BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Bakersfield City Council member gave a passionate speech on Wednesday after several members of the community spoke out against his comments on homelessness made during a previous City Council meeting.
On Jan. 21, Ward 6 Councilmember Zack Bashirtash expressed frustration over the city’s Clean City Initiative and Community Vitality Program, saying they wasted millions of dollars in programs that didn’t do much to help keep people off the streets or create safe communities.
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“I’m enraged that we prioritize homeless degenerates over our children in our community. We’ve wasted millions of dollars on treating a problem that’s not doing anything,” Bashirtash said at that meeting.
Nine people, some of whom represented different local organizations, attended the City Council meeting Wednesday evening to criticize Bashirtash’s use of the word “degenerates” and ideas on holding homeless people in jails for a period of time…