{"id":144353,"date":"2026-01-22T07:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144353\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T07:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:19:18","slug":"bakersfield-city-council-votes-to-preserve-historic-sumner-station-lease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144353\/","title":{"rendered":"Bakersfield City Council votes to preserve historic Sumner Station lease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Bakersfield City Council has voted unanimously to maintain the lease for the historic Union Pacific Sumner Station, a decision that underscores the community&#8217;s commitment to preserving its historical landmarks. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"SUMNER STATION IN EAST BAKERSFIELD. KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fc1a1795-1654-48a8-9d3c-75f99454b04e-Image1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SUMNER STATION IN EAST BAKERSFIELD. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, several community members voiced their support for revitalizing the station, which has been closed for over 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Strong cities have strong downtowns. When the urban core thrives, it benefits the entire region,&#8221; said one public commenter. <\/p>\n<p>Another urged, &#8220;Don&#8217;t demolish the site. Demolish mindsets that think it is easier to keep building new areas and not fix the old.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Council member Andrae Gonzales emphasized the station&#8217;s significance, stating, &#8220;This Sumner Depot is more than just preserving a historic building, more than just preserving cultural assets. It&#8217;s more than just doing the nice thing. It&#8217;s actually investing in our future and giving Bakersfield a fighting chance to revitalize.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andrae Gonzales CREDIT: City of Bakersfield\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/14e7df64-af08-423c-9b6f-59abdfd05b9d-large16x9_andrae.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Andrae Gonzales CREDIT: City of Bakersfield<\/p>\n<p>Despite the council&#8217;s decision, some members, including Council Member Ward 6 Zack Bashirtash, expressed concerns about the financial and safety challenges associated with the station&#8217;s revitalization. <\/p>\n<p>Bashirtash noted, &#8220;It&#8217;s an extreme liability from a business owner, a business person,&#8221; and proposed terminating the lease with Union Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>The council&#8217;s decision to keep the lease in place allows for continued exploration of redevelopment options and demonstrates a commitment to engaging with Union Pacific and the community. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"SUMNER STATION IN EAST BAKERSFIELD. KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3040c128-2092-4666-bc47-afe8bfb8a456-Image.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SUMNER STATION IN EAST BAKERSFIELD. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Staff members are expected to provide updates on progress with the station&#8217;s redevelopment efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Bakersfield City Council has voted unanimously to maintain the lease for the historic Union&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-144353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}