Husband of a Bakersfield native dies in an avalanche in eastern Oregon, and The Padre Hotel refinances its debt

  * … AVALANCHE: It turns out there was a local connection to a terrible avalanche in eastern

Oregon that killed two people and injured two others. According to reader Nelda Oldham, it was the husband of her grand daughter Laurel Coulter who died in the mishap. Authorities said Shane Coulter, an aeronautical engineer, was cross country skiing in the Wallowa Mountains when he was killed. Laurel, who was born in Bakersfield, is also an aeronautical engineer with Boeing in Seattle. "He was an expert skier," Oldham said. "Shane was a wonderful ,modest young man and our family is devastated."

 * ... PADRE: The Padre Hotel has successfully refinanced much of its debt with a $10.7 million loan from Fresno-based United Security Bank. The loan refinances the debt the Padre incurred during the acquisition process and construction, but leaves in place a loan made by the City of Bakersfield. The bank's local vice president, Bart Hill, negotiated the deal and says this is one of the biggest real estate loans in downtown Bakersfield in the last five years. It is also a sign, Hill said, of the vitality of downtown Bakersfield and the local economy in general. United Security Bank is headquartered in Fresno with a dozen branches mostly located in the San Joaquin Valley. The bank purchased Taft National Bank eight years ago. The refinancing leaves San Diego developer Brett Miller as the sole owner of The Padre.

 * … CAFE: There's a beautiful new addition to our downtown restaurant scene over on L Street near the Sequoia sandwich shop. It's called Cafe Wall Street and it is owned by the couple that runs the successful sushi restaurants Enso and Toro at The Marketplace. The interior is stunning, featuring soft lighting, wide distressed wood floors and vintage iron light fixtures. I stopped by the other day and was told the official grand opening will not come until next month, but it is now serving customers in its soft opening.

 * … EATERY: And speaking of restaurants, congratulations to the folks over at the Little Italy restaurant in the Town and Country shopping center who are celebrating 10 years in business. To celebrate, the owners are offering $10 lunch specials all year.

 * … TWITTER: This humorous thought was posted on Twitter: "When life knocks me down, instead of getting back up I usually just lie there and take a nap."

* … MEMORIES: Judi Anderson Gahagan wrote with this question about Valley Plaza: "We would like to know what year the Valley Plaza mall opened, and we want to know if any readers remember a 'drug' type store being across from Wyatt's Cafeteria, and the name of this store. At a family dinner we could not come up with a name for this store… one member in our family could remember his mom buying donut holes inside this store." Judi: Valley Plaza opened in 1967 but I am not familiar with the store in question. Maybe other readers can help.

Former San Joaquin Bank president Bart Hill returns to the banking industry with United Security Bank, and Bako makes a list of the "least romantic" cities

 * ... NEW JOB: Bart Hill, the last president and chief executive officer at the old San Joaquin Bank, has returned to banking with a new job. Hill is now vice president and regional manager for United Security Bank, a Fresno-based financial institution with two locations in Kern County. USB is

 a 25-year-old full service community bank with offices up and down the San Joaquin Valley that puts an emphasis on commercial lending. Previous to this, Hill worked in the development offices at Cal State Bakersfield. He said he is "excited to return to banking and will be helping USB perform the traditional role of a community bank, which is simply working to make Kern County a better place to live. I look forward to continuing my community involvement and encouraging the participation of USB employees."

 * ... LITTER: The problem with litter in our community seems almost intractable, but reader David Losa suggested something different from his experience living in Utah: a vacuum truck on the road to pick up trash. "It was no different from a trash and garbage collector truck. But instead of forks to empty dumpsters and big clamps to empty trash cans, the trucks had vacuum and suction hoses controlled by the operator to pick up litter. If our city could procure this equipment that would mitigate the safety issues related to directly exposing personnel to vehicular traffic, risk of contacting valley fever from working outdoors and speed up the operation."

* ... LEAST ROMANTIC: Bakersfield has made another list, this time ranking as one of the "least romantic" cities in the nation. That is according to the movie rental company Redbox, which compiled its list based on the total number of "romance related" movie rentals last year. The most romantic cities were Marquette, Mich., Greenville, N.C., La Crosse, Wis., Ames, Iowa and Greensboro, N.C.  The least romantic list included Laredo, and Midland, Texas, El Centro, Ca.,  the Texas cities of Victoria,  Odessa, McAllen and Houston, Bakersfield, Fresno, and finally Beaumont, Texas.

 * ... CRIME WATCH: This idea comes from a reader who asked to remain anonymous. Leaving your garbage bins on the street all day advertises to would be burglars that no one is at home. On garbage pickup day, designate someone on your block to make sure all the containers are removed quickly after the the trucks make their rounds.

