One PS - July 2022 Meeting
Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization One PS Meeting
July 12, 2022
Hello neighbors,
The ONE-PS meeting was held Tuesday afternoon July 12 via Zoom due to the high rate of Covid in Palm Springs. Your neighborhood representatives from Vista Las Palmas were in attendance (virtually).
Below are the highlights from the meeting so that you can be fully informed about important issues.
Peter Sipkin - President of ONE-PS reported ONE-PS will start Brown Bag lunches September 22nd in City Hall‘s large conference room at 11:30am. The first topic will be PS disposal services. (Emphasis will be on the new organic recycling rollout.) The next Brown Bag lunch expected around October/November will be on traffic safety.
The ONE-PS board is looking for 5 executive positions and 6 at large positions for 2023.
In September we will return to neighborhood presentations, looking forward to one from each Racquet Club Estates, Old Las Palmas, and Melody Ranch. Peter welcomed Palm Canyon, (roughly south of the 111 bend and east of S Palm Canyon Dr.) as the 51st neighborhood to join the One Palm Springs group.
Mayor Lisa Middleton told us that the city budget was approved and staffing levels have returned to pre Covid levels. They are also doing a staffing study for the Police Department which will likely result in additional police officers on the street as well as supporting members. (For example like social safety work.)
Dennis Woods - City Councilmember said that the city will be looking into additional means of traffic calming. The City has formed a diverse new working group to review Short Term housing regulations, the results of which will be brought board to the City Council in time for the November elections.
Following a question from one of the members, Councilmember said the state of California is looking at extending the hours of bars from 2am to 4am. Nine pilot cities are eligible to participate in a pilot to keep serving alcohol until 4am. Palm Springs and Cathedral City are The City of Palm Springs has not yet examined potential issues, but one potential issue would be the shifting of late night service calls to 4am would be a problem.
Justin Clifton the City Manager was out due to COVID, but we wish him a speedy recovery.
Nathan Gunkel from the PSFD reported they had just hired 6 more fire fighters. PSFD is moving toward a four person fire engine crew. This complies with national safety standards. Presently Palm Springs firefighting crews are only 3 in size. Safety regulations dictate that if 2 fire fighters enter a burning building, 2 fire fighters must stay outside. The department’s current 3 person fire fighter crew size hinders the department’s efficacy in fighting fires. Furthermore, a 4 member team will better ensure the safety of our fire fighters.
Lt. Gus Araiza — PSPD — said they are getting 3 additional officers plus 2 staff positions as mentioned by Mayor Middleton. 16 officers are currently injured. 6 officers are in training. Phase 2 of operation Clean Street was a success. The area behind Walmart on the Cathedral City line was targeted. Presently that is a homeless encampment. There have been reports of drug dealing. Several arrests were made for drug possession and parole violations.
Bob Farran the ONE-PS event chair — said that six 6 houses has been approved for the October 15 city-wide house tour during mini-Modernism which is the biggest fund raising event of the year for ONE-PS.
Liz from Palm Springs Disposal Services — As discussed in previous meetings, pick-up of organic, recycling, kitchen waste will begin October 1st. New carts will be delivered during the month of September. The PSDS website will be updated and a flier will be sent out.
Denise Goolsby - Manager, Office of Neighborhoods— said the Navigation Center design has been approved and a 22 person homeless working group has been formed to work with the community and through operational issues associated with it.
We hope you find this 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.
There will be no meeting in August as ONE-PS (and many of us) takes its annual summer break. In the meantime stay cool and well out there!
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Steve Orr and Gustav Swanson