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

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