Some good news on the local economy and BC adds five local men to its Hall of Fame

 * ... GOOD NEWS? I'm always to encouraged to share any signs that the local economy may be improving. Don Martin, the owner of the boutique art gallery "Metro Galleries," located on 19th Street downtown, says things are looking up for his business. "The gallery is booked every weekend and most week nights in December," he told me. "I'm thinking it's a sign the local economy has improved somewhat for businesses. Most are doing smaller mixer style events rather than the larger sit down dinner types. I'm optimistic for 2011."

 * ... BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE: Four people were inducted into the Herb Loken BC Alumni Hall of Fame over at Bakersfield College recently. Among the inductees was Jan Stuebbe, current BC athletic director and former quarterback at Shafter High and BC, where he only lost two games in two years and went onto star at Colorado State. Chris Hitchcock, a 35-year employee at BC and a major force in the Alumni Association and David Gay, local Realtor and developer, were also honored. Rounding out the group was George Culver, former North High, BC and major league pitcher. George has raised more than a million dollars for the BC baseball program to install a scoreboard, lights and a clubhouse that bears his name.An impressive group.

 

 * ... EASTSIDE NEWS: Reader Judy Thomas lives in the Bakersfield Country Club area and contacted me after I wrote about a garage theft in her neighborhood. "My gardener has had two lawnmowers stolen right from the sidewalk (while he was in the back yard) ... Needless to say, his new one is locked up at all times, even if he is right there. He checked with neighbors and no one saw or heard anything." Add this to the reports that  Bakersfield police say burglars are targeting elderly homeowners in the Bakersfield College area, and it's time to stay alert.

 * ... SAYING THANKS: Bow Porter dropped me an email about her work on renovating an older house she bought on the internet sight unseen. Porter had lived here for many years, moved away, settled in Hawaii in a 600-square-foot condo but returned to restore what she called a "lovely old home." Doesn't she know she's supposed to downsize, not upsize? Bow wanted to say thanks to ATT employee Jairo Pardo for doing such a good job in hooking up her phone, internet and cable service, but when she went to find a place to compliment the employee, she was met with blank stares. "Doesn't anyone recognize a job well done and take the time to let the company or owners know of the good workmanship of the employee? It seemed like each of the  people I talked to were surprised to know why I wanted an address. It takes only a few minutes and perhaps we would have better service if the technicians found a little praise for their efforts."

 * ... KARPE: Last week I wrote about the frustration of a woman who was turned down by a major bank even after she offered to put $100,000 cash down on a $350,000 house. That prompted this response from Scott A. Berry, lending division manager over at Karpe Realt Estate. "I am an avid reader of your blog and I enjoy it very much. I just thought I would send you a friendly reminder for those people with large down payments Karpe Real Estate will make a loan on that property through our private money loan department. We have seen an increase in people requesting private money loans because the traditional credit markets are so restrictive. I thought this might help your reader."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From contributor Riley Parker: You know you're a Bakersfield old timer if "you thought that a bag of ten cent burgers from Ken Ken's was going out to dinner."

Dealing with an invasion of dragonflies, the homeless and plunging home sales

* ... DRAGON FLIES: Gretchen Knaggs shot me an email wondering what is going on with all the dragonflies on the west side of town. "I'm not sure if it is just in our part of town (out near Brimhall and Old Farm roads) but it is really something else. There were close to 15 in our front yard the other evening!" Gretchen ended with her own memory of east Bakersfield. "You know you're an old school east sider if remember Plahn's Bakery on Niles near Mount Vernon. That's a throwback to my grandparents Eric and Agnes Plahn."

 * ... HOMELESS: A local therapist took issue with my earlier post citing "one of the nuttier" areas of our community populated by the homeless and recently released parolees. Wrote Ethel C. Katz: "The 'homeless denizens' and 'scary looking parolees" are often suffering from chronic illnesses. They do not chose to live on the streets but without the necessary medication are relegated to them or to jails ... Most of this population do not have middle class homes to go to nor do they have incomes to purchase medication which would quiet their 'animated conversations with invisible partners.' A bit of sensitivity would go a long way to helping this under-served population." Sorry if I sounded insensitive, and I understand the issues, but it nevertheless is a nutty scene.

