7/15/25 Woolworth's Diner Update + State of the City with Janelle Capra and Christian Clegg

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Tuesday, July 15th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management Guest: Janelle Capra, President & CEO for the Greater Bakersfield Chamber & Christian Clegg, City Manager website: https://bakochamber.com/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text into the show 24/7 at 396-1000.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  Here is Money Wise. Money, money, money, money.

• 0:43Speaker 01

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 a.m., 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. Today, we're your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite and...

• 1:05Speaker 02

  Frankly?

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Frankly, I always, I giggle inside a little bit every time I say you can call or text into the show 24 hours a day because I think, is it one if everybody thinks we're doing this 24 hours a day?

• 1:15Speaker 02

  Oh, God, I hope not. But I mean, if you have a thought at like 2:30 a.m. in the morning, you know?

• 1:21Speaker 01

  Why not? Just shoot a text over.

• 1:23Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  And speaking of texts and messages, let's get right to it. We've got a couple of messages from listeners.

• 1:31Speaker 02

  I got it right here. So, first message, "We are so pumped to see the new posts about Woolworth's lunch counter close to opening. What changes can us old-school Baco people expect with the new counter? Either way, we are pumped."

• 1:45Speaker 01

  Ah, that's so sweet. I'm so glad you're pumped either way because there have been some haters out there.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  I'm pumped. I'm not a hater.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  I'm pumped. I'm pumped, too. There are, you know, I can see that, so part of the issue with the Woolworths, I've maybe I've talked about this with you, too, on this show, it comes up frequently, is that the people that tend to be skeptical or negative about it usually have some impression in their mind about what the Woolworths building used to look like during whatever period.

• 2:19Speaker 01

  They, they remember going to it. So that varies widely based off of their, what generation they are and how old they are. So this building was, was constructed, it was designed, what's unique about this building is that it was designed before World War II, before the United States entered World War II. And, and the, like, in like 1940. It was designed just before we went into the war. And during the war, there was a lot of manufacturing advances because I just, we had to start building a bunch of airplanes and boats and things like that.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  So the manufacturing process was, was sped up and developed quite a bit during that time. The, the building, Woolworths designed this building before the war, but put it on hold during the war. And then revisited it back in the, later in, in the 40s. Still had the design, but we're now able to use some of the more modern techniques and materials to, to build the building, including reinforced concrete, steel concrete frame. Which is, you know, you know, before then, many of the buildings were designed out of either just, either just steel or, or brick.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  Like masonry, brick, brick masonry, which is very common to use in like a four-story building that this is. Among those things that they also designed inside this building and ended up constructing it and, starting in 1949. It was completed in 1950. This beautiful terrazzo floor. And the terrazzo is a material that's still used today, but it's quite expensive to make a terrazzo floor. It's like a, you know what terrazzo is, but.

• 4:09Speaker 02

  I've, I've learned it now.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  It's like this marbling, really beautiful, like.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  Tiles, basically, but they're tiles made out of concrete and stone.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  There's like tiny rocks and stone, right, that make up the flooring itself.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:26Speaker 02

  It's like those, uh, what are those?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Like pebble tech kind of thing?

• 4:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's not like a solid, white, black, text tile. Right. You'll see an array of different

• 4:41Speaker 01

  Kind of stones.

• 4:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. And, uh, patterns.

• 4:45Speaker 01

  And it's, we love it. We think it's beautiful and it is almost indestructible. And so when we bought the building, obviously, we had to, we had to look and see what's under the floor. That, you know, before that, I mean, when, when we bought the building, there was this laminate, like a check, white and black checkerboard laminate that was put in, in the nineties, in the late nineties. Like, this is after Woolworths went bankrupt. And the, the previous owners did this and, and laid that and carpet over it. And so we pulled that out, off to see what's under there and saw this beautiful terrazzo and was like, well, this is what we gotta use. This is gorgeous.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:26Speaker 01

  And it, it cost a fortune to put in terrazzo now, so let's, let's put in the original. And we're restoring this building anyways. Let's put, let's make it look like it did in the fifties.

• 5:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  In nineteen fifty, not what it looked like in the nineties or the two thousands.

• 5:38Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  And so I think that's what might surprise some people about, about this project as they walk in. They remember what it was like in the two thousands or the two thousand teens.

• 5:47Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  And, and they're thinking, oh, this, this white and black checker, checkerboard floor must have been original and now it's not here. Well, that's, you know, we're making it original.

• 5:57Speaker 02

  That's probably what someone like my age would see. It's like, oh, the checker floors, that used to be the original. It's like, no, that's terrazzo. But it's like that scene in The Office, the, the office employees.

• 6:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:09Speaker 02

  Right. Have you seen that? They're like, they get all coked up on the, the, uh, the espressos and they're like ripping, they're ripping the carpet floor. And they're like, there's wood?

• 6:18Speaker 01

  There's wood underneath the carpet.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  It's gonna be like that.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  I forgot about that. That's awesome.

