Baker Street keeps changing.

Assistant editor John Cox has a story today about Saba's Mens Store closing until about mid-July, with plans to reopen in a new location and focus on selling uniforms.

Already, with the story out for only about an hour, a reader wrote to me and said he was sad, noting he was a Saba's customer for 50 years.

What are your memories of Baker Street and Old Town Kern businesses?

— Christine Peterson

Here's a "raw report" press release from the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce:

Chamber seminar on April 8 highlights benefits of leveraging purchasing power
 
Learn ways to make strategic negotiations and procurement decisions and obtain local buying advise when the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce presents a seminar on Purchasing Goods and Services with Power on Tuesday, April 8, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Chamber, 1725 Eye Street.

“No matter what size your company is, having the ability to leverage your purchasing dollars is vital, and numerous factors come into play,” said Committee Chair Greg Heiss, Rabobank N.A. “Price, quality, service, customer support and flexibility are just a few of the considerations that can make a difference in being more efficient, profitable and competitive in today’s market.”

Featured speakers are Martha Bowers, The Bowers Group, and John O’Leary, O’Leary’s Office Products.

Cost is $20 per Chamber member and $30 per nonmember. Call 661-327-4421 to RSVP.
 

Have you looked for a job while you're on the job?

Were you at work, while you were supposed to be performing tasks for your current employer? Or did you wait until you got home or otherwise out of the office, spending your own time on the search?

I started thinking about this when a recent survey crossed my desk. (Gotta love those surveys.)

This one said 75 percent of executives are comfortable looking for a new job while on their current employer's payroll. (Compared to 69 percent in a 2002 survey.) But the survey done by Accountemps does not differentiate between people who used work time to look for new work of their own time.

— Christine Peterson

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Our latest home sales map is ready for a peek.

No need to grab a map and figure out where to find Barbara and Sally avenues. (Homes on those streets recently sold.) We’ve done the work for you.

See the map here.

This map is updated with existing homes that sold in Bakersfield Feb. 11 to Feb. 17, color-coded by sales price.

You can easily check out what homes are going for with the information from First American Real Estate Solutions and compiled by reporter Vanessa Gregory.

Highlights from this time period:

• 22 homes are new on this map.

• Priciest? One sold for $620,000 in the 93309 ZIP code.

• Cheapest? One sold for $75,000 in the 93307 ZIP code.
 

— Christine Peterson

For Sunday, I picked five recently sold homes and researched their sales history to get a snapshot of what's going on in the local market.

A reader e-mailed me this morning to express her sadness over the absence of any east side homes. To all on the east side: I don't hate you. Really.

I considered picking homes from each quadrant of the city. But in the end, I decided I wanted to be as neutral as possible picking the homes. Why? Because, yes, I wanted to bring the price fluctuations of individual homes into focus. But I also wanted to give a little bit of an idea of what's selling, and where.

I used the Excel software's random number generator to assign numbers to all the houses sold the first week of February. Then I sorted and picked the top five. Turns out, I got a selection of northwest and southwest homes.

While five is hardly a scientific sample, the results turned out to be pretty representative of the sales that week. West side sales outpaced east side sales, and more than half of the homes' sellers were banks (in other words, lots of sales of foreclosure homes).

That said, anybody got a sense of what's selling on the east side? Are houses in your neighborhood selling? And what kind of prices are they getting compared with, say, 2005?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer (and northeast resident)

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The national morning show "Good Morning America" aired a brief interview this morning with Lynnette Madden, an agent with Watson-Touchstone Real Estate.

Countrywide Financial Corp. suspended Madden's home equity line of credit in early February, citing falling home values as the cause. Madden disputes the notion that her home lost value.

Madden's story was first told last month by the Californian. Madden said the morning show's reporters interviewed her at her home here in Bakersfield on Thursday.

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

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The company's moving its headquarters to Denver.

Read reporter Gretchen Wenner's report. She'll be bringing us more information throughout the day.

For now, what's this going to mean for the oil industry here?

