Results from Phase III Community Forums:
Community Connection for Childcare - March 28, 2000
Our Slogan:
· We care!
· Where the distance makes a difference!
Our Image:
· Colorful
· Perfect Collaboratio
· Friendly
· Clean Neighborhoods
· Clean up Trash - demolish abandoned buidings
· Open-minded
· Family & spiritually oriented
· Sophisticated
· Children first
· Lowest teen pregnancy rate in state!
· Clean
· Green with landscape still has farming
· Trees
· Family oriented community
· Improved law enforcement
Our Reputation:
· Encouraging
· Energetic
· Famiely-oriented
· Fun, Friendly
· Family (not) Redneck
· Tough on crime
· Best town to visit
· Excellent education performance
· Family friendly employment opportunities abound
· Child friendly
· Aggressive in addressing problems (not swept under the rug)
· Great schools for all the districts
· Cultural diversity
Civic Culture:
· We hold officials accountable
· City & county officials housed in same building
Business Environment:
· On-line
· Hang on to our farming & Ag
· 4-day work week
· More customer service, less on-line
· Technological companies attracted to our city
· Lots of jobs for our high school/college graduates
· Downtown shopping area: revitalized - tax breaks for new businesses using existing locations; transportation into downtown shopping area
· World exporter
· Better educated children & teachers = better jobs
· Small businesses thrive
· Minority business opportunity
Arts & Culture:
· Strong music/art programs - elementary schools and up
· More arts & culture Period!
· Scjhool & community partnership
· Good food
· Theater district downtown - Fox/Nile/Stars & more
· More poetry classes during the summer for the youth
· A community center where the community is involved with their own talents, fun activity
· More plays, operas
· Jazz clubs
· Jazz music stations
· Children's discovery center "hands-on"
· A branch of the West Coast Smithsonian
· Larger museum
· Live Children's Theatre
· Outside concerts
· Rock-n-Roll club
· Affordable oldies concert
Heart of the City:
· Greenbelts, not canals
· Open the Kern River canal through center
· More trees
· Everyone makes a difference!
· Cleaner city for the East side
· Outside shopping mall like San Antonio River walk, for families and out of towners to want to visit Bakersfield more than one night
· Our children, our families, our seniors
· Our attitude
· Zoo
Technology:
· Jobs
· All students have access to computers
· Internet technology in auto
· Hand held computers with children accessing
· All children & families have access to tech. In homes and schools
Transportation:
· High speed rail linking La-Bay area through Bakersfield
· Major airlines
· Connect to the desert
· Clean highways
· Efficient, low cost public transportation
· 24 hour transportation - free
· Convenient to wherever you live an where you want to go
· Low gas prices!
· Easy access (high speed train) to L.A./San Francisco ( and Las Vegas)
· More natural gas powered vehicles, less pollution
· Beautification of highways
· Bus trips to beaches - weekly
· Trams thru heavily populated areas - i.d. S.F>, L.A.
Our Values:
· Environmnet
· Family activities
· Responsibility
· Youth projects
· Everyon needs to take responsibility for their actions and tougher laws
· Value diverse children and family life styles
· Value the blue collar workers the substance of our society
Biggest Changes:
· Clean, colorful, inviting freeways
· More amusement parks and recreational areas
· Convenient air travel everywhere!
· Union Avenue Plunge reopened
· CSUB - Division 1 sports
· All air pollution resolved
· #! Football team - NFL
· Child development mandatory to graduate
· Cleaner autos fuel economy
· No prejudice
· Disbandment of KKK/Militia
· Affordable living for seniors
Break Thrus
· Quality after school programs with transportation
· Better medical research & technology here
· Finding cures (medical/mental health)
· Every neighborhood has neighbor watch and get to know their neighbors
· Every school open to your for activities 18 hours/day
· Professional women's sports
· A government that lends to the diversity of the entire community
Looking Back I'm most proud of…
· Centennial Garden
· Our safe, beautiful parks
What's Our Vision for Our Economy over the next 10-20 years?
· Higher wages
· Diverse cultures represented in the workplace and classrooms!
· Utilizing the tech. For agriculture
· Improve high school education and more college & programs
· With more higher ed classes offered @ high school campuses
· On-line business
· Cost of living and pay more equal
· 4 day work week/5 day pay (8 hours per day)!
· Speed train that travels from Northern to Southern Calif. - Direct service-no buses!
· 7:30am-4pm work day
· Use cloth bags for shopping
· Funding to revamp older housing communities
What kind of Economic Development Initiatives do we want to create?
· Music industry
· Exporting Companies
· Camping attraction areas for families
· One more critical care hospital i.e.KMC
· Movie industry
· More major corporations based locally to attract our graduating college students to stay or come back
· We need to create businesses that export outside our county
· On-line local/regional Resource list
· Community development to revitalize smaller "downtown" communities within Metro-Bakersfield
· More stores/businesses - Southeast
What kind of Jobs do we want to attract here over the next 10-20 years?
· More science-oriented
· 4-day, 6 hours jobs with full time pay; in work of child care (free); in work gym (free)
· More businesses working from home because of technology
· Technology
· Warehouse/distribution factory
· Transportation
· School-age programs
· Experienced Quality Teachers (all ages)
· Internet expansion
· Technological!
· Work-voice activated computers!
· Variety for all ages & stages
· Jobs available for our 18-20 year olds not just fast food!
