A fight is brewing over proposed privately funded student housing at CSUB, Muslim students at the campus plan a prayer vigil for the victims of the New Zealand massacre and a weekend car show sucks the life out of downtown

Monday, March 18, 2019

 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 to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... CSUB DORMS: Keep an eye on CSUB were a fight is brewing over student housing, in this case a developer's attempt to build two high-rise student dormitories off campus. CSUB president

Lynette Zelezny weighed in on the controversy immediately, penning an opinion piece in the Sunday Californian siding with residents of Stockdale Estates who oppose the idea. The idea is to build two dorms on six acres of land at the corner of Stockdale Highway and Gosford Road, already one of the busiest intersections in the city. Zelezny argues, convincingly, that any new dorms should be located on campus, but there is no guarantee the CSU regents will approve any new projects particularly given that CSUB dorms are only 64 percent occupied. This seems to be a classic case of NIMBY (not in my back yard). Go to any major campus - UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC, Michigan at Ann Arbor etc - and you will find privately funded student housing co-existing along with campus housing. Zelezny and the NIMBY warriors may win this round, but if CSUB truly continues to grow, privately funded student housing will be a near certainty.

 * ... PRAYER VIGIL: The Muslim Student Association at CSUB will hold a prayer vigil for victims of the New Zealand massacre on Monday evening starting at 7 p.m. at the student center. patio All members of the community are invited.

* ... BAD FORM: So who is the genius behind the downtown Cruise-4-Charity car show, and why is it such a good idea to basically close down the central business district so a few hundred people can gawk at vintage cars? God forbid you own Uricchio's, Chef's Choice Noodle Bar, Jin Sushi, Muertos or any of the other downtown restaurants, because it was virtually impossible to reach those places thanks to the closed off streets on Saturday. How about Hart Park, or the fairgrounds, or anywhere else where businesses are not so impacted? A bad idea that needs to end.

 * ... URNERS: Congratulations to Urner's Appliance Center which is celebrating an incredible 100 years in business in Kern County. If you live here, chances are you have bought a washer, or a dryer, or a range or a refrigerator from this iconic Bakersfield appliance company. Founded a century ago and still going strong.

 * ... MEMORIES: Chester Avenue as seen on a postcard, circa 1912.

Out of town speculators are returning to the Bakersfield housing market, driving up prices but crowding out many local buyers

* ... REAL ESTATE: There is some good news and some bad in the local housing market. According to Coldwell Banker's Adam Belter (son of longtime Realtor Gary Belter) there are fewer than 550 homes on the market, a near all time low. That drives the prices up, which is good news, but it also has attracted a new wave of out of town speculators who are crowding out local buyers, often paying above the asking price. "We are in danger of becoming a community with more rentals than owners," he told me.

* ... COMING HOME: I had the chance the other day to catch up with plaintiff's attorney Daniel Rodriguez, who told me his 24-year-old son Marcos just graduated from Loyola University Law School in Chicago after receiving his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Arizona.  Marcos is coming hope to join his mother, Sylvia Lopez, to practice law. He is a 2005 graduate of Garces Memorial High School where he played basketball and football.  "I’m hoping to pry him away from time to time to help me in a trial or two," he told me.

  * ... BAD FORM: Steve Illingworth is the general manager of Urner's and a friend for almost 20 years. He's not prone to hype, which is why I am passing along this note about what appears to be some bad form on the part of a Kern High School District passenger van.  "I was driving west on White lane on Monday morning, Memorial Day, and was passed and cut off by a KHSD passenger van (no students on board). I observed the driver changing lanes multiple times to get by other drivers who were observing the 55 mph speed limit. The KHSD van was driving in excess of 65 most of the distance between Wible and Old River. She exceeded 70 mph at least once. After I gestured to her at a stop light to slow down, the light turned green and she honked at me and then tailgated me at a very close distance for quite some time. When I called the district on Tuesday morning to report the incident they were able to identify the driver but they could not answer why this employee was driving so recklessly or why she would be driving a KHSD van on a holiday."

 * ... RIP COOPER'S: Steve Montgomery joined the chorus of people lamenting the passing of Cooper's Nursery, which has served our community for so many years. "This past Saturday I picked up a tree for a friend of my wife's and while in the office handling paperwork I noted on the wall vintage signs from past businesses of the family. One sporting a three-digit phone number and a much newer one with a phone number starting with a two letter prefix. Remember those?"