 * ... HOME SALES: Hard to be optimistic after hearing that home sales dropped 27.2 percent in July in another signal that this recession has a lot of life left in it. Regionally, the west dropped 25 percent and across the country, homes in the distressed category accounted for more than a third of all sales. This is not good news folks. It's easy to underestimate how important steady growth and a healthy real estate market are to our local economy, but the consumer is wary and lacking confidence. On the plus side, it is a great time to be in the market: mortgage rates are near historic lows and there is a lot of property to choose from. But consumers remain skittish, banks have raised their lending standards and many folks are just sitting on the  sidelines until this mess gets better.

 * ... UCSB: Local attorney Harley Pinson and his wife Cindy will be hosting a reception for all the young people heading to UC Santa Barbara. The Pinsons, both Gaucho grads, will host the incoming freshmen, their parents and local UCSB alumni on Sunday, September 12 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Meetings like this allow the kids to exchange contact information for car pooling and are great opportunities for the parents to learn more about the school. If interested, call Harley at (661) 599-5584.

 * ... OLD EATERIES: Local farmer Dick Porter shot me a message recalling a restaurant that his parents took him to in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Called "Mr. and Mrs." it was located on the west side of Chester Avenue a few blocks south of California. "Their specialty was pan fried steaks, not breaded, just steaks fried in pans. I can still smell the absolutely fabulous aromas coming from the frying pans just across a stool counter. I can remember the floors were black and white linoleum tile and there were pictures of movie stars on the wall. Just fantastic food!"
 
  * ... SPOTTED: From reader Sue Allred: "Observed in the dress department at a Valley Plaza department store on Memorial Day afternoon. A young man said to a woman: 'If you choose a dress in the next 15 minutes I will pay for it.'" And Sue added: "You know you're from Bakersfield if on your summer walks you know what 'follow the shade' means. It can lead to some great new paths."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're a Bakersfield  old timer if "you remember what was on the northeast corner of 19th Street and Union Avenue before Stan's Drive-in. (the old street car barn)

Local commercial market could be poised for rebound, and is Al Qaeda reall behind our local shoplifting rings?

 * ... COMMERCIAL WOES: Matthew E. Starr,  senior vice president over at Grub and Ellis/ASU Associates, wrote to bring some perspective about the local commercial real estate market. "The national office vacancy rate (17.9% and the end of the first quarter 2010 according to Grubb and Ellis research) continues to rise as does the local vacancy rate; however the local office market is in a position to experience an accelerated recovery. The office market vacancy rate for the greater Bakersfield area was 11.39% as of the end of the second quarter of 2010 ... This includes all submarkets and all classes of space. This is a dramatic rise from the all time low vacancy rates city wide early in 2007, but it shows that things could be a lot worse. New construction of office properties is at a virtual standstill and if growth in the economy continues and local companies resume expansion, the office market could be poised to tighten quickly. This of course depends upon the vitality of the employment rebound. I just wanted to let you know that things are not all doom and gloom with the local office market." Thanks for sharing, Matthew.

 

* ... SUBITO GRANT: Nice to hear that Jim Scully, a lecturer in the music department at Cal State Bakersfield, has been awarded a Subito Grant from the American Composers Forum to travel to Boston and have his two most recent compositions recorded by the artists who commissioned the works. The grant will pay for Scully to travel to Boston, record the works and produce a concert of his work at the Lilypad in Cambridge, Mass., on August 7. You might know Scully as a composer and jazz guitarist whose work has been featured at the Bakersfield Jazz Festival. He teaches courses in music, theory, jazz studies and music technology at CSUB since 2003.

