On the road again...

I'm in Visalia, California today.



From what I have seen, this is a pretty cool town. Larger than I thought, and nestled in the middle of the agricultural mecca, they've done an excellent job in ways Bakersfield fails at -- and it annoys the hell out of me.

Bakersfield is so damn ugly.

I mean, take a look at the freeways. The 99N runs right in the middle of the city, and while California has been on the forefront of modern highway design for decades, the difference between just the way the freeways look in these two cities, tells the whole tale.

In Visalia, they've developed a lowered freeway system that keeps the ugly road noise and traffic underneath the level of the city. With the historical downtown districts kept intact and the general look/feel of the city remaining the same, the freeway provides a clean, modern, somewhat unmentionable passageway through the city without really letting drivers see much of it -- or the city seeing much of them.

To keep the motorists occupied, as it were, there are beautiful hanging ivy, vines, and flowers along the concrete walls of either side of the freeway. The city surface streets that cross above are pleasantly accented with architectural details and draped with the same lush greenery.

Sure, it's not exactly a tourist spot...but it doesn't smell like cow shit.

Bakersfield on the other hand, does. It's also covered in flies, and dust. At times it seems there's barely a pretty patch of grass anywhere to be found, and if you do find one...you'll want to frame it in your memory and not turn around because there's probably a dingy motel and a liquor store behind you.

The freeway system here is nearly identical in design and purpose, but it's the small differences that really stick out when you're driving through them. First of all, the Bakersfield freeway doesn't even remotely dampen the road noise. I lived in an apartment facing that freeway for over a year, and I'll tell you the sound is deafening. This could be partly because the distance of the freeway from the surface streets isn't really that much. It's ugly as hell too, and that's apparently thanks to the Bakersfield concept of "pleasant vegetation" being a bunch of nubby shrubs and patches of grass that slope along the sides of the freeway. Looking down from above, you'll see how it fails to dampen anything other than the soul.

Maybe I have a biased opinion? I'm not sure to be honest. Are freeways supposed to make you feel better?

You can't always blame city planners for mistakes like not running your main freeway near the good looking parts of your town. It could also be argued that they weren't able to look into the future and see that things like sound zoning policies and some artistic flair would assure benifitial development along those ugly patches they decided to run the thing through. You might even be able to convince yourself that the great history of this city was surprised by the overpowering shadow of the local oil industry...strangling any identity it had before, and leaving the potmarked stains of industrial maintenance suppliers, and hydrogen crackers scattered across the surface.

In the end though, you begin to look around and it just seems like everyone was lazy.

Where's the culture? Where's the art? Where are all the parks, and manicured remnants of the western landscape this town was carved into? Oh yeah, they're not here. Why would oil barons care about increasing the quality of life here? They don't live here. It's just a drilling and refining zone. They all live back in Houston.

And don't forget the dairy farmers! They've entranced the city authorities if you ask me. I can't imagine how you convince 250,000 people that putting millions of cows just upwind is a good idea. And the flies?

Sheesh.

I suppose what pisses me off the most about it is that when I drive into Visalia, I see a city about the size of what Bakersfield was, a few decades back. (about 100,000 people) I see them focusing on little things that will pay off big-time later on. I mean, pardon me for being so damn prissy but I'm not looking for water fountains on every street corner. I don't want bohemian troubadour's littering the city with shades of fuschia and periwinkle. I'm a graphic artist at heart, and I'm not talking about overhauling a damn thing.

Hell, I'd be happy if we all washed our cars more often.

PS: The views expressed in this Bako rant do not necessarily represent the views of the author as a whole. He's just rather pissy today because he feels like handhammered shit after a week of the flu -- and he just got his panties in a bind on the way to work. The SevenBates.com team strive to encourage appreciation of your local surroundings and suggest enrolling in your local recycling and community redevelopment programs if you see an area of need. It would also help if you people all stopped being such a bunch of tools and tried cleaning up after yourselves for christ sake. This town needs an enema.