* ... COVENANT: I stopped by the new offices of Covenant Community Services, the local organization that does so much good to help current and former foster children acquire the skills necessary to lead productive lives. The stunning new offices are located at 1700 North Chester in an old bank building that his been rebranded "Covenant Coffee: Hope Lives Here." It is now a full coffee house and sandwich bar, staffed by foster youth who have been trained by some of our community's most prominent restaurateurs and business people. Covenant's chief is Randy Martin, who told me a second location is being planned for Taft at the intersection of 4th and North streets. Drop by for a coffee sometime to help this worthy organization.

A near perfect Easter weekend and Urner's debuts the new Sous Vide cooking appliance

* ... EASTER WEEKEND: Hard to beat the weather over the long Easter weekend. On Sunday, all the parks were crowded and families were enjoying the spring-like weather. And shame on you if you missed First Friday when the streets and sidewalks of the downtown arts district were brimming with revelers. Among those I spotted in the crowd were Karen DeWalt, Linda Sullenger, Greg and Mary Bynum, Rob and Amanda Meszaros, Molly and Matt Clark, Karen Goh, Lisa Verdugo, Katy and John Glentzer, Joe and Mimi Audello, Nicole St. John and Bob Grewdson, Pat and Robin Paggi and Vicki Cruz.

* .... CAMILLIA MEMORIES: Zelma Lopez dropped me a wonderful note to share the story of a camellia plant that has been in her family since 1945. In 1942, she married into a Tulare family that had five sons, all of whom served in World War II. After the war, the boys bought their mother a small, white camellia bush for Mother's Day. "When the last of the family left Tulare by 1956 we moved the plant to our southwest Bakersfield home." The plant survived and to this day she enjoys "the beautiful flowers from a plant that is taller than the house. Precious memories!"


* ... KUDOS: Hats off to Joseph Schoorl who is graduated from George Washington University Law School in May. Schoorl graduated from St. Francis and went on to Garces Memorial High School where he was a valedictorian. He did his undergraduate work at UC Berkeley and has accepted a job with the law firm of Baker and McKenzie in Washington, D.C., His parents are Cindy and Andy Schoorl.

 * ... SOUS VIDE: I have one of the smaller kitchens in town so when my friend Steve Illingworth, manager of Urner's Appliance Center, tipped me off to a new cooking appliance my first thought was: 'and where am I going to store it?' But Steve appreciates my love of cooking, has excellent taste  and I came home with the new Sous Vide vacuum sealer and water oven that - when all was said and done - made one of the best pork tenderloins I've ever tasted. Sous vide is a slow cooking method that low-temperature water poaching with food packaged in vacuum sealed bags. The idea is that the food is cooked for a long time at the exact right temperature. Thanks Steve, for making my Easter weekend special.

* ... TAX FRIENDLY: If you are thinking about retiring, you might want to consider moving to a more tax friendly state. Marketwatch recently listed the most "tax friendly" states for retires, defining tax friendly as "states that don’t tax income, including Social Security and pension income. And then we added some commentary from the Tax Foundation about other taxes, such as property and sales, and the overall tax burden, in those income-tax friendly states." The winners were Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Florida and Washington.

Las Vegas writer lobs some criticism at Bakersfield and setting the record straight on The Doors

 * ... BOORISH RANT: A friend passed along a column by a sportswriter for the Las Vegas Review Journal following the recent CSUB-UNLV basketball game.  Written by Adam Hill and full of the typical boorish rants about our community, the piece was titled "Looking down our noses at Bakersfield" and is little more than a sophomoric litany of things the writer didn't like: the half-time show, the "four, old bald guys" who sang the national anthem and even a security guard "who paced back and forth" as if he were a member of the Queen's Guard outside Buckingham Palace. Plumbing issues at a local hotel were even cited as further evidence of the dismal state of our community. I always caution my friends about being too thin skinned about Bakersfield, which certainly has its issues, but when did Las Vegas become anyone's view of the promised land? Before Adam Hill trips on his own judgmental smugness, he might remember that zip codes are never guarantees of personal happiness.

 * ... SPOTTED: Middle aged woman running across a busy Truxtun extension at midday, holding a cigarette as she waits for a break in traffic to get from the lake to the other side of the road.

 * ... FOOD DRIVE: Hats off to all the county employees who participated in the annual food drive to help the Golden Empire Gleaners. Special kudos go to the District Attorney's Office which quadrupled its contribution, going from 407 pounds in 2010 to more than 1,600 pounds of food plus monetary commitments in December. Waste Management came in first and the office of the Auditor was second. DA Lisa Green said she could not have been prouder of her office.