• 6:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it's so, you know, if you're an old school Baco person like our listener is here, and you visited in the 50s and 60s, our hope is that you walk in and it looks like it did then. At least the lunch counter on the first floor, that the lunch counter, the flooring, you know, the walls, that's, you know, our goal is to restore it as it was then. And we had to, we had to do some upgrades to, to, to get it restored. And we also had to figure out a way to use more, more efficiently that first floor, which means we didn't want to have it, couldn't have the lunch counter just occupy the whole 10,000 square foot floor. So we wanted to put something else in this. We put in another, we expanded the, the lunch counter and have another lunch counter

• 7:08Speaker 01

  or another counter or bar that is there and then created a bar. And, and so we essentially expanded out the restaurant and kept, but kept the lunch counter exactly how it was, including all the original vintage equipment, the stainless steel equipment, the, the, the counter, the original counter, lunch counter that was there before. All of that's gone back in, is going back in. And so, you know, go follow Historic Woolworths on Instagram or Facebook or, you know, wherever social media that you're on. You can see some more pictures and some things that are happening. And we're about five or six weeks away from opening up that, that lunch counter. So pretty soon, everybody's gonna get to see it.

• 7:50Speaker 02

  I can't wait.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  And then they can just be mad at us in our face.

• 7:54Speaker 02

  If, if they, if they do.

• 7:56Speaker 01

  If they, yeah, if they get mad. All right. Why don't we do this? Why don't we take a break right now? We have, we have a couple more listener questions that we definitely want to get to. But before that, we are really excited to have a couple of high-profile guests on our show. First, it will be joining us right after the break, Janelle Capra. She's the CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. And with her, Christian Clegg, he is the Bakersfield City Manager. This is the person in charge. This is the boss of the city. We're gonna talk to them about the Upcoming Greater Bakersfield city, state of the city, which is going to be happening tomorrow. So we're going to be covering that. Not going to want to miss it. We'll be right back.

• 8:39Speaker 00

  Money Wise Wealth Management is the only locally owned independent firm that uses a comprehensive wealth, tax and estate approach, working closely with a highly trusted CPA and attorney. For information on how Money Wise can help you invest and plan for your future, call 661-847-1000.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  Asking you shall receive.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  I'm gonna just say.

• 9:08Speaker 01

  Welcome back to the Money Wise Show. We're your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite here with Frank Lee. We are so excited to have a couple of, I called you guys high profile guests.

• 9:17Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  You are both high profile.

• 9:19Speaker 04

  He did, he did. If you say so.

• 9:21Speaker 01

  Go, go getters. Janelle Capper, she's president and CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. And with her, Christian Clegg, our city manager. Welcome back to the show.

• 9:29Speaker 03

  Why, thank you.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  So let's, tomorrow's a big day. It's the state of the city.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 9:35Speaker 01

  And this is one of the premier events that the chamber puts on, right?

• 9:39Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  So what can you tell us about it?

• 9:42Speaker 03

  So we can tell a little bit, right, Christian? We're not going to go into all the details because we want you to be there.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 9:47Speaker 03

  And that's really what it's about is as a chamber, you have to be a member. And this is an added value to your membership to hear first from city budget just being passed and what's happening in our city and from the last time we gathered. We really wanted to feel like that, you know, you've got the, the premier seats in on what's going on with our city and for our chamber members.

• 10:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, just one of the many perks, right, of being a member of the chamber.

• 10:14Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 10:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:15Speaker 03

  Our business community and, you know, Christian, Mirogo, city council members, we've all come together to provide some really great content and oversight.

• 10:24Speaker 04

  Yeah, we are excited about it and we were so thankful to have the Chamber partnership that they. I put this on on behalf of the city and the businesses and then also that it is still available to the broader public after the event. That's a perk for all of our, you know, chamber members, but then content available for the whole community to get those good updates after the event's over.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's at the Marriott, which is where you've historically have held it downtown, right?

• 10:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, we've been there for a while. We have sold out. So, sorry if anyone's listening in right now. We did sell out at 350 plus. I removed our team from sitting down. So, that's okay. Our members come first. But yeah, we're just, we're honored to be able to present this again. And in a sense, the Greater Bakersfield Chamber hosts that. And it wouldn't come together without our sponsorships. Presenting sponsor Adventis Health. We're grateful to their partnerships. Dignity Health. We've got, you know, our list of bronze sponsors. Chevron from, from our gold, as well as Valley Strong Credit Union.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  Man, you've just named four companies that have really stepped up in the last five, it's been quite a few years, but Dignity Adventis Chevron is obviously has always been a huge supporter of our city. And Valley Strong. You know, it's, it's impressive to see these names on buildings, on parks, on things all over, all over town. That's nice.

• 11:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, true community spirit.

• 11:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. I know, Christian Clegg, we had you on the show. You talked about your, your time here in Bakersfield as the city manager. Is it coming up on five years now? Or over five, just over five years?

• 12:07Speaker 04

  Over five years. I can't believe it.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  I know it's easy because you mentioned this last time. It was, you were like two days in when COVID hit.

• 12:14Speaker 03

  The world shut down.

• 12:16Speaker 01

  It was a state of the city too, I think. Like.

• 12:18Speaker 04

  We did a video broadcast state of the city because we couldn't gather together that year. Yeah.

