Here's a response to the comments in Mettler's release above, e-mailed to me by City Manager Alan Tandy:

The GSA had an appraisal done and it was at $1.2- so a million is in the

ballpark.  The City is gifting the land because the community needs the

services to be provided here rather than Fresno. It saves inconvenience,

unnecessary travel and legal bills that would include travel time.  In

some instances it will also save Bakersfield residents reporting for

jury duty in Fresno. On a secondary basis it does bring revitalization

to an area of the downtown that the city has been working on for many

years including Mill Creek and five residential and commercial

developments that are to take place  along it.   It is worthy of note

that the first of those to go under construction is directly across from

the courthouse site and it includes commercial which is, in part, to

serve the courthouse.  The City has received other positive inquires

about other development interests in more than one direction branching

out from the site. These are tax base building projects which have value

to the taxpayer.

The parking garage is not mandatory nor has it even been requested for

the courthouse. The City needs parking for the activities that will

occur along Mill Creek.  We have a plan to do a garage rather than

surface parking to jointly serve a new, needed senior housing project

that can be done there. Mill Creek is not a" boondoggle".  It is a

beautiful amenity that will serve to anchor redevelopment of a

deteriorated section of downtown.  City officials have received high

praise for the vision, beauty and creativity of the project. The

comments made here are much like the folks who said when we were

planning the arena that Bakersfield would never have a concert or event

there- now we have the 74th highest attendance in the county!

I think the problem is Mettler and his ilk see themselves as taxpayers and not as citizens, and the 'guv'mint' is some evil entity that won't ever let citizens into the building. It'll just be vacant space, dontchaknow?

The other side of it is, if we gift the land...won't that keep the costs down? Isn't that what he and the unconscious conscience of the Republican Party stand for?

Re-reading the headline...I think "Why are taxpayers subsidizing the military?" "Why are taxpayers subsidizing Bill Thomas' retirement?" "Why are taxpayers subsidizing Ken Mettler's health care on the Kern High School District board?" The list goes on and on....

Now we're gearing up for the meeting. Mettler will speak, as will Ed Wilson an attorney not affiliated with CRA, about the courthouse. (Maybe others, but we'll see.)

Bob Decker from the Homebuilder's Association and David Cates (builder) are here...hmmm...nothing about traffic fees on the agenda. Maybe they'll have comments in the free-for-all section?

Almost gavel time...

Lifesavers, the anti-abortion group, is here again on the parking area around 25th and H.

Alvis West is now speaking about a level playing field for a stand against Family Planning Associates. They want ways to counsel people against having abortions. He introduced himself as Dr. but I  can't find him in state physician database; perhaps he's a PhD. (We always check that because newspaper style uses the "Dr." title only for medical doctors, not PhDs)

We wrote about this awhile back but I'm not sure of the latest regarding the parking situation. It has a 30 minute limit around there on streets currently, as I recall.

Mettler: either the federal government needs a courthouse or they don't...there were two options that would not cost local taxpayers anything and would have generated property tax revenue...

He says a notice of intent for writ of mandamus may be filed (environmental work not done) (that is Mr. Wilson's effort, apparently)

Fed gov manipulated this...time to reconsider role of redevelopment agency....

Not sure if city staff will respond. We're on to another speaker about a dance class.

Aha. Maybe builders are here because of Jim Movius' presentation on the need for an updated conservation habitat plan. Apparently Homebuilder's Association has agreed to help fund cost with building permit fee...

By the way, this is the last council meeting for Movius (and outgoing deputy city attorney Bob Sherfy is receiving a retirement award tonight too).

Mini-bureaucrat humor: at the end of his Powerpoint presentation, the theme for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly played for a moment...a little ocarina joke for us all.

There go the homebuilders, so that was it. They probably decided about whether to sue over traffic-impact fees but I'll have to catch Decker tomorrow.

Now a Parks Dep't video (Streets of Bakersfield, the original version, is the background tune...wow, lots of music references tonight).

Awww...now Buck is faded out before going to jail. Voice-over to the fore.

This was produced for the National Recreation and Park Association Gold Medal Award. The city is among 4 finalists, if you're someone who tracks awards for municipalities.

 Buck cued back up for the closing credits...but they again started at the beginning of the song, skipping his jail visit. Cute.

Sherfy's presentation: 28 years of service. July 29 his last day.

Sue Benham pulled courthouse off of consent agenda.

"This is a very imp't step in realizing" a council goal...to locate federal courthouse downtown. Obstacles to finding a site. Faced significant challenges finding site that would meet needs of GSA and citizens of Bakersfield.

She credits David Couch (who recused himself on this one) for coming up with idea of Mill Creek location during brainstorming sessions.

Fed gov came to recognize site was ideal...help from reps at fed level: McCarthy, also Costa and Boxer. Wake up one day...fed courthouse not only to be built in Central Park, but would be fasttracked

It's not the Fed gov that needs the courthouse, it's the citizens of Bakersfield that need the courthouse (obvious rebuttal to Mettler/CRA's statements).

She moves to adopt resolution.

Unanimous approval (minus the recused Couch). No other comments.

$1.8 mill loan for Padre (fed loan) approved lightning quick with no comment.

Closing statements now. We should be out of here fast.

Ken Weir has referred something about reducing solid waste to committee.

Jacquie Sullivan: 53rd anniversary of Congress' approval of "In God We Trust" motto coming up...a plug for her nonprofit...an event next week? I missed date. We'll blurb in paper. 54 cities have so far followed Bako's lead with motto in city halls.

Harvey Hall: project involving graffiti offenders who are doing art on signal boxes.

Adjourned...see ya later!