Mike Maggard announces his retirement, Tesla has sold almost 1 million cars in the United States and the median price of a home in California reaches almost $800,000

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. 

 * ... MAGGARD RETIRES:  Kern County Supervisor Mike Maggard is retiring after a long career on both the City Council and Board of Supervisors, opening the door for a June election when his his chief aide Jeff Flores will attempt to fill the seat. Up until today, Flores likely thought his opponent would be

retired CHP officer Brian Smith, who has no elective experience. But all that changed when Louis Gill, the former head of the Bakersfield Homeless Center said he was joining the District 3 race instead of challenging Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the 23rd Congressional District. Kudos to Gill who should have seen his challenge of McCarthy has nothing more than a costly political suicide mission. Joining the District 3 race at least gives him a shot, while rendering Smith a curious afterthought. Maggard's retirement was expected - he cited spending time with his family as one of the reasons to let go - and it sets up free for all with Flores, Gill and Smith. By all accounts, Flores should be considered the odds-on favorite: he is a politically savvy known commodity, has served on the Kern High School District for years and he has carefully nurtured political allies over the years. And, let's be clear here, Flores is a Republican  and Gill a liberal in a conservative part of the state. Smith, by contrast, is not that well known outside of the regular readers of the local newspaper where he ran a "Cop Tales" weekly column. But given the realities of the newspaper business the number of readers has shrunk so considerably, that what once seemed like a grand idea to capture eyeballs likely provided a lot less than he expected. Others could enter this race, so stay tuned.

* ... TESLA: If you live in California, then you know just how popular the new lineup of all electric Tesla sedans are, and now the company says it delivered 87 percent more cars in 2021 than it did the previous year. The now Texas based company said it delivered more than 308,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter alone, a 71 percent increase from the same time a year earlier. In all, Tesla said it had delivered 936,000 cars in the United States. The overwhelming majority of Teslas sold in the United States are purchased right here in California.

 * ... KERN RIVER: Have you noticed there is some water in the Kern River, particularly west of Beach Park as the river winds through the southwest? Recent rains have no doubt contributed to this, but it is a constant reminder of the efforts under way to have water in the river year around. But there is one problem: the sheer number of homeless encampments in the river bed, along with mountains of trash, pose a problem and safety hazard to water entering the riverbed. Despite the city's best efforts, and this should not be minimized even though it has been an abject failure, the homeless live where they want, use the riverbed as their personal toilet and soil the place with mounds of trash without any repercussions. (photo by The Bakersfield Californian)

 * ... CALIFORNIA HOUSING: Last year was a difficult year on many levels but the price of housing in California continued its almost ridiculous rise. The median sales price of a single-family home in California has now reached $798.440, up 12.3 percent from a year earlier. Suburbs like in Sacramento and Riverside showed the highest increases while population centers like San Francisco posted more modest gain. According to Zillow, the typical home in San Francisco is now selling or $1.53 million.

 * ... MEMORIES: Who remembers Lake Isabella when it was just a sleepy outpost back in the day. Enjoy these old postcards.

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And from the Kern County of Old Facebook page comes this note about the old Pennys building on Chester Avenue: "Exterior and interior photographs of the J.C. Penny's store at 2018 Chester Ave. 1930 and 1927, respectively."

Armanda Bosley, longtime owner of Lou Ella's, dies; UC Santa Barbara alumni looking for reunion

 * ... BRAIN DRAIN: Reader Elaine McNearney wrote to tell me about all the alumni from University of California at Santa Barbara who call Bakersfield home. Apparently there are so many local kids applying to UCSB that Bakersfield is one of the few communities with a full-time UCSB staff person, working primarily at South High but also at Bakersfield High. McNearney said Catalina Mendiola works to help kids through the maze of paperwork required to be admitted to the UC and tries to identify students who qualify for the Research Mentoring Program targeting students from different disciplines. In addition, she said "a group of UCSB alumni are trying to locate other Kern County alumni and plan some social activities. So if this little ditty makes it to print please plug our brand new FaceBook page ...UCSB Alumni of Kern County." Any other Santa Barbara alums out there?

 * ... RIP ARMANDA BOSLEY: If you have lived in Bakersfield any length of time, you will remember the old Baker Street location of Lou Ella's Children's Boutique, which catered to generations of local families. One of the long-time former co-owners was Armanda Bosley, who died of a heart attack last week. She was 95. Reader Greg Cowan wrote to tell me of her passing, calling his aunt "a Bakersfield  institution" who worked alongside her daughter, Brenda, to serve thousands of local families. Bosley's parent's immigrated from France, and her father opened what would become the original Pyrenee's Bakery. After school, a young Armanda would deliver fresh bread to customers on her bicycle. She and Brenda purchased Lou Ella's in the 1960s and it served our community well for over 40 years. (The store later changed hands and moved to the Southwest). If you have memories of Armanda or Lou Ella's on Baker Street, feel free to email me and I will share on this blog.  Keep this special family in your thoughts.

 * .. NO NAME BAND: It's always nice to see local folks getting together for a worthy cause. That's what happened over at B. Ryder's bar and restaurant on White Lane Thursday when the "No-Name Band" was scheduled to play for a crowd to support the Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House at Memorial Hospital. The leader of this Baby Boomer band is Dr. John Heidrick, who along with Dr. Raj Patel owns Preferred Family Physicians off Truxtun Extension. You will no doubt recognize some of the "No Name Band" members: Jill Harlander on vocals, Jerry Stewart on guitar and vocals, Tim Montgomery on drums, harmonica flute and guitar, Leslie King on bass, John Brock on drums, Mike Hall on lead guitar, Michael Bell on rhythm guitar and Dr. Heidrick on guitar.

 * ... VALLEY PUBLIC TV: Learned the other day that Esther Brandon, a former local First Five Kern Commissioner, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Valley Public Television. This is yet another indication of how KVPT is reaching out to the south Valley, and Kern County in particular, to gain support through partnerships and collaborative efforts. Brandon is active in Temple Beth El off Panorama Drive, has two boys (one at the University of Colorado and the other a senior at Garces Memorial High School, not to mention a sweet yellow lab named Blue) and is married to Rogers Brandon, president of the American General Media radio group.

 ... * BAKERSFIELDISMS: You know you're from Bakersfield when .... "You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water" and "You swear that just last week there was an orchard where there is now a whole new housing development."