· 4 day work week/more time with family & older people
Our Vision for Downtown:
· Golden State blight free
· Include areas out to Allen Rd NW to SE to SW in the planning
· Street lights
· Create more activities on weekends at Downtown to make it more inviting or spend the weekend.
· Change (24th) - large hwy!
· Walking mall with specialty shops and restaurants
· Riverwalk along central Park
· Youth Center south of California, with more teen happenings, events, fun, safe places to go - Park
· Cleaner streets
· Super market in Lakeview area and 2 Center Day Care
· More landscaping
· Clean up River and widen 178
· Safe neighborhoods on 34th ST
· More river access
· Cleaner streets and more trees in 34th
· IMAX
· Soccer fields by Museum
· River left natural with horse & bike trails
· More synchronized lights on 24th St.
· Block off residential area from 24th
· Kern River Parkeway kept green - no freeway
· Highway connecting NW to downtown
· Shopping mall
· Park surrounding South Fork of Kern with boats and a bike path
· River concerts
· Horses
· Multicultural festivals
· Parks and Rec.
· Landscaped and updated housing near 178 and Beale
· Rehabilitated businesses and homes around Beale - assistance given to fix up rundown property
· Supermarket @ Truxtun and E.B.
· Lakeview area: More childcare centers; more soccer fields; free/low cost recreation programs and cewnters; More employment opportunities; Less graffiti/lower crime rate
· Quality child care
· Homes to move unwed moms towards self sufficiency
· S. of California: Children's hospital; Housing for families with in-patient children
· County hospital (another one)
· Supermarket on Union Ave.
· Rebuild Union Ave. hotels, etc.
· Get rid of weird one-way streets and no-turn intersections
· Grocery store downtown
· Theater District downtown
· S. of California: no more slum lords!; Own here, live here!
· Require clean-up of properties
· Play areas for children
· Better access tp servoces: grocery stores, banks, dept. stores, cleaners, auto repair - Lakeview
· Cleanup Lakeview Ave.
· Metrolink with W. Kern
· More shopping stores and restaurants
· Do not move centoer of commerce from downtown to new Amtrak station
· Same types of activities NOR offers @ Beale and also @ 34th St.
· Let the water out of canal - Greenbelts, parks!
· Open canal for walkway
· Trees, trees
In our Community's Future We Wanted and We Got..
· Cultural diversity
· Good transportation between E & W Kern
· Curbside recycling
· Less traffic on Rosedale Hwy!
· Free or low cost activities for youth
· High speed train
· More affordable housing development
· Jr. High School males working part-time with professional males
· More Trees
· More outdoor summer concerts
· Great community interest in quality child care
· Family-oriented activities for single parents & children
· More entertainmnet (publicity)
· Make all neighborhoods safe
· Our youth to see and project positive attitudes
· Low cost of living
· S.W. Airlines
· Drive In Theaters
· Vocational education opportunities
· More good restaurants
· International airport
· Ethnic restaurants
· Community gardens instead of vacant lots
· More free after school programs
· Theater - Centennial
· The Beacg!!
· More jobs for the youth
· Outlet Mall!
· All moms and dads realize importance of family life
· Teenage clubs (14-17 years old)
· All day kindergarten schoo;
· Cooler climat (85 degrees) year round'More emphasis on "small" community development
· Lower cost of living in the SW
· More (family/children) group activities in the NE
· Water Park/Amusement Park
· Zoo/Disneyland
· Affordable Vet. Care (student voc. Training ) dogs, cats, horses, etc.
· Less crime
· Youth programs/more school age after school activities (with meals) summer activities expanded/holiday too!
· Quality & affordable lifing for seniors
· More colleges
· High speed rail to L.A.
· Kern River Parkway kept as Green Belt & recreation area/horse trails
· Agriculture/oil still the basis of our community
· Children's hospital
· More bike paths
· Centers open more hours and weekends (affordable)
· More programs to move the homeless towards self-sufficiency
· Increase child care supv.
· Quality childcare teachers who understand and implement child development theories and practices and really take them to heart
· CSUB with more Ag programs
· Mandatory recycling
· Bring the trades back in H.S.
· High school graduates
· Every person volunteering at least once a month in their community
· Recover our Kern River
In our Community's Future, What We Didn't Want and Didn't Get..
· Isolation of services
· Pollution
· Outrageous gas prices
· Traffic gridlock
· Increased gang activity - violence
· No more dairies in area!
· Track homes
· Increase in # of strip Malls"
· Grand Canal Project
· Elks Club on Calif. Ave./Lakefiew
· Higher property taxes
· Continuation schools
· No more Rock-n-Rodeo
· No more Crystal Palace
· Los Angeles moving towards Bakersfield
· Crime and sewage
· More empty shopping centers (No!)
· Adult entertainment in city limits (No!)
· Graffiti
· Our city to get TOO BIG
· Overpopulation
· Cost of living increases
· Teenage pregnancies
· To lose our sense of community
· School dropouts
· Increase population/traffic
Common Themes:
· Transportation
· Youth activities
· Healthcare
· 4 day work week
· Less crime
· Downtown as cultural center
· Improved educational opportunities
· Jobs
· Affordable housing - SW
· Affordable Quality child care
· Cleaning up the town
· River theme
· Changing image
· Less pollution
· Recreational opportunites - especially water
· Curbside recycling
[ Return to Phase III Community Input ]
