Andrae Gonzales | KERN LIVING
Join Kern Living host Ryan Nelson as he has a chat with the Vice Mayor of Bakersfield, Andrae Gonzales.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - All right, welcome back.
00:04 Today we are sitting down with Bakersfield's Vice Mayor,
00:07 Andre Gonzalez.
00:08 Andre, how are you?
00:09 - I'm great, thank you so much for having me.
00:11 - Oh yeah, I'm happy that you're here
00:12 because I have so many questions
00:14 because being Vice Mayor,
00:16 you may know a little bit about Bakersfield
00:17 that I don't know.
00:18 So what are some of your favorite things to do,
00:20 especially in downtown?
00:21 - Oh man, I love Bakersfield.
00:23 It's a wonderful place to live
00:24 and it's a wonderful place to hang out.
00:26 And downtown Bakersfield's a great venue.
00:28 I actually live downtown Bakersfield.
00:30 So many nights, one of my favorite things to do
00:33 is just to walk my dog in downtown Bakersfield
00:36 and walk through the different streets
00:38 and see all the different stores,
00:40 window shop, that type of thing.
00:42 But there's so many things.
00:44 The coffee culture is really improving in downtown.
00:48 You have Adventure Awaits, you have 502 Coffee,
00:51 Blue Whale Coffee, of course you have Dagne's
00:54 and Cafe Smitten.
00:55 But all of these cafes are right in the heart of our city.
00:59 And it's a wonderful venue to meet new people,
01:03 to meet up with old friends,
01:05 but it's certainly a place that really enhances
01:07 our community right here in downtown.
01:10 - Absolutely, I agree with that.
01:11 And all those coffee places that were named,
01:13 could you name them one more time?
01:14 'Cause I know there's people at home
01:15 that are like, "Wait a minute, 502, what?"
01:17 - Yeah, you have 502 Coffee in the Haberfeld building.
01:20 - Okay.
01:20 - Adventure Awaits, that's on 19th Street in Eastchester.
01:25 You have Dagne's, which is on 19th and I streets.
01:28 And then Cafe Smitten, which is on 18th Street,
01:31 900 block of 18th Street.
01:33 Those are just four.
01:34 Then you have Blue Whale Coffee,
01:36 which is right off of G Street.
01:40 So there's so many different little coffee venues.
01:43 I encourage everybody to go and visit.
01:45 - And speaking of downtown,
01:47 is there anything coming up
01:48 that we should know about as a community?
01:49 - Yeah, so every second Saturday,
01:52 there's an event that the Hub of Bakersfield
01:54 puts together called Second Saturday.
01:56 And there, if you visit it,
01:57 bakersfieldsecondsaturday.org,
02:00 you can see actually all the different things
02:02 that are happening in downtown Bakersfield.
02:03 And it's a way for us to encourage people
02:05 to come and check out all the stores,
02:07 all the restaurants, all the cafes,
02:10 and all the different things
02:11 that downtown Bakersfield has to offer.
02:12 We have to, in order for us to see revitalization
02:16 in our downtown core, we have to support it.
02:18 Us as individuals, right?
02:19 We have to be able to contribute
02:21 and help small business owners succeed
02:24 with our pocketbooks, with our wallets.
02:26 And so we're just encouraging people
02:28 every second Saturday to take some time
02:30 to come downtown Bakersfield.
02:32 - Okay, what are the hours for that?
02:34 - It's actually all day long.
02:35 And so you have to take a look at the website
02:37 and you can get a listing
02:38 of all the different things that are happening.
02:39 - Awesome, what was the name of the website?
02:41 - bakersfieldsecondsaturday.org.
02:43 - That sounds like a lot of fun.
02:44 I have yet to be there.
02:45 I've seen it on social media, so the Hub.
02:48 And my last question being,
02:49 and we were talking about this before the show,
02:51 a lot of families are moving to Kern County
02:53 from other places in California, some out of state.
02:56 What would you say is the best reason
02:57 why Bakersfield is the place to move to?
02:59 - Well, it's a very family-oriented community.
03:01 Even still when we're growing,
03:03 we still are a family-oriented community.
03:06 The cost of living is relatively more affordable.
03:09 People who want to own a home can do so here
03:14 versus other parts of the state.
03:16 But the other thing too is there's so much opportunity,
03:18 the opportunity to advance your education,
03:21 your career, to start a new business.
03:23 There's so many opportunities here in this community
03:26 that are accessible.
03:27 - Okay, well thank you so much for coming
03:29 and giving us all this wonderful information.
03:31 In addition to what he said, our reporter, Ava Kirshner,
03:34 she does so many things downtown,
03:36 so make sure you head to turnto23.com
03:38 to watch her content about things that go on,
03:40 specifically downtown.
03:42 And I want to thank you again for coming.
03:43 - Thank you.
03:44 - I want to thank everybody for watching.
03:45 Make sure you follow us on all social media platforms.
03:47 That's @kernliving, and you can follow myself
03:50 at RyanNelson23, and I will see you all tomorrow,
03:53 same time, same place.
03:54 But in addition to that, if you want your business here
03:56 on Current Living, make sure you send an email
03:58 to ryan.nelson@kero.com.
04:02 I'll see you all tomorrow, same time, same place
04:04 for Current Living.
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