Here's a "raw report" press release from the Kern County Treasurer-Tax Collector:

Kern County Treasurer and Tax Collector Jackie Denney reminds the public that the second installment of your Kern County property tax is due on April 10, 2008.  In order to avoid a 10% late penalty and a $10.00 delinquency fee, property tax payments must be made in person or postmarked on or before April 10, 2008. 

Various methods of payment are available:

1)  Via mail to:  KCTTC Payment Center, P.O. Box 541004, Los Angeles, CA 90054-1004

2) In person at the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office located at 1115 Truxtun Avenue - 2nd Floor, Bakersfield, CA  93301.

3) Via the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Web site at www.kcttc.co.kern.ca.us

4)  Via telephone by calling (888) 628-2937

Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover Cards can be used for payments made by phone or over the Internet. Electronic Checks can also be used for payments over the Internet.  Please access our Web site for additional information.

If you do not have your tax bill, you may request a substitute tax bill or you may obtain the amount of property tax due by calling (661) 868-3490 or by e-mailing  2servu@co.kern.ca.us.  Property tax and parcel information are also available on our Web site.

Who's been promoted? Who has a new position? Who has earned a new professional designation?

Find out in the weekly People in Business column.

Want to be in next week's?

It's best to submit to bakersfield.com/yourwords.

You can also mail contributions to The Bakersfield Californian, business editor, P.O. Bin 440, Bakersfield, CA 93302; faxed to 395-7519; or e-mailed to business@bakersfield.com. Sorry, photos that are submitted cannot be returned. For information, call 395-7345 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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Here's a report from Roy Burlingame and Joyce Holtzclaw, organizers of this event. Joyce is with Nations Petroleum, and Roy is with Dynamic Graphics, Inc.:

The SPE Western North American Region of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the Pacific Section American Association of Petroleum Geologists are joining together to offer one, fully packed event in Bakersfield.

Under the theme “Adding Reserves Through Collaboration, Innovation, and Technology Transfer,” this year’s conference offers integrated technical and continuing education programs that you won’t want to miss.  

It’s Sunday through Friday at the Holiday Inn Select and Bakersfield Convention Center.

Read their full report here. Or sign up to go.

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Visitors spent more than $1.15 billion in Kern County in 2006 — an all-time high.

Read John Cox's full report here.

The good news got us thinking. If you were a tourist, what would bring you to Bakersfield and Kern County? What do we have to offer others should know about?

— Christine Peterson

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It's a fortuitous time for pawn brokers. Gold prices are hovering at or near record highs at the same time that the economy is softening and gas prices are soaring. All retailers have their regulars, but pawn brokers say a surge in first-time customers is a telling reflection of the economy.

And these people aren't hocking Grandma's ring to fund a vacation or frivolous splurge. Some are using loans against their belongings to make mortgage payments, or even payroll if they're employers.

Read the full story here.

Have you ever used a pawn shop? Would you ever use one?  What's been your experience with them?

— Courtenay Edelhart, staff writer

More chart fun! (Click on the blue rectangle)

Bakersfield appraiser Gary Crabtree just sent a chart of local home price trends after reading coverage of the recent economic summit.

Just follow the red line's sharp decline....I guess that's a 45 degree angle rather than a real nosedive. Still.

 Nothing like fun charts in the afternoon. Thank you Gary!

-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer

Okay, real estate and econ junkies.

On Tuesday, I interviewed Los Angeles economist Christopher Thornberg, who spoke at yesterday's county economic summit. Excerpts of our conversation were printed in the Californian.

But if you're interested in hearing everything from our interview — including answers to some of your questions, you can download this MP3 file and listen.

This is the first time I've uploaded audio to our blog, so let us know if this type of thing interests you. And/or if you have problems downloading the file (it's not streaming audio like elsewhere on Bakersfield.com). Click on the blue icon to download.

And post your comments about his thoughts. What do you think of this guy? Is his forecast on the money? Or off base?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

This morning's chart fun (click on the blue thing) is another trend analysis from residential appraiser and statistics devotee Gary Crabtree.

Current price per square foot in a Bakersfield single family home is hovering around $140, according to Crabtree.