• 12:24Speaker 01

  And something that you mentioned was that the the community spirit that is here in Bakersfield and Kern County and some of the uniqueness of that spirit. Can you can you kind of rephrase it?

• 12:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, so, you know, and I'll tell it a certain way that when I was first moving here, people say, oh, people are so nice in Bakersfield. But I've heard that about other places, right? You know, you go to other places and, you know, people are sure some of them are nice. But like, people are genuinely really nice here. I'm walking down the street and everyone's saying, "Good morning, good morning." And I'm looking, you know, left and right and saying, "Do they know who I am?" So Bakersfield is a uniquely nice place and it does have that small town charm. It has that small town feel. And I keep saying, and actually, it's literally in my script for tomorrow. You brought this up unknowingly, but but we need to keep the small town feel, but also have big city solutions to our challenges and we want to have big city quality of life.

• 13:23Speaker 04

  But we have to find ways to keep that community character, which, you know, is people coming together. And, you know, Bakersfield, we always come together. We solve problems, you know. There's a lot of collaboration, you know, everybody knows everybody. For a big city, it's remarkable that somehow everybody's connected in Bakersfield. And that's still true, and I want to make sure that continues to be true. We also have to, you know, be prepared to come up with solutions that answer some of our, you know, increasingly metropolitan challenges that we're facing.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  And speaking of these challenges, I attended the State of the City. It was probably three or four years ago. And there was a lot of complaining about certain services and especially around the homelessness issues. And I remember your your speech at that time was was, I thought, spot on because you acknowledged the problems. But you also gave some hope to citizens in terms of the Measure N funds that were just starting to really kind of hit the bank account and things were starting to happen. And now, fast forward here, three or four years, I don't, you don't have to spoil

• 14:34Speaker 01

  what you're going to talk about tomorrow, but how do you feel the progress has been made towards some of those big challenges?

• 14:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, great question. And it's interesting, again, because I'll give a few reality checks tomorrow of, you know, here's some of really what we're facing, but then also a healthy dose of optimism and just some good reports about the progress that we have made. The ability of the city of Bakersfield to provide public safety services and address some of these challenges is almost night and day from five years ago. We really have a much greater capacity, and in particular around enforcement. Unfortunately, there are some challenges around accountability. And so we'll talk through what some of those challenges are and some potential ideas to get at those.

• 15:21Speaker 04

  But our ability to go, let's say, and make arrests or have law enforcement, you know, show up is dramatically increased. Overall, reported crime is significantly reduced, 27% reduction in overall crime.

• 15:32Speaker 01

  Man.

• 15:33Speaker 04

  From 2023 to 2024, we've also seen a dramatic decrease in our violent crime. I think we've reported on that before, but taking again another hard look from 2021 to 2024, 74% reduction in violent crime in Bakersfield.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  That's unbelievable.

• 15:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, those are real numbers. And I know the community can feel some frustration because you might still see that person, you know, sitting in a park or on a street corner. But by the numbers, we are making serious progress.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, it feels that way. Maybe, Janelle, you can talk about from the chambers perspective, because you would hear, I'm sure, and get the complaints from business owners and the business community. What sense do you have?

• 16:13Speaker 03

  Well, you know, I think, I think we also have to be honest. And, you know, like Kristen just said, a reality check is that this entire year has been a challenge for some, and there is uncertainty. And you both know this best when it comes to stock market, when it deals with new administration from top down. So there has been a little bit of that fear and uncertainty with some of our businesses. But overall, the, the fact that if you look at our chamber calendar and how many ribbon cuttings we are doing on a weekly basis for new business and celebrating milestones, that's so just rewarding, but also a great sign of growth. And so for those businesses that are staying resilient, yes, last year, you know, really making sure that we push forward with Prop 36 and those.

• 16:59Speaker 03

  Individuals that came around that conversation, we are seeing the difference now. And you know, we're, we're a chamber that is downtown. We're physically located. We're celebrating 105 years as a chamber. There's a legacy to that. But our downtown businesses, I think, are starting to feel more support as well. And they're seeing that because the police can come and make arrests where necessary. They also have their impact team that's making a huge difference. And just also, I think, helping us come together collaboratively. We work with our downtown business association and our other, you know, chambers. So it's all of us uniting to help our business community.

• 17:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, you mentioned these other chambers. We've had all of them on this show. And every time they come on the show, I've, might, might have always said, well, how come we didn't have an Asian Chamber of Commerce until like last year? Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce. The, the Black Chamber of Commerce has been around for quite a while. And the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been for quite a while. But there's, now we're starting to see some of these other chambers pop up. And they've all been very, seeming to be very collaborative with the Bakersfield Greater Chamber.

• 18:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  How has that been?

• 18:06Speaker 03

  Well, I think, you know, it comes from looking at our growth in our city and looking at the need and see if there's a void. And is there a group that feels they could be represented better or in a different way? Whenever we're asked about chamber membership, we share our values and what, and what are available to chamber members, including one of the best ones. I gotta brag on you guys is our 401k plan.

