Bakersfield cyclist Mike Aldridge recovering after losing a leg in a horrific accident, and Castle and Cooke president Bruce Freeman retires after 21 years on the job

 * … RECOVERING: Mike Aldridge, the Bakersfield pool contractor who was involved in a

horrific bicycle accident near Lake Tahoe, is apparently recovering but still faces multiple surgeries. Aldridge, 49, was hit by a semi-truck while cycling through the Cave Rock tunnel near Tahoe. Family friends say one leg has been amputated, but they say he is awake and eager to return home. On Thursday, a group of about 50 bicyclists gathered at dawn at Beach Park to take a picture to wish him well. Keep this man and his family in your thoughts.

* … FREEMAN: I had a chance the other day to catch up with Bruce Freeman, who is retiring as president of Castle and Cooke after 21 years on the job. When Freeman arrived in Bakersfield in 1993, Seven Oaks Country Club had just been built and the neighborhoods of Seven Oaks were sparsely populated. It is easy to underestimate the impact that Freeman and Castle and Cooke have had on Bakersfield. Its developments, both commercial and residential, turned out to be far superior to anything our community had seen before, and the loyalty of Seven Oaks residents to their neighborhoods is a testament to Freeman's work. The Marketplace was one of the company's first commercial ventures, but the company eventually built and marketed the long stretch of medical offices on Stockdale Highway and beyond to the Park at River Walk. Freeman was president, but he left his mark in the small details. He was the one who insisted on the grand, gated entrances with brick trim and lush landscaping that has become the company's brand in its residential developments, as well as the roses that have become part of the Castle and Cooke look. He will officially leave at the end of this month, but plans to remain in Bakersfield. Vice president Laura Whitaker is expected to replace Freeman.

 * … MIST: Randy Ariery tipped me that actress Kathleen Turner is staring on stage in London in a play called "Bakersfield Mist." Turner plays a down-on-your-luck, boozing Bakersfield woman who picks up a Jackson Pollock painting for $5 at a garage store. The play was writhen by Stephen Sachs and co-stars Ian McDiarmid .

* … BLOWBACK: Rod Forney took issue with a recent post in which a reader complained that a BPD officer should not have expressed pity on a couple who was moving to town. "Maybe you should get off of your high horse or at least out of your air conditioned office and realize that just maybe, the officer was trying to lighten up and not unnecessarily scare the family during a serious situation. Also, I'm sure the officer was in full uniform in this extremely hot weather, which is not easy to work in, even if in shorts and a T-shirt. I would also say I'm sorry, to someone moving into Bakersfield in this heat. Maybe you should be less critical of our police department, that is unless you are not proud of the people that are out insuring your safety everyday, no matter the weather or air quality." Note to Rod: that wasn't my high horse talking; I was passing along a reader's comments.

 * … BAKERSFIELDISM: Craig Holland says you might be a Bakersfield old timer if you remember who these people were, and what they had in common: Ed Fant, Gene Winer and Wally Tucker. (Answer: They were all car dealers who had their names attached to the dealership. Fant had Buick, Winer (a former mayor) had Cadillac and Tucker sold Datsuns.

A jobless recovery, celebrating the golden era of Minter Field and looking back on a 1968 classic: Harvard versus Yale

 Starting the week reflecting on some sobering economic statistics, but looking forward to some end of the week diversions.

 * ... WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Fed chairman Ben Bernanke may be declaring the recession technically over, but it sure doesn't feel like it. First came the sobering news last week that Kern County's unemployment rate remains around 14.4 percent, a stunning statistic under any circumstance. The Bakersfield area is faring a tad better, around 10 percent. Still, most economists will tell you the real number of jobless is much higher, because these numbers never include the number of people who have given up the job search. Then there is the dormant real estate market, which is struggling to find some kind of traction. Gary Crabtree, author of The Crabtree Report, reported this week that "the employment picture is bleaker than it looks on the surface" since all key job sectors reported losses last month.  to give us some hope. The local appraiser

 As reported here earlier, Crabtree says we are entering the "off peak" season in which reduce sales volume and lower prices can be expected. He added:

 "The question remains how severe  will this 'off peak" season be? Based upon pricing, it does not appear to be as ominous as the market has bottomed and is unlike the previous three years in which the monthly decline as 5.3 percent (2008), 5.3 percent (2007) and 3.4 percent (2006) as the market was in 'free fall.'"

