I CAN'T BELIEVE THE REVIEWS ABOUT BAKERSFIELD!
-
3/24/2009
There are people who actually think this is a GOOD place to live!
Air Quaility: Worse than L.A.
Crime: Worse that L.A.
Grafitti: EVERYWHERE! (Again, worse than L.A.)
The sky is yellowish brown here. Someone wrote than you can see snow capped mountains in the winters here. No you can't. The smog won't let you see more than 2 miles 95% of the time. For a couple days a year, the wind blows it out and suddenly you can see the mountains that are pretty close but that you couldn't see before.
The people ARE NOT FRIENDLY! They're rude as can be. Service from businesses around here is POOR! Everyone tries to RIP YOU OFF around here. From car dealers to realtors to rental managers to the cable company, you can bet that doing business will be a complete nightmare. The first house I rented here was in foreclosure when I signed the lease, unknown to me, and the asshole was trying to collect rent from me AFTER it went to auction.
Employers here aren't as bad as L.A. in the engineering profession, but I don't know how they are in other professions. Everybody's a conservative-stone-age moron that doesn't believe in global warming (ironically). So they drive around in huge Ford f-350 4x4 crew cab trucks with monster tires as their main commute and blaim Los Angeles and San Francisco for their poor air quality (even though Bakersfield is separated from those cities by mountains with elevations over 4000 ft).
The cows, oh yes, the cows. Where I live, I'm 25 miles from any cattle operations. Yet, the stench from cow crap is overwhelming at times (about 50% of the time). It makes my eyes water and makes me choke when I inhale the air it's so strong. When you drive to the source of the smell, there are a thousand cows crammed into steel carport looking shelters, living in super-poor conditions. They're trapped in cages about 4'x5' and have to put their heads through the cages to eat. And to top it off, they're standing in their own crap ALL THEIR LIVES! Once you see it, you pretty much lose your appetite for beef. But remember, happy cows come from California!
Did I mention gangs? They're everywhere around here. There's drive-by shootings, robberies, etc. There's nothing to do here except eat, which is 90% of the people who live here are overweight (including myself). You can't jog outside or it will scar your lungs. If you get a gym membership here, the only good gym is In-Shape City.
In the summer, which lasts from May to September, it stays over 110 degrees most of the time. At night, it'll drop to 95 degrees.
Overall, this place is the hell people say it is. There a few "special" people who like it here. But remember, the band "Korn" is from this place, and you can hear the inspiration they recieved from living here.
steve | Bakersfield, CA