 * ... BEANIE'S: Reader Lydia Lostaunau wrote to remember a place called Beanie's across from Jefferson Park. In her words: "In 1953 you could buy lunch (hot dog, potato chips and a Coke) for 25 cents. Beat eating in the cafeteria. Best burgers in town, the top of the bun was shiny with the grease from the grill. Ken Ken's was good for its crushed ice in the soft drinks. Andre's on Niles had the greatest chili burgers, served open-faced. I could go on but it's dinner time. Love your blog." Thanks, Lydia.

 * ... AL QAEDA: From reader Pierre Cardo: "A woman in a KGET 17 story about shoplifting was quoted as saying that Bakersfield shoplifting rings were supporting Al Qaeda. I nearly spit out my dinner ... say it ain't so!"

 * ... CASINO NIGHT: You might want to put August 14th on your calendar for the second annual TIL Casino night, the major fund raiser for the Transition to Independent Living program at Taft College. That's the program that receiving the Community College award for innovation. It will be held at the Bakersfield Jam facility. If you are interested, contact Sheri Horn Bunk out at Taft College.

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're a Bakersfield old timer if you remember what sport caster Bob Elias said at the end of every broadcast: "You don't have to play a sport to be a good one."

More dark clouds for our commercial real estate market and wedding bells for local weather anchor

* ... OFFICE SPACE: Economists have been warning for months that the commercial real estate market is flirting with a meltdown, and now comes word that the national office vacancy rate is showing new signs of stress. According to the Wall Street Journal, office buildings across the country lost 1.8 billion square feet of occupied space in the second quarter, "pushing the national office vacancy rate to 17.4 percent, the highest level since 1993." Locally the commercial market is under great stress, and you don't have to do much more than drive around town to spot the alarming number of  vacant buildings. This seems particularly acute in the Northwest where brand new strip centers sit empty. One local businessman who owns part of a Northwest shopping center told me this weekend he was current on his payments but out of compliance with his loan covenants, and now his banker is demanding a higher monthly payment. "I told them I'd be better off declaring bankruptcy and then renting my space back at a lower cost, or looking for a smaller space. Is that what they want? Another empty building?"

* ... WEIGHT LOSS: You may have seen the new NBC series "Losing It with Jillian" featuring celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels living with folks who need to lose weight. She made her mark on "The Biggest Loser" and is now has her own series, playing off our national guilt about obesity. It turns out a local woman, Ruth May, was featured a few episodes back. Ruth works at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and reportedly lost 75 pounds in just two months. Memorial marketing manager Michelle Willow said Terrio Therapy and Fitness is now assisting Ruth and her family as part of the Five Ton Challenge, which is Terrio's citywide weight loss program sponsored by Memorial Hospital.

 * ... ENGAGED: Nice to hear that Melissa Vreeman, the morning weather anchor over at KERO 23, is engaged to be married to Brian Dignan, assistant men's basketball coach at Cal State Bakersfield. Melissa told me they have been dating for almost a year and a half and hope to wed sometime in April 2011. Brian served both as a player and a coach at Cuesta College and Brigham Young University and has been with the Runners since for nine seasons. Melissa was born in Washington State but grew up in Southern California. She joined KERO TV in January 2008.

 * ... SPOTTED: Long holiday weekends in Bakersfield never fail to result in trashed parks, and this year  was no different. Fourth of July revelers left our parks full of trash, bottles, cans, wrappers and remnants of fireworks littering the sidewalks and the bike trail. Doesn't anyone pick up after themselves anymore?

