Results from Phase III Community Forums:
Centennial High School - March 9, 2000
Our Slogan:
� The best of California!
� Big on Hospitality
� A great place to visit-a better place to live
� A city you would be proud to live in
� And proud to give back too!
Our Image:
� People want to come here
� People = Asset
� I'm from Bako and proud of it
� Clean
� Contemporary
� Pedestrian friendly
� A town of willing inclusives
� Everyone is so caring and compassionate
� City of flowers & trees
� More pleasing transitions between housing/industrial/business/etc
� Where are you going to retire? Right here, of course.
� Clean, family friendly city
� Positive
� Destination spot (as we once were)
� Open-ness
� Inclusive
� Cultural high spot
Our reputation:
� A great place to raise kids
� State-of-the-art health care
� Quality living that is affordable
� The best of California!
� A great place to visit�a better place to live
� A friendly place
� No child abuse
� Being sought after
� Still affordable living
� Community wide diversified jobs
� Dynamic, progressive
� Bakersfield setting the standard!
� Oli, Agriculture & High Tech capital of California
Civic Culture:
� Leaders of our state, nation and the world
Business environment:
� Broad business base
� Lots of knowledge worker opportunities
� Affordable "Silicon Valley" environment
� Business employment cycles that keep seasonal workers employed
� Business supports city
� Nordstroms
� Many types of high-paying jobs
� Business friendly but responsible
� Healthy business climate - retention of current business - incubation of new businesses
� Attract large, reputable business that support our community's goals
� A great deal of interaction with our schools
Arts & Culture:
� Performing Arts Center
� Youth Arts Festival
� Numerous art galleries
� Continue outdoor murals with goal to have largest outdoor art gallery, depict Bakersfield history, founders, assets
� Business supported
� Big name concerts
� Broadway production quality plays
Heart of the City:
� Welcoming and walkable
� Outdoor shopping mall
� Downtown College Campus - CSUB
� Better use of water resources
� Much better and safer malls
� Skateboard friendly
� Business & cultural center
� Great restaurants
� Pedestrian friendly
� Places to have outdoor concerts and gathering spots
� Gas lamps/good lighting
� Trees-trees-trees
� Government center
� Revitalized buys downtown (as it was many years ago)
� With protection of Downtwon neighborhood areas
� Keep it clean!
� Great traffic flow
� Let downtown grow larger
� Infill!: build on empty lots downtown
� Excellent food; entertainment; inviting
� Good neighbors
� Broad based community/humanitarian service
� Respect and admiration for our history
Our Values:
� Respect
� Integrity
� Collaboration
� Family & church
� Where God/family and others come before self
� Family unity
� Tolerance
� Morals
� Love & protect our children
� Respect for others
� Patriotism
Technology:
� Every child with educational software at home
� Mecca for high tech companies
� Affordable place to do high tech business
� Tie to higher education opportunities
� Everyone has access to latest mediums of communication
Transportation:
� Shuttle services between residential/retail/downtown/transportation terminals (air/train)
� Mass transit system connecting centers of population, business, entertainment
� Historic transit vehicles that goes between downtown venues
� Water transit
� High speed rail (N, S, E, W)
� Mass transit - easy to get anywhere
� Satellite airport to handle U.S. transportation
� Use our flights so they won't leave us
� Ease of getting from place to place within city
� Parkway joining whole city
Biggest changes:
� Downtown housing
� Developed signature attractions
� Attractive "entrances" to the city
� Cleaner air
� Low drop out rate
� Connecting freeways
� More libraries
� No substandard housing
� Thousands of mature trees
� Highways all connect
� High speed rail system
� Bring back the water thru our town
� Stoop selling our water to L.A.
� Positive image
� Hispanic community active; included; involved; participating in the development of the city!!
Break Thrus
� No children with lead poison
� No surplus dogs & cats that need to be "put to sleep"
� 90% recycling
� Low unemployment
� "West" and "East" (of Hwy 99) meet and work together
� Decline in unemployment, fewer people with drug problems,
� Excellent qualtiy education for all students
� Trees everywhere
� Emphasize and enforce traffic safety
� Computer/high tech innovation developed here
Looking back I'm most proud of�
� Successful Vision 2020 process!
� Didn't become Fresno
� Community investment in children
What's Our Vision for Our Economy over the next 10-20 years?:
� Stable growth - not tied to just one or two industries
� More technical jobs and places where people can increase their technical skills
� ..and education for filling them
� Diversified, limited polluting industry
� Tourism, shipping, tech.
� Continual employment opportunities for seasonal workers
� Value added agriculture
� Water banking for community profit and habitat/open space
� Opportunity for anyone who wants to work
� Educational opportunities to create high paying jobs
� Stability
� Thriving agriculture
� Greater demand for domestic oil (ours)
� Lowest property tax in California
� More millionaires per capita than any other community
� Diversity
� Not only in volume but and concentration. Greater affluence will raise all boats
What kind of Economic Development Initiatives do we want to create?
� Credits designed to attract entertainment-leisure-Tech industries - communications
� Dedicate tax collection to industry/agency doing solicitation/market.
� Job/work force with skills that match business needs
� Incentives for using clean technology, recycling, telecommuting/transportation
� Remember small businesses can be remarkabley successful
� A cooperative effort among agencies
� Low or no taxes; Fewer or more streamlined regulations
� Tourism
� Support for home businesses
� Business retention policies
� Balance
� More women in leaderhship positions
What kind of Jobs do we want to attract here over the next 10-20 years?
