DHS Public Safety Commission - July 9

If you want to listen to or download the audio recording of last night's Desert Hot Springs Public Safety Commission meeting, here it is.

Neighborhood Renewal & Stabilization Programs

RDA Director Rudy Acosta presented information on the Neighborhood Renewal Program (NRP) and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Retired bureacrats will be pleased to recall the main differences between the two are like this:

• NSP comes from the feds via Riverside and it comes with all kinds of strings attached, which alone will give a couple people jobs just keeping things straight; and it's for buying up foreclosed homes, fixing them up or demolishing and rebuilding them, then selling them.
• NRP comes from our own RDA bonds, so no federal strings, Mr. Acosta writes the rules (within limits I'm sure); it's for front yard beautification and improving the exterior appearance of owner-occupied blighted houses so that value of all nearby homes can rise.

The NSP gives us $2.8 million, while the NRP has $5.8 million. Mr. Acosta displayed this map for the commissioners:

Each red dot is a foreclosed home. Contrary to Mr. Acosta' expectations, the highest rate of foreclosure wasn't out in the newer developments, but right there in sections 8 and 12, the very same areas with the greatest blight, the highest crime, the most gang injunctions, you name it, we got it - to excess. The boundaries are 8th Street, Hacienda, Palm and West. Concentrating all this need in these two areas simplifies the decision process on where to focus the first money from these programs. Four people will be hired to administer these programs.

Police Report

The total number of serious crimes in May was slightly higher than in April (168 compared to 163). In response to a question, the Chief said that when you compare crime rates in DHS to crime rates in other cities in the valley, we are "in the middle of the pack." Palm Springs now has a higher crime rate than Desert Hot Springs.

In discussing Operation Falling Sun - Phase 2, Chief Williams added the information that there was a child living with the dealers in the fortified house where they apparently kept most of their drug supply.

In the past week the Chief said officers interrupted a burglary in progress and arrested a 16-year old "gloved-up, masked, and with a sawed-off shotgun in his pants."

Commissioner Russ Martin asked the Chief how it was determined whether an announcement of a bust, such as Operation Falling Sun - Phase 2, would be a press conference or a press release. There was a discussion of the image of the city and it was generally agreed the continued, high-profile announcements of criminal arrests could only help the image of the city.

Animal Control

69 stray dogs in April, 52 in May, and 72 in June. They are making some changes in their office hours, but that only affects whether a live person answers the phone. Their services on the street in DHS will remain unchanged, 7:30 AM to 5 PM patrols, plus standby service 24/7.

Code Enforcement

Fred Andree had a long presentation on all aspects of code enforcement. They are switching their stats from a calendar year to fiscal year to correspond with the city budget.

	New Complaints	Closed
2007	1118	1000
2008	1675	1305
FY 2009	1547	954

	Citations Issued	Fines Collected
2007	799	$54,150
2008	901	$62,989
FY 2009	1,899	$134,640

In 2008 there were no board-ups. In 2009 there were 13.

In 2008 there were no lots cleared. In 2009 10 lots have been cleared.

Three blighted homes were demolished in 2008. Three have been demolished in 2009, with 6 to 8 more pending.

They have had a meeting in June with the property owners along Calle Las Tiendes where there are 13 properties with 10 owners. Chairman Bowman said he had observed that the properties there had actually become worse over the last few weeks. Mr. Andree said that they will meet one more time in July with the owners, still seeking voluntary compliance. If there is no compliance, then code enforcement will drop the hammer on them.

Code enforcement has collected $3,800 in shopping cart fines and has hand-delivered notices to all the shopping cart owners in the city to get compliance with the shopping cart ordinance.

Mr. Andree said that the Village at Mission Lakes "will soon be sold" and when the new owners are known, the city can move on them. [Grain of salt advised]

Marilyn Heidrick complained about the unsightly motor vehicles that are always parked on West Drive across the street from Wenzlaff school. Here are some photos of the vehicles:

You can see there are four vehicles parked in the street, and as long as they are operable, there's probably not much we can do about them. There's also one car parked in the driveway. But then there are these two probably inoperable vehicles parked on paving tiles. Do these tiles qualify as a hard surface?

The owner of the residence where the cars are parked has been "invited to come in for an in-office conference prior to taking him to court."

Mrs. Heidrick also complained about the house at 12th and West, whereupon the stunning announcement was made that it had been boarded up that very day.

Finally, she delivered a parting remark about citing people for leaving their trash bins out front which prompted...

A CHALLENGE TO ALL THE GOOD RESIDENTS OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS FROM CHIEF WILLIAMS

Chief Williams said he has repeatedly heard remarks about citations for leaving garbage bins in front of a house, but he has been unable to find any such citations. He has asked code enforcement staff to tell him when was the last time such a citation was issued and their answers are either (A) Never, or (B) It wasn't the trash bin, it was the 20 other problems we found. So, if you can provide good information to show the Chief that such a citation has been issued, then the Chief wants to hear from you. Now, this is for the Chief, so we don't want rumors about some guy over on the next block. We want a name, maybe a location, and a vague date would help too, I imagine.

You have been called upon! Bring forth your garbage bin citations!

Commissioner Reports

This was where Commissioner Scheurer brought up the question of whether allowing concealed carry weapons would reduce crime by 21%. Chief Williams said he had not seen the article, but he would certainly check it out. He went on to say that he would not stand in the way of any citizen who sought a concealed carry permit from Sheriff Sniff.