RESILIENCE IN HARD TIMES
State of the City event focuses on progress despite challenges
Bakersfield’s top elected and appointed officials painted a picture Wednesday of the city as a place of tenacity that, despite challenges largely beyond its control, is making strong progress toward its biggest goals.
Their annual State of the City presentations to a sold-out downtown crowd highlighted recent achievements in addressing crime and homelessness while promoting workforce and economic development. Following last year’s pattern, the luncheon closed with a series of announcements on upcoming real estate developments and shopping opportunities.
The theme of resilience dominated speeches by Mayor Karen Goh and City Manager Christian Clegg as the two of them pointed to external influences — state policies and laws, in some cases — for the city’s worst problems. But they said answers are being found locally.
“There’s more work to be done,” Goh said. “Let’s persevere with intentionality, with optimism and unity. We declare that Bakersfield will be sought out at the center of creative solutions and innovation.”
“Let us together pursue a new depth of commitment to join together, come together as one … with our talent and experience,” she continued. “Let’s take our community to the next level and write the narrative of our future.”
Sponsored by the Greater Bakersfield Chamber, the event inside the Bakersfield Marriott at the Convention Center began with a Pledge of Allegiance and prayer, followed by presentations by event sponsors. After food was served, Clegg took the stage in a blue suit and opened with a joke involving a daunting diagram about a systemic approach to public administration.
Part of his focus was city government’s drive to become more efficient, which he extended to include the use of tax revenue from 2018’s Measure N, also known as the Public Safety & Vital Services Measure.
Much of California struggles with challenges related to drug use, property crimes and homelessness, he said. But what distinguishes Bakersfield, he said, is the city’s resolve and its ability to bring together hard-working, friendly people.
“This is a very resilient place,” he said. “We’re fighters and survivors.”
Assessed property values in the city have increased 15% in the last four years, Clegg noted, and in the last year alone business starts are up 45%.
He listed investments the city has made using Measure N money, from $120 million spent replacing or upgrading software programs to $25 million in upgrades to the regional public safety radio system, to establishment of a $50 million rainy-day fund.
Bakersfield’s streets and parks have received unprecedented attention, Clegg said, and the city has recently invested in grants, expanded its library hours and opened the first phases of its long-awaited Centennial Corridor freeway interchange. He explained that the city now spends $20 million per year to address homelessness.
The city has added 25 new firefighters
and, during the last two years, hired more than 200 police officers, he said, while also adding 41 code enforcement officers and 18 park rangers.
Clegg highlighted successes in combating retail theft and vandalism, pointing to 500 arrests and 600 cases cleared, as well as the recovery of some $400,000 in assets. Incidence of retail theft, he said, fell 23% between fall and spring.
“We won’t quit and we don’t quit,” he said.
The mayor, taking the stage in a lavender suit and her usual enthusiastic public speaking, quickly took up the subject of homelessness, which she called the city’s “paramount issue.”
“Daily we hear the frustrations from you,” Goh said. “I’m at my wit’s end. I’m sad for our city.”
People living unsheltered has become a systemic problem around California, she said, adding that Kern County’s most recent Point in Time count found homelessness increased more than 30% year over year. For every person housed, she estimated, four people end up on the street.
She called for more transitional, affordable and permanent supportive housing, as well as additional confined beds and intensive psychiatric and medical services for people who are homeless.
Without blaming state policymakers directly, she raised a complaint familiar in local politics — that lawmakers in Sacramento have barred law enforcement and the courts from deploying stronger interventions.
“The problem now is that there is very little accountability in the criminal justice and mental health system,” she said, later adding that the city has taken a more active approach to legislative advocacy in the state Capitol.
A video she showed focused on a mother and former professional basketball player named Regina Garcia who struggles with depression. Garcia explained how she lost at least two jobs because of the pandemic and now feels added stress as a parent living on the street.
“I think the system needs to realize that it’s not just one thing,” she said. “It can be a million.”
Goh’s speech took on greater optimism as it went on. The mayor said help is coming from the state in terms of more money for shelter beds and housing.
She announced the launch of what’s called the Community Vitality Initiative allowing people to email communityvitality@bakersfieldcity.us to summon appropriate resources for responding to problems related to homelessness. A hotline will be unveiled shortly, she said.
Other initiatives she mentioned were streamlined permitting, entrepreneurship grants, a youth jobs program and new educational programs at Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield.
The mayor closed with news of several new shopping centers, including work that redevelopment of the former East Hills Mall is set to begin next year. There will be new retail developments in the city’s southeast and northwest, she said, and the Trader Joe’s store along Coffee Road has agreed to expand by 50%.
After noting additions such as new playing fields at local sports complexes, Goh referred to a new amenity coming to the city that families will enjoy. But she said she was unable to identify the development.
“Secret right now,” she said. “Sorry.”