 * ... BAKO OLD TIMER: Self described old timer Don Kurtz sent me his own list of Bakersfieldisms: "How about Tiny's Diner downtown, or Clarks Broiler at Union and Monterey? Or the hamburger grill across from Jefferson Park at Beale Avenue? Or the Foster's Freeze at Niles and Union or Blue Jays Ice Cream Parlor on Bernard Street across from Longfellow School. This is just a start of really bringing back good memories of East Bakersfield and a little bit of downtown."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM:  You know you're a Bakersfield old timer if you "remember what used to be where Sinaloa is now. (Flor d' Italia)

More troubling news on our housing market and the generosity of Norman Levan

 * ... HOUSING WOES: We got some more bad new on housing when the February numbers showed that sales of previously owned homes had dropped for the third straight month. Add to that more homes on the market and it's more evidence of an anemic market. On the other hand, it's a terrific time to buy a house. Prices have dropped dramatically (some local homes are going for half what they sold for a few years ago) and interest rates are near historic lows. So on some level, there may not be a better time to invest. There are terrific deals even in large cities that have been slammed with foreclosures. CNBC's list of the top ten cities to get a great deal on foreclosures (starting with No. 10 and counting down to the worst) San Francisco, Kansas City, Mo., Riverside, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati and finally at No. 1, Pittsburgh.

* ... NORMAN LEVAN: One of our community's most generous benefactors is Dr. Norman Levan, a dermatologist and philanthropist who has given $6 million  each to Bakersfield College, University of Southern California, St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M., and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Last week, a wide circle of friends gathered at Bakersfield College to celebrate Levan's 94th birthday. His donations have been used to advance the humanities at all institutions and just last month the Levan Center for the Humanities opened at BC.

 * ... CRIME LAB: Lisa Green, the chief deputy district attorney who is running unopposed to succeed Ed Jagels as our new District Attorney, spoke at the downtown Rotary Thursday about the benefits of DNA testing and keeping the Kern Regional Crime Lab fully funded. It was DNA testing that led to the quick arrest of Anthony Ray Graham Jr. in the horrific "Babies R Us" rape case, which featured a kidnapping and rape in broad daylight. Green put everyone on notice that as DA she will fight to keep the lab funded.

 * ... SAYING THANKS: Reader Donna Rice wrote to tell me about the sudden death of her husband of 31 years. Her thoughts are powerful in their simplicity. In her words: "While a personally difficult burden to bear, the loss brought with it unforeseen comfort to me and my family. The support, help, thoughts and prayers of family, friends, colleagues, the professionals who assisted us and even complete strangers gave me and my family great comfort in the days that followed .... At a time when so much of the news we see and hear is negative, a personal tragedy such as this brought out the innate kindness of so many people in this city." Well said and thank you for sharing.


 * ... LONG COMMUTE: How would you like to commute from Bakersfield to Santa Monica? Well Carl Nicita has been doing just that for six long years, and he loves it. Carl and his wife Beverly have lived in the Southwest for 25 years and both their boys graduated from Ridgeview High School. Six years ago Carl left his job at the Kern County Fire Department and became a traffic officer with the Santa Monica police. He works 10-hour shifts and leases a rent-controlled apartment in Venice Beach just  minutes from work. How's the commute? "Actually I have been totally blessed and I have the absolute best of both worlds. I get to work and stay at the beach. And then I get to come back to Bakersfield and enjoy being away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.  Believe me, being able to park in my own driveway and not having to worry about traffic is one of life's most simple pleasures!" Next step is looking toward retirement and Nicita says Bakersfield is looking good.
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 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know  you're from Bakersfield when: "You've seen the Stairway to Heaven lights when returning to Bako at night on the Grapevine. And you know to call it Bako and why we call it that."


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Bank of the Sierra plans aggressive new growth strategy and Barry Hibbard leaves Tejon Ranch

 * ... HIBBARD LEAVES TEJON: I learned yesterday that Barry Hibbard, the longtime vice president of commercial development for Tejon Ranch, is leaving the company to strike out on his own. Hibbard told me he plans to start a company that will invest in distressed commercial real estate for longer term investors. He said the commercial slump (which is expected to get worse) represents a "generational opportunity that I wanted to be in on." The two primary areas of investment will be the Central Valley and Central Coast. In addition, Hibbard said he has grown weary of the commute to Tejon, his wife is two and a half months pregnant and he'd like to spend more time at home. At 6-foot 7 inches, Hibbard is a former Big Ten scholarship swimmer at Michigan State University and an avid athlete. He worked at Tejon for 12 years and his last day is Friday.