• 18:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:30Speaker 03

  Chamber member, you get in free. You don't have to do Cal Savers, just saying. But you know, I think that's part of every membership is to really look, what is the outcome? What do you want to get out of it? And then with our, you know, purposefully coming together, and I use the phrase chambers unite, because I believe that's how collectively we can serve our, our community better.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  I'm gonna, I'm gonna just speak a little bit more about that 401k. Because it is incredibly impressive. It's one of the best kept secrets, I think, of, of the chamber and what, and the benefits that come from the chamber. Because for a small business to open up their own 401k is quite expensive. You have audits that you have To pay for, you have to do your due diligence, you have to find the record keeper. There's a lot involved in creating the plan and the costs and the time they're involved in it. Frank, you can speak of this.

• 19:19Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, not to mention like the biggest thing right now is the financial responsibility of the small business owner. Because it ties down to you, they have a fiduciary role to uphold. And that in itself could be a huge burden.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  Yes, but with your membership, you have the option as a business owner to essentially essentially piggyback on top of that multi employer plan, which is essentially, which is essentially a 401k that other businesses can jump into. So you're spreading out the cost, you're using economies of scale. Moneywise has this 401k on it. It's a good quality 401k that a lot of due diligence goes involved in continuing, making sure that they're good investments.

• 20:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, shout out to Justin Leland.

• 20:06Speaker 01

  Frank and Justin are both part of our business services division here at Moneywise. So they're the ones, Frank is specifically does a lot of the educational meetings with the businesses that are on the plan. So get to see like your boots on the ground, you hear the actual feedback.

• 20:22Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly. And there's been a lot of, you know, positive feedback so far as far as like the structure of the plan and how easy, simple it is really to just join on. So really is a hidden gem of one of the perks in the Baco Chamber.

• 20:39Speaker 01

  A small, any business essentially has to offer some sort of retirement plan. So you've mentioned Cal Savers. But if it's, and Cal Savers is so, yeah, it's very vanilla. And for, not only for small businesses is it expensive to start a 401k, but a large business, it can be even more expensive because you have to pay for these audits. And those can be tens of thousands of dollars sometimes for the audits to happen each year. That's all kind of like built into the map with the chamber.

• 21:08Speaker 03

  And again, that's what we try to bring to our members. So we're at, last I counted, 1,114 members strong. So and that ebb and flows a little bit, but again, you know, when we can convene together and host a meeting like this, State of the City, it's an annual event that does sell out every year and we look forward to that. Let's, let's talk a little of the theme, growing stronger together.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  I like it.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. So let's, how are we growing stronger?

• 21:36Speaker 04

  What do you think Christian? Those are the things that we'll have to probably highlight a little more tomorrow. But I think, I think growing because it is important to note that we are on the right trajectory. Like, you know, the metrics are showing that we're seeing improvement in the ways that we want to see improvement. And even some of those like indices that Bakersfield's never been, you know, super excited to be found on, we're falling off some of those indices and we're going lower on those, you know, wrong indices, but we're increasing on the right indices and we're heading in a great trajectory. So that's part of the growth. The other part of the growth is that, like, you know, as Janelle mentioned, new businesses starting, our population continues to grow. And some people will say, you know, oh, there's this wrong about Bakersfield, that wrong about Bakersfield. But people want to be here. People are staying here and people are coming here. And so there's, there's

• 22:20Speaker 04

  reasons people want to be here in Bakersfield. So we're growing in businesses, we're growing in population, and we're on the right trajectory. And I think stronger to, you know, we talked about growing stronger because we are seeing our capacity to deliver quality of life, deliver services increase. We're seeing, again, those metrics increase and together because we really care about, you know, that collaboration and it only happens if we are doing it together.

• 22:46Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 22:47Speaker 04

  And we can create so much more. We can bake more pies instead of just, you know, trying to slice the pie a little thinner. Let's bake more pies by doing it together.

• 22:54Speaker 03

  And didn't we, didn't we score number one for the most, you know, the city with living wage? And, yeah, so those reports were just out. And so again, that's showing this community's commitment to each other. And I think that investment, you know, really makes a difference.

• 23:10Speaker 01

  Again, we're joined by Christian Clegg. He's our city manager and Janelle Capra. She's president and CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. Christian, I think there's, we talked about this last time you were on the show, people don't recognize what the city manager really does. I think they don't, I think there's a misconception. And, and with that, I think there's also a misconception about what the city council does, or what the city council is capable of doing. Because they're essentially, in my opinion, volunteers. You know, there's not a paid position. They get a little per diem that can reimburse a little bit, but really, these are people that have full-time jobs, or they're retired, or they're somehow have the time to do it. But these are volunteer positions. But, yeah,

• 23:53Speaker 01

  explain maybe to our listeners the role of a, of city manager.

• 23:58Speaker 04

  So, city manager is like a president and CEO. So, my responsibility is to run the operations of the city. Now, the city council does play a really important role. You're right that they're part-time and many of them work more than part-time hours because they're public servants and they're committed and they want to make an impact in our community. They're not getting, you know, paid for all those hours necessarily. And so, I think it's important for constituents as they reach out to council members to, yes, recognize that the council member, you know, may not have that magic wand or all those hours in the day to immediately fix something. But I will say, they do have 2,000 employees that are behind them to help meet the needs that council members can bring up to us. And the council plays a really important role in setting policy.

