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5600 jobs in stores and a theater?   Are they planning a one on one shopping experience? 

What they need to do is stop all commercial building until the ones sitting empty are filled.  If there isn't a fast food or strip mall near you, drive to one.  We're such a lazy society that we start complaining if we have to wait for anything or have to be inconvenienced in any way.

Then you have commercial investors who let greed drive common sense.  Enough already.

obviously, those "pushing" for this havent taken a look around at empty,and near empty retail space throughout the northwest.

hageman and verdugo

hageman and calloway

stockdale hwy and allen rd

coffee rd and downing

rosedale and fairhaven

calloway and noriega

this is just off the top of my head

we have no need for commerical space

I wonder which city entity is allowing this to happen?

Oh, please, no. I love shopping as much as the next gal, but this will make the intersection of Coffee and Brimhall even more of a bottleneck than it already is. In addition to learnem's list, there are numerous empty spots in the three retail/office centers at Brimhall and Calloway.

"Retail stores, theaters and restaurants" aren't going to bring new jobs to town unless residents have disposable income that they aren't already using. In this economy? I don't think so.

maybe when unemployment is below double digits.............MAYBE

I  smell a rat big time.

World Oil Corp. headquarters is located in Houston, Texas, although the website tries to imply a more local origin to the project.

A satellite office is located in South Gate Ca.

Building any commercial real estate right now, for that specific purpose, just doesn’t make sense. Oil company profits in general are way down. Not a great time to hunt for long term financing either, although long term interest rates are low.

Just speculating here, but I wonder.........

The land in question was used for years for various oil production related purposes, such as old wells,tank farms, and pipelines. Nearby are two refineries.

The land is a toxic waste pit.

Some years ago,I had an assignment in Huntington Beach to photograph a massive cleanup of an oil refinery complex owned by Chevron. The refinery was long gone, but the land needed “environmental mitigation” to clean up years of toxic waste buildup. The dirt was so polluted that a huge semi airtight tent was erected over the site, and you had to wear a hazmat suit with a class one breathing device to enter the tent. The land looked much like the development area here.

Chevron removed and replaced maybe the first 10 foot of soil at the site. The tent was moved as each section was completed.

A year or two later, the land was developed into a fancy shopping complex, parks, and houses.

The hazmat contractor told me he wouldn’t live on that land if they gave him one of the homes for free.

Interestingly, the development was owned by Chevron at the time, but was marketed by a front corporation. I don’t know the status now.

I wonder also if “environmental mitigation” can be  somewhat less than required, especially if the land is passed from one petro front company to another. 

Naw, can’t be. I’m sure there’s no corruption on Kern County or the oil companies.

A money losing development could be cheaper long run than a full cleanup. 

Be nice if the local paper would just follow the money.

Don’t hold your breath.

“The project team is led by a family-owned company with a long-term commitment to Bakersfield.”

I find this very disturbing also. “Family” owned company somewhere far away. Privately owned means the bookeeping is not in the public domain as it is with a public corporation.

Any thoughts?

If I'm not mistaken about the land in question it's south of the refinery that had a fireball kill a woman some years back.   The land on the northwest corner has been sitting vacant for as long as I remember.  I don't know how the proximity to the old refinery property, or to the steam plant with all it's toxic transformers will affect the safety of people working in that area but it really isn't far from a lot of houses to the west.

The opposite side is already developed to some degree.

Many years ago there was a burn dump on Brimhall near Calloway and they covered it up and built a park.  Broken glass started working it's way up through the ground to the surface.

You reap what you sow.

No. Don~ very nice comment.

Back fill into existing structures/malls. We do not need more soon to be deserted sprawl.

why the project "makes common sense for Bakersfield."

What would make sense for Bakersfield is to elect representatives on the City Council and Kern County Board of Supervisors who actually follow the recommendations of their respective planning commissions. Who needs a 5000 square foot wedding chapel on the corner of Stockdale Hwy and Nord Avenue? Well, someone sees a need out there! 

Excellent post, donmason. Similar ground pollution antics on Union Avenue, on a much smaller scale. I hear it's been handled, though.

I wonder what ever happened to McCallister Ranch...

I agree.  Fill the empty houses and buildings first before we start constructing again.  Then maybe they can do something with that golf course.

Of course, there is also the 'new mesa marin' out on 43.  How many failed projects must we put up with before the city finally catches on?  I wonder how many unoccupied new homes we still have in Bakersfield?   

ANYONE REMEMBER the attempt at the canal development south of white lane?   its a dirt bike mecca now

obviously, our city doesnt possess a "vision" of bakersfield in the future.  it seems they are just trying to piece together a giant jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing

That should wake some folks up! It is a first~ the "left",the "middle" and the "right" all  agree!

The City Council/Supervisors take heed. No more indiscriminate building.

Especially by too slick for their own good out of towners posing as locals.

The race track is one business that should be completed.  It at least stands a chance of bringing revenue to Kern County.  The developer who bought out Mesa Marin never even started on the north side let alone the south side. 

Here's hoping the Mexican Restaurant out there can make it but it's a long drive for town folks on the northwest end so they'll have to rely on the east side where there are already a lot of established eateries.

If I'm not mistaken about the land in question it's south of the refinery that had a fireball kill a woman some years back. 

it was a young man.  my girlfriend's sister worked on him @ the KMC ER....he was so burnt, they couldnt even find a good vein to tap him

i remember that...lik 94-95???

Too funny Sage! You're right, I think this is the first time I've seen a consensus like this.

I'm pretty sure this was a woman   There was a vapor and it ignited.    Huge fireball.  It was before they built the overpass when that two lane road was the only way to Rosedale highway.  The refinery straddled the road.

