Over 100 students crammed into the Idea Hive in downtown Bakersfield on Tuesday evening, all of them there to see the candidates for Bakersfield mayor hold a debate specifically geared towards them.
"We had to turn numerous students away [because of room]," said Lauren Skidmore, director of Kern Citizens for Sustainable Government. "We had over 100 students here from all different high schools and a few from the local colleges."
The debate allowed candidates Kyle Carter and Karen Goh to answer questions that pertained to Kern County youth.
"What a joy it is that students are interested in local government," said Karen Goh.
"I am excited about it," said Kyle Carter. "I'm excited about the future and what these kids can do."
The two have spoken at multiple forums over the past week, including a local Tea Party meeting on Thursday.
It was there that Carter made comments about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the issues he's had with complying to their standards as a home builder in Kern County.
"We spent two and a half million dollars on that building, 25% of it was to comply with ADA. I just don't think that's right," Carter said at that meeting on Thursday.
The audio was captured and played this week on The Ralph Bailey Show on 1180 AM and has been seen as controversial by some; although it wasn't discussed at Tuesday's forum, Carter says that the comments going public hits close to home.
"I myself have severe scoliosis of the spine that I have to deal with every day," he said.
"I've had six major surgeries so this is something that hits close to home for me. I'm not trying to begrudge anybody anything, other then that I think that we should look to technology and try to find other technologies that work," he said on Tuesday, referencing the potential for technology to help those with disabilities.