• 24:42Speaker 04

  So, they determine this vision, they determine the overarching strategy, they appropriate the funds, they set the budget, and they set that big-picture direction. But then, me and my team and staff, we go to work and we make it happen. We put it into practice. And so, we take that vision, put a little more strategy, more tactics around it, and we go to work.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, and in many ways can shape the city and the amenities and the vision of the city, was what, you know, you as the city manager and your workers.

• 25:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, we do have a big role there. And again, we want to take important cues from council. They're listening to community and representing the community. We also listen to community ourselves and, but, you know, how it takes shape, you know, the policy's fairly broad and how it takes shape, you know, we are very conscious of the privilege that we have to have it come to form and take that shape in specific ways. And interesting you mentioned amenities because again, tomorrow, there's some of our focus on just how can we create more infrastructure, public infrastructure, that creates amenities and sense of place and quality of life.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  You speak, you know, infrastructure is something that I'm a huge fan of. There's a real return on investment for infrastructure nationally, no matter where it is. Talk about bridges, roads, highways, you know, those types of-

• 26:08Speaker 03

  Old buildings that might have their one and only luncheonette leaving.

• 26:11Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 26:13Speaker 03

  Just saying.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  But your predecessor, Christian, was instrumental in a lot of what we're now benefiting from in terms of the Thomas Road projects, right? The West Side Parkway, which I, somebody born and raised here, somebody that lives out in Rosedale and commutes out in downtown and here, have seen a huge improvement in the flow of traffic. It's unbelievable.

• 26:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, absolute game changer. The vision, you know, 20 years ago to say, we need to do something for this growing community that's going to become a metropolitan area and needs to have this flow of commerce and people. And that was hugely important and it's made such an impact. But also today, we're thinking about, okay, what's the next thing that's 10, 15, 20 years down the road? So we can start getting that in motion because it takes a long time to do some of these really big projects.

• 27:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, like literally like 20 years, working on this type of thing. Can you share what some of those might be? This might be part of the, I don't know what year we're on in terms of the city vision plan, but they do a, you know, they do a plan of a vision plan every so often.

• 27:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, and actually, we don't, there was a, you know, Vision 2025 that was done a number of years ago that was very formalized. At this point, we're, we actually have a five-year strategy and we have, you know, annual work plans in support of that strategy and we're kind of in year, really year three of that, you know, five-year strategy. But some of those bigger ticket items, and, you know, not to bring up a hot topic and not fully cover it, but of course, our sewer infrastructure.

• 27:50Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:51Speaker 04

  It's a big topic. We're going to take it on tomorrow as State of the City, you know, and walk through some of those pieces. But I think that the more important piece is, I would acknowledge to all the listeners out there that, you know, we need to get more information and education out. And I think with that information and education, folks will say, We'll see that, you know, okay, I understand the need and why it's there and we need to, you know, think ahead. Also, a big piece is not just one infrastructure project, but we have these areas of the metropolitan area that are unincorporated, they're county pockets, and we really want to create a consistent community fabric by bringing those in through annexations. Not that we're like kingdom builders, but it makes a lot more sense from efficiencies

• 28:33Speaker 04

  and economies of scale and service delivery to have it be this consistent community fabric. And that includes arterials and roads and parks, but also sidewalks, streetlights. I mean, there's a lot of parts of Bakersfield that are missing some of those things, and that's part of having a well-planned, you know, organized city that includes all of that infrastructure. And then we are also just looking at, from a jobs standpoint, how do we create infrastructure that's really going to bring more job bases for key industry clusters? And some of that means we need to go and develop that infrastructure in advance so that we'll bring those jobs in.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  Yes. There's a, I'm curious about your opinion about the high-speed rail, because, you know, everybody, nobody that I talk to thinks that it's actually going to happen, even though, even though like, things are happening. Yeah. And if it does happen, it seems like it could be, it would be hu, it could be huge for Bakersfield, potentially.

• 29:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, so, two different ways to think about it. There's sort of the, there's some of the political, you know, opinions about it, and there's also just some practical realities about it. And I will say, I think, you know, not speaking on behalf of the city council, but, you know, the city of Bakersfield historically has, you know, had some different positions on high-speed rail. And so, but if you take some of that out of the equation, and I'm just trying to think about practically, like, if it's going to happen, I want to make sure it happens right. And if it's going to happen, let's leverage it. And so, yes, if it comes, it could be a huge economic boon, because you're going to see all sorts of trans-oriented development that happens around that station site.

• 30:15Speaker 04

  And ultimately, it could mean different types of jobs and economies and even different types of tourism. And believe it or not, yes, people, there's people want to come see things in Bakersfield, and it makes it easier for them to come and do that. I would say that, you know, if currently the line that is, you know, in construction is from Resett to Bakersfield, it's not going to be the same stimulant if we don't extend it all to Los Angeles.

• 30:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:38Speaker 04

  So we need, we need to, if the line's going to be there, let's make sure it's the Los Angeles, you know, north line. And then, but again, that station site, all that area around it, in the north downtown area, would completely change.