* ... BANDUCCI'S: Inez Coronado was mentioned in this column as someone who worked at the old Banducci's Corner. She reached out to me to share her story: "I started to work there when I was 20 years old. My mother, Kathy Lewis, was working there at the time. I have some wonderful memories about customers and co-workers. Julie Banducci and Lee Stanley were some tough bosses, but were some of the best.  One of my most favorite memories is having my daughter tell me, as an adult, that she loved having me come through the door after getting off work at Bnaducci’s because I always smelled of spaghetti. Some co-workers from Banducci’s still get together at Christmas time. I met the most wonderful people I will always remember. Some of these folks now frequent Doubletree where I have worked since shortly after Banducci’s closed its doors  I could write two books, one for Banducci’s and one for Doubletree. What a wonderful way to spend your career, to meet wonderful caring people every day of your life."

Longtime Californian editor Mike Jenner leaving for academia and watching for fireworks in the Scrivner-Perez runoff

* .. FAREWELL: Mike Jenner, the longtime editor and voice of The Californian in his popular weekly "Sound Off" column, is leaving to become the dean of an endowed chair of journalism at his alma mater, the University of Missouri. Mike is one of our community's true good guys, deeply involved in civic life and committed to making this a better place to live. He came here a single man 17 years ago and is leaving with a wife (Jean), two energetic boys (Joe and Andrew) and wonderful memories of Bakersfield. He is a dear friend and he will be missed. Replacing him is another longtime friend of mine, John Arthur (photo below). John is former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times where he headed coverage for two Pulitzer Prize events, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the North Hollywood bank shootout. A resident of Santa Monica, John's wife is from Bakersfield so he knows our community well. No doubt he'll soon know it even better.

* ... SCRIVNER-PEREZ: Now that Zack Scrivner has made it into the runoff with Steve Perez for the 2nd District county Supervisor post, you wonder what the unions will do to keep him out of office. The fire fighter's union launched a sharp and expensive campaign against Scrivner, who has led the charge for public pension reform and to make the public employees pick up more of their health care costs. Perez served two terms as a supervisor as well as 26 years in the Kern County Sheriff's Office. This should be a spirited race to watch.

 * ... EAST BAKO: A reader named Kelly submitted these thoughts about growing up in East Bakersfield: "The Big T atop the ThriftyMart grocery store! How about on the Fourth of July when Bakersfield College would shoot out toys attached to parachutes into the surrounding neighborhoods! I cannot talk about the Helms man without getting all misty eyed!"

 * ... DUI CHECKPOINTS: The Bakersfield Police Department will be conducting DUI checkpoints on Saturday, June 19, and the following Friday, June 25. To avoid trouble, simply don't drink and drive or take a cab. No sense asking for trouble. Be careful out there.

 * ... TIME FLIES: Hard to believe it has been over eight months since San Joaquin Bank was seized by state and federal regulators and shut down. For years the bank was a local institution known for supporting non-profits and local businesses. Now it's gone and most of the executives and employees have landed elsewhere. Former bank financial officer Steve Annis is now at Valley Republic Bank, and former CEO Bart Hill is working in fund raising at California State University Bakersfield.

 * ... SMASH 'N GRAB: A friend was the victim of a "smash and grab" recently when she parked and locked her car - for just two minutes - in front of a prominent retailer off Truxtun Extension. Thinking she was safe in broad daylight with the car locked, she left her purse on her seat. She returned just minutes later to a smashed window and stolen purse.A bad economy makes for desperate times.

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Terry Willey: "You know you're from Bakersfield when someone mentions a 'bluff' and you don't think of poker."

Short takes around town: The generosity of Marv Steinert and a rescue dog finds a home in Bako

* ... THE GENEROSITY OF MARV: How would you react if  you awoke virtually blind? One day you are healthy and productive and the next you're facing total darkness. If you're like me, you'd likely spend far too much time wallowing in self pity and asking "why me?" Which is why the story of Marvin Steinert is so amazing. Marv is the local businessman who is suffering from an illness known as "temporal arteritis," a rare condition that causes inflammation of the blood vessels to the head, and it has left him blind. (read the previous post here) But instead of withdrawing, Marv is spending his time keeping in touch with the community and having family members read him the newspaper and other publications. Marv is a longtime active member of the downtown Rotary Club, and when his son read him a club bulletin about Memorial Hospital's drive to build a 60-bed children's hospital, he responded by writing a check for $50,000 to support the effort. (read the full Memorial story here) Marv apparently wants the money to go to the new PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) which is all part of the big drive by Memorial CEO Jon Van Boening to give our community a children's hospital so our ill kids don't have to be sent north to Fresno or south to Los Angeles. Folks who know  Marv are not surprised by his generosity, but given his own health challenges, this gesture is simply awe inspiring.

