Growing Pains

After reading about the killer mold yesterday, I was understandably alarmed when I saw the headline on the front page of today’s paper. “Growth overtakes schools.” Turns out it’s a different type of growth, but equally scary. The “explosive growth in all areas of Bakersfield” is causing overcrowding in the high schools. According to the article, “Frontier High School, not set to open until fall of 2006, will be overcrowded within two years of opening.”

That’s crazy! Where are all of these people coming from? And why if Bakersfield is supposedly so god awful, are they moving here? I understand that housing prices are affordable compared to the rest of the state, but don’t people have to have jobs? Was it not reported recently that there are no jobs? It makes no sense to me.

I have to admit, I don’t like the image that Bakersfield is a hick town, but I am not looking forward to becoming a suburb of L.A. I want my small town back.