One PS - February 2023 Meeting
Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization One PS Meeting
February 14, 2023
Hello neighbors,
The ONE-PS meeting for February 2023 was held Tuesday evening the 14th in person at the Palm Springs Police Training Center and your neighborhood representatives from Vista Las Palmas were there in person and via Zoom.
Below are the highlights from the meeting so that you can be fully informed about important issues.
ONE-PS Board Member Megan Rodrigues -- Gave a presentation on Black History Month. Please visit palmspringsblackhistory.org and check out their calendar for events. Saturday, February 25th marks the 36th Annual City of Palm Springs Black History Month Parade and Town Fair. The parade starts at 11am on Palm Canyon Downtown. The Town Fair will be held at the New Downtown Park across the street from the Palm Springs Art Museum.
ONE-PS Chair Peter Sipkin said that Lisa Middleton was absent so Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Bernstein spoke in her stead. Jeffrey will be taking over as the city representative to ONE-PS. Peter and the group thanked Lisa for her participation to date. ONE-PS will be reviewing by-laws. They have not been reviewed since ONE-PS’ inception.
Council Member (Mayor Pro Tem) Jeffrey Bernstein - Emergency (Covid) orders rescinded.
The City rejected the Orchid Tree Inn’s application for extension of its permit; they have made too many demands (concessions and financial requests) from the city. Case is with attorneys.
Navigation Center asked for another $3M — the plans look impressive but it is concerning that it is taking such a long time. The city is encouraging them to open sooner even if it without the full complement of service and facilities. They hope to have a soft/partial open September 2023.
New city manager Scott Stiles starts March 6th. He comes from previous city manager positions in Cincinnati and more recently Garden Grove. Mr. Stiles worked with setting up Garden Grove’s homeless outreach program. The City hopes to leverage that experience with the Navigation Center. In addition, he worked on tourist initiatives with the City of Garden Grove.
Some discussion of the Picasa home share ordinance. The city has restricted them with time shares, and now they have come back with some voluntary restrictions but the city council is concerned about how that would be enforced. More will come.
Hotel Thompson (formerly the Andaz @ the corner of Palm Canyon & Alejo) should be “half opened” in March 2023. The Dream Hotel’s (on Amado across from the PS Convention Center) progress report and outstanding permits will come back before City Council in March.
6-story Downtown condo project on Belardo & across from the New Downtown Park was granted a time extension. Small number of condos (preliminarily 45 units) and ground floor commercial are planned. Developer working on 60 year land lease.
Serena Park development (on the former north Palm Springs Country Club golf course – West of North Gene Autry Trail & North of Racquet Club) missed its November 2022 deadline to pay $2M to the City. Attorneys are handling this. The site has been vacant for over a decade.
ONE-PS picnic organizer Joy Brown Meredith - Saturday March 25th will be the ONE-PS picnic @ Ruth Hardy Park from 11am to 2pm. It will be a chance to showcase the neighborhoods. 1,000 free lunches will be provided. No selling (products or services) is allowed at the picnic. So far, 9 neighborhoods will have booths. $35/booth. Contests (including dog contests) and prizes. Dog treats. Anyone interested in a VLP booth? Contact us.
PSPD Lt. Mike Villegas & Chief Andy Mills - Updated us on Operation Relentless Sun, week 2, which is Palm Springs efforts to address the unhoused problem.
Identified 52 camp sites where people are living in the Dinah Shore wash. PSPD identified 266 unhoused individuals in the city. Up from 150 people. Insufficient resources. PSPD trying to get their arms around the problem by taking down stats: how long people are here, (if they have a) parole status, their location etc. PSPD tries to relocate and give them access to services. PSPD has been able to relocate five people to other areas outside the Coachella Valley. 15 beds were allotted at the boxing center. PSPD has made 18 arrests (including 9 warrant arrests, 5 felons)
PSPD will focus on 4 micro homeless hot spots:
(1) Vista Chino & Sunrise
(2) Downtown – South near museum and new park
(3) Crossley & Ramon
(4) East Palm Canyon & Sunrise
PSPD response will be “measured, compassionate and firm”. Will not “coddle” nor “enable people to be destructive”.
This year’s “Run for Ike” will be run on March 4th, benefiting the PSPD. Click on the link to support that event: https://www.facebook.com/RUNFORIKE5K/
Two officers just graduated from the academy and 3 seasoned ones will be joining the force, so an increase of five new officers on the street.
Sustainability, LP McCloy -
1) City council approved an additional $300,000 for a DWA turf conversion rebate
2) Community garden application for one of the 11 open plots. Single plot $30/year. Double plot $50/year. Application available online as well.
3) Acknowledged neighborhoods doing well with green waste recycling: Sunmor, 7 Lakes, Eldorado and Rimrock.
Events Committee, Bob Ferran — is soliciting volunteers for the various events sponsored by One-PS. - Please see the One-PS website (link below) for specific events and volunteer needs. The events committee is also soliciting ideas for neighborhood booths to increase visibility of a neighborhood. Specific soliciting volunteers for a Black History month event (parade) on February 25th. https://www.one-ps.org/projectsevents.html
Office of Neighborhoods, Manager Denise Goolsby - Mark your calendars for the 85th anniversary of the city of Palm Springs on Saturday, April 8th! There will be a parade of cars. There will be a car for each year from 1938 to 2023.
…And to reiterate, if you are interested on being on Denise’s mailing list, please do reach out to her directly at denise.goolsby@palmspringsca.gov .
Art in the Park in the Dark is schedule for April 18th in Demuth Park. More information on the One PS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/onepalmsprings
PS Animal Shelter Human Education Department - Goal to educate and bring understanding about animals (domestic & feral) to the public. They can do a 30 minute presentation on how to address animal care and control. Have feral cat Trap, Neuter, Release Program. For more information on all of Palm Springs Animal Shelter services: https://psanimalshelter.org/services/
We do hope you find this report informative. Please excuse any mistakes or gaps. We do our best to be accurate and keep you up to speed with news of importance to our city and our neighborhood.
See you next month!
Gustav Swanson and Steve Orr