Bakersfield FCIC hearing will target community banks, real estate, foreclosures, loan modifications

Representatives of the community banking and real estate industry have been scheduled to testify next week when the congressionally appointed Fiscal Crisis Inquiry Commission convenes in Bakersfield, Calif.

Tuesday’s hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 7, will the first in a series of four “field hearings” commissioners will conduct in their year-long investigation into the causes of the nation’s economic meltdown. Other field hearings will be held in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 8; Miami, Fla., Sept. 21; and Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 23.

The Bakersfield hearing will focus on local banking; residential and community real estate; the local housing market; and foreclosures and loan modifications. The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in the Kern County Board of Supervisors Chambers on Truxtun Avenue.

Scheduled witnesses will include Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield; Kern County Supervisor Ray Watson; and Bakersfield City Councilwoman Irma Carson. Bankers will include: Arnold Cattani, chairman of Mission Bank; Steve Renock, president and CEO of Kern Schools Federal Credit Union; and D. Linn Wiley, vice chairman, CVB Financial Corp. and Citizens Business Bank.

Testifying from the real estate and development industry will be Gregory D. Bynum, Gregory D. Bynum and Associates; Warren Peterson, Warren Peterson Construction; Gary Crabtree, Affiliated Appraisers; Lloyd Plank, Lloyd E. Plank Real Estate Consultants; Brenda Amble, Ticor Title; and Realtors Laurie McCarty and Jeannie McDermott.

Members of the public who wish to testify are asked to go to the commission’s Website www.FCIC.gov/contacthttp://www.fcic.gov/contact/ and fill out the “comment box” including a description of the testimony. If selected to testify, a member of the FCIC staff will respond with additional information.

Created by Congress last year, the 10-member bipartisan commission is headed by California’s former Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides. Former Republican Rep. Bill Thomas of Bakersfield is the vice chairman.

The heavyweights of Wall Street and federal regulatory agencies have been called to testify before the FCIC in year-long hearings conducted to examine the causes of the nation’s deepest recession since the Great Depression. Commissioners have a Dec. 15 deadline to report their findings to Congress.

Tuesday’s Bakersfield hearing will be webcast live at FCIC.gov. Dianne Hardisty also will be blogging at www.DianneHardisty.blogspot.com during the hearing. She has written extensively about the commission’s inquiry, including conducting an in depth interview with Vice Chairman Bill Thomas in December. The interview was published in The Bakersfield Californian.