We open the airways to talk about race in America, Jacquie Sullivan decides not to seek another term on the City Council, and Uricchio's Trattoria and Pyrenees Cafe get ready to reopen for table service

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other person or organization.

 * ... RACE AND KERN COUNTY:  Michael Bowers remembers being questioned by police as a young man. Keith Wolaridge is seized by utter fear when he spots he is being followed by a police

car. Leticia Perez looks at birth rates, demographics and civic engagement and reminds us that Kern County's future will look far different than its past. And Sheriff Donny Youngblood pulls no punches in condemning the officers involved in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. These are just a smattering of the comments made over two days when I hosted these four people for a conversation on race on The Richard Beene Show (KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM). Check out these links to my conversations with Bowers and Wolaridge, and with Perez and Youngblood.

 * ... JACQUIE SULLIVAN: Jacquie Sullivan will not be seeking reelection, ending a long 25 career on the Bakersfield City Council. She becomes the second council person to say they won't seek a new term, joining Ward 1's Willie Rivera who made a similar announcement last week. It's been a while since two open seats appeared on the ballot, and it could dramatically alter the coalitions on the council. Meanwhile, fellow Councilman Bruce Freeman said he would seek another term.

 * ... STEVE TEGLIA: Breaking news here from Lois Henry, chief executive officer of SJVWATER.ORG, a non profit devoting to covering California Water issues: Steve Teglia, a long time Assistant City Manager of the City of Bakersfield, has formally taken over the reins of the Kern Delta Water District. He was appointed to the position to replace retiring Mark Mulkay on May 16 and officially took over on Monday, June 1. “This is a great move for Kern Delta and we expect Mr. Teglia to lead this district into the future,” Mulkay wrote in an email Tuesday. “I hope that the water community will accept Mr. Teglia and treat him with the patience and professionalism in which I have been for the past 27 years.” Mulkay will continue working for Kern Delta as its Water Resources Manager, according to the email.

 * ... PYRENEES: The iconic Pyrenees Cafe in old town Kern will be reopening this weekend, and you can bet its legions of fans will make it a "standing room only" event. Pyrenees owners Rod and Julie Crawford said they spent the past month doing improvements and making sure the restaurant meets health and safety guidelines.

 * ... URICCHIO'S TRATTORIA: Meanwhile, Uricchio's Trattoria will return to in-house dining next Tuesday, according to owner Claire Porter. Claire told me the dining room will hold a "soft opening" this weekend  to see how it goes in dining rooms with fewer tables and no seats at the bar. The new hours will have Uricchio's closed Sunday and Monday.

 * ... PROTESTS IN PICTURES: With my compliments to all the folks around town who captured these images, a sampling of the protests around town this past weekend.

 * ... MEMORIES: Pictures of wrecks on the old Grapevine connecting Bakersfield with Los Angeles in the years before Interstate 5 was built.

There has been another bobcat sighting on the bike path in the Southwest, and a social media cat fight erupts over the future of First Friday

 * ... BOBCAT: There has been another bobcat sighting along the bike path in the southwest. This from reader Kevin Ammann: "I thought I'd pass along that on Saturday morning, friends and I were

riding on the bike path about 1.5 to 2 miles west of Allen Road and saw a bobcat sitting under a shrub. Then on Tuesday evening, we saw a bobcat crossing the bike path at Truxtun lakes. It was coming from the bigger of the lakes and heading toward the dry riverbed. I've heard that they've been seen on the path, but first time I saw one."
(file photo of bobcat in a tree)

 * ... FIRST FRIDAY: A social media cat fight erupted this week over the direction of First Friday, the popular, monthly downtown event that focuses on art and bringing people into local businesses. It was triggered when Seamus Finn, a relatively new local businessman who runs a cooking studio, launched a clumsy attempt to "improve" First Friday by adding new commercial elements. Finn, a tireless self promoter, did all this without consulting the local artists and business people who have worked to make First Friday successful. The fear, according to local artists, is the commercialization of First Friday will turn it into a street faire like the ones hosted several years ago by the Downtown Business Assn. First Friday has avoided food vendors and has tried to keep it focused on the arts and getting people into the doors of local businesses. All this erupted on social media which led to Finn issued a mea culpa if he had insulted anyone. Stay tuned.

 * ... ABORTION: Memo to City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan: can we please stop pushing the divisive, misguided and totally unnecessary idea of having our own "Restrictions on Termination of Human Life" ordinance? However well intentioned the effort, aren't there bigger challenges in Ward 6 and the city that demand our attention?

 * ... VIDEO: Hats off to Kyle Steiner, a 2010 graduate of Bakersfield High School, who is in Australia directing a music video for Aussie pop singer Vince Gelonese. Steiner is in his final year of film school in the San Fernando Valley.

* ... WINE: It's that time of year again for the annual Elegant Evening of Wine to support the Joe Alexander Scholarship Foundation. This is truly a first class event and this year it will be held at the home of Mark and Sue Ashley in Westchester. Meir Brown of Cafe Med provides a world class experience for this Rotary event, which seems to grow in size each year. Individual tickets are $175 each. Call Vernon Varner at (661) 979-5788 for further details.

 * ... MASTERS SWIM: If you are into competitive masters swimming, you might want to head over to Garces Memorial High this Saturday when The Gold Wave Masters swim team is hosting its First Annual 'Say Goodbye to Summer' swim meet. Most of the 36 entries are coming from out of town. People wanting to sign up may do so online at: http://www.spmasterswim.org/w/SPMS/. It all starts at 8:30 a.m.