 * ... THE DOORS: We've finally settled the dispute between two readers about when the rock band The Doors and lead singer Jim Morrison were in Bakersfield. Charlie Wilmot remembers August 21, 1970, and Mark Elieff recalls a date in June 1968. It turns out both of them were right; The Doors visited Bakersfield twice on the dates Wilmot and Elieff remember.

  * ... URNER'S: The folks over at Urner's are opening a new location, this one focusing on mattresses and a good night's sleep. It's called Urner's Z's Please Sleep Center and it is located in the shopping center at the corner of Brimhall and Calloway Road, the same place that houses Action Sports and Prime Cut. The ribbon cutting is this Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

 * ... WHO KNEW? Did you know that  last official old west gunfight occurred in 1903 near L and 21st streets? According to accounts, lawmen were searching for Jim McKinney who was hiding out in the Joss House. He rushed out of the doors, guns ablaze, and was fatally shot several times. Thanks to Patricia Marquez of the Kern Economic Development Corporation for this bit of history.

Bakersfield gets some blog love and our museum curator heads for Santa Barbara

* ... BLOG LOVE: One of the blogs I regularly follow is "Californiality," an upbeat look at the Golden State written by Los Angeles resident Mark Lorier. He posted a wonderful take on Bakersfield this week, highlighting our work ethic, culture and desire to pull ourselves out of this recession. Said Mark: "Bakersfield's famous work ethic is now bolstered by a renewed optimism and enthusiasm for the future. Counting their blessings, local citizens are starting to look at what's RIGHT with Bakersfield - and capitalize from it... Corporations are relocating to Bakersfield due to local business friendly policies, affordable real estate and tax savings. The city even has the largest ice cream plant in America - so it's officially kid approved." Thanks for the kind words, Mark. Read the entire post here.

 * ... URNER'S: Steve Urner wrote to recall when his grandfather, Phil Urner, worked at the family store with this founding brother, Dave Urner Sr. "I remember around 1953 when Urner's got the first color TV in Bakersfield. They were very expensive. Not even the family could afford one. But we would all gather down at the store on New Year's day to watch the Rose Parade broadcast in color through KTLA. It was fun! And to add to the 'you know you're from Bakersfield' thoughts: you can remember the live alligator kept in a watery pen in the alley next to the backdoor entrance to Snider's Bicycle Shop in East Bakersfield. There ya go!"

 * ... GET A GUN: Loved the advertisement in The Californian this week by Bland Solar and Air offering new customers a gun for their business. It read:  "Reward: Buy Solar. Get a Gun." This is shrewd marketing in an area where hunting and gun sports are so popular and it certainly got my attention. Bland Solar would not actually buy the customer a gun but rather issue a $400 gift certificate to use at "applicable sporting goods" stores. Or, if you already are well stocked in the guns and ammo department, Bland Solar would provide a $400 rebate.

 * ... FALKE EXITS: Emily Falke, the long-time curator at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, is heading for greener pastures in Santa Barbara. Falke landed a job as director of education and exhibits at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. Museum Executive Director Bernie Herman said Falke would be assisting in the search for a replacement and would be leaving her post at the end of this month. She has been at the museum for the past 10 years.

 * ... 37 YEARS: Congrats to two couples who celebrated their 37th wedding anniversaries on the same day. That would be Bernie and Joan Herman, both longtime civic boosters and activists, and Susan and Rod Hersberger, who also are deeply involved in our community. Bernie is executive director of the Bakersfield Museum of Art and Joan is a counselor at Foothill High School. Susan Hersberger is director of public affairs at Aera Energy and husband Rod is dean of library services at Cal State Bakersfield. 

 * ... OVERHEARD: Teen angst as overheard by long-time friend Joel Sappell at a Target: "It's hard buying a card for your mom when you're mad at her."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Lee Fox: "You know you're from East Bakersfield is you remember Dudley's on the corner of Mt. Vernon and Quincy Street."

