Poll: Overall opinion of Bakersfield as a place to live (San Francisco: fit in, sex offender)

[Highnlite]

My wife and I will be in Midi Pyrenees in a couple of weeks. We may rent a car and drive around in the French Basque country. One of the places at the top of my bucket list.

[cruelkat]

Originally Posted by Highnlite

My wife and I will be in Midi Pyrenees in a couple of weeks. We may rent a car and drive around in the French Basque country. One of the places at the top of my bucket list.

Oooooohhh! Take pictures and maybe post them? I'd love to see them. Have fun!!

[Highnlite]

Thanks, I will try to do that.

[ERIC N]

I've lived here for 26 years. I don't mind the heat, that's why we have swimming pools and I've very happy for the short winter, though the occasional winter fog creates a cold down to the depths of the soul experience. The air quality is worse than bad. The people are by and large very nice.

There is certainly a very strong nearly radical Conservative Christian group which wields more than reasonable power. Conversely Inga Barcs has lost her talk radio show and her best friend Ken Mettler, something of a nutcase lost his recent bid for office, which speaks well of a more moderate climate brewing.

Like all cities this size, there are safe areas and dangerous areas. There are good schools and bad. More culture would be nice. More recreation would be nice. More entertainment would be nice... One must be fair and point out that it's not like there isn't a reasonable amount of each of these. However with both L.A. and San Francisco a do-able drive away, Bakersfield's shortcomings are more pronounced due to the inevitable comparison.

Clearly it's not a town for everyone, but then neither is Seattle, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco or even Paris. Then again Bakersfield is clearly not Seattle, Miami, Dallas......

[californio sur]

One thing I really like about the southern San Joaquin valley outside Bakersfield is when one drives down the Grapevine\ Tejon Pass on Interstate 5. From the mountains the whole valley is spread out with green orchards and fields of vegetables for miles and miles.

[BVitamin]

Originally Posted by californio sur

One thing I really like about the southern San Joaquin valley outside Bakersfield is when one drives down the Grapevine\ Tejon Pass on Interstate 5. From the mountains the whole valley is spread out with green orchards and fields of vegetables for miles and miles.

Yes! It can be quite beautiful, especially in the spring time when the flowers are blooming all over the mountains.

I know this isn't quite safe or being considerate of other drivers but that steep drop when you're about to enter the grapevine, I've let my car speed downward at times.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

I've actually spent weeks at a time in Bakersfield...

Seems to me I spent a week in Bakersfield one night!

[TimC2462]

Originally Posted by cruelkat

I've been reading a lot of threads about Bakersfield recently and it seems as though most people strongly dislike it but then there are some who literally love it... Too many posts to sort through to keep a general idea on the general opinion so I thought a poll might do it. If you HAD to generalize Bakersfield, taking into account, of course, that there are good parts and bad parts, what would you say?

Also, it seems like, as far as shopping and entertainment goes, Bakersfield is semi-barren but I've read a few mentionings of outdoor activities, which happens to be my dish...any input on that would be appreciated, as well...

I'm not sure how this poll setup would give you any true indications about the city of Bakersfield in general.

Let me start off saying that I was born and raised in Monterey for 21 years, before relocating out to the Central Valley. A family business had us move to Delano for 3 years, the toughest adjustment I ever encountered. Then I went off to Santa Barbara for several years before finally settling in Bakersfield to open a family business.

Granted, Bakersfield is no Santa Barbara or Monterey. Bakersfield seems to be subject of ridicule by most because they are comparing it to Los Angeles or San Francisco. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Admittedly, culture isn't diverse as in in the bigger cities, but it is becoming more progressive as the city population is growing from transplants living Los Angeles, Monterey/Salinas areas, and from up north of the valley.

Yes, we probably have the worst air quality in the nation. It's not like we are trying to hide this fact. The progressives here are trying to promote positive changes for the central valley including improving air quality, so it's not like Bakersfield is full of far right conservatives.

We don't have a lot of entertainment and shopping yet, but the city have approved a multi-million development in the heart of Bakersfield called the Bakersfield Commons. At the same time, we are trying to find a logical route for the high speed railway and developing more residential homes. Bakersfield is in the stages of growing, just as San Diego and Los Angeles were.

Education in Bakersfield gets average ratings, but not much worse than in Monterey (I choose Monterey because I grew up there). If I were to go back to Monterey, which I could, I would have to live in one of my folks' older house that is 25 years old, located in a neighborhood that was once vibrant and clean, put up with rude people, deal with more traffic and larger crowd, and I'd have to stretch my dollar really thin.

Likewise, I could relocate to east bay to be closer to my sister and her family, but I'd pay a premium for real estate.

Every now and then, I get a chuckle at how posters will inquire about Bakersfield. And it's only because it's in a forum where other posters are somewhat disgusted with the city in general.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by TimC2462

We don't have a lot of entertainment and shopping yet, but the city have approved a multi-million development in the heart of Bakersfield called the Bakersfield Commons. At the same time, we are trying to find a logical route for the high speed railway and developing more residential homes. Bakersfield is in the stages of growing, just as San Diego and Los Angeles were.

I'll be the first to admit I have somewhat of a jaundiced eye when it comes to Bakersfield. I "lived" there for three years from 1986 to 1989. I was a peace officer and my primary concentration was narcotics enforcement so I didn't hang out in the real desireable areas but I sure didn't lack for business.

What I found during those years was that Bakersfield was expanding to the west with upscale new homes even if they were in cookie-cutter subdivisions with tonie names like Quail This, Stockdale That, Something Else Oaks, etc. The further west the people with means moved, the more without means and heavily into the drug scene poured across the 99 Freeway from Union Avenue and EB to take over the homes the more affluent had left to trade up. My guess was that in time, Bakersfield would extend to the Pacific Ocean and when the money had nowhere else to go it would self-destruct. The good news was that you could then wall it off and save on building new prisons.

So, Bakers folk, has much changed in 20+ years?

[ZhugeLiang]

May as well live in Texas and not pay state income taxes.