Q: What’s going on at the southeast and northeast corners of Old Farm Road and Noriega Road?  One of the empty lots is right next to a school, does that land belong to the school district?
— Roger Arellano

A:  There are no applications for development of the northeast corner at this time, said Jennie Eng, a principal planner with the city of Bakersfield. The southeast corner is the future home of Polo Community Park, maps show.
“One more question, are all these state budget cuts going to affect the construction of new schools and modernization of older existing schools?” — Roger Arellano
“For the most part, no,” said Bud Burrow, assistant superintendent for administration and finance at Kern County Superintendent of Schools.
State budget cuts impact operational funds, the money to operate educational programs. That money is generally separate from capital funds, those used to construct and modernize schools. Capital funds come from a few sources: the voter-approved sale of bonds, the state school construction program and developer fees.
But sometimes districts dip into operational money to help pay for construction and at that time the district would then be handicapped by the budget crisis, Burrow said.