One PS - December 2023 Meeting

Vista Las Palmas Neighbors Foundation One PS Meeting

ONE-PS December 2023 Meeting

Greetings neighbors,

The ONE-PS meeting was held Tuesday afternoon, December 12th at the Palm Springs Police Training Center. Your neighborhood representatives from Vista Las Palmas were present virtually.

ONE-PS Chair Peter Sipkins – New 2024 ONE-PS Board named. Chris Ruetz from Movie Colony East will be the new chair in January.

Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Bernstein – Finally awarded $50M for the Indian Canyon Bridge. The California Transportation Committee approved the project. Design and engineering are currently underway. Construction planned for 2025 and 2026. The bridge should sharply mitigate road closures due to blowing wind and flooding.

Continued discussions with Dream Hotel planned north of the convention center. Hyatt’s Thompson Hotel (formerly Andaz) at the corner of North Palm Canyon and Alejo is shooting for a partial/soft opening in February 2024.

City council will discuss the iconic and historic Plaza Theatre in greater detail. There has been private funding raising for the City owned theater. The amount raised is short of the targeted amount needed to complete renovations. Please consider donating.

City Manager Scott Stiles – Among priorities for 2024 include Convention Center upgrades, Park & Recreation Master Plan and the Navigation Center. The Navigation Center is expected to open late February/ early March. Initially 55 beds will be available for the homeless and later an additional 85 additional beds will be available in June/July.

A new fire station for Area 1 is needed. Research viable locations since average, ideal response time must be under 5 minutes. Development study planned for later 2024. How should the old fire station #1 be repurposed? (It’s has been designated a historical site.)

PSPD & PSFD – Fire Captain Nathan Gunkel retires after 27 years with PSFD. More recently he served as the department’s Public Information Officer. Captain Ron Skyberg has been named as his replacement. The City hired previous Long Beach Assistant Fire Chief Paul Alvarado as it new Fire Chief back in May 2023.

PSPD will be co-sponsoring its annual “Shop With A Cop” event with McDonalds and Walmart to help 40 kids in need get holiday gifts. PSPD also hosted a pickleball tournament to help fund the event.

Sustainability & DWA – Don’t forget Desert Water Agency toilet rebate program. ($150/toilet). They have a tool to show the water efficiency of various toilets by manufacturer and model. Please check it out: https://programs.dwa.org/rebate/residential_toilet/

Office of Neighborhoods, Manager Denise Goolsby – Check out Palm Springs new website engagepalmsprings.com ! The work in progress website is a resource for residents to ask questions and receive updates about various City projects. 

 Gustav Swanson and Steve Orr