More jobs for carhops! Less money spent on gas! Sounds like a win-win.

Car hops benefit the customer and the environment but cost the employers more.  They'd be the ones to scream.  I like the Sonic carhop way..it seems faster and more efficient than the old way where the car hops had to come to your car to take the order it and deliver it as well.

Well, five minutes in line is probably about 30 cents of gas wasted.  Of course, I usually tip the carhop more than that...

I thought the environment was the issue..the pollution.

I also tip the carhop but not the drive thru person so I guess, in my case, it's a matter of how cheap I'm feeling that day.

(the baby's asleep finally and I'm taking advantage of it...and hardly anyone is here to argue with.   :-( 

It is, Nancy,   But to say that the cost of carhops (which would be passed along) is higher than drive-throughs is somewhat misleading.

Your momma dresses you funny.  Oh, sorry, that's abuse.  Argument is down the hall.

What?  You don't like my green dress?

OK, aside from carhops, any other ideas?

Dress is ok................hats a little weird!!!  oops..............going down the hall with RF!!!!!!

SPAM CODE:  NK U     OR???????????? what???

These policies really has to be thought out before moving on a knee jerk reaction.  Take Oregon for example.  There only the gas station attendants are allowed to fill your car because they're afraid that the average joe won't know how to put gas in their own car.  Therefore, the entire state has to pay someone tofill up their cars for them.  I bet many Oregonians are looking for the idiot that came up with that idea. 

Casooner, I'm sure those employees are thanking whoever it was for the legislation that protected their jobs. In California those jobs got wiped out. 

On the subject of community actions, some cities have mandated to help the environment, and the quality of life in those municipalities improved immeasurably. I have been in a couple where city government made a big difference. In Mountain View they built a public golf course to allow Mountain View residents great golf on a great course at really low fees. This was done in conjunction with building the Shoreline Amphitheatre to draw big name entertainment to the city in a beautiful outdoor setting. These were public projects that turned blighted and landfilled areas into accessible local destinations and helped improve the local economy. Mountain View government was able to sell a fee structure from its citizens on property taxes to do these projects. They also did a major public works project through local fees to remove all powerlines from the city and have the lines go underground. Certainly made a big difference in how the city looked. Locals gained an immense sense of pride and accomplishment over the successes.

In Sacramento, the city moved away from PG&E to form its own municipal utility district and company. Sacramento also put into its city laws a tree initiative to form a beautiful canopy of trees and reduce pollution and the heat index from the really hot valley temperatures. It is illegal to remove any tree in Sacramento without getting a city permit and in every case the tree must be replaced on the property with another tree. Everyone in Sacramento must have curbside recycling.

Those cities care, and have a large enough community of people in them that care about quality of life issues to  make it happen. Bakersfield is the land of no social responsibility or community. Everyone is on their own, and private property rights rule. My land, butt out. That should be the local motto. No way does anything positive happen regarding the environment in this town. Should you want another strip mall location with a car wash, salon, drug store and fast food with plenty of room for drive throughs please step right up. All those Planning Department objections and local outcry will be overruled by Supes and Council members who run on money provided by large development interests.   

ADAM:  you are on a roll on the blogs today!!!!  AMEN!!!

Interesting photo choice. Not many lines at Supreme Beans these days.

They've had gas attendants in Oregon for over 80 years now.  It's not a new 'movement' per se...

They've had gas attendants in Oregon for over 80 years now...

And their gas is still cheaper than ours. Go figure.

I think the idea of doing away with drive-thru is great. I believe it would do much more for the air quality here than "no-burn days". I actually don't use the drive-thru because the exhaust from the vehicle in front of me bothers me. I also like to take my time deciding what I want; drive-thru makes me feel like I have to rush.

 And the funny thing about gas station attendants is that they only fuel up gas vehicles.  If you drive a semi, you get to fill it up yourself.  I was told it was part of their work to welfare program.

Wouldn't one think that a "car-hop" delivery of food would cause even more idling of vehicles? With our temperature extremes, customers would keep the engine running for heat in the winter or a/c, especially, in the summer. Not nearly as efficient as a drive-thru. 

Having said that, I love the idea of no drive-thrus. San Luis Obispo has such a law ... but then again, they don't have 15 Taco Bells. Says something about what our demographic will support.

If there's no drive-through then parking would be congested. So would the line inside the place. What works great in one city may bea bust in another.

Parking in SLO is congested and the lines are long. Granted, it's a college town with a different demographic, but the planners knew enough in the 80's to impose restrictions and place moratoriums on development. People deal with it.

Maybe if people here in Kern County couldn't purchase 2000 calories worth of crap for $6.00 in three minutes we wouldn't have an obesity problem. 

I need all the fresh air I can get.  After eating several triple whoppers today I'm finding it difficult to breathe.  I think it's because of my thyroid problem.

 I can alleviate the car idling problem,..shut your car off while waiting,..if too many cars are sitting in the line,. going in. and recycling haha!!! They will charge us for recycling and then they will get the money for the recycled items,..anyone see the problem with that? Sorry no blue bin for me ;)

They don't make much money off curbside recycling here because most people (myself included) use the blue bin primarily for paper and cardboard. That is not a big money maker in the recycling world.

LOL erik....

When I lived in New Orleans in the 1980's they had a policy about the big beautiful ancient Oak trees that lined some of the main streets "Uptown"    If a property owners' Oak tree died whatever the reason they were fined $10,000.   This policy was put in place (in part) to keep home owners from cutting down their trees to accommodate remodeling work.  Also it helped to encourage homeowners take an active part in insuring their trees were well maintained and disease free.  I'm not reccommending this policy  for Bakersfield I'm just giving you all an FYI.

i really dislike people who move to an area, then attempt to change it to the way THEY want to live.........if you don't like the way it is when you get there, instead of trying to change it, do your homework before you move...its akin to an alcoholic moving to a dry county for crying out loud

also, one thing they did in new orleans is sell alcohol at all the drive thrus, and it was legal for the driver to have an open container at the time..

again...big government is never good

i really dislike people who move to an area, then attempt to change it to the way THEY want to live.........

Yeah, them Pilgrims really screwed it up for the guys who were already here. 

manifest destiny...   you wouldnt be alive if it didnt happen

The same is true of WWII, also.   

So--you only object when someone you don't like personally does it.

Kinda like the gal who really liked this guy.  Seemed like her dream fella, except for.....   Well, he drank a little too much but she'd change that after they were married.  He was kind sloppy but she'd get him lined out once they were married.  He didn't take very good care of his car but she'd get him on schedule after they were married.

After all that thinking she realized she didn't even know the guy she'd changed him into.   She'd have been better off looking around til she found a guy more to her taste.

That doesn't mean we can't all improve, but a total makeover changes the reason we chose in the first place.

If we banned drive thrus we'd probably see waist lines shrink a little because people would have to get out of their car and walk into the restaurant to get their food.  BUT mommies like me would probably eat out less because I'm not hauling my preschooler and infant out of the car when I just want to get the food and take it home so possibly revenue could suffer.

I read a study (done in Sacramento somewhere) about planting a certain kind of conifer tree alongside of schools that bordered busy streets and found that it greatly reduced the amount of particulate matter next to the playing fields at the school.  I would love to see more trees in general around Bakersfield and if it helps with our particulate matter problem all the better.  Having said this, let it be an actual variety of tree that does WELL in our area...not a coastal redwood that is just going to go into shock and turn brown and look terrible.