Yes, thank you Steve Swenson for helping the world make the connection between that guy and the rest of us.

Are we that desperate to get on the map, that we have to claim relationships to these bastards, publicly, and in the media??

Ooh look, national story - let's get a Bakersfield plug in there!  Hey, that clown used to live here - yay!

While I'm at it - why the national level fluff pieces at the end of the newscasts? I don't care about hot dog contests in Maryland - especially during the KC Fair!! 

If you need fluff pieces for the news, which I DO enjoy from time to time - PLEASE MAKE THEM LOCAL.  I'd rather deveote 5 minutes at the end of each newscast to promote a local organizaion/fund raiser/event/business, etc... Than watch people that only know us as the city with 2nd worst air quality in the country.

Bakersfield, WHY are  you doing this???

How many Wal-Marts do we really need? Why is the anchor store at a relatively nice and  potentially upscale shopping district, going to be a discount big-box retailler? (Target).  Why do we also need a Target at the mall?

You do realize that you're driving your own image to the dirt.  You're making yourself out to look cheap and desperate.  You're slowly starving out the independent shops and small businesses.  You're developing huge wastelands of housing with scattered big-box style outlets interspersed - DESTROYING the fabric of any community or change at developing a true NEIGHBORHOOD.  You're MAKING people fat, because they can no longer walk to a "corner store" - since the nearest one is 4 miles away and the size of the Airport Terminal.

You're creating more traffic, since now everyone leaves home and drives the same direction to work, then the same direction to lunch, and finally, the same direction home.  On weekened, everyone goes to the same stores to shop.  There is NO BALANCE in this lifestyle, and the people here are increasingly unhappy as they spend inordinate amounts of time driving all over town to accomplish a short list of errands.

Please get rid of the Wal Marts and Targets.  Let small business thrive - let our neighborhoods grow, and bring back the true "middle class".

Aside from all the political and financial issues you've brought to us, you are destroying what little thread of culture was left in this town.  We no longer have a local flavor or neighborhood feel - we are now just a page in the corporate catalog.  Cultural Imperialism has claimed another territory.

1. The posted speed limits are too high.  Doing 55 mph down a STREET with frequent traffic control devices and cross-traffic creates an impatient attitude in drivers, and causes excessive wear and tear on your vehicle. 

Brake pads and rotors in Bakersfield last about 65% of the life of pads and rotors in other cities.  The aggressive acceleration combined with aggressive braking is more taxing on the vehicle, leading to faster break-down of the parts- which in turn leads to dangerous vehicles on the road (as they can no longer perform as well as they should). 

2. Bakersfield drivers are overly impatient.  If you need to be there "5 minutes ago", you should have left earlier. Simple as that.  The speed limits are already incredibly high - so that doesn't mean you can leave later and make it up on the road by doing 65 in a 55.  Also, there is no need to weave through traffic, change lanes frequently, omit using your turn signal, or aggressively tailgate a person who is already travelling at the maximum posted speed limit.

3. Bakersfield drivers are aggressive.  They change lanes without signalling.  They "race" from EVERY stop light (aka REDNECK 500).  If you attempt to pass a driver moving BELOW the speed limit, that driver will increase speed (well above the speed limit) to prevent you from passing.  If you do pass that driver, they will be on a mission of revenge to regain their "position" ahead of you.  Sometimes, that means missing their turn and having to take a longer route to their destination, just to prove some point?

4. Bakersfield drivers still don't use hands-free devices for cell phones, and text while driving.  Cell phone laws are idiotic and pedantic, however, Bakersfield drivers give ample reason for anyone to hate people who talk on the phone/dial/text while driving.  You really haven't figured this one out yet - please stop trying.

5. Bakersfield drivers will not stop behind another vehicle at a stop light if the next lane has even 1 spot further ahead open.  People will change lanes, while "stopped" at a red light, to gain that 1 spot advantage of the next lane.  Then they will return to the original lane.  You people are excessively impatient and not only are you wasting time/fuel/space - you are also increasing the risk of an accident.

6. Bakersfield drivers are cheap - and afraid of reporting anything to an isurance company (if they even have a real insurance policy).  9 times out of 10, a Bakersfield driver will try to negotiate a cash settlement in order to avoid making an insurance claim.  The IIHS has mis-interpreted this statistic to mean that Bakersfield drivers are safe, and has published a report proclaiming as much - a complete joke and embarrassment to the "research" efforts of the IIHS.

7. Bakersfield drivers do not stop at stop signs unless there are at least 2 other vehicles or a police vehicle present.  If there are 1 or fewer vehicles at the intersection, Bakersfield drivers will not come to a complete stop.

8. Bakersfield drivers are extremely vain - every car is excessivly clean (proof that there IS business for the car wash on EVERY corner).  A punctual contradiction on lifted "off-road" trucks that look like they've never been on anything tougher than grandma's driveway.  

9. Bakersfield drivers do not understand the principle of a turning-lane / center-lane.  They will use it for passing, but freak out when you enter the lane in order to merge into traffic, sometimes coming to a complete STOP in bewilderment.

10. Bakersfield drivers are fixated on the rear bumper of the car ahead of them. They do not notice anything else around them, ahead of them, or behind them.  They just stare at that rear bumper until they see brake lights or plow into it.

Just a simple top ten list based on the things I see on a regular basis - sometimes all 10 in a single trip!

I love cars, and I love driving.  I hate driving my favorite car, because it brings out the insecurity and unhappiness in Bakersfield drivers.  They want to race me at every stop light and in some way, try to find a way to make driving to the store a competition of some form.   I would expect to find solace in meeting the owner of a similar car on the road - but instead find that this person is only interested in proving how much superior his (exact same as mine!) car is. 

In short, Bakersfield drivers are passive-aggressive, impatient, spoiled babies who don't know how to interact with adults in the real world. They take their unfulfilled existence (testament to the 20 church per square-mile religous density) and frustration of a failed and miserable life with them out on to the road, to exert a tiny amount of power over their environment - for some sort of gratification which is apparently not being fulfilled at church (I am speculating this based on all the Church paraphenalia pasted all over the vehicle, the church parking lots you're always racing me to, or the chrome fish on your trunk.)

Smile and be nice all day at work, church, etc.. But get behind the wheel of a car, and suddenly you're a barbaric, uncivilized animal.

Think of what I'm saying here the next time you're late to church and speeding up Stockdale HWY, or swerving through slower traffic on White Lane.  Think about your actions behind the wheel, and whay they say about you as a person.  Don't use the car as a mask, to hide behind your (illegally) tinted windows and exact vengance on the world for not giving a piss about you or your problems.  We've got our own, thank you.