 So that's encouraging but yet the signals remain mixed. Here's something scary from Gary's report:

 "In the past 12 months, the Bakersfield MSA has recorded a total of 7,787 foreclosures equating to 1 in every 23 homes in the MSA and the Bakersfield Metro area. According to RealtyTrac, the Bakersfield MSAA remained the 7th worst foreclosure market in the nation..."

 * ... WHEN HARVARD BEAT YALE: Noticed that the popular Flics program at the Fox Theater will be featuring the movie "When Harvard Beat Yale" this Friday, Sept. 25. Not that we have a lot of Ivy League grads in town, but this movie is appealing on two levels: first it's a terrific look back at a famous college football game and second it features Bruce Freeman, the local Castle and Cooke president who was  key Harvard player back then. (Tommy Lee Jones was a classmate who also played on the Harvard squad) The movie looks at this classic game when both teams entered undefeated and it ended in a tie, a virtual win for the Harvard underogs.

* ... CELEBRATING MINTER FIELD: Don't forget that this weekend is the dedication of the old Minter Field Air Museum hangar. Minter Field is bursting with history and if you haven't been, it's worth a visit.  The museum is housed in the original fire station built in 1941. It is one of the last examples of this architecture left on the base. The base was a major basic training facility where nearly 12,000 pilots received basic training in BT-13s, UC-78s, AT-6s, P-38s and B-25s. One of highlights of the weekend will be a "flyover" by a restored B-17 Flying Fortress, seen in the file picture below.

Oxy moves 350 to new River Walk buildings

If you were wondering who was going to occupy that new domed building right behind the PF Chang's and BJ's Roadhouse grill on Stockdale Highway (shown here), think no longer. Turns out that Occidental Petroleum will use that building and three others in the vicinity to house 350 employees who now work at the Elk Hills facility out near Taft. The other buildings include those across Stockdale Highway and the old Castle & Cooke headquarters across Old River Road from the Elephant Bar Restaurant. Most of those employees are in the asset development group and I hear they couldn't be happier. The other building going up at River Walk is the new Target which generated some controversy when it was first announced.
This is no doubt good news not only for the aforementioned restaurants but also for the eateries at the nearby Marketplace and the Action Sports shopping center at Brimhall and Old River Road.. I am told the employees should start moving by the first of May.

It's hunker down time for Bakersfield business leaders; wondering when the recession will pass

They say misery loves company, and there's plenty of company in the misery club during this recession. Talk to any business person or executive in town and the refrain is similiar: "we're hunkering down" until things improve. And the consensus seems to be that instead of a recovery in 2010, it may be 2011 or 2012 before things get appreciably better. Consider:
* Talked to Bruce Freeman, president of Castle & Cooke, who told me the company is sitting on some prime land in the Central Valley and has all the permits pulled ready to develop but simply can't until things get better. Castle & Cooke is singularly responsible for some of the highest end developments in Bakersfield (think Seven Oaks and the Marketplace) and has been forced into a sort of semi hibernation waiting for the storm to pass.
* Over at Jim Burke Ford marketing czar Kyle Northway is encouraged that Ford - among the Big Three - is best poised to make a recovery. And it doesn't hurt that the family-run company, now led by Dan Hay, takes a long-term view and is not whipped by the winds of a need for short-term profits.
"I can tell you the employees at our dealerships have come to realize just how good our management team and especially Dan Hay, our company president, really is with counting the beans and working out plans that fit the economy," Kyle told me.
* Local Realtors, including high-end residential expert Mary Christiansen, likewise have hunkered down but see some signs of thawing as sales pick up despite lower prices.
These are all quality companies and quality business people who will certainly ride out this recession, but not without what Mary calls "some pain." But she adds with characteristic optimism: "It will get better!"