Drive (or if you're like me, ride a bike) around northwest Bakersfield.  What do you see other than homes?  You guessed it, strip malls/plazas!!!  New ones are being built at seeming every intersection in the northwest.  There's a new one on Calloway Drive just north of Rosedale Hwy, a fairly new one at Hageman Road and Calloway, another 3? new ones at Calloway and Brimhall Road.  There will soon be one at Brimhall Road and Jewetta Ave across from Liberty High School, another at Hageman and Verdugo Lane, and another at Calloway Dr. and Noreiga Road.  And that is only a short list of all the new little plazas around northwest Bakersfield.  There may be 10 or 15 or more other ones I didn't even mention.  Although developers are coming up with nicer designs and architecture for newer ones now (I think city ordinance now requires them to) than before, I still think there are too many of them.

My question is, why can't the northwest get something for better entertainment like a regular mall, movie theater, or bowling alley?  I submitted a question to the Ask the Californian feature (found in The Bakersfield Californian on Mondays or on www.bakersfield.com) and in the answer it was stated by a local engineer that we can't support too many movie theaters.  Well, how can we support the gazillion deli/sandwich shops, dentists, etc. (no offense and I'd hate to see any of them not make it), but not a movie theater or some other place of entertainment?

What do you think of this issue?