At one point, it was up at more than $200 per square, according to Crabtree's chart.

Okay, the guessing game is on: What will the price per square foot be in Bakersfield at the end of 2008? At the end of 2009?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

The Bakersfield business big shots were out in force this morning for the annual Kern County Economic Summit, held at the Doubletree Hotel near Rosedale Highway and Highway 99.

Recession was much-talked about, which I cover in a piece for tomorrow's paper.

Some other tidbits from the event:

-New Aera Energy LLC CEO Gaurdie Banister Jr. talked about the billions of dollars the energy industry pours into California's economy each year. He also really, really wants you to stop talking on your cell phone while you drive.

-Castle & Cooke President Bruce Freeman delivered good-humored and detailed remarks on Bakersfield's residential and commercial real estate markets.

One interesting Freeman point: C & C  regularly commissions a report on the demand for new homes in the Bakersfield metropolitan area. The report has never shown a need for more than about 3,600 homes, he said. During one year of the boom, 6,000 permits were pulled. The explanation? Demand was fueld by non-legit buyers given purchasing power by subprime lending products. Pretty astounding numbers.

-Kent Foster, director of Opus Corp., a national real estate developer, called quality of life Kern County's "soft spot." Businesses may hesitate to move here if they don't think employees will want to relocate.

-Michael Gottlieb, Editor for the California Real Estate Journal, urged Bakersfield to do some planning for growth now, before it repeats the "errors and mistakes" of Orange County and the Inland Empire.

A few of his ideas: consider green development and building, keep an eye on water supplies (high desert communities are already wrestling with this and a growing Los Angeles will only get thirstier) and remember one of our biggest resources: "The thing that's going to propel this region and this economy is (that) you've got dirt."

Were any of you all at the event? What speaker or comment got your attention? If you missed it, what do you think of some of these thoughts and ideas?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

America will work three days less to pay taxes in 2008 than in 2007.

That day will be April 23 this year.

But Californians will have to work longer — until April 30 — for their Tax Freedom Day.

That's according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.

So why three days earlier? The Tax Foundation attributes that to the economic stimulus rebate checks that many Americans will receive later this year and slow economic growth in 2008.

Some fascinating stats from the report:

• Federal and state taxes paid by individuals require 42 days' work.

• Payroll taxes take another 28 days' work.

• Sales and excise taxes, mostly state and local, take 16 days to pay off.

• Corporate income taxes take 13 days, and property taxes take 12.

You can read the organization's full report here.

— Christine Peterson

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State of Economy.pdf

Today's Kern County Economic Summit was packed with info.

Check out the blue bar to the left, which is a copy of the State of the Economy report Cal State Bakersfield economics professor Abbas Grammy put together. It was part of the information packet given to attendees at today's summit at the Doubletree Hotel.

Grammy, a fixture at the conference for eight years, was the first main speaker. And he acknowledged that last year he "did not know the depth of the subprime mortgage crisis" that has since hit our community.

Some highlights from his remarks:

• For the first time in 10 years, he expects the Business Outlook Index to fall below 100. Numbers below 100 indicate pessimism; above 100, optimism.

• He expects the Consumer Sentiment Index to be above 100 in 2008, but to "deteriorate" compared to 2007.

• Kern's population is growing at about 2.6 percent per year. If that keeps up, we'll have 1 million people by 2016.

• 25 percent of Kern's employment is farm work.

• He expects the housing market to begin recovering in mid-2008, but the economy will remain "sluggish."

Read reporter Vanessa Gregory's full report here.

— Christine Peterson

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Are you ready for a rocket ride?

Here's the top of reporter Jenny Shearer's story:

The space-tourism race has a new contestant: XCOR Aerospace, based at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Its rocket-powered Lynx may be ready to ferry a pilot and a passenger up and back to the Earth’s atmosphere during 2010. 

Jeff Greason, XCOR’s president and chief executive officer, always thought space travel would be available by now.

“I never expected to have to build my own ship,” he said. “I got tired of waiting.” The company will formally announce the Lynx during a news conference at 10 a.m. today in Beverly Hills.

