Charmless Ugly City
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8/16/2006
I have lived here off and on for 20 years now and it's a digusting place. The town suffers from poor planning, urban sprawl, pollution and high crime rates. Traffic congestion is increasing due to bad public transportation and erratic planning. Unemployment is high and the jobs that are available are usually minimum wage jobs. Although marginally cheaper that other parts of California, housing is very expensive compared to the national average.
As for culture of the city....Unless you like Mexican, the restaurants here are bland and bad. The art museum is sad and small for a town of 300,000. Sports teams are second-tiered. The Cal State University is for people who can't get in elsewhere. Schools are mostly far below average. The education level of the population is below average as well. If you live here, don't deal with local businesses. Service, respect and competence are non-existent traits. Everyone seems to be trying to make a quick buck. Deal with the large multi-national corporations instead.
On the positive side, if you like to drive for 2 hours or more, there are lots of beautiful natural scenery and large interesting cities to see. You will need them if you live in Bakersfield. I try to get out of town as often as I can. Bakersfield used to be a small charmless, ugly town that has turned into a medium-sized charmless very ugly city. It has the problems of a big city and the closed-mindedness of small town without the amenities of either. I have lived here off and on for 20 years now and it's a digusting place. The town suffers from poor planning, urban sprawl, pollution and high crime rates. Traffic congestion is increasing due to bad public transportation and erratic planning. Unemployment is high and the jobs that are available are usually minimum wage jobs. Although marginally cheaper that other parts of California, housing is very expensive compared to the national average.
As for culture of the city....Unless you like Mexican, the restaurants here are bland and bad. The art museum is sad and small for a town of 300,000. Sports teams are second-tiered. The Cal State University is for people who can't get in elsewhere. Schools are mostly far below average. The education level of the population is below average as well. If you live here, don't deal with local businesses. Service, respect and competence are non-existent traits. Everyone seems to be trying to make a quick buck. Deal with the large multi-
Alexander | Bakersfield, CA