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it's a big area there, along Golden State and kind of F Street, I guess, that general area. You know, I think it'd be cool to be able to just go grab a, you know, grab a meal up in Madera and come back, you know, go on a date or whatever.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Or go to the Woolworths building.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:09Speaker 04

  That's right. Somebody could get off the train and go to Woolworths and then get back on the train and head wherever they're.

• 31:13Speaker 01

  I'm all for, I'm all for that. The, the budget recently passed in the city and the, you know, this is, this is, I don't know how many people pay attention to, but I always, I'm always curious about the budget. And, and one thing that about the budget is the rainy day fund. And you've talked about, I'm, I'm very proud of how Bakersfield has been managing its money. And so talk about how, how we look financially.

• 31:38Speaker 04

  Yeah. So we're, we're in good financial condition. We have a rainy day fund that's over $50 million. It's about $56 million. And most large cities in California, they'll set a policy to say maybe 5%, 10%. Well, the government finance officers associations, the national association that recommends what your rainy day fund should be, they, it's 16%. There's only two other cities that I'm aware of that are large cities in California other than Bakersfield that have actually met that goal. So, you know, other big cities that honestly have a lot of resources, they're still not showing the discipline to set aside that level of reserves. I will say, you know, given the opportunity. That inflation continues to go up faster than revenue growth.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  And so we do have a challenge that our revenues aren't keeping up with the cost of doing business, just the straight cost of doing business. And I know businesses are feeling it, everyone's feeling that, you know, that you're getting less with, with the same amount of dollars that you've got. And so we're, we're doing some structural adjustments because we've got to live within our means. And, and so we actually have a little bit of a hiring freeze right now to make sure that we're making some adjustments to our staffing to be within our means. But the good news is we were able to do that without major cuts and, you know, any, you know, significant issues, you know, no deficit, and we haven't touched our rainy day fund.

• 32:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, and it's still growing.

• 33:01Speaker 04

  And it's growing.

• 33:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I think it's, I think it's like, and we, we live in a community that is generally more fiscally conservative than not. And, and I don't know how many, I think it's so easy for us citizens to think of in terms of politics on a national level and equate it to what happens here locally. And it's just, it's not, it's a totally different game. And here, here locally, you can actually have an impact. You can, you can actually really make a difference in, in the community beyond just complaining and being upset, that you can actually, if you really are upset about something and

• 33:43Speaker 01

  you're, and you're driven and you're willing to work with the city. My experience has been in working with the city and with issues or problems has been very positive. Like there's, these are people that really care about this place.

• 33:55Speaker 04

  I would agree 100%. You can make a real impact at the local level. And there are many things that we're good at and some things we're not good at. I would, even many things we're not good at. And we need good, smart community members and business owners to be willing to, to raise their hand and say, I think we got an issue, but I think I can also help with it.

• 34:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:16Speaker 04

  And we're all for collaboration.

• 34:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and there's a lot of modernizing that's happening. We know this, for example, when we had to file for our permits for the Woolworths building. Partway through the process, the city upgraded their systems from a very manual, labor-intensive to a much more modern, software-based program. There were some hiccups there, but now at least they're on their way to being more modern and more efficient.

• 34:44Speaker 03

  And that takes time, right? And that takes time and investment. But it also takes, like, this convening of state of the city for people to be in that room and to really learn how can you show up for your community? Or what do you see that has a void and needs a voice? You know, that's really what it's all about, too. I always like to look at that, you know, story about the one pebble and/or the one starfish that you're throwing back into the ocean. It matters to that one starfish, right? And so what can that one business owner do? Well, they can speak up. And if there's a need they have, you know, it relate to how their facade needs support, or their structure, or do they just need

• 35:26Speaker 03

  to join a coalition or a chamber that can support them on a bigger level? That's really our audience is our community coming together to hear from, not only first and foremost from our city manager and Mayor Karen Go, but to get an idea on how their voice and their action matters.

• 35:42Speaker 01

  Another good plug for the chamber, right? It helps amplify your voice along with other interested business owners that have a stake. And yeah, this has been fantastic. Is there anything else, Janelle, that you'd like to share before we let you go?

• 35:58Speaker 03

  I would just say, you know, remember that your chamber is here to serve you. And so if you have any questions or just want to learn more, go to bakochamber.com. And if you want to send us an email, it's [email protected].

• 36:10Speaker 01

  And you have an amazing staff, by the way.

• 36:13Speaker 03

  Thank you, yes.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  You've got some really good people that work with you.

• 36:17Speaker 03

  It's our team coming together with city. Our city council members will be present as well.

• 36:22Speaker 01

  Good partnership.

• 36:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, great partnerships. And all the community that supports that together.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  Well, thank you so much, both of you, for coming on the show, taking time out of your busy schedules. That's Janelle Capra. She's President/CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce and Christian Clegg, Bakersfield City Manager. Thank you guys so much.