 * ... BART HILL'S GRACIOUS EXIT: At last week's downtown Rotary meeting Bart Hill, former CEO of San Joaquin Bank, took the floor microphone and made a gracious speech thanking the community for the support all these years. Bart was accompanied by his wife, North Carolina-born interior designer Napier, and pulled no punches in talking about the demise of San Joaquin and the last-ditch efforts by board members to save it. He had only nice things to say about Citizens Business Bank, which took over San Joaquin in a state and FDIC operation on Friday, October 16. Bart said he plans to stay in the community and will likely look for work after taking some personal time off. Bart has served on a number of nonprofit boards around town, including the Tree Foundation of Kern and the downtown Rotary, and he will continue to serve as a director on my board at The Californian. He received a standing ovation.

 * ... GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE: The latest report from the Great Valley Center held no surprises, but it's a depressing read nonetheless. According to a story in the Visalia Times-Delta newspaper (read the story here), the Valley Center says indicators like poverty, foreclosures and joblessness are up, and they aren't likely to get better anytime soon. "We think the timetable for economic recovery in the Central Valley is going to be slower than the rest of the state," said Amy Moffat, the center's director of research. "Overall, poverty and unemployment are high. There is a deficit of good jobs while the general population and those seeking jobs continue to grow." Kern County's grim statistics speak for themselves: a dreadfully low percentage of college educated adults, a staggeringly high adult illiteracy rate (nearing 25 percent for the entire county) and one of the highest high school dropout rates in the state. So dig in, it's going to be a long slow crawl back to what we once viewed as normal.

 *  ... RESCUE DOG FINDS HOME: The problem with abandoned and abused pets in our community has been well documented and is tragic beyond words. How many times have you cringed watching the stray dog meandering lost through traffic on Ming Avenue or Chester on your way home? So I was happy to read on Facebook that Jim Pappe, a software specialist at Lightspeed Systems downtown, rescued an abandoned dog while on his way home Friday. Jim is a bicycle commuter and found the dog tied to a fence off the bike path. In his words:

 "He is very gentle, attentive, well-kept. No collar nor tags, just a leash. When I first saw him, he was tied up as if someone was coming back for him after their run. When I came back 4 hours later, it was dark and apparent something was amiss. I posted on Craigslist to see if someone just forgot to pick him up. I'm hoping not..."

 When Jim went back to check on the dog at 9 p.m. Friday, he found him huddled and afraid. He finally had to coax him out and spent some time just sitting with him before untying him and taking him home. Early Sunday Jim told me the dog had warmed to his wife Debbie and their children, spent a quiet and restful night and took a nice walk around the  park near his Southwest Bakersfield home. Now that's a happy ending.

Bruce Maclin out at San Joaquin Bank, jobless figures higher than expected

* ... SHAKEUP AT SAN JOAQUIN: Big news over at San Joaquin Bank where longtime chairman Bruce Maclin is out in questionable circumstances. It's being positioned as a retirement but Maclin is out, replaced as chairman by board member Rogers Brandon, co-owner of American General Media and a member of the board since 2000. This is a significant development that no doubt will be viewed favorably by potential investors, who are being asked to pony up significant money to keep the bank afloat and to get federal regulators off the bank's back. Maclin's role was seen by many as redundant since bank President Bart Hill is the real public face of the bank and has been in charge of the daily operations. His departure will not only save the bank significant money (his salary, canceled retirement package etc)  but also put a fresh face and new urgency behind the bank's quest to recapitalize. Brandon, Hill,  and newly appointed chief operating officer Steve Annis have been busy raising capital to satisfy federal and state demands that the bank raise at least $27 million by mid October.. Maclin's departure and his decision to surrender  his lucrative retirement package - the packages for Hill and Annis were surrendered earlier - together adds $6.5 million in additional capital. For the full story according to the bank's press released, read it here. Stay tuned for more.

 * ... MORE BAD NEWS ON THE JOB FRONT: Frightening to read in the Sunday New York Times that the jobless picture is actually worse than previously thought. Turns out new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that during the 12 months that ended last March, our economy lost 5.6 million jobs. That's  fully 824,000 more than the 4.8 million they previously reported. (read the full story here) And get this: they said it's not cleaer if the economy has even hit bottom yet in terms of employment, even though technically the recession may be over. Here's a sobering excerpt:

 "The government’s data since 1939 shows only one time when there was a larger percentage decline in civilian jobs. That fall, of 10.1 percent, came at the end of World War II when defense contractors laid off workers no longer needed for the war effort — a total of 4.3 million lost jobs. In no downturn since World War II did that many jobs vanish, until the current recession."

