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Public speakers press council over H Street renaming; vice mayor, staff say research and business outreach are underway
Summary
Several residents told the Bakersfield City Council they oppose renaming H Street and raised concerns about business costs and process. The vice mayor and city staff said research and community engagement with H Street businesses will begin.
Several residents at the Aug. 27 Bakersfield City Council meeting urged the council to reconsider or slow plans to rename H Street, saying business costs and the process have not been adequately clarified. The council's vice mayor and city manager said staff will begin fiscal analysis and business outreach to inform future decisions.
"I speak in opposition to the renaming of H Street," said Rod Geiss during the public-comment period, urging the council to provide cost details to affected businesses and questioning why planning commission review had already occurred. Geiss said he had spoken to business owners who "have no idea what's going on" and criticized the timing and outreach around the measure.
Vice Mayor Kaur responded to comments quoting her, saying the council's previous vote directed staff research and community engagement. "The process begins at the city council. And as we clarified in our last city council meeting, the research now begins. So staff is going to be working with business owners who are on H Street," she said.
City Manager Clegg told the council the motion that council had approved included directions to finalize a fiscal analysis and start community engagement with individual business owners, and that staff expected the process to be "fairly involved". "That will be a process that is fairly involved in, you know, talking to individual business owners and being able to bring that information, both for the planning commission as well as the city council," Clegg said.
Public commenters also raised concerns about the symbolic placement of a rename in downtown's central corridor and suggested alternatives, such as naming a different street or a new location. No formal council action on renaming H Street occurred during the meeting; the council reaffirmed direction for staff research and outreach.
The council did not set a date for the completion of the fiscal analysis or the community outreach; staff said they would proceed and return findings to the planning commission and the council.
