Museum show on homelessness, loss opens this week

 Make sure you check out the new show over at the Bakersfield Museum of Art focusing on homelessness and loss. This promises to be a terrific show and includes - among other things - some startling photographs by Felix Adamo. The show opens this Thursday, Dec. 10, and runs through next February.

Whose idea of a "no burn day" is this?

  I was headed west on Truxtun Extension around noon Tuesday when I saw smoke billowing into the sky over near the Cal State campus. The sky was filled with smoke but alas, turned out to be a controlled burn over near the maintenance facility on campus. The authorities are citing folks for having a fire on "no burn" days and this is allowed?

Central Valley, Noriega Hotel get some positive ink and more kids come home to roost

* ... A TOAST TO THE CENTRAL VALLEY: It's always nice to see the Central Valley get some positive reviews from time to time, particularly given the bad rap we have with our neighbors to the north and south of us. The Valley has often been called the "other California" because we always take a back seat to our sexier neighbors in SoCal (LA, San Diego) and NorCal (San Francisco), even if those of us who live here recognize what wonderful communities we have. So it was nice to get some recognition from "Californiality," one of my favorite blogs written by Mark Lorier.  (read the entire thing here). A couple excerpts:


"While agriculture is king, this Valley has great cities like Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, Stockton, Redding, Visalia and a hundred great towns. High rise buildings, wealth, luxurious shopping, museums, art galleries, wineries, live theaters, concerts, professional sports, world-class dining and refined culture are all here.  It's a gigantic society with all of the amenities.

  "I hear older residents lamenting about how young people leave the Central Valley after receiving degrees from local universities.  Many of these young folks are lured away by great offers elsewhere, and why not?  They're smart, ambitious, talented young Californians with a high-quality California college education.  Anyone would want them! 
 "What these young folks may not know is that, with the way things are headed in this era, California's Central Valley will grow in importance and stature as humanity moves into a tumultuous future."

* ... NORIEGA HOTEL GETS SOME INK:  It was also nice to see the Noriega Hotel and the Central Valley get some ink in The New York Times recently. The Times did a roundup of Central Valley eateries and chose Noriega's for its Basque cuisine. (read the entire post here) Said the Times:


  "The history of the southern San Joaquin Valley can be read in its food. Old Town Bakersfield is home to a handful of Basque restaurants, a legacy of sheepherders who moved to the valley in the late 1890s, after years of working for others. According to Nancy Zubiri, author of “A Travel Guide to Basque America,” 95 percent of the sheep in Kern County are now owned by people of Basque descent. Farther north, in Hanford, Portuguese dairy farmers still make Old World-style cheese. Recent Laotian immigrants operate Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in Visalia."

 * ... A COUPLE MAKES BAKO HOME: Wayne Kress, a principal over at the commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, added his newlywed neighbors to the list of kids who have come home, Chris Travis and Christina Beechinor Travis. He said Chris graduated from the University of Arizona and now works in sales for Lightspeed Systems and Christina earned her degree from Santa Clara University and now works for Aera Energy.

 * ...BULLDOG COMES HOME: Proud mom Mary Santomen, who works at Golden Valley High School, emailed me about her son Samuel Blue. He studied engineering at Bakersfield College for two years, went on to graduate from Fresno State and is now back home working for Meyer Civil Engineering Company, which had a role in the Mill Creek project development.

* ... HEAVY DOSE OF CONSERVATISM: Local attorney George Martin isn't breaking any new ground with his lineup for the next Bakersfield Business Conference, now set for next October 9. Former Bush administration White House player Karl Rove has joined the lineup, along with Dick and Lynne Cheney, Barbara Bush, Mitt Romney and event keynoter Sarah Palin. Martin is following a predictable path here, assembling a lineup that looks a lot like Fox News but one that is guaranteed to be a hit with Bako's rock hard conservative audience. The real key will be the venue, and that hasn't been determined. Martin has always provided an incredible outdoor setting for the business conference, in the past turning the Cal State campus into a lush green setting looking like the infield grounds at the Churchill Downs. He wants to land the Park at Riverwalk, but it's not yet a done deal.

A California "brain drain" and a local girl is gravely injured in a Long Beach accident

  * ... CALIFORNIA BRAIN DRAIN? Here's something new to consider: the high cost of living in California and the rising cost of a university education is leading to a statewide "brain drain" of college kids out of our state. That's the conclusion of  "The Capitol Weekly" that said for the first time since the 1980s, California sent more college kids out of state than it received from other states. This is amazing stuff and points to the  increasing cost of a California bachelor's degree combined with other factors like state and local taxes and housing costs that are sending kids elsewhere. Read the entire story here but consider this excerpt:

   " ... the state has registered a net loss of college graduates annually for many years. Whether this is attributable to cost of living or other factors, the fact remains that the state is subsidizing the education of people who contribute to another state’s economy. The ideal situation ... is to recruit people who do most of their schooling elsewhere, come to California for college or graduate school, then stay and join the workforce."
  "Nevertheless, public higher education in California is still on course to produce slightly fewer graduates, with somewhat more debt, in the coming years. And these things are happening at a time when the state needs more graduates.