* ... OLAGUE'S RETURN: I had a chance to catch up over lunch the other day with Michael Olague, the longtime local banker who is now Senior Vice President and Senior Area Manager for Bank of the Sierra. Olague joined the bank in November and spent the first two months in Porterville - the bank is based there- learning the culture and mapping an aggressive strategy to position the bank as "the business bank of choice." I was surprised to learn that the bank, which has 25 offices scattered throughout the Central Valley, has $1.3 billion in total assets. Sierra has always had a quiet profile here, but my guess is that will change under Olague's more ambitious direction. Olague brings instant credibility and wide contacts to the bank, which enjoys more visibility and market share in places like Tulare County than it does locally. Previously Olague headed the local offices of Bank of America and Dutch-based Rabobank and worked at San Joaquin Bank.

* ... HOLD THE COCKTAILS: Sandi Schwartz, a member of East Rotary and secretary of the Plank Foundation, wrote to take issue with Men Health magazine's rating of Bakersfield as one of America's 'drunkest cities.' "I sent this article from Men's Health to my son Bryan Phillips who is Kern County raised, West Point grad, now living in Houston," she said. "He quickly defended Bakersfield stating that the article was unfair due to mass transit in large cities. Don't I have a brilliant son?" Indeed you do Sandi.

Has downtown Bakersfield reached a "tipping point?" And should we be happy to be named a "drunk city?"

  * ... A TIPPING POINT? It's easy to exaggerate these things, but I am sensing downtown Bakersfield has reached a "tipping point" in terms of its long renaissance. And I am saying this with full knowledge that our local economy remains in a deep funk, as evidenced by the latest "Crabtree report" that shows our local housing market stabilizing but flirting with a double dip recession. (more on that later) Still, if you were downtown this weekend, it was impossible to ignore the energy that the newly opened Padre Hotel brought to the local arts and restaurant scene. The Padre was packed all weekend, four deep at the long oak bar until the wee hours of the morning, but so were the other local businesses. Boosted by the monthly "First Friday" festivities, virtually every venue was full of revelers shoulder to shoulder: Metro Galleries, the Surface Gallery, Mama Roomba, Uricchio's Trattoria, even Cafe Med on Stockdale Highway. In addition, entertainer Martin Lawrence appeared at the Fox Theater and the Crystal Palace featured country crooner Clay Walker. Remember, this is downtown Bakersfield, once known more for a salty crowd and the occasional stabbing or bouncer-related incident that ended up in the police files. But something has changed, and it is clearly for the better.

 * ... OVER AT CASA MUNOZ: I stopped by Casa Munoz Mexican Restaurant located at Union Avenue and 18th Street on Saturday, not exactly downtown but a wonderful family eatery nonetheless. Julie Hernandez, the peppy and engaging daughter of owner Joe Munoz, says she too was jammed all weekend, particularly on Saturday when the restaurant was full of kids in their tuxedos and evening dresses headed to the winter formal at Garces Memorial High School. Both Julie and father Joe are Garces graduates and big-time supporters of the Catholic school located on the hill near Panorama Drive. Julie's youngest son Julian is a St. Francis School student and spends his weekends helping out at the restaurant, stopping by tables and charming the diners with his wit and charm..

* ... BULLDOG OR VOLUNTEER? I received a nice note from Dave Price, the retired director of the county Resource Management Agency who now lives in Kingsport, Tennessee. Dave was a first rate public servant with a keen wit and easy style, and one way he keeps up with Bakersfield is through this blog online (thanks Dave.) Although he's an alumnus of Fresno State University, he told me he had made a "successful transition" to becoming a rabid University of Tennessee fan, all part of living in the Volunteer state. He wrote: "All this comes at some personal cost, though, as oilman Les Clark gave me some Fresno State Bulldog gear when I left and told not me not to sell out to the Orange. He and I are both FSU alums and I was even student body vice president and president!" To prove his new loyalty to the Vols, he enclosed a picture of his family, all wearing Orange. Stay in touch, Dave.

