More toxic loans about to hit the local real estate market and a reader sounds off on arrogant cyclists on the Woody road

 * ... HOUSING WOES: There's more evidence that we've got a long way to go before our real estate market recovers. Experts are now predicting that 3.5 million homes nationally will go into foreclosure this year (up from 2.8 million last year) as risky adjustable-rate mortgages set in 2005 reset and unemployment lingers. That's the word from RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga, who warned foreclosures will continue to rise until they plateau in late 2011. "The second wave of toxic loans is about to hit," Sharga said this week. High unemployment and rate resets will drive the foreclosures, as well as a move toward "strategic defaults" where folks decide it just doesn't make any sense anymore to keep paying on an underwater mortgage. Lastly, and this is scary, Sharga said the next wave of foreclosures will hit more middle and upper class people with prime mortgages. So if you thought the worst of the meltdown was over, think again.

 * ... EYESORES: And speaking of foreclosures, there's not a neighborhood in town that is immune from the tell-tale signs of imminent foreclosure: once proud lawns overtaken by knee-high weeds, no cars and no signs of behind the darkened windows. Next time you are driving around town, count the number you see. It's a sobering exercise.

 * ... HELLO LANCE: We were all disappointed when Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong crashed and didn't appear in Bakersfield at the end of Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race. But it turns out he did make an appearance here, although under unforeseen circumstances. After crashing outside of Visalia, Armstrong was rushed to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and was treated for his crash wounds. Hospital CEO Jon Van Boening said he was alerted to "get to the hospital now!" when word arrived that Armstrong was on his way. "He had his own orthopedic surgeon and his own entourage," Van Boening told me. "I told him we were happy to see him in Bakersfield, but it was too bad it was at the hospital and not the race!"

 * ... DEZEMBER SALUTE: Nice to see retired banker Ray Dezember honored  with a legacy award by the downtown Rotary Club. Ray and wife Joan, both Whittier College graduates, are known as perhaps the most philanthropic couple in town, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to worthwhile causes over the years, most of it without fanfare or recognition. Rotary president Duane Keathley delivered the tribute for Ray, who was accompanied by Joan, son Brent and wife Anna and daughter Katie Werdel.

 * ... CYCLISTS: Yet more feedback on the debate on cyclists on the road to Woody. This from reader Mike Wenzel: "All slow traffic is required to move to the right side of the road and allow faster traffic around. The bicyclists on Woody road arrogantly refuse to do this. The excuse seems to be 'we pay taxes too.'  After having to follow these arrogant egocentric bicyclists a few times in the mountains, I took a great deal of joy in listening to their self righteous whining about pedestrians on the bike path. failing to move over for them. This 'I own a bike-I am the center of the universe' attitude is comical. Maybe if bicyclists extended a little courtesy to other they may receive a little themselves. By the way, I own a bicycle myself." 

 * ... MAYOR OF DOWNTOWN: It was nice to see Don Martin, owner of Metro Galleries on 19th Street, recognized with a Beautiful Bakersfield award for promoting the arts. Known by his friends as the "mayor of downtown," Martin has done more for the local arts scene than any other single individual, and he deserves the recognition. A born marketer, Martin was the creative genius behind the "First Friday" arts festivals downtown.

 * ... EAST BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're an East Bakersfield old-timer if  "your mother dropped you off every Saturday morning for the all-day movies at the Granada Theater."

Short takes around town.: another restaurant to open downtown, Claire ties the knot and prayers for a local man at UCLA Medical Center

* ... DOWNTOWN REVIVAL: Saw on Facebook a posting by local artist Barbara Reid heralding the pending opening of a new sushi bar downtown on 19th Street , the same spot where Xander's and Benjamin's restaurants made a go of it. Barbara says the place is being opened by Yuri and Phil Chang, the folks who own Toro Sushi Bar and Grille over at the Marketplace. Toro is a class act and a second location downtown (apparently it will be called simply "O") would be a boost to the emerging downtown art and restaurant scene. Barbara, whose art graces the wall of Toro, said she was treated to some menu ideas for the new restaurant and had this to say:

 "They were all unique and yet displayed (with) what I have come to expect and appreciate as the artistry and flair of the sushi chefs at Toro. Beautiful presentation and wonderful mix of flavors. The offerings included sushi, tempura, stir-fry and salads. The opener was a serving bowl of skewered baby scallops, the tinest I have ever seen, in a spicy/sweet sauce with hints of citrus, tomato, cilantro. It was superb."