Read her full report here.

Here's a report from John Cox:

Former owners of the movie complex are Valley Plaza mall recently sold the theaters, though no physical changes are noticeable — including the name on the building.

Commerce-based Reading International Inc. in February purchased the complex from Los Angeles-based Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corp., whose name still graces the building.

The theater was among 15 complexes sold to Reading by Pacific. Representatives of Reading could not be reached for comment.

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We'd heard there was a sign in a window hearalding the coming of a Williams-Sonoma at the Marketplace. True!

Check out this report from John Cox:

A Williams-Sonoma cookware store is expected to open in southwest Bakersfield at the Marketplace shopping center this summer, the San Francisco-based chain confirmed Tuesday.

Company spokeswoman Hilleary Kehrli said the store will measure about 5,000 square feet, its stockroom included. She could offer no further details other than to say the store will sell high-end cooking equipment and host classes.

“I would say we’ll be hosting cooking classes in the store, as well as our free technique classes, where we teach people how to sharpen knives or how to make ice cream from scratch or how to use a certain tool,” Kehrli said.

Williams-Sonoma has more than 250 stores in the United States and Canada.

So, who's going shopping?

The Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce is hosting an after-hours trade show mixer.

It's from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 27 at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court.

General admission is $5.

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Here's what assistant editor John Cox discovered:

A local entrepreneur plans to open three Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shops in Bakersfield, at least one as soon as this summer.

One would open in the southwest, one in the northwest and one in east Bakersfield, Roland said. He did not provide location details, saying real estate negotiations are under way.

The first of the locations “is going to be opening up here like really, really soon,” he said, adding that two of his managers are now in training at the franchise’s Vermont headquarters.

So, ready for some ice cream?

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Country Home magazine just released its Best Green Places report.

Bakersfield ranked 120.

Here's what their report says:  "Across the nation, people are looking for ways to shrink their proverbial footprint. And along with that push to live a little closer to the Three-R mantra (reduce, reuse and recycle), Americans are asking their communities to think green, too. That prompted our second annual Best Green Places report, which analyzed hundreds of cities on key points, such as official energy policies, green power, green buildings, and the availability of fresh, locally grown food."

Here are the top 10 cities:

What do you think of Bakersfield's rank at 120th ? Fair?

Surveys always seem to yield interesting nuggets.

OfficeTeam did a telephone survey of 150 execs, with questions in honor of Administrative Professionals Week.

Here are some findings:

• 73 percent of the managers said these workers' responsibilities have grown in the past five years.

• 57 percent of execs said admin professionals have better career options now than five years ago.

Wonder what the market is like for these jobs in Bakersfield ...

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Efforts are afoot to retrain workers laid off from residential construction. (In case you haven't noticed that the pace of new home construction has slowed.)

The state's Labor and Workforce Development’s Employment Development Department is looking for formal proposals.

It's being called, according to the agency's press release, "Construction Talent Transfer Solicitation for Proposal with a particular focus on providing 'bridge' training to those affected by the mortgage industry slump. Up to $4.5 million in Workforce Investment Act funds will be awarded to selected organizations to train such workers for commercial construction jobs."
 
Have an idea? The EDD wants to hear from you by 3 p.m. April 21. Click here and select "Construction Worker Training."
 
— Christine Peterson

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Tomorrow I'm scheduled to do a Q & A with Dr. Christopher Thornberg, a UCLA Anderson Forecast alumni and expert on market forces and regional economies.

He's coming to town on Wednesday to speak at the Kern County Economic Summit. His talk is titled "Peering Over the Edge: Real Estate and the Economy in 2008."

He and I will be chatting about the same thing: real estate and the local economy.

Any questions you all would like to hear answered?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

Today's real estate statistics fix comes from residential appraiser Gary Crabtree.

"Recently, I have heard numerous conversations by Realtors, lenders and 'other market experts' that 'the Bakersfield market is at the $100 per square-foot level,'" Crabtree writes in an e-mail.

