Phase III  

Community Visioning Meeting

Stockdale High School

April 13, 2000

Our Slogan:

�        The spirit of �Baker�s Field� still lives

�        �Hot spot � Cool Place�

�        Come stay for awhile

�        The Venice of the Valley

�        California�s hometown

�        Don�t just drive thru: Stay for awhile

�        The biggest small town you�ll find

Our Image:

�        A community that embraces all of its members

�        Smart planners

�        Clean, safe city

�        Attractive convention city with arts, theatre, music

�        Green & Water

�        Trend setting and innovative

Our Reputation:

�        Residents committed to higher standards

�        Helpful

�        Loving community

�        Friendly, caring community

�        A place where people can come to raise a family

�        Still a family community

�        Friendly

�        SLO of the valley � a place people want to be

Civic Culture:

�        Kids want pools

Business Environment:

�        Fostering family owned business

�        �Business-friendly� govt. agencies

�        Organic Ag

�        An international agriculture and trade center

�        Vibrant downtown and many business clusters in all areas of Bakersfield

�        More locally owned businesses

Arts & Culture:

�        Music center

�        Opera house

�        Kern River School of Art

�        Art Museum

�        Beautiful Central Park

�        Music Center for Symphony

�        IMAX Theater

�        Children�s Museum � hands on

Education:

�        Engineering, other hi-tech university courses

�        Less than 5% dropout rate

�        Each H.S. graduate to have a resume and samples of work on a CD

Heart of the City:

�        The Kern River Green Belt

�        Kern River Parkway with Sam Lynn the middle and a park

�        More people living there

�        Outdoor cafes

�        A vibrant downtown full of activity and people

�        Diverse, friendly people

�        Cafes/restaurants/shopping � a downtown marketplace

�        A dome in the center of the city with a controlled atmosphere

Our Values:

�        Small town

�        Character counts

�        Family oriented � high morals and caring

Technology:

�        Internet hub  - also fulfillment

�        More computer access in classrooms

Transportation:

�        Airplanes +++.com

�        Monorail to L.A. and In town light rail

�        Car pools encouraged

�        Hovercraft and computer guidance systems for all vehicles

�        Community clusters so people can walk to shopping, work, school, etc.

�        Bakersfield is a major stop on the interstate high speed rail

Biggest Changes:

�        Direction of growth from SW to NE

�        Cessation of developer-driven planning

�        More deputy sheriffs in county areas

�        Competitive newspaper (another choice besides the Californian

�        Widespread youth centers throughout the community and each neighborhood

Break Thrus:

�        Healing center

�        No poverty, hunger, or joblessness

�        Cleanest air in the valley

�        We conquered the �digital divide� � a computer in every home

�        Lots of water in river and parks all year

Looking back I�m most proud of�

�        The changes we�ve made in improvement of air quality, health care, ag techniques, conservation of farmland, city growth towards the hills (East)�

�        A successful Vision 2020 project!!!

What�s our Vision for our Economy over the next 10-20 years?

�        Lots of entry and high tech jobs

�        Crafts training through apprenticeship programs for students that may not go on to college

�        State and federal offices

�        Advance from an ag based economy to a more technologically based economy

�        More jobs in financial sector

�        Less dependency on oil and ag

�        Less government/more entrepreneurial spirit

�        More diversity

�        Hometown owned business

�        More support for zoo, art museum

�        Light manufacturing (computer components, etc.)

�        Canneries, cheese factories, dehydrators, etc. � outside of Bakersfield to create more good jobs

What kind of Economic Development Initiatives do we want to create?

�        Quality business clusters

�        Vocation opportunities for students who don�t go to college

�        We need more workers for service areas

�        Waiver of some fees for infill development

�        Canneries to use produce grown here

�        Tax incentives to draw desirable businesses

What kind of jobs do we want to attract here over the next 10-20 years?

