maybelline~ hey it's easy,I've ben doing it for years! lol The NOR plan includes a lazy "river" that one could float down...that should be popular around here,saw one in Tahoe years ago and it was really cool... May belline~I suggest you call and write them if this is a concern to you

Adam - you arrogant sophisticate.  Best wishes to you in your efforts to live among us.

Possummomma, where  in Sacramento? I lived there for 16 years from 1987 to 2003. Cal Expo's Water World never turned into a "nasty, swampy, mosquito mecca" for the city. Here in Bakersfield we have a dry river bed, which could have water if people would choose to fund it, but most folks  here find sand and dust more preferable than a flowing  waterway.  Magic Mountain is not local, and I think the crowds at McMurtry suggest that a big success could be had here with a real themed water park. The amount of pools continues to shrink in this town due to tight budgets and soaring maintenance costs. Camping and hiking are also not local. These are excursions outside of town.

I do think Bakersfield has made good progress with Bike Bakersfield, and the bike paths along the river beds and bluffs. I also think Hart Park and River Walk Park offer the community  places for families and organizations to picnic and gather together socially. Soccer is a little kids sport, and I have no idea what other summer sports you could be talking about here where temperatures prohibit most outdoor activity during the summer months.

Anyway, I catch the familiar drift of the local flavor. If it doesn't work for me it shouldn't work for anybody.

Bakersfield, where the 19th Century lives on.

Preach on, momma!

How do we let NOR know our concerns?

 Adam - These are the types of attractions that allow young people and families to enjoy the heat within our city.

I didn't know it was possible to enjoy the heat within our city. *wink*

  I think Bakersfield is way overdue for this type of attraction

I think Bakersfield is overdue for many things, but a water park doesn't strike me as one of the necessities.  How about a children's hospital to ease the load on the abysmal number of pediatric beds in this town?  Those people who break legs and catch e-coli at the water park need somewhere to go.  (Again...tongue in cheek.)  Seriously, though,...I've seen water parks turn into nasty, swampy, mosquito meccas when the newness wears off and the investors pull out, leaving the city with a shell of a water park.  This happened in: Clovis, Pheonix, Sacramento, and the San Fernando Valley.   If the city is gong to do this, they need to do it somwhere near 99 or it won't work.  Putting anything near Rosedale Highway will aggravate the nightmare traffic.  You need it somewhere high profile.  And, I would actually have less problem, like I said, if it were a commercial company handling it.  The example you gave is a commercial outfit, right?  Tying the park to the city, or NOR, is a recipe for disaster (in my opinon).

I'm also curious how you can state that there's nothing to do in this town.  What on earth did any of us pre-water park people do?  We have skating rinks.  We have a river and a few lakes and multiple pools around town.  McMurtry has some slides and appears to be a teen hangout in the summer.  Hanging out at the movies or a friend's house.  The library (not cool, but wildly popular in my geeky childhood).  Soccer fields, summer sports, bike paths, parks, camping, hiking, and Magic Mountain less than an hour away are options.  Somehow I doubt that a water park in Rosedale is going to solve the problems of bored teenagers in Bakersfield. NOR isn't going to do it for free.  Kids aren't going to drive themselves to the northwest.  People are going to tire of paying $20 a head for a few slides, not to mention the $5 burgers and drinks, when they have pools in their backyards and McMurtry. 

Island Water Park in Fresno?  I wonder if that is privately run.   $15 million is a big ticket item.  I'm curious to know exactly how this will be funded.  If the money is already there, some of us need a nice refund.  If new taxes are on the horizon, count me out.  Sorry to be a wet blanket (pun intended); but this idea doesn't seem like a good one to me.

Siouxcityranch, no need to have you shout to make my point. I believe if there are quality attractions here locally, local people will avail themselves of the attraction. Why must any nice public recreational place be pre-judged as a hang-out  for gang members? I never encountered gang members in Sacramento at Cal Expo's Water World in all the years I visited that facility. I saw a lot of young people having a good time and not bored out of their skulls with nothing to do. One of the reasons so many people  make the drive over the hill is for the entertainment value found in the greater Los Angeles area. There are very few recreational venues for teens in this town, which is why there are so many problems at the Marketplace and Valley Plaza (chronicled almost weekly in the local paper) with young people who have no place else to go. By failing to provide good options for our youth the city and its popultion creates its own reward.

 "so many people with any means recreate outside of Bakersfield and complain that those without means hang out in shopping malls and street corners. "

so Adam are you suggesting we need to build a new hangout for gang members and juvenile delinquents instead of having them intimadating other kids in the malls and on street corners???

