Bakersfield residents favor fighting crime and reducing homelessness over investing in Old Town Kern, Zav Dadabhoy named interim president of Bakersfield College and remembering CSUB's first basketball team from 1971

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 company or publication.

 * ... SPENDING PRIORITIES: Here's a clear message for City Councilman Andres Gonzales and his council colleagues on how the public wants its money spent: focus on the homeless and fighting crime. It's as simple as that. Everything else is optional and so far down the public's priority list that it is hardly

worth mentioning. That's the very clear message from a recent survey by the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce which reveled that an overwhelming percentage of Bakersfield voters (an astounding 79 percent) view homelessness as our greatest spending priority. Fighting crime, and hiring more police officers, came in second (41 percent) and improving streets and sidewalks third (27.6 percent). Missing from the list was the new pet project of Councilman Gonzales, revitalizing Old Town Kern, which was cited by a mere 18 percent. Now that Measure N is providing a new level of money to spend, Gonzales seems hellbent to commit millions of taxpayer dollars to reviving a part of Bakersfield that the public sector has abandoned, Old Town Kern. The survey says it clearly: the taxpayers want Gonzales and others to concentrate on the crime and homelessness first. Get that right and then consider other projects.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It's not premarital sex if you never get married. Follow me for more biblical loopholes.

 * ... NEW INTERIM PRESIDENT: Zav Dadabhoy has been named the interim president of Bakersfield College, replacing Sonya Christian who was appointed chancellor of the Kern Community College District. Dadabhoy has been at BC since 2012 serving in a number of positions, including vice president of Student Affairs. 

 * ... GAS SHORTAGES: The gasoline shortages sweeping the east coast have led people to the extreme. In some cases, folks are filling up plastic bags and cans full of gas to get them through the shortage. A few pictures that popped up this week.

 * ... CSUB RUNNERS: Check out this picture of the original CSUB Men's Roadrunner basketball team from back in 1971. For the record books, the first man to ever score a point in basketball for CSB was Richard Ross, who cashed in a free throw after 1:11 of play. The team, which had no home court, practiced at Lakeside School and local high schools. Despite these initial challenges, head coach Jim Larson - just 30 years old - assembled a quality roster that included team captain Odis Ward, co-captain Walter Clapp, Carl Toney, Ken Shiloh, Richard Ross, Robert Rodriguez, Ellis Porter, Jimmy Jones, Sean Baxter, Howard Bell, Rodger Carr, Kenny Pauls, Bob Kelly and James Anderson. The ’Runners made their home debut on Dec. 14, 1971, before more than 1,500 fans at the Civic Auditorium.

 * ... EL ADOBE: Feast your eyes on these old pictures of the El Adobe Hotel on Union Avenue, thanks to the Kern County History Fans page on Facebook. These shots are from the 1940's.

Remember George H.W. Bush's connection to Bakersfield, we should learn the fate of the city sales tax this week and the eight-day Hanukkah celebration begins

Monday, December 3, 2018

 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 such a special place to live. Send your news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... RIP 41: Looking back at the remarkable life and career of George H.W. Bush, our 41st president, we should remember the Bakersfield connection. It was June of 1949 when George and his then pregnant

wife Barbara, with little George Bush in tow, moved to a 967 square foot home on Monterey Street in east Bakersfield. The elder Bush was just 26 years old and was working for a subsidiary of Dresser Industries, an oil supply business later bought by Halliburton, and he was selling supplies out of the trunk of his Studebaker. The family lived here for only three months, but the house remains standing today.

 * ... SALES TAX: We should learn this week if the proposal one percent sales tax for the city of Bakersfield (Measure N) will pass or fail. The last we checked the "yes" votes on the sales tax were just 13 votes behind, with some 2,900 ballots still to be counted. The results of those last ballots should be released this week. The way the votes are trending appear to give an edge to the sales tax passing, which will make City Manager Alan Tandy and most of the city council happy. Stay tuned.

 * ... SOCCER PARK: Another big decision is coming up, possibly this week or next, on the fate of the Kern County Soccer Park out ate Hart Park. This 21-field park is run by a non-profit foundation, but the person who founded it all, John Trino, wants out. The problem: the county has neither the money nor the will to run the park, so Trino is trying to line up an operator who could operate it in agreement with the county. One thing is for sure: the soccer park is a community treasure, it lures tens of thousands of visitors here a year, and the county supervisors need to find a way to keep it operating.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It's all fun and games until you piss off a redhead. Then it's just a barren landscape of death and destruction."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "If service dogs knew that they wear signs that say “don’t pet me” all day they’d get really upset."

 * ...HANUKKAH: Happy Hanukkah to Bakersfield's Jewish community. Hanukkah began Sunday and is observed for eight nights and days. The celebration commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this photo of North Chester circa 1943, compliments of the Kern County History Fans Facebook page.