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Belle Terrace neighbor advocates for sidewalk installations

Funding for project denied
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  • Video shows unfinished sidewalks on Belle Terrace
  • Lisa Smith, a resident near Belle Terrace, expresses her concerns about the unfinished sidewalks along the road, saying it's unsafe for kids walking to school.

Multiple sections of Belle Terrace look like this, unpaved and without curbs and that’s causing a concern for some local residents who live in the area.
Cars speed down Belle Terrace at 45 miles per hour, but pedestrians including kids headed to school walk just a few feet away from the street with areas like this.

“The worst case scenario is that you end up with a dead child. That is worst case scenario,” Lisa Smith, a local resident says.

Smith tells me for at least two years she’s advocated for sidewalk installations.

Because this street falls in the intersection of city and county lines, both public works departments filed a proposal for $750,000 to construct new sidewalks, curb, gutter, ADA ramps with expected completion in December 2026.

Kern Council of Governments denied that request.

“Funding is the issue, but it should never be funding when it’s a small child," Smith said. "We have to find the money, and we’re not going to do it with bake sales.”

So far no funding is available to complete these sidewalks, but Smith tells me she’ll continue working until she sees a change.


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