• 36:40Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 36:40Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 36:41Speaker 01

  We'll be right back.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  Are you an employee with a company sponsored retirement plan? Do you fully understand how you're invested? And whether or not you are maximizing your retirement plans options? For more information on a free assessment, contact MoneyWise's 401K Specialist, Justin Leland at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 37:10Speaker 01

  Welcome back to MoneyWise.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  That was really great to have Christian Clegg and Janelle Capra on the show. Both great advocates for our city. And it's just, I just always like having them. Good job, Stephen.

• 37:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, great insight on what a city manager does.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  I know.

• 37:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, who would've thought?

• 37:30Speaker 01

  I know. That guy, that guy is it, man. He's the, he's the boss. As he said, the CEO, president and CEO of the city, basically.

• 37:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, exactly.

• 37:39Speaker 01

  Why don't we get to our messages? Frank, you got ready to read?

• 37:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 37:46Speaker 02

  I know we had the other one before.

• 37:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 37:49Speaker 02

  Do you want me to go over that one?

• 37:51Speaker 01

  Go over the one that's I have, starts with I have some family.

• 37:54Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  I think that's, yeah.

• 37:56Speaker 02

  Okay. So I have some family wanting to move down to town and they sent me this. So I figured I'd pass it on to the money team. Their message is for someone here in Bakersfield where the cost of living is different from LA or San Francisco, what's one budgeting reality check you'd give to locals who might be comparing themselves to what they see online?

• 38:16Speaker 01

  I love this question.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:18Speaker 01

  It, it forced me to go back and look at some of the online tools that are available for free for people to compare cost of livings between cities.

• 38:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  So there, there's several of them. Bankrate, it seems to be one that seems, that, that seems very thorough. Bankrate.com, but there's several others. And essentially what you do is you put what city you're in, what city you're moving to, and then it spits out the list of, you know, budget, basically a household budget.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  And I didn't even know about this until you brought it up.

• 38:47Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 38:48Speaker 02

  It's, it's pretty nice.

• 38:48Speaker 01

  It's nice, right? Even shows like the price of groceries and it breaks down each grocery. Like, like bread, for example. Bread is 4% cheaper in Bakersfield than it is in Los Angeles.

• 39:02Speaker 01

  Orange juice. Basically, all groceries are cheaper in Bakersfield than they are in Los Angeles, especially when you get to some of the fruits and vegetables. And that kind of makes sense why that might be a little bit cheaper. So what was interesting, though, and the question is, what is surprising? Because if anybody goes online and they do a comparison between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, that obviously it's going to be cheaper in Bakersfield. Overall, it's going to be much cheaper to live in Bakersfield. But not everything is cheaper. And that's what kind of surprised me. One of the things that is definitely more expensive in Bakersfield

• 39:42Speaker 01

  that you may not be aware of, and your family should be aware of, is energy costs.

• 39:48Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:49Speaker 01

  Specifically, your gas and electric for your home. Now, it's not because it's necessarily so much more expensive per kilowatt hour. It's because you're running that AC 24 hours a day.

• 40:02Speaker 02

  You're using it more, that's why.

• 40:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, you have to use it more because it's just, LA, there are parts that don't have, it's common to not have air conditioning.

• 40:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's true. That's so true.

• 40:12Speaker 01

  Why would you need air conditioning? It barely gets over 80 every once in a while. But here, it'd be hard to survive without air conditioning. You can do it, but...

• 40:23Speaker 00

  Been there, done that.

• 40:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, a swamp cooler only works to a certain point, right?

• 40:28Speaker 02

  We've all gone through those tough times.

• 40:29Speaker 00

  No, not again.

• 40:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So that would be, at least for me, kind of the biggest surprise. I don't know, was there anything that caught your eye? Did you rent a calculator?

• 40:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, if, because like if your, let's say, current income is what, $100,000? It's like, what does that look like for you to sustain a life here at Bakersfield? That's $74,000. So if you're making $100,000 in LA, you need about $74,000 to live the current lifestyle.

• 41:00Speaker 01

  The same lifestyle in Bakersfield. Basically, 25%. It's 25% cheaper.

• 41:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, it is. And it's crazy to see that. Even though we're still in California, Bakersfield... Just the cost of living wise is drastically different.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  It's shocking. Rent, for example, is forty six percent cheaper in Bakersfield versus LA.

• 41:21Speaker 02

  And home prices sixty percent cheaper.

• 41:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's significant. And so that, you know, put it, put it this way too, somebody that's making a hundred thousand dollars in LA. If they're making a hundred thousand dollars here in Bakersfield, it would be like making a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and keeping your same. Actually, you'd be able to increase your lifestyle, but you'd have your same expenses.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  Yeah. Now, it's gonna be very interesting when, I know we mentioned this on the show, about the high speed rail train.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:47Speaker 02

  If that does come into play, what does that look like? Are more people gonna move to Bakersfield while working in Los Angeles? Cause people are already doing that. I used to do that back in my old job was commute to LA.

• 41:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:58Speaker 02

  While I was living here, cause it's just so much cheaper.

• 42:00Speaker 01

  And now, if you could just get on a train, a thirty minute train ride.

• 42:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:05Speaker 01

  You know, that's an easy commute. You know, get some work done and, I don't know if it'll be thirty minutes, but whatever, an hour.