Bako Bits: the drama at Garces Memorial High, the indecision of Rep. Jean Fuller and Urner's celebrates 90 candles

 

 * ... THE DRAMA AT GARCES: Whatever is going on over at Garces Memorial High School isn't pretty. A lot of alumni and supporters are up in arms over the resignation of football coach David Fanucchi (some claim it was forced) and the demotion of his older brother, Vince Fanucchi. The Fanucchis (third brother John is school president) are virtual institutions at the private Catholic school and it's hard to envision a school year without the Fanucchis in charge in some way. Add to that the sudden resignation of swimming coach Bill Potter and it just adds to the intrigue. So what is it? A purge? Or simply a changing of the guard? The buzz around this community institution is hot, emails are flying and some longtime supporters are threatening to withhold their support, which is considerable. Honestly, I'm not sure I really want to know the inside dirt. Rather, I hope this  storm passes and the school returns to its roots of providing a quality private school education for our local kids. I did hear the school's annual barbeque last week was a huge hit, and that's a good sign. My take: let's hope cooler heads prevail and some form of explanation comes from the diocese to calm the alumni. Garces is a community institution that is too important to put at risk. 

 *  ... JEAN FULLER'S DECISION: State Rep. Jean Fuller addressed the downtown Rotary club last week but didn't reveal much about  her political future. Fuller, who represents the 32nd Assembly District, will either run for a third and final Assembly turn or make a run for the state Senate seat that Roy Ashburn is vacating. One thing was certain: Fuller seems to have grown in the job and impressed the group with her grasp of the issues, particularly regarding the water crisis that is of so much concern to valley farmers. She was accompanied by aide Dana Culhane, daughter of Holly Culhane, owner of PAS Associates.


 * ... 90 CANDLES FOR URNER'S: Urner's Applicance Center is one of those Bakersfield institutions along the lines of Dewar's Candy Shop, Woolgrower's and Luigi's. Is there anyone in town who hasn't purchased a refrigerator, TV or washer and dryer from these guys? So it's worth noting that Urner's, still family owned after all these years, is celebrating its 90th birthday. And they are doing it in with style. On Friday, Oct. 9, principals from Urner's will gather at the Bakersfield Rescue Mission to replace all the mattresses in the men's and women's dormitories with new Tempur-Pedic mattresses. In addition, they'll donate two 60-inch home theater televisions. This is why supporting family owned businesses like Urner's is so important. These are our neighbors, not  some faceless corporate bureaucrat from Arkansas. The company president is David H. Urner, son of the founder, and Steve Illingworth (grandson of David E.  Turner) serves as vice president.

  Urner's opened its doors on September 1, 1919, as Home Appliance Co. during a time when "modern appliances" were sold mainly in hardware stores. Urner's now also specializes in big screen televisions, sofas and mattresses. Over the years the family has been generous to such groups as the CSUB Foundation, the Bakersfield Symphony, Memorial Hospital House of Hope and Teen Challenge. (photo by The Californian)

Short takes around town: from a brazen home invasion to college decision week

The story of the day today has to be the brazen home invasion robbery in Stockdale Estates. We all know the dangers that come with a prolonged recession: joblessness, desperation and hopelessness. But some of the stuff happening now just seems out of bounds for our community, which has always prided itself on being a relatively safe place to live. The details are still sketchy, but what we do know is that two young men walked through an unlocked garage door Sunday, found the man of the house and stuck a 9mm pistol to his head. They then used extension cords to tie up both the husband and wife. This happened on Calle Torcido off Ming and Gosford in virtual broad daylight during dinnertime. Thankfully no one was hurt and police arrested two suspects - both from Los Angeles - and one had a loaded 9mm handgun. Is it any wonder that more than 4,000 folks in Kern County have legal concealed weapon permits? Or that gun stores report a huge spike in business. (see previous post here)

What's the lesson here? Keep your garage doors closed, your doors locked and your alarm on both day and night. And keep an eye out for your neighbors.
Other tidbits around town:
* Heard that David Perkins, the marketing manager over at Urner's Appliances, is on the mend after a scary two-week respiratory illness. Dave tells his friends on Facebook that "I'm back!" and is looking forward to seeing everyone. Good to hear he's on the mend.
* Amy Powell-Smith has taken a job over at the San Joaquin Memorial Hospital Foundation. Amy formerly worked at the Kern Community Foundation.
* This is decision week for kids to decide on what colleges they will attend. Lots of exciting news out there and I'll have an update on some of those decisions in the next week or so. Always good to hear when smart kids do so well.
* Lastly, college-age kids will start returning home in the next several weeks. It will be good to see so many of these kids after a year away from home. Expect to catch up with them at Luigi's, Woolgrowers and other favorite dining spots.