Results from Phase III Community Forums:

Facilitator Volunteers - February 8, 2000

Our Slogan:
� A great place for wonderful people
� A great place to live
� Sun, Fun, Stay, Play (why not) Our Image:
� Clean
� Uplifts and supports children and families
� The place to be�
� Identifiable as a Great Central Valley town (not like everyone else)

Our Reputation:
� Innovators!
� Includers
� Central Valley Leadership
� Love Bakersfield!!
� Great place to live
� People move here to retire

Civic Culture:
� Inclusive
� Proud
� Diverse
� Anyone that wants to participate can

Business Environment:
� Healthy & diverse
� Companies desire to locate here
� "Clean" industries locating here
� Many new industry clusters
� High paying
� Technology
� Business concerned with employees' health and well-being

Arts & Culture:
� Children & youth actively participating in art & culture events/activities
� Diverse-reflective of our population
� People travel here to enjoy our talents
� Art for all; by all; respected
� Public art abundant

Heart of the city:
� Vibrant!
� Tree lined streets!
� More schools
� Youth oriented
� Walkable
� Sooo�unique - featured in magazines
� Sidewalk cafes & entertainment
� Old and new work together
� Old neighborhoods are pleasing to the eye
� Less development on the automobile
� Invisible parking
� Riverfront commerce
� Good transportation to other parts of city

Technology:
� Technology-website based businesses
� Tech Center for Southern Calif.
� Availability
� High speed communication network to every home/business

Transportation:
� Big planes to big cities "non-stop"
� Electric vehicles/trams
� Street car from Baker St. to Chester
� Outlying communities with clean, easy access to hubs
� Public transportation accessible, affordable to all
� Attracting more airlines

Biggest Changes:
� Incredible, easy access to the right educational opportunities
� Clean, healthy air & water
� Trees with lots of foliage
� Bakersfield becomes a destination not a dirve-thru

Break-Thrus
� High tech industry center
� We embrace divesity
� City & county work together

Looking back I'm most proud of�
� Of our successful youth!
� Of our community's being able to work together
� Bakersfield is a wonderful, desireable place

What's Our Vision for Our Economy over the next 10-20 years?:
� Full employment in meaningful jobs
� Diverse ag-economy with value added production (world-wide)
� Utilize knowledge - don't discriminate by age (young or old)
� Respect for all professions - trash collection makes a big difference
� New industry clusters that bring new technology, high pay, diversity
� Jobs that pay enough to live well above the poverty level
� Well-educated workforce

What kind of Economic Development Incentives do we want to create?:
� Include the whole population
� Farmland conversion (zoning) - be clear where we want it and don't
� Development zones (help it happen where it isn't)
� Small business education plan
� Incentives for private revitalization of neighborhods/business
� Support (financial incentives) to private businesses that contribute to public infrastructure development

What kind of Jobs do we want to Attract over the next 10-20 years?:
� Jobs that pay a living wage at minimum
� High tech
� Professional
� Creative!
� Value-added to agriculture - food processing
� Medical
� Research
� Year round, livable wage, high tech, Ag industry
� Real good trained plumbers, automotive repair folks
� In field of personal development - emotional, spiritual as related to organizational effectiveness
� Diverse jobs..lots of opportunity to work and grow

Our Vision for Downtown:
� More lights in trees
� Outstanding museums
� Large evening farmers market
� Street Fairs
� Unusual public sculpture & art work
� Bike lanes
� Very Colorful
� Outdoor theater
� Thriving downtown area with may private businesses
� More fountains and public squares
� Shops with display windows
� Create an entrance into downtown on Chester beginning at 58 freeway. Change off ramp from H Street to Chester
� Living space - rent and owned
� Fun! Neat place to go
� Clean attractive roads
� Combine fiscal/recreation activities
� Cool
� Unique, out of the ordinary; a place to be inspired
� Wonderful cafes
� Safety
� All ages together & ethnic groups
� Modest signage
� Flowers everywhere
� A department store indowntown
� A grocery store
� It's identifiably Bakersfield (like Santa Barbara is SB) - in a good way
� Separate bike and walking paths
� A clean Central Park
� Unifying aesthetics in duilding design
� River through Central Park with bike & walking lanes
� Fishing
� Water fountains
� Water theme
� No cars in the center. People watching
� Downtown electric trolley
� Easy/safe bike parking

Our Vision for the Riverwalk:
� Public art
� Flowers
� Window boxes
� Pedestrian malls
� Lots of trees and grass
� Some water fowl to feed and watch
� Scheduled activities
� Art Shows
� Celebrates our diversity - food, entertainment
� Development of shopping malls and restaurants
� Outdoor cafes
� Open space
� Tulip trees
� Music everywhere
� Affordable child care facility
� Carousel ( a real one)
� Farmer's Market
� Integrated hotels, offices, shopping, housing
� Shuffle board, chess
� Outdoor stage
� Fountains
� Boat rides
� Trees
� Young/old together!
� Performing arts spaces
� Senior housing
� Street fairs
� Carnival
� Play structures
� Sand boxes
� Fenced areas
� Ease of public transportation
� Lake for non-motorized boats
� Expand the image of the river - within the community

Our Neighborhood Vision:

Image:
� Complete neighborhood
� Safe - NE
� Clean - no abandoned buildings - East, and everywhere
� Youth-oriented
� Mixed use- single/multi-family dwellings in a village atmosphere so each section in town develops its own character
� Walkable, bike rideable ( no more walls and cul-de-sacs)
� SE redevelop and equal part of the community

Specific things to do:
� Shopping mall - Stockdale/West
� Fine dining - East
� Grocery shopping SE (Vons)
� Neighborhood Park/Rec East
� Support development of basic commercial services at the neighborhood level
� Walkable communities
� SE develop housing/commercial/industrial project

Values:
� Mixed in economic status and ethnic/racial diversity
� Family oriented
� Safe - families on porches, block parties
� No need for juvenile detention facilities
� Trust
� SE/location/affordable land
� All people respected

Goals:
� Revitalize slums - NE
� Bike patrols (community policing)
� SE organize the business/property owners to get involve in leading the mvoe to develop the area

Biggest Changes:
� Vision of neighborhood expands beyond the walls of the subdivision
� Shopping center that is supported and prospers in the Southeast and Northeast
� SE get the whole community behind effort to develop the area, working in the business/property owners as equal partners - public/private partnership

Other:
� No graffiti
� Community based health centers
� Neighborhood association
� SE deal with crime/gang/drug problem for area so investment capital will come into the area

Common Themes:
� A lot of interaction with other community members
� Economic development in all parts of the community
� Make it better�
� Trend to make things more attractive
� Optimistic but superficial in some respects
� High tech
� Need more diversity
� Transportation
� Quality of life
� More people places - opportunities for interaction
� Educate people to reach financial independence and diversity
� Diverse and unique but all works together
� Plan for growth by all - building on quality, taking our future in our own hands
� Attract something big/new/better
� Having FUN..even downtown
� We like the out-of-doors: bike trails, sidewalk cafes, not inside
� Less dependence on single auto transport
� Inclusive
� Clean water
� Family
� Better transit system to clue outsiders

[ Return to Phase III Community Input ]