I found this reference in '96 so you're probably right about the time frame.

"Correctional Officer William Pitcher--Wasco State Prison An explosion at a Bakersfield refinery caused a large fireball to engulf the vehicle in front of Officer Picher's van. Ignoring the real possibility of another explosion, and without regard for his own safety, he gave aid and comfort to the victims and called for emergency medical response. By his actions, Officer Picher represented himself as a true and caring professional."

The individual killed was a man.  I knew one of his relatives.

I stand corrected.

I remembered a small car and a woman.  I got half of it right anyway.   I don't know why it sticks in my mind that way unless one of the other injured was a woman.  Or the driver of the first car.

"The refinery's final chapter began on March 30, 1995, when an
improperly sealed storage tank
allowed an invisible cloud of flammable gas to leak across Coffee
Road. Investigators believe the
gas cloud was ignited by a passing Chevrolet Camaro, which was
followed immediately by a
Honda Accord driven by 22-year-old Tracy Kildebeck. A fireball
erupted, engulfing Kildebeck's
car. He was burned over 100 percent of his body and died 32 hours
later.
Kildebeck's family sued Sunland after his death, winning an
undisclosed settlement. The Kern
County District Attorney's Office brought a civil case against the
company and won a $5.5 million
settlement, a record for the county at the time." 
 

This is a letter I wrote to the editor about the Bakersfield Commons project...

Dear Editor,

When I read the article about Bakersfield Commons, all I could think was “FINALLY.”  This project is exactly what Bakersfield needs right now. The project means jobs – immediately from the construction, and also by bringing new businesses to our community. When the unemployment rate in Kern County is nearly 13%, shouldn’t our local government be doing everything it can to make sure this project gets built? If Bakersfield is going to move forward, we need to build projects like this, NOW.

Small world. I knew the cousin of the young man who was killed in that explosion; he worked at Mercy Southwest with my sister at the time (the cousin). He took it really, really hard. What a horrible tragedy.

K43, you can't be serious.  With all the vacant NEW buildings why on earth would you believe it's a good idea to build more?  How long do you think the construction will continue to supply jobs?  Until it's built?  Then what?  More buildings to sit empty while you make construction jobs for people?  This scattering willy nilly all over the place every time a new hoousing development goes in is ridiculous.

Didn't this area just have an unprecedented boom in construction over the last 10 - 20 years?  And as soon as that bubble burst the economy here crumbled.  An area needs more than just construction to maintain a growing economy or it just becomes a glorified Ponzi scheme.  Unfortunately, the farming industry doesn't provide a lot of good paying jobs and the oil industry is going to be declining here even more rapidly with the political climate in California and Washington.  This county needs more publicity about the evil Lords of Bako wrongly convicting everybody and their brother and more publicity about the foul air to discourage people from moving here and to get some to leave.  Then the air will clean up, the unemployment will go down, and I won't have to continue learning the hard way about the new stop lights that sprout up. 

Maybe K43 subscribes to the build it, tear it down, repeat cycle of job creation. One of the news agencies was reporting the other day about how banks are bulldozing foreclosed developments because it's cheaper than trying to sell the built property. They showed a housing development in Vacaville that was leveled. I suppose, from that perspective, the cycle does create jobs. So does moving a pile of rocks back and forth across a field though.

Good points Shwaine.  Especially the rock analogy.

the Bakersfield Commons is an infill site, not more urban sprawl.  We can't stop investing in our community just because its bad economic times.  This is a 20 year project...that is a sustained investment that bakersfield needs.   We don't need to discourage investment in our community just because we have some empty buildings.

An update: The Bakersfield Commons group will hold a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. May 20 at Columbia Elementary, 703 Mondavi Way in Bakersfield. It's south of Brimhall between Coffee and Calloway.

An RSVP is required to events@commonsensebakersfield.com or 661-717-5594.

A decade ago, there were sheep grazing at Rosedale and Calloway, so to some of us K43, that area is still part of the urban sprawl. If someone wants to infill, how about 24th and Oak or Stockdale and Gosford/Coffee? Those are some empty lots that have sat for decades with development all around them.

My home is very close to this proposed site.  You can bet I'll be at the May 20 meeting and asking questions.  The main problem as I see it is the traffic at Brimhall and Coffee.  It will be interesting to hear their solution.  At a meeting a couple of years ago KernCOG was pushing "walkable communities."  This shows promise but I hope there are plans to build walkways across Brimhall.  There should be a walkway at Brimhall and Calloway too.  Walking along Brimhall is a nightmare if you want to go down to Brimhall Square and crossing Brimhall even with the light is a pretty hair raising experience so that's not very "walkable."  It would be a nice walk if it wasn't so dangerous.  If you've gone to the Marketplace and tried to find a parking place at certain times of the day and/or week you know it is well used.  Maybe this would move some of the crowd over to Bakersfield Commons.  Give them a chance but stay on them to do it right. 

did you guys know that LA county pays their welfare recipients a cash bonus AND pay for the moving expenses if they move out of the county?  where is their number 1 destination????

KERN COUNTY

I personally wouldnt even ask about traffic.  i would just point to all the empty retail and single family dwellings...there are several there right around columbia too, which would help out...several empty retail s too right downthe street.

the area on the corner of oak and 24th is owned by the city, and are getting ready to put an overpass over the river to the area by the heart hospital

That sounds like one of those "true facts" you heard about on Glenn Beck.

Learnem, have you ever wondered what the downside of building prisons in the county is?  Many times an inmates family will move to be near their beloved relative in prison.

yet another downside to the great prision complex we have going on here in the state of CA...  i heard someone mention that 43 needs to be renamed the great prision HWY