BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — While Summer 2023 in Bakersfield is starting out mild, community leaders know it won't stay like this all summer. That's why community forums are being held. Officials want to hear from the public firsthand about the issues that need resolutions when it comes to keeping vulnerable communities safe during the summer heat.
Ucedrah Osby is a resident of East Bakersfield who says she has struggled immensely with the summer heat over the years.
"There's no need to invest millions of dollars into one idea for one place for everybody to go to. We need neighborhood resources. We need resilience centers within a mile of each other throughout East Bakersfield," said Osby.
Osby says she has experienced power outages that have lasted up to 7 hours, causing her food and medication to go bad and spoil, and forcing her to travel across the city to find relief.
Osby, like many people who attended Wednesday's energy panel in Bakersfield, says she's tired of being ignored simply because she lives in East Bakersfield.
"Don't just use us for, like, right now and then throw us away later, right? I mean, that's a serious question, because we have these angelic people who do this all the time, right?" said Osby.
Kevin Wu, researcher at the National Renewable Energy Lab, says Wednesday's panel was created to ensure that concerns like Osby's are addressed.
"We're committed to listening. This project and this effort, as a whole, we're really committed to understanding, coming out here, working with local folks. A lot of this meeting today was set up, put together in conjunction with local folks," said Wu. "Like, I'm pretty much the only national person here."
Wu says Wednesday's panel is part of the Community Local Energy Action Program, designed to bring clean energy solutions into disadvantaged communities. He says this project has been in motion for a year now, with the beginning phases focused on determining what areas needed the most assistance.
"We have a very comprehensive tool that we used that was able to identify sort of where social burdens in terms of access to key services are most felt. So it was sort of a combination of all these tools that we're used to identify these areas," said Wu.
Wu says these conversations are critical to the improvement of East Bakersfield, as public opinions are ultimately used in the creation of solutions;
Osby says she is proud to have been a part of the conversation, adding that the only way to create positive solutions is by involving the community.
"Solutions that include free resources local to our community as far as building resources neighborhood by neighborhood," said Osby
A second panel is scheduled for Thursday, June 22 in Lamont. The panel will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the David Head Center on San Diego Street.
