With California's draft-list public comment period closing August 28 at 11:59 p.m., Bakersfield City Manager Christian Clegg sent GO-Biz a letter — postdated to that Friday — asking the state to reverse course on five local census tracts. Kern County's board had forwarded 27 suggestions on July 14; GO-Biz's draft cut about three-quarters of those local picks and added 12 tracts that did not originate locally. Clegg's five: downtown Bakersfield, two tracts around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, southeast Bakersfield, and the area around Bakersfield Municipal Airport along South Union Avenue. He argues those sites have development momentum the draft's substitutes (including East Beale and Benton Park) do not. The Greater Bakersfield Chamber is asking regional partners to file comments before the deadline. Incomplete or late comments will not be accepted.
Original reporting by Sarah Whitfield for Opportunity Zone Invest, an independent OZ 2.0 research site. Facts are drawn from the primary sources cited above per our editorial standards. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice.
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