* ... PRAYERS FOR  A LOCAL KID: I was shocked to learn this weekend that Macey Kibbee, a local Bakersfield girl now attending Cal State Long Beach, was in a horrific accident and is hospitalized in critical condition. Macey, a sophomore at Long Beach, was jogging last Thursday afternoon when she was stuck by a car and thrown onto the windshield. Family members say there was serious swelling of the brain and that she was put into a medically induced coma, but she is (hopefully) now showing signs that the worst may be over and at least once responded to verbal commands. This is every parent's nightmare and a scenario that you simply cannot allow yourself to imagine once you send your youngster off to school.  (Follow her recovery on the family blog here) Macey graduated from Stockdale High School in 2008 and was part of a large group of high achieving, good kids that included my own daughter. She is one of a number of local kids who are attending Long Beach State, a popular state university that draws heavily from the Central  Valley. She is now surrounded by family and friends at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.


 * ... TWO MORE WHO CAME HOME: I heard from Carol Dokolos who added her two sons to the long list of local kids who went off to college and later home to contribute to our community. Nick Dokolos is a North High graduate who earned his teaching credential at Biola University and is now teaching at Columbia Elementary  School. Brother Marcus Dokolos is also a North High grad, majoring in engineering at beautiful Westmont College and is now working for Porter and Associates Engineering. Nick is also the person behind the local Segway rentals this Christmas, having done something similar in Door County, Wisconsin, during the summers.

* ... ANOTHER FIRST FRIDAY: You missed something special if you didn't attend the "First Friday" celebrations downtown. The weather was crisp, hundreds of folks were milling about listening to outdoor concerts and checking out the art galleries, and the atmosphere was electric. These downtown events keep getting better and are at their best in a fall evening in scarf and sweater weather. Don Martin's Metro Galleries was packed and the hors d'oeuvres provided by the new sushi restaurant Enso on 19th Street were superb. Downtown has certainly had its issues and bad publicity in recent years, and deservedly so, but its revival is worth our support. I saw many local folks there, including former Weill Institute head Jeff Johnson, local artist Barbara Reid, attorney David Cohn and wife Debby, oil engineer Bob Ellison and wife Patricia of Southwest Bakersfield, local artist Chalita Robinson and many more.

McCarthy: it's all about jobs, water for the Valley and sensible healthcare reform

 It's time for the weekly update from Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield. His report from Capitol Hill

 "As we all know, our local economy is directly impacted by a lack of water as we see cropland dry and fallow.  On Wednesday, the California State Water Project announced its water allocation for 2010 would be the lowest in its history. Congressman Nunes (Tulare) and I are trying to get Congress to turn on the pumps and bring needed water to the Central Valley. This time we are using a discharge petition to force a straight up or down vote on our bill to waive regulatory burdens that restrict Delta water pumping, which would restore California water flow. 

 "During these challenging economic times that test our country’s resolve, a book I have been recommending for a historical perspective is “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shales.  The book describes the struggles of spending programs not reaching the common American person – the book highlights the forgotten man.  Today’s scenarios involving government intervention and economic challenges we face are similar and there are lessons from this book to get our country back on track. 

 "Today’s record deficits and double-digit unemployment are unacceptable. The trillion dollar stimulus has failed to create the jobs that were promised. Our families are struggling, and we all have our own stories of the effects. Whether it is a neighbor or family member who has been laid off or someone we know losing their home, the effects are real.   My colleagues and I have crafted common-sense job creating policies that should be revisited.  Just this week, my friend and colleague Eric Cantor unveiled a no-cost stimulus that will make needed changes to help American businesses create jobs.

 "In addition to ideological bills like cap and trade that will kill American jobs, this week the Senate debate began over the Democrats’ government takeover of healthcare (H.R. 3590).  This bill could create a government-run healthcare plan that could cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their current coverage, while raising taxes on small businesses to pay for the trillions in spending. I will continue to fight to ensure this bill does not become law.