 * ... PRAYERS FOR A YOUNG MAN: Please keep Curtis Hartman in your thoughts and prayers. Curtis is the 35-year-old son of Linda Hartman, the executive director of the BARC (Bakersfield Association of Retarded Citizens) Foundation. Curtis just  underwent a double lung transplant at UCLA Medical Center and is recovering, but it will be long climb back. Curtis and Linda have a wide and supportive family. Linda's sister is Nancy Chaffin, Californian vice president of Human Resources and one of the founders of the local campaign to curb drunken driving that was recently recognized with a statewide award.

 * ... CLAIRE TIES THE KNOT: Congratulations to Claire Porter, the always gracious co-owner of Uricchio's Trattoria over off 17th Street, who got married a couple weeks ago to Mark Elieff, a physical therapist at San  Joaquin Hospital. Claire and Mark slipped off  quietly to wed in Las Vegas and then headed to New York for  their honeymoon, where they saw Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium. And speaking of Uricchio's, I was there the other night and had a chance to meet Mike Ariey, a local businessman who did a stint in the National Football League, playing for both the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants. He's also a graduate of Garces Memorial High School and San Diego State and represents the long line of local men and women who have represented Bakersfield in professional sports.

 * ... AMGEN TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: It appears that the announcement of the host cities for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be made on Thursday, October 22. At least that's the word from Don Cohen, manager of the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Amgen Tour is the biggest bicycle race in the country (read the previous post here) and would likely feature such heavy hitters as Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer, as well as a host of European cycling stars. Bakersfield has made a strong pitch to host one leg of the event, either the ending of a race day or the beginning of one. This would be a huge plus for our town, not only in terms of tourism and revenue but also in terms of putting Bakersfield on the map. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow's news this second: my relationship with Lance

In what seems like a nanosecond Twitter has gone from a funky nerd tool to a powerful application for businesses and marketers. If you don't yet understand or use Twitter, you need to get with it, because it is changing the rules. At its core, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates, commonly known as tweets. These tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length that are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Consider my experience, for example. I "follow" Lance Armstrong's tweets, which allowed me to keep up with Lance during both the Tour of Australia and Tour of California. He talked about his race day, who won and he would often post pictures. I learned of his crash and injury when he sent a tweet himself, within an hour after the crash, and he followed it up with this picture. So by the time I saw this on the TV news, and read about it in the newspapers, not only was I fully informed, but I had heard it from the actual "source" himself, Lance. It renders all media - radio, TV, blogs, websites, newspapers - irrelevant. I also now follow certain tweets of financial experts, who direct me to deep pockets of market and financial analysis. This too has rendered my normal sources of this content - financial websites, the Wall Street Journal etc - less important. Technology changes and defines, and Twitter is doing it in a nanosecond.

Of cancer, love and a boy named Danny Klancher

Danny Klancher was just 15 when he died of leukemia almost exactly seven years ago, but his memory remains alive thanks to a determined mother and the power of social networking. I know Barbara Reid as a local artist (see her website here) and fellow former member of the of the Bakersfield Museum of Art Foundation Board of Trustees, but what I didn't know until recently what that she lost her son Danny (his website here) to cancer in 2002 when he was a student at Stockdale High School. And now she's using the power of Facebook to build a community not only to remember Danny, but also to rally around the cause of beating childhood cancer. It's a testament to Facebook that communities can form virtually overnight, and in this case it's for a good cause. If you think Facebook is something just for kids, think again. Barbara has been getting commitments to donate at the Cure Children's Cancer website supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. About the same time I was checking out Barbara's website, 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong posted on Twitter a new cancer fighting commercial funded by his Livestrong Foundation. Check it out here. In Barbara's words:

"I used internet support groups as far back as I could to share information when Danny was first diagnosed (1997) and particularly after he relapsed (1999). At that time, the internet was not as sophisticated as it now. I was delving into medical research as best I could, but it was raw, and some of it from other countries. No filters--I had to take the precious time to read it all myself. Now there is CureSearch ( http://www.curesearch.org/ ) which compiles protocols for families and is a wonderful roadmap during a difficult time."

Why reporters can be their own worst enemy

I am no huge fan of Lance Armstrong, the seven time Tour de France winner with the legendary ego, but he's one of the greatest athletes of all time and his work with the cancer fighting Livestrong Foundation is beyond reproach. Which is why I am posting a link to a video of an interview Lance did recently in which a reporter from a British paper posted a bone-headed question. Lance's measured but firm response is spot on, and the question and they way it was posed only serves to feed into a feeling by the public that the "mainstream media" is biased and cannot be trusted. That's Lance on the left of this photo, taken off Lance's Twitter site.