I've heard the same thing. In recent weeks, I've spoken with a few real estate agents — and quoted at least one in print — about homes going for about $100 per square foot.

Untrue, according to Crabtree.

But the "distressed" market (mainly foreclosures and short sales) is "still significantly impacting the market and is placing further downward pressure upon the market," he writes.

For detailed numbers, click on the blue link for the cover page of Crabtree's mid-month report.

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

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Our latest home sales map is ready for a peek.

No need to grab a map and figure out where to find Lorelei Rock Drive or Pheasant Avenue. (Homes on those streets recently sold.)

We’ve done the work for you in this map.

The map is updated with homes that sold in Bakersfield Feb. 1 to Feb. 10, color-coded by sales price. You can easily check out what homes are going for with the information from First American Real Estate Solutions.

Highlights from this time period:
• 25 homes were sold.
• Priciest? One sold for $530,000 in the 93311 ZIP code.
• Cheapest? One sold for $65,000 in the 93306 ZIP code.

Catch up on recent sales. Here's January's map, and click here for December.

— Christine Peterson

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In case you missed it Sunday, we ran an update on City in the Hills:

http://www.bakersfield.com/...

We hired an airplane for overhead photos. While we had a photographer up there, we shot some other sites around Bako as well (McAllister Ranch, for one). Look for those shots in upcoming stories.

Any developments you're particularly interested in having updated?

-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer

Sunbelt Business Advisors and Brokers of Kern County is hosting a free dinner seminar on how to buy or sell a business. It's presented by John W. Willingham, president, and professionals from several local businesses.

It's from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, March 24 at Best Western Crystal Palace Inn & Suites, 2620 Buck Owens Blvd.

Topics include the legal aspects of buying and selling a business, tax issues, using your 401K to buy a business without paying taxes or penalties, managing a business, understanding financial statements, financing and others.

To RSVP, call 323-2358 or send an e-mail to the organizers.

It's one of those situations that just seems patently unfair: There you are, paying your rent every month, only to discover your landlord hasn't been paying the mortgage.

Apparently, quite a few tenants are finding themselves in such a bind, if the turnout at a free legal workshop downtown Wednesday was any indication.

A lawyer volunteering with Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance came out to offer legal guidance and practical tips to renters dealing with a landlord's foreclosure.

What rights do renters have? The short answer? Not too many.

Basically, tenants are legally bound by their lease to keep paying their rent until ownership changes hands. And then they can be evicted (with 30 days notice) if the new owner doesn't care to be a landlord.

Any renters out there had to deal with this lately? Do you know of anyone who has? Do renters deserve more legal protection than they get?

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

The median annual income for men is $41,965 for men, but only $32,168 for women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The American Association of University Women - Bakersfield Branch wants to talk about that. The group is hosting a community forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 at the Cal State Bakersfield Student Union's multipurpose room. It's free.

Successful women in male-dominated fields will talk about their experiences.

Why April 22? Because it's called Equal Pay Day. An AAUW press release says the day is selected by figuring out how long the average woman would have to work (about 16 months, so January of one year to April of the next year) to earn the same pay a man did in a year.

What's your experience?

— Christine Peterson

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Here's a "raw report" press release sent today from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center:

EDWARDS – Research pilot James W. Smolka and flight test operations engineer Leslie M. Molzahn of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center were among aerospace professionals honored by Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine at its recent Laureate Awards presentation. Smolka and Molzahn were members of the joint NASA / Gulfstream Quiet Spike Flight Test Team that was named the magazine's Laureate winner in the Aeronautics/Propulsion category.
 
The Quiet Spike team was honored for successfully demonstratinga Gulfstream-developed prototype telescoping nose boom on NASA Dryden's F-15B research aircraft that reduced the intensity of shock waves created when the aircraft flew at supersonic speeds. The telescopic nose boom, when fully developed, could reduce the intensity of sonic booms and help open the nation's airspace to supersonic flight over land.
 
Other members of the Quiet Spike team from Gulfstream Aerospace honored included staff scientist and technical fellow Donald Howe and project engineers Robert Cowart and Frank Simmons III.