Government roundup: commuting snarls, HR chief, water
| Monday, Nov 09 2009 06:40 PM
Last Updated Monday, Nov 09 2009 06:40 PM
Stockdale Highway commuters -- and others around Bakersfield -- can expect more slow going in coming weeks as extensive work continues on busy corridors:
* On Stockdale Highway, the stretch between Wetherly Drive, just west of Highway 99, and California Avenue will be down to a single lane in each direction as reconstruction and median work go forward.
"The scope of this work is extensive and is expected to last for four to six weeks," city manager Alan Tandy said in a memo.
Completion of the overall project is expected in mid-February.
Other single-lane stretches this week include:
* Ashe Road, between White Lane and Ming Avenue;
* Wilson Road between White and Planz Road;
* Hughes Lane between White and Planz.
In addition, work near the intersection of Mount Vernon and University avenues will slow Bakersfield College commutes and cause periodic closures of the intersection.
Javier Lozano, the city of Bakersfield's human resources manager, is leaving his post. Lozano took over in October 2006 after a career spent mostly in the private sector working for Chevron. Lozano could not be reached Monday for comment.
"He has done much to improve our Human Resources operations," Tandy wrote in a memo.
From The Fresno Bee's Mike Doyle: Efforts to review controversial California water delivery decisions will take a step forward today as the governing board of the National Research Council meets to formally approve a study. The council is the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, which was requested by the Commerce and Interior departments to undertake the California water study.
The proposed study would examine two "biological opinions" that restrict irrigation water deliveries in order to protect endangered species.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a release Monday that: "The first NAS report will direct particular attention to the water delivery restrictions in the biological opinions and whether there are available alternative actions that would have lesser impacts on water deliveries while still providing equal or greater protection for the species and their designated critical habitat. The NAS report will also look at the extent to which factors other than water pumping (known as "other stressors") are contributing to the collapse of the Bay Delta ecosystem."