.ABSOLUTLEY I WANNA SPEND OUR TAX MONEYS ON THAT!!!!! I cant wait to drop my kids off!! NOT!!!

Dont ya REALLY think people with "MEANS" will still travel outside Bakersfield to recreate ....why would they want to go to a local water park full of young thugs when they can jump in the RV and go anywhere they want too..

Most of the public responsibility has been met with their taxes.  The other portion is to make sure those taxers are spent in the best interest of their citizens.  I was elected to a local recreation district board for three terms and it's harder to deal with private entities than making deals with other tax funded districts.  The tax funded agencies normally have the same restrictions where as the private can have agendas that can be unlawful for the other.  Such as making a theme park with a religious theme. We had some projects that were beyond our budget but by getting the KHSD, Richland School Dist. and the city of Shafter as partners we got them done.  Our special district was voter approved the same year Prop. 13 was approved so the voters here have a better understanding of proper taxation and funding than some think. Just my opinion.

Have any of you seen or visited the large water park in Fresno, Island Water Park? Have you ever been to Cal Expo and the water park in Sacramento? These are the types of attractions that allow young people and families to enjoy the heat within our city. I think Bakersfield is way overdue for this type of attraction. It's my understanding that NOR has a budget from assessments in the various neighborhoods that have allowed them to expand their community parks presence within that area making it one of Bakersfield's most desirable sections. Usually worthwhile projects are always a combination of public and private money where risk and reward are shared. From my experience in this area, and on these blogs, it is obvious there are very few  who understand  the public responsibility and payoff of  community  investment, which is why so many people with any means recreate outside of Bakersfield and complain that those without means hang out in shopping malls and street corners.

There's a huge water park right on 99 in Fresno and I can see where it would be feasable but to plant one in a residential area is foolish in my opinion.   I don't think our city could support one without tourism and that's a bad location for that. 

Many years ago I did a Nana/ 3 grandkid trip to Clovis when that water park was relatively new.  It was a great day trip with the zoo included and the kids had a ball.  While I'd love to see one here for the kids, I'm thinking it's not such a good idea financially.

Riverlakes?  What an odd choice of location.  If at all, put it in out in the southwest or north of town by the freeway for exposure.

I think they should put up a large air conditioned gambling casino for seniors with lots of bathrooms and a decent place to eat inside. If you look at our towns history all of the kids water playgrounds have failed miserably..and we have had some decent ones in the past..

max useage 4 o 5 years at most. The kids and parents get bored and then we the tax payers are stuck with a community eye sore that we end up having to demo again..I think the longest run was the Union ave plunge..but that was pre video games and kids back then werent too lazy to walk a few miles to get wet with their friends. Sure miss those night swims..Summer love rocked back in those days..

I thought I heard this was going to go out by Riverlakes? Also-possummomma, I'm also thinking more like Raging Waters, not so big though.  The paper this weekend mentioned a few things, that made me believe it wasn't some rinky dink crap and it would be family affordable. 

I haven't decided if this is good in my mind. I agree with so many remarks above.  It's gonna take 1 person to get hurt/drown and sue.  However, I enjoy taking the kids to things like this as lomng as it stays clean and enjoyable.  When my kids do go to the Aquatics Center, one of us adults stay with them.  The lifeguards can't babysit everyone.

Is it going to be like a Raging Waters or is it another one of those spray parks?  I think I would worry about the liabilty.  My husband took our kids to the spray playground downtown and it was gross.  He ended up going to Target and buying three different sprinklers, a slip and slide, and a water balloon launcher because he noted that there was a kid with a crappy diaper in the play zone.  There were also a lot of kids there without parents.  I think you're right: spending 15m on a water park is stupid no matter where it is.  Based on the number of kids who've been hurt or killed in the various "ponds" (Riverwalk and one other I can't remember), fountains (Rabobank Arena), and Lakes/Rivers... is it really a good idea?  All it will take is one death to shut the place down (and shut down NOR PnR) for good.  The reason commercial places can stay open is because they're for profit and charge enough to compensate a ton of life guards and a great insurance package.

Sounds like it's time for a tax cut.  I know it goes against some on this site but someone has too much of our money.

Well...the river is dry this year.  That means no place for the weekly dip.

Mr. Tandy built a nice pool for all the ghetto kids to bathe in once a week.

You can't blame the NOR folks for following his lead. But are they going to get an ice rink too?