One PS - July 2023 Meeting

Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization One PS Meeting

ONE-PS July 2023 Meeting

Greetings neighbors,

The ONE-PS meeting was held Tuesday afternoon, July 11th in person at the Palm Springs Police Training Center. Your neighborhood representatives from Vista Las Palmas participated virtually via You Tube. ONE-PS switched from the Zoom format to You Tube due to technical difficulties with the former. Below are the highlights from the meeting so that you can be fully informed about important community issues.

ONE-PS Chair Peter Siskin – Gave Pacasso & Blue Zone updates. (1) At the request of City Council member Lisa Middleton, three ONE-PS Board members (Chair Peter Sipkins, Vice Chair Kathy Cohn and Member-at-Large Kate Castle) attended a virtual presentation led by two Pacasso representatives. They were professional, informative and quite well versed in public relations and media. Pacasso provided their input for the proposed city ordnance to regulate Pacasso type homes. ONE-PS generally remains officially neutral regarding the Pacaso model of selling share ownership in single family homes until it has had time to review the City’s ordnance. However, the ONE-PS Board of Directors presently opposes the Pacaso model of home ownership. The City is currently working on an ordinance and is scheduled to discuss it at the July City Council Meeting. (2) Blue Zone proposes to help Palm Springs residents live longer, enjoy life more and age better. ONE-PS participated in focus groups. Participants were skeptical. Blue Zone provided an informative, well done, thorough professional report. However it seemed “shallow”. Not clear what Blue Zone’s purpose is. Blue Zone states change community environment to promote behavioral changes opposed to trying to change individual behavior directly. Concerns about how Blue Zones’ data and its over generalizations. ONE-PS isn’t recommending the Blue Zones project. Blue Zone wished to respond, but could not physically be present at the meeting to do so. The You Tube format (unlike Zoom) does not facilitate 2 way remote communication. (Virtual participants may only respond via the chat.)

Approximately 5,000 people (in 14 neighborhoods) or 12% of Palm Springs residents live outside an established Neighborhood Organization (NOORG). How do we engage these residents in civic matters? ONE-PS is working to annex or merge unrepresented areas into existing NOORGs. At September’s meeting there will be a discussion/presentation surrounding these 14 neighborhoods. In addition, ONE-PS participated in a national podcast highlighting the neighborhoods of Palm Springs. This podcast will be shown at September’s ONE-PS meeting.

Vice Chair Cathy Cohn motioned to adopt ONE-PS’ yearly budget as presented. Approved. ONE-PS home tour is scheduled for October. Lip-sync event sometime in the fall.

Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Bernstein – Moving forward with $40M bridge along Indian Canyon which will alleviate most (but not all) problems that cause roadway closures (flooding and blowing sand). City still discussing potential ordinance regarding Pacaso type home sales. It is possible there will be NO city ordnance. City would enforce current noise and parking regulations against these Pacaso homes. (However, not clear whether STR rules or Single Family ownership rules would apply.) Presently there are FIVE Pacaso homes in Palm Springs. Pacaso may not sell any more homes, but they may continue to sell shares in the five homes they presently own. 594 W Stevens (NE Corner of W Stevens and Monte Vista) is the only Pacasso home in VLP. City approved its first TWO year budget. Forecasting $197M revenue for FY24 (which started 7/1/2023) and $191M revenue for FY25 (which will start NEXT July, 7/1/24). More police and fire personnel budgeted. An additional 50 positions at PSP Airport (which is covered under a separate budget). An additional $5M budgeted for Navigation Center (for early entry). $40M total budgeted for Navigation Center. $8M from Palm Springs and the remaining $32M from state, county and other agency coffers. Earmarking 20% (approximately $3M/year) of TOT towards affordable housing. (Retroactive to July 2022.) City set reserve fund policy: 5% catastrophic funding that 4 out of 5 City Council Members must agree to tap. Then an addition 20% catastrophic funding that would have to be re paid back over 5 years. This policy would better position the City should it ever seek bond financing. City ratified various union bargaining agreements. Orchard Tree Hotel in Tennis Club told to scale down its project. No seven-story hotel (City never considered this an option despite press coverage). Project to keep historic elements. Construction expected to resume next March. Project four years to complete whole project. At September City Council Meeting plan to discuss: sidewalk vending ordnance, food delivery (Door Dash) fees, Housing Element Review and Food Truck ordnance (Food trucks are currently banned for health & safety reasons. County of Riverside has strict rules prohibiting open flames.)

City Manager Scott Stiles – Swore in first canine mayor Buddy Holly. Two Year budget allows for better long term planning. SoCal Edison (SCE) made presentation to City. They are trying to minimize planned power outages to mitigate impact to residents. These planned outages address scheduled maintenance issues. However, outages often last longer than scheduled. Vector control reminded PS residents to immediately remove any standing water. (Like plant saucers). Mosquito eggs can last up to 2 years. July 26th is the first Coachella Valley blood drive challenge. Park & Recs has an open house July 18th @ Demuth Park Community Center from 5:30pm – 7pm. City Council, all Boards, all commissions meetings will be dark during August.

PSPD & PSFD – Police provided updates on homeless statistics. Homelessness continues to be challenging. Receive about 10,000 911 calls per year requesting medical assistance. Fire response times are back to normal (pre pandemic). On scene within 7-8 minutes 90% of the time. Paramedic on each fire engine. AMR (American Medical Response - Private contractor) has 2 ambulances in Palm Springs. Staffing EMS/ambulance personnel extremely difficult during pandemic. Hiring a full time nurse educator.

Christy Smith is the daytime code compliance contact regarding homeless encampments:

Red Cross Presentation – Mission Statement is to “Alleviate Human Suffering”. There are 230 chapters in America with over 300,000 volunteers. The Coachella Valley Red Cross only has one employee. Please consider donating your time. 90% of every dollar received by the Red Cross is donated. There were over 240 disasters during 2022. Red Cross provides lodging, car rental, cash assistance, and mental health support to disaster victims. Teaches CPR to first responders. Please volunteer and donate as the Red Cross needs funding and financially relies on donations.

Office of Neighborhoods, Manager Denise Goolsby – In October City will present a history on Palm Springs land owners…

To reiterate, to get on Denise’s mailing list, please reach out to her directly at denise.goolsby@palmspringsca.gov .

Gustav Swanson and Steve Orr