The Bakersfield City Council had another late night Wednesday in a meeting that covered the budget, the city\u2019s trees and improvements along H Street.<\/p>\n
At the time of The Californian\u2019s print deadline, the council was still debating whether to approve a $14 million contract for traffic calming improvements along H Street.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the meeting, several speakers asked the council to approve the project, saying it would make the city\u2019s dangerous streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we invest in safe and accessible infrastructure, we\u2019re investing in the economic development and long-term success of our city,\u201d said Greg West, CEO of the Central Academy of Arts and Technology, a charter school at the corner of 18th and H streets in downtown.<\/p>\n
He said he appreciated the council\u2019s commitment to the downtown area and creating a safe and welcoming environment for families.<\/p>\n
Not all speakers were in favor of the improvements. Former City Council member Terry Maxwell said the proposed improvements would cause more congestion through downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m kind of waiting for the unicorns to come running down the aisles, because what people are saying about this project really does not really represent what the owners of businesses\u201d in that area have told him, Maxwell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to eliminate all the car versus bicycles on H Street? Make it like bicycles can\u2019t use H Street, because we as drivers through the downtown area need H Street to be two lanes in both directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion on H Street had been deferred from the council\u2019s last meeting, during which the item came before council members late in the evening.<\/p>\n
Tree canopy<\/p>\n
Residents regularly appear before the council to ask for additional trees in the city, including implementing trimming practices that don\u2019t overly reduce tree canopy.<\/p>\n
City Manager Christian Clegg said that while the city still has a lot of work to do on its tree canopy and policies, significant progress had been made through working with a tree advisory group made up of concerned residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrees are absolutely getting a priority in policy and in funding that they haven\u2019t historically,\u201d Clegg said. \u201cIn the last three years, we\u2019ve made lots more progress in the space than we ever had before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council members voted Wednesday to award a $1.4 million tree-trimming contract to Rancho Tree Services, which has previously contracted with the city.<\/p>\n
There was lengthy discussion on the contract and the city\u2019s tree policy and addressing the concerns of residents, many of whom say the city is not following its own policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe (tree advisory) group was designed and created so that we should create a separate channel to hear many of those public concerns, and it sounds like, for one reason or another, we still have challenges and disagreements,\u201d said Ward 1 Councilman Eric Arias.<\/p>\n
The advisory group was largely supportive of the city\u2019s progress on trees, Clegg said, while much of the criticism came from other community stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to acknowledge that there are large constituencies that feel good about this progress, and that there\u2019s a smaller constituency that is expressing a desire for something beyond,\u201d Clegg said. \u201cAs I already noted, we\u2019re interested in continuing to make that progress, but I think it\u2019s important to recognize a balance and community feedback that we\u2019re receiving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council members approved the contract with only Ward 7 Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur voting no. Ward 2 Councilman Andrae Gonzales recused himself, citing a conflict of interest due to a campaign donation.<\/p>\n
Proposed budget<\/p>\n
The meeting included a brief presentation and public comment on the city\u2019s proposed $926 million budget. The council will approve the budget at its next meeting, and on Wednesday only heard public comments on the matter.<\/p>\n
Some speakers asked that the city cancel its investments and contracts with Flock Safety, the AI-powered surveillance camera company increasingly being deployed by cities across the nation, stating the technology invades personal privacy.<\/p>\n
During the budget discussion and earlier in the meeting, a number of speakers asked the council to prioritize the city\u2019s tree canopy and to provide $3 million in funding for a revitalization project at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park.<\/p>\n
Several speakers were critical of the council\u2019s decision to increase the city\u2019s sewer rates, claiming that low-income people are being ignored in budget considerations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have low-income families, we have senior citizens that are walking the east side collecting cans to pay for their prescriptions, and you guys voted on this. You OK\u2019d this,\u201d said Nadine Escalante, a community activist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bakersfield City Council had another late night Wednesday in a meeting that covered the budget, the city\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,25934,153,152,1610,78305,21074,145737,145736],"class_list":["post-357934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-city-council","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-city-council","tag-city-manager-christian-clegg","tag-improvements","tag-terry-maxwell","tag-tree-canopy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357934","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=357934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}