 * ... ANOTHER HONOR FOR WENDY:  Was nice to see another honor for Wendy Wayne, the community activist and all around good egg who has been battling non-Hodgins lymphoma. She was honored as "Humanitarian of the Year" by The Plank Foundation. Wendy received the award on Monday following the foundation's annual golf tournament at Bakersfield Country Club.


 

Short takes: From waterfowl hunting to a blog on white tablecoth dining to hopes for a better economy

Some short takes around our community:

* ... MORE MIXED SIGNALS: This is starting to sound like a familiar refrain, but every time we get some good news on the economy it's followed by yet more words of caution. Wayne Kress, the always optimistic partner in the local commercial firm CB Richard Ellis, sent a Twitter feed on a Washington Post story saying that manufacturing and housing - two sectors that have suffered the most in this economy - are now expanding. As the Post said, the development offers "fresh evidence that the economy has begun to grow." That's certainly good news and I join with Wayne in celebrating any bit of good news. But there is plenty of evidence to indicate that any incipient recovery will be a slow one, particularly if it is a jobless recovery. Even the Post story recognized this, quoting an economist as saying "the bad news is that it is still not creating any extra jobs, meaning that the U.S. is heading for yet another jobless recovery." Meanwhile, I had lunch with a local high-end custom home builder and his outlook was bleak, noting that the recent upturn in residential sales have all been on the low end and most of them foreclosures working their way through the system. He pointed me to a recent analyst study out of San Diego (I haven't found it yet) which apparently said it would take until 2016 (seven full years) for our residential market to begin to resemble the way it looked in 2005. Ugh.

* ... SERVING DOVE ON A WHITE TABLE CLOTH: Looks like local Bakersfield High grad Paige Hill is making good use of her masters in writing. The daughter of San Joaquin Bank president Bart Hill and wife Napier, Paige is wrapping up her masters in writing at the University of South Carolina and has started a blog about cooking. (check it out here at www.forkenvy.com) Paige, who got her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina, lends her own personality to the blog and brings in her own personal experiences, including her familiarity with hunting and shotguns.



From her blog:
"It’s September first. The opening day of dove season. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not a vegetarian. My father is the resident hunter in our family, as my hunting license has only served to allow my downing clay birds at the skeet range. Some meats mark the seasons, like lamb in the spring and dove in the fall. As much as I impatiently await the days when I get to put on my brown leather boots when September nears, my tongue equally longs for the taste of game bird when the days grow shorter and colder. If you are a fan of duck, you will enjoy dove. If you are a fan of chicken, you will enjoy dove. If you are stuck in a chicken rut, treat your taste buds to something wonderful and unique. It is a bit lighter meat than duck, but more game-y in flavor and tender. Like other birds, dove can be roasted or broiled whole; but, if you want to leave the bones out of the equation (recommended) cut into breast pieces and sauté. You can ask your butcher for this service, too."

* ... PARADISE FOR HUNTING WATERFOWL: Speaking of birds and hunting, ran across an interesting story in the Ducks Unlimited magazine citing the Central Valley as one of the top 15 areas to hunt waterfowl in the country. It's easy to underestimate the popularity of bird hunting locally, and apparently we live in one of the prime locations. (read the full story here) According to the story:

"Acre for acre, the Central Valley of California supports more wintering waterfowl than anywhere else in North America. At peak times, this region hosts 5 to 7 million wintering waterfowl—more than 60 percent of the Pacific Flyway’s ducks and geese. As you would expect, the high ratio of birds to habitat results in some superb waterfowl hunting. This is especially true on private duck clubs in places such as Butte Sink, Suisun Marsh, and the Grasslands. Good public hunting is also available on several intensively managed national wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas in the region, which also support large numbers of wintering waterfowl.

The abundant species: pintails, mallards, wigeon, green-winged teal, Aleutian cackling geese, white-fronted geese, light geese



* ... MORE CHANGES AT CSUB: Yet another person is leaving the fund raising arm at Cal State Bakersfield, the third to leave that I know of (joining Laura Wolfe and Sheri Horn Bunk) That's the word from Athletic Director Rudy Carvajal, who sent an email to supporters updating them on changes. The latest to leave University Advancement will be Christene Kimmel, according to Rudy. In addition, he said Ashley Sodergren is moving to Stockton to work on Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society, and Brian Powell has accepted a development position at James Madison University in Virginia, which is within driving distance of his hometown. Their last working day is September 11.