• 42:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, but you won't be going, you won't be hitting that, the, the, the traffic, the LA traffic or anything like that. It's just easy straight through.

• 42:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:19Speaker 02

  So much more convenient.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  I think what it would do, ultimately what it would do to Bakersfield is increase the cost. Because now you have, you have more, you have more demand.

• 42:31Speaker 02

  You do.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  And you have more people here and more, you know, we already have a housing shortage. And so people coming in are gonna price out others who can't afford it. And so, cause you're just gonna see prices probably go up.

• 42:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, and maybe this is one of the things that as the city we have to plan for, if, if that rail does come through, it's like, okay. Well, what are the, the possible scenarios from LA to San Francisco, San Diego? What does that look like?

• 42:57Speaker 01

  Right. Well, fortunately, we'll have fifty years to deal with it.

• 43:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  If it ever happens.

• 43:01Speaker 02

  We got time. We got time.

• 43:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I, you know, the Madera thing, I, I thought, wow, if, if, what, what, I don't know, it's such, such a bizarre project. But if the project. Only connects Bakersfield to Madera and then we have to stop in Fresno or Visalia or whatever. Then it's like, I don't know, do we form like a Central Valley Coalition? You know, like let's build, let's petition Disney to get like a park here or like, I don't know, we gotta do something. No! Not Disney. Uh, great. We got other comments and questions?

• 43:34Speaker 02

  Oh, yep.

• 43:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, you have that Frank?

• 43:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, so we got one right here. Uh, does every business have to offer a 401k in town? Uh, is that what I heard? Sorry, I missed the first part today. Uh, has flown by and by and almost missed the show.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, so Frank, you can speak on this a little bit because you're part of, you know, you work a lot with the business services here at MoneyWise, but essentially employers with, any employer that has just one employee who is not the owner, has to either offer a retirement plan or they have to participate in a state-sponsored program, which is CalSavers.

• 44:15Speaker 02

  Yep, yep.

• 44:15Speaker 01

  For businesses, and that deadline to register for either CalSavers or to have your 401k is the end of this year.

• 44:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  December 31st of this year.

• 44:25Speaker 02

  December 31st, yep, exactly.

• 44:27Speaker 01

  And do you know what the, what the consequences are? What are the penalties or, or costs for not complying?

• 44:34Speaker 02

  It just varies, uh, depending on company size. Uh, so you're not gonna have like this huge penalty brought on by, you know, the states. Uh, I believe it's like a few hundred dollars for each person that's not participating in the plan.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:51Speaker 02

  But again, it varies depending on the company size.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:54Speaker 02

  Um, and you, you're not gonna get like a huge fine, but it's still wise to put something in place, an employer-sponsored plan, cause, you know, then we're talking about retirement planning, seeing what that looks like.

• 45:06Speaker 01

  Right.

• 45:06Speaker 02

  Uh, and then just setting up something for, for the employees.

• 45:10Speaker 01

  This has been a law on the books for quite a few years, over, or maybe around five years. But on June 30th of 2022, so this is just, just over three years ago. It was required for employers with five or more employees to comply with this law.

• 45:33Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 45:33Speaker 01

  They should already, if you have five or more employees, you should already have this in place.

• 45:37Speaker 02

  And I think the one or more employee is the rule now, uh, come December 31st.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  That's right. Yeah. Yeah. But any, any employer that's had five or more, this has already been in place. So either, they should either be on CalSavers or they, if you have your own 401K, then that exempts you from CalSavers.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:59Speaker 01

  And.

• 46:00Speaker 02

  Any, any type of qualified plan to help with the, the company. So SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, um, those, those come into play. But again, uh, talk to the financial advisor, see, see what's going on, see if there's anything else that you need to do. And then we can, we can give some insight.

• 46:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, it does take some expertise, you know, again, MoneyWise does this and is, is involved in this. As we've mentioned, we, we're involved with the, um, Chambers Multiple Employer Plan. And that is just a phenomenal way for these employers to, I mean, you, you get the benefits of the, of the Chamber. And then some of those benefits also include you can just jump on that 401K.

• 46:44Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  And you can, and you can modify your plan to suit your needs and still be part of the Chambers.

• 46:51Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  Which is amazing.

• 46:54Speaker 02

  Yeah. The, the 401K is the 401K, but how you want to develop eligibility requirements, things like that, that's still up to you. That's the plan document. You get to create that.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 47:05Speaker 02

  But it's just easy, it's really easy to hop on the bandwagon and just, you know, get that plan going.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  And you can decide if you want to match, if you don't want to match, if there's a vesting schedule. Like you can really create, modify your own specific plan and then spread. Out the costs of that plan among all the other members of the chamber.

• 47:23Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  It's really, really fantastic. You're doing a great job there, Frank.

• 47:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 47:27Speaker 01

  All right. Want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in today. If you'd like to listen to this show or any of our past programs, go ahead and subscribe to the Money Wise Podcast. It's commercial free. It's on all podcast platforms like iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, wherever you stream your podcasts, you will find Money Wise there. In the meantime, we've got to remind all our listeners of these three things: be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 47:57Speaker 05

  Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.