As mayor, Shell promoted civic self-esteem. She reached out to the minority community. She chided [[NBC]]'s ''The Tonight Show'' host [[Johnny Carson]] for his reference to "beautiful downtown Bakersfield." Carson also referred to Burbank, California though his remarks were not considered malicious. Shyell said that she "tried to get Johnny Carson to come here and see for himself [the improvements in Bakersfield. He never made it."<ref name=kern/>
A partial list of her accomplishments include: