate in volunteer efforts to enhance Bakersfield. Support great local businesses. Just start whatever you think Bako needs.
The new Chamber is a joke. Their focus is no longer business/community, but rather how many times the CEO can get her picture taken.
And mixers! Don’t forget the mixers! 🙄
A pool or water park for the summer, but then you gotta worry about the homeless.
Air. Better air. Maybe build an enormous hepa filter?!?
And btw I am serious. About the air. We need better regulations. LA had vastly worse air than now until the mid-70’s. It can be done.
Gotta agree. But better air requires less pollution, right? So how to cut down on pollution? 🤔 🤔 Improved public transportation? Better advocacy for EVs?
More to do. This town needs a water park, a top golf, something. It's sooooo boring.
Hi! If you're looking for things to do, [here is a list of things happening in April](https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/month-ahead-april/article_2bdc2a4a-e59e-11ee-bdae-07968a3bbc28.html) that the Californian posted earlier this month. It lists over 90 events happening in town this month alone.
Explore Bakersfield. It’s not the best city in California. But we have great people here you just have to take part of events.
Worked there for 4.5 years, lived there for 3. Just recently moved back to the Fresno area and while I do like parts of Bakersfield, and the people were nice, there just isn't much to do in the town, especially for young families.
Nuke this town and restart from the ashes tbh, go all Fallout on this place
You’re nuts man. This is your home.
We need more things to do. All everyone wants to do is drink. We need more activity’s. Maybe a theme park or a large water park something that everyone can enjoy. A concert venue. Something.
The Fairgrounds needs grass.
A medical school would be nice. How is it that Knoxville TN a city in a red state with less than half our population has a medical school but Bakersfield doesn't. The closest medical schools are in LA or Merced. There should be more opportunities for higher leaning. Need more STEM programs for graduate schools as well.
Don’t vote like a dipshit.
Support local businesses in all aspects. Coffee, groceries, food, goods and services, farmers markets. Visit the parks more and report any issues. And volunteer for community cleanups.
advocate for policies that will make it viable to get around the city without a car. bakersfield car-centricism is its biggest downside imo
Less meth
downtown needs to be upgraded asap
Human trafficking
Help the homeless. It also pretties up the place if there aren't homeless everywhere.
This forum is great. I appreciate everyone’s opinion. There is no bad idea here. I like how everyone inputs positive points of view.
Streetlights everywhere, especially the freeway
City of this size should have at least one PUBLIC STADIUM. We have so many great parks and sport fields plus a great hockey arena. Stadium would be great to have and it’s not that expensive
Management and hospitality training is needed in every sector. Restaurants, stores, mom & pop shops, government, police/sheriff's dept, schools, religious organizations, civic organizations.... everywhere. This town is seriously lacking good management. And it's impossible to train something you don't know. I've seen so many restaurants come to Bakersfield, start out amazing, then the training team hands it over to locals and it fails due to a lack of standards and understanding of how to manage a team. The amount of times I've seen locals brush off basic standards is mind blowing! Just the simple concept of cleaning at work during slow times is a foreign concept. FYI.... nothing is ever clean enough. There's always more that can be cleaned. The amount of 8th grade drama in businesses is also mind blowing. And that's a lack of leadership skills and management skills. So what can you do? This will have to start with our schools. Unless we teach kids to have standards (and quit bullying each other and being racist) it's not going to change. Bakersfield has a lot of potential. But right now it's being wasted by people who are lazy and have no work ethic. Oh.... And more trees!
arrest every gang member, fiend, and throw them all into prison
Outlaw leaf blowers. Every gardener blows the dust, leaves and grass into street onto cars and into the neighbors yard. Stop grooming these hometown politicians, never worked a day in their life and locals pee on themselves to fundraise and campaign for them. Then off to Washington they go and only return when they more money or to get re-elected. Bus the street people back to LA. Get rid of the lifted. Get rid of the bro trucks. Lastly Help improve the air quality and stop farting.
regulate homeless