� Non-polluting
� Limited use of chemicals
� More higher paying jobs - possibly more manufacturing
� High Tech
� Warehousing
� Service industry
� Hospitality industry
� Entertainment/arts
� Jobs with growth opportunities
� Jobs that pay adequately even at bottom levels
� Jobs-that are focused on brain power (less manual)
� So much demand that there is a shortage of knowledge workers
� E-commerce
� Companies that have many types and levels of jobs
� Auto assembly plant
� Production of goods - made in Bakersfield!
� Value added Ag, year 'round employment
� Light manufacturing
Our Vision for Downtown:
� River -flowing
� Trees! Trees! Trees! along Hwy 99
� Nice Welcome signs on Hwy 99
� Sculptures
� Murals
� Fountains
� Statues
� Parkway along river all through town
� Expanded Museum with family recreation, water park, cultural center
� Schools parks housing around 34th
� Old Town Kern: trees, businesses, retail
� River canal project around convention center
� Nordstroms
� Tunnel into center
� Latin Quarter
� Residence downtown
� More trees
� Businesses, Education Center, Art Center along canal Lake
� Exhibition Hall & Baseball stadium @ California & Union
� Lakeview: Trees; safe housing; Playgrounds; Parks, Retail - just like downtown
� A freeway with a new, landscaped look to reflect our great town
� Welcome to Bakersfield sign on 99
� 7th Standard/Golden State turns into a new loop around the city
� Run down hotel on Golden State now a major business center
� Arts District
� Lots of flowers and green ways
� No traffic or stoplight waiting on 24th. Not a defacto freeway
� Freeway doesn't end
� Housing downtown
� Tree lined side streets
� Senior housing
� Water along Truxtun
� Child care center and retail South of California
� Entertainment theme downtown from beginning California & throughout
� Lakeview: Industrial park
� No drug trafficking
� Mini-downtown
� Senior housing
� 34th Street: Pedestrian-oriented commercial center; Mass transit concentrated parking
� Canal looks like San Antonio
� Lake Boats
� River Walk
� Theatre District
� Thriving businesses
� Lots of people walking(all hours of day and night)
� Fun nightlife for residents and visitors
� Historic District a la Old Sacramento
� No panhandlers
� Big cool water park - East side
� Stadium South of Truxtun
What we Wanted and we got:
� Excellent medical care available
� International airport
� Neighborhoods (planned)
� Water park
� Trees - serenity
� Well maintained community parks
� Stadium, baseball
� A river that flows
� Good water quality
� More churches, temples, mosques, etc.
� Mountain views 365 days a year!
� Hillls & less productive (Ag) land used for community development
� Positive image
� Better transportation (infrastructure)
� Coordinated economic development
� Highest achieving students in the world
� Higher quality teachers with better pay!
� More cultural amenities, museums
� Better planning - land & water
� No children living in substandard homes
� Baseball stadium
� Lots of shade trees - good pruning
� Excellent, affordable child care for every need
� Concentric urban development with lots of parks & trees to shade us in the summer
� Available health care to ALL - not just emergency services
� Water theme park
� Ice rink
� Respect for each other
� Open spaces
� Identifiable, diverse neighborhoods
� More sports contest and leagues
� Lots of agriculture on this fertile land
� Attractive entrances to the city
� Higher education centers-CSU-UC, etc. that attract research-related companies, Tech-related
� More go-kart tracks
� High speed rail
� Business relating well to education
� CSUB relating well to buusiness
� A first class zoo!
� Open citizen participation in gov't/issues that affect citizens
� Community gardens
� Higher grade average to play sport (in high school)
� More adult volunteers for youth activities. Seniors/youth partners
� More games
� Clean air!
� Cooler cars!
� River walk running through the city with water
� Capitalize on the Kern River & "green up" the town
� Brighter paint & murals on buildings
� Clean streets, benches
� Much cleaners schools, and smaller classes
� Educational opportunities for working adults (e.g. evenings-weekend)
� Clean air- see the mountains every day!
� Indoor surfing park
� Safe highways East/West
� Senior centers/activities/housing
� Open space/natural areas nearby
� Better signage on streets
� Larger numbers to view from cars
What we didn't want, and we didn't get:
� Gangs
� Grafitti
� No longer "meth" capital
� School dropouts
� Air polluting businesses
� Ag burn - dust
� "Hich image"
� Child abuse
� More "adult" businesses
� Poorly maintaining Hwy 99
� Abandoned buildings
� Sprawl
� Pot holes
� Red light runners - macho driers
� Dry river bed
� Good ag land paved over
� Weakened moral values
� Intolerance
� Traffic/gridlock
� Gang violence
� No more leaf-blowers
� No moe leap frog development
� No L.A. gridlock
� No more cities buying land and using our city or county as their dump
� Kids who can't read
� Sprawl
� Contaminated water
� Major roads that are ugly
� Neighbors who don't have hope
� Unskilled substitute teachers
� High gas prices
� No more kids jumping in the river & dieing
� No more beggers & homeless people
� Automatic graduations for failing students
� A lot of dirt & dust
Common Themes:
� Trees
� Beautification
� River development
� Technology
� Historical value
� Transportation
� Arts & Culture
� Education
� Image
� Social environment
� Diversified
� Senior housing
� Traffic safety and efficiency
� Pedestrian friendly
� Investment in children and youth
� Family values
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