 * ... NEW HEAD COP: I had a chance to meet with newly installed Bakersfield City Police Chief Greg Williamson the other day in his Truxtun Avenue conference room. There's no doubt he has taken over at a critical time for the department, which like all city departments is facing an uncertainty over its budget. Williamson did say that he is hiring 17 new police officers funded with stimulus money and that combating gangs remains a high priority. The gang issue is one that is not going away.

 * ... THE BUZZ: So now comes word that Bakersfield has been named one of the "drunkest" cities in America by Men's Health magazine. We have enough image problems already, and this comes on the heels of hearing that "The Biggest Loser" was in town last week rounding up our more obese local citizens to appear on the program. So now we're not only overweight, but drunks as well. At least we can take some comfort that Fresno was ranked the nation's drunkest city, and we were down at No. 10. (The top five were Fresno, Reno, Billings, MT., Riverside and Austin, TX.) The survey was based on DUI rates, alcohol related car accidents and other incidents. Click here to read the entire story.

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Short takes around town: Another financial institution on the ropes and Fred Drew is out at the Kern Community Foundation

  

* ... AND THE DOMINOES BEGIN TO FALL: The news that Kern Schools Federal Credit Union is on the ropes is further evidence of the depth of this recession. The credit union has lost over $54 million since the beginning of last year, a figure that makes the losses at the now shuttered San Joaquin Bank look absolutely paltry. And now we learn the credit union, like the bank, has been put on notice that it must dramatically increase its liquidity or face the consequences. Unlike commercial banks like San Joaquin, which got into trouble on soured development loans, the credit union issues are more consumer based - bad auto loans, delinquent personal loans and the like - and reflect the depths of the recession in Kern County, where our jobless rate is hovering around 14 percent. Another just stunning aspect of all this is the fact that at least one Kern Schools board member, Jim Fillbrandt, told The Californian he was unaware of the demands and written agreement with the National Credit Union Administration until Monday when outgoing CEO Vince Rojas mentioned  it. How and why the board would be left in the dark (if indeed it was) are questions that need to be answered. Looks like Rojas got out just at the right time, handing over the reins to Steve Renock, who previously worked at a credit union in Orange County. Here's hoping Renock is well versed in crisis management, because that's the job he's inherited.

 * .... DREW OUT AT FOUNDATION: I learned today that Fred Drew is out as CEO of the Kern Community Foundation. Drew has only been on the job since January. The press release from the Foundation was short and to the point and offered no explanation. But obviously things didn't work out between Drew and the Foundation Board of Directors. Judi McCarthy, the Foundation board chair, issued a press release saying only that Drew and the Board of Directors reached "mutual agreement" that he would leave effective October 31. In the meantime, retired CEO Noel Daniells "has been engaged by the Board to offer continued guidance and assistance" and McCarthy will serve as acting executive until a new CEO is in place. An appreciation dinner was just held for Noel last month at Stockdale Country Club. Looks like he'll stick around longer to help in the transition.

 * ... INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE REBOUND?: We all know about the funk that residential real estate is in, but what about the commercial and industrial side? I follow the blog of Wayne Kress, a principal over at CB Richard Ellis Bakersfield,  and learned that things are indeed slow but may be showing signs of a rebound. (check out his posting here). Kress said we have recovered a bit from the "lowly performance" of the first and second quarters. Some of the numbers and percentages here are staggering. From his blog:

 "Sales volume is down 30% over 2008 and a whopping 91% over 2007.  Average prices have actually increased over each of the last two years (+11% in 2008 and +7% in 2009), but this is a little deceiving, as the average building size has also declined in each of those years (by 43% in 2008 and by another 53% in 2009).  There is generally an inverse relationship between unit pricing and size:  the smaller the building, the higher the unit price.  This holds here."