San Joaquin Bank: Indian investors to pour $38 million in major recapitalization

Locally owned San Joaquin Bank had a bit of good and bad news for its investors and shareholders today. First the good: the bank is getting a much needed infusion of capital, to the tune of $38 million, from a group of Indian investors. Like banks across the country, San Joaquin has been struggling as its real estate portfolio continues to deteriorate, and it's now working under some stringent federal guidelines for troubled banks (read the earlier post here) Bart Hill, San Joaquin's CEO, says they hope to get the $38 million soon. He said the money is coming from 11 different Indian families and the issuance of 8.1 million in new shares would give the Indians 62 percent of the company's outstanding shares and two seats on the bank's board. This is huge news for the bank, which has been battling a series of nasty and destructive street rumors about its future. Public institutions like banks live and die on the confidence of the street, and the folks at San Joaquin have been doing everything they can to restore confidence in the bank.
Now here's the bad news: at the same time the bank announces the recapitalization, it is also amending its first quarter results to reflect an even worse loan and earnings environment. Some facts:
* The company originally reported it had $105.5 million in classified loans, but based on new information and consultations with the Federal Reserve, those classified loans are now $163 million. Of those loans, the bank expects that $98 million are now "impaired" compared to the original estimate of $61.6 million. Not good.
* The bank originally reported net charge offs of $858,000 in the first quarter, and that has now been raised to $10.7 million. Whew!
Bart told me that "real estate values were just cascading in the first quarter," but he now seems "some bottoming signs... I'm seeing a turn."
Beyond San Joaquin's fortunes, it's important to look at what this means for our local economy in a larger sense. San Joaquin was like any other bank and now is stuck with collateralized loans that are deemed "impaired." The loans are constantly scrutinized and reappraised, and the restatement of first quarter earnings simply means the market has a ways to go before we begin to see normal again. In other words: we're still in the middle of the shakeout, and until we move through it, banks like San Joaquin will continue to struggle.
For a complete story, check out The Californian Tuesday or look for it on bakersfield.com

Out and about: a night at the Museum with the Kern Adult Literacy Council

Spent a lovely evening at the Bakersfield Museum of Art for an event for the Kern Adult Literacy Council. Few places spruce up as nicely as the museum for an informal event featuring a silent auction. Lisa Borda provided the finger food (delicious as usual) and Croad Vineyards provided the wine. The event was held to honor Ginger Moorhouse, publisher of The Californian and my boss who has been quite generous to the Literacy Council. Ginger could not make it because she was at UCLA Medical Center tending to husband John, to whom Ginger donated a kidney. John came down with Valley Fever after the transplant and he is on the mend. These events are always great venues to see folks: School Superintendent Larry Reider and wife Sandra were there, as were AGM radio group owner Rogers Brandon and his wife Esther, banker Bart Hill, (that's Rogers and Bart in the photo) Bridget Blackburn, my old friend Jan St. Pierre snapping photos, Community College District Chancellor Sandra Serrano, museum director Bernie Herman, Area communications director Susan Hersberger and of course a host of Californian folks including editor Mike Jenner and wife Jean, sales VP John Wells and wife Karen, HR VP Nancy Chaffin and new Content VP Olivia Garcia. The wine from Croad Vineyards was excellent.

Also had the pleasure of meeting Talia Anders, daughter of Dr. Alpha Anders and wife Avital, who last year graduated from prestigious Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. She's thinking of grad school. Another high achieving youngster there was Clarise Hammett, who is headed to an intensive French program at Middlebury College in Vermont after a couple years with the Peace Corps in Africa.

Olive oil and the brain drain

Spent a lovely evening last night at Luigi's where banker Bart Hill held a private reception to unveil his latest sideline: extra virgin olive oil. Seems Bart, president of San Joaquin Bank, has 13 acres of olive trees near Visalia and is now marketing his own boutique brand, appropriately named "13 Acres." Luigi's is of course a special place and it was packed with Bakersfield business people, along with a lot of their kids home from school. What struck me were the number of bright, articulate youngsters we send off to school who never come back. There's simply few opportunities for them here. Among them were Bart's girls, Paige (University of North Carolina) who is now in grad school at the University of South Carolina, and Elizabeth (also UNC) who is working in Washington, D.C. Also there were Katie Benham (UC Davis), working in Newport Beach, Sam Brandon, a sophomore at Colorado at Boulder, and my own daughter Lauren Beene (UC Berkeley) who is working in New York. "13 Acres" is on sale now at Luigi's but unfortunately we only see these promising young people there on rare occasions.