"Tuesday evening President Obama also addressed the nation with his plan to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.  The President finally decided to support General McChrystal’s request to reinforce our troops and commit to the counterinsurgency strategy he laid out in April.  Whenever a tough decision is necessary to send our troops into harm’s way, I believe we must ensure our goals are clear, our strategies can work, and most of all, our troops have the resources they need to succeed.  

 "Lastly, I hope many of you were able to attend the Earl Warren Cup at Bakersfield High School. Unfortunately, I was unable to be there, but I was able to record and send in a few questions for the contestants.  Congratulations to winner, Wesley Elrich, his classmates, and government teacher Jeremy Adams for all his hard work to promote enthusiasm for constitutional knowledge. 

Sports Illustrated Tablet: the future of media?

 Check out this video of a prototype of the new Sports Illustrated "Tablet." The future of media? Just stunning. Check out the story here.

Valley tries to lure the young and talented back home, and remembering Lenore Carter

 *... LURING YOUNG TALENT BACK HOME:  I've spent a lot of time chronicling many of the local kids who have decided to return home, so I was curious to read about an organized effort in Fresno aimed at reversing the brain drain. (read the entire post here) The Fresno effort is aimed at taking advantage of a tough economy to lure back departed talent and to take advantage of the energy and creativity of these young workers. From a story in the Fresno Bee:

 "Though unemployment rates are high in the Valley, employers here say they still need educated professionals in many fields. The recession, along with family ties, may provide an incentive for some who left to return.
Along with new ideas, so-called boomerangs "also come back with a renewed interest and passion for the area," said Mike Dozier, chief operations officer of the Office of Community and Economic Development at California State University, Fresno.
 "The challenge has long been figuring out how to lure these former Valley residents -- especially those between the ages of 28 and 38 -- away from their big cities, vibrant life and higher-paying jobs."

 There is certainly evidence that a lot of local kids have made the decision that Bakersfield is a good place to live and work, although many others have opted to leave and never return, often citing the diversity of jobs and opportunities that only larger cities can provide. But the Fresno effort is interesting and worth following, and perhaps something we should consider here.

 * ... SOME DUKIES RETURN TO BAKO: Locally the list of kids who have come home grows longer every day. The latest to contact me was Ami Shugart who was a valedictorian from Bakersfield High School in 1996 and cum laude from Duke University in 2000, having "spent a good portion of the latter four years camping on mud-saturated pizza boxes in a cheap, soggy tent as a Cameron Crazy in Krzyzewskiville." (If you need this explained, you don't follow college basketball.)  Ami later attended law school, decided it wasn't for her and came home to raise her boys, now 4 and 2 years old. And she reminded me that her friend, local dentist Dr. Benjamin Lin, graduated with her at Duke in 2000. A graduate of Highland High, he apparently attended dental school in Pennsylvania.

 * ... AND THERE ARE MORE: Carol Formanek sent  me an email telling me about her son, Arin Formanek, a 2003 graduate of Stockdale High School who graduated from UC Santa Barbara. He is now working at Vintage Production CA LLC, which is a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. And speaking of Stockdale High, two more Mustang grads, siblings Tim and Toria Gooding, are back in town. Tim went to Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego and is now a financial analyst for Vintage Petroleum in Bakersfield and Toria graduated from Vanguard University and is working on her credential and substitute teaching in the Panama Buena Vista School District. Welcome home to Arin, Tim and Toria.

 * ... REMEMBERING LENORE  CARTER: Received a wonderful email from Art Sherwyn, the local artist, art teacher and former tennis coach at Stockdale High School who was remembering the life of Lenore Carter, who died last week. Lenore was the wife of Warren Carter and mother of Ken Carter, president of Watson Realty. She died Thanksgiving afternoon after battling cancer. Said Art:

 "I coached both of their sons, Doug and Ken, in basketball and football at McFarland High School in the 1970s. I was only in my 20s and their support and friendship was very well received, and welcome at a time when I was young and searching. They were outstanding role models for me to learn from; they were some of the most caring, compassionate and giving people I have ever been involved with, and their greatness as people provided me with a view that has enhanced my own life."


 What a wonderful tribute to Lenore, who will be buried Friday in Cayucos, her home away from home. A local memorial will be held at Olive Drive Church on Saturday, December 12.

The Beaver is back: another busy day on the bike trail

 The Bakersfield bike trail beaver is back, as evidenced by his handiwork as seen these photos. This is a tough one: do we protect the beaver (who after all is just doing what he knows how to do) or do we protect the lovely shade trees that have grown along the bike trail behind the Park at the RiverWalk in Southwest Bakersfield? These photos were taken Wednesday morning (Dec. 2) by Jim Pappe, a bicycle commuter who works at Lightspeed Systems downtown as a software engineer. Thanks for sharing, Jim.