* ... HOT SHOT WINS THE WORLD: Kudos to Bakersfield's Brian Foley, the college freshman who just won the World Championships in skeet shooting. Brian did it by not missing a single target in the 410 bore competition at the World Skeet Shooting Championships in San Antonio, Texas, and then beating perhaps the world's best shooter,  Todd Bender of Atlanta, in a shootoff. Brian graduated from Ridgeview High and is a freshman at Lindenwood University, a private college of about 13,000 students in St. Charles, Mo. He's the son of Tim and Kim Foley of Bakersfield.

Short takes around town: McCarthy's healthcare town hall meeting will be huge; Wendy Wayne's recovery and more economic storm warnings

Lots happening around town and more warnings that we have a long way to go before we can dig out of this hole. Here we go:

* ... HEALTHCARE REFORM: Spent lunch at downtown Rotary listening to Rep. Kevin McCarthy's take on the nation's political pulse and the battle over health care. Kevin said his upcoming town hall meeting on health care reform, set for Wednesday Aug. 26, has proved so popular he has been forced to move it a second time. It will now be held at the Icardo Center over at Cal State Bakersfield to accommodate an ever growing crowd. "We went from 300 confirmed to 800 overnight," he said. Kevin is dead set against the Obama legislation, but given the conservative temper of our community, it promises to be a lively forum nonetheless. Kevin always gets a warm reception at downtown Rotary, where he is a member and the membership consists of prominent business owners across town. It's a friendly audience and his message that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is crafting the reform legislation without input from either the White House or opposition was well received. Rotary president Duane Keathley, a partner with CB Richard Ellis, got a laugh when he presented Kevin with a special gift: a doctored picture of Duane and Speaker Pelosi for Kevin's desk.

* ... WENDY WAYNE AND A NIGHT OF MARGARITAS: The same Rotary club held its summer social Wednesday night at the home of Lou and Sheryl Barbich up in the Bakersfield County Club area. Lou and Sheryl are always terrific hosts but clearly one of the highlights of the evening was seeing Wendy Wayne, the former First Five Commission director who has been battling non Hodgkins lymphoma. (read previous post here) Wendy just underwent the grueling stem cell procedure and said the followup tests have all been positive. Though professing to some fatigue, particularly later in the day, she looked fabulous and seemed like her old self. Among the others attending were potato farmer Dick Porter and wife Becky, Castle and Cooke President Bruce Freeman, CASA director Coleen McGauley, the aforementioned Duane Keathley and wife Corey, H. Walker's Men's Store owner Tracy Walker-Kiser and husband Brian, Patti Houchin, AGM Radio Group president Rogers Brandon and wife Esther, Memorial Hospital CEO Jon Van Boening and wife Phillis, Uniglobe Travel owner Ray Watson, Northwestern Mutual's Paul Sheldon and wife Nesi and Steve and Pat Loyd of Loyd's Aviation.. The picture features Rotary president Duane Keathley and past presidents Dick Porter, Rogers Brandon and Richard Beene surrounding longtime Rotary secretary Evelyn Johnson.




* ... COMMERCIAL LOAN COLLAPSE: I've been warning about the next shoe to drop: commercial real estate and loans. Lots of evidence that things are tough and could get tougher, Moody’s predicts the default rate on corporate loans could rise from 2.4 percent last year to 12.8 percent by the end of this year – the highest level on record. Moody's says that isn’t surprising when you consider companies need to roll over $1.4 trillion in high yield bonds and loans in coming years, with more than half coming due in the next five years. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, is warning investors that the chances for a “double dip” recession remain significant.

* ... MORE HOUSING WOES: A study by the National Association of Realtors finds that 82 percent of people don’t have enough money for a down payment and 80 percent are waiting for the job market to stabilize before buying a home.