�        Information age work � higher paying and educational strategies to achieve

�        Historic tours

�        Jobs for kids

�        International commerce

�        Electronically connected home based jobs

�        Quality medical care

�        We need to improve teachers performance

�        Publishing

�        Movie industry

�        Research centers

�        Healing Center � �Complementary Care�

�        Think tanks

�        Medical clinic � private

Our Vision for Downtown:

�        Modern airport

�        Expand K.C. Museum

�        Clear off blocks downtown and build homes

�        Utilize Hopper property

�        Trees

�        More green on 58 and 99

�        New City Hall on Truxtun with park between city hall and county admin building.

�        Single and multi family housing in the area of Central Park

�        Art Museum expanded downtown

�        Housing in the Northeast

�        World renowned museum complex at K.C. Museum site

�        New baseball stadium at Sam Lynn

�        Underpass of Hwy 178 thru town with parkway on top

�        Nordstrom along Chester Ave. Upscale housing  near Riverwalk

�        Riverwalk completed to tourist and recreation area between Truxtun and California

�        High density housing downtown

�        Farmers Market and entertainment at night like SLO

�        A beautiful park for children (Central Park) with a Carousel � near Bak. Museum of Art

�        Lakeview: revitalized neighborhoods � parks that are safe � neighborhood supermarkets and retailers

In our Community�s Future We Wanted and We Got�

�        Better shopping ( ex. Nordstrom)

�        Tree ordinance

�        Low cost entertainment for teens

�        Better schools K-12

�        Protection of air and water quality

�        Water Park

�        River Walk

�        More government support for the Arts

�        Mandatory recycling

�        More efficient public transportation system

�        Lots of open space interspersed throughout the city

�        Cracker Barrel!

�        We need educational support for ag based business: i.e.ag training inbusiness, growth, etc.

�        Higher paying jobs

�        Curbside recycling

�        Large community Foundation

�        Landscaped 99 freeway

�        Continuous Crosstown freeway

�        �BART� type transit

�        A beautiful river

�        Arboreal atmosphere � tall, cooling

�        Whitewater Parks, �slolam boating�

�        Better enforcement  of traffic laws

�        An area outside of greater Bakersfield for dairies, cheese factories, oil refineries, etc.

�        Clean air and water

�        Ag land protected primarily with row crops

�        Clean safe water running year round in the Kern

In our Community� Future We Didn�t Want and We Didn�t Get�

�        L.A. Refuse or from any other place

�        Loss of prime agricultural lands to urban sprawl

�        Urban blight (existing, un-used facilities)

�        Sprawl/without planning

�        Polluted air

�        Unwed parents and teen pregnancies

�        Mega dairies

�        Excessive pesticides

�        No homeless

�        Messy freeways

�        Sprawl

�        To be the dairy center of CA

�        Air that�s polluted

�        Abandoned buildings

�        More WWF Shows

�        Developments without dust control

�        Crowding

�        Developer-driven (tailwagging dog) planning

Metropolitan Bakersfield � 2010 General Planning Area

�        Fill in blanks before building outward

�        Upscale housing downtown

�        Hwy 178 connects to Golden State North to connection with Hageman

�        Residential construction to the Northeast

�        Whitewater Park and Recreational Area at the East end of river � Develop/clean the river

�        Clean, safe water running in the Kern year round

�        No housing In SW quadrant

�        Big dairies are great in the right place (S end)

�        Protect Ag lands with primarily row crops as we have had traditionally � yes on 3,000 cow dairies properly located with dairy inspectors and regulations to oversee. Cap the number of dairies in CA

�        Small sized dairies (3000 cows are enough) S of 223

�        Several parks S of town � more trees

�        Housing with trees ala �Old Westchester and Oleander�

Common Themes:

�        Trees

�        Water

�        River as resource

�        Changes

�        Houses/homes

�        Downtown redevelopment

�        Freeway connection

�        Clean air

�        Proper planning

�        Education

�        Arts

�        Diversity employment/education

�        Family town