Ron's Log

Money Hole

I'm surprised this video is from 2008, because it seems even more relevant now.

Michael Crosby Pleads Guilty

The man behind Palmwood will get 9 to 11 years in federal prison.

Palmwood was the reason city officials balked at joining the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Protection plan in 2006, making Desert Hot Springs the lone valley city not to join.

Much of the land the regional protection plan wanted to preserve for threatened plant and animal species was within the proposed resort's footprint.

The city settled a lawsuit with the Sierra Club for more than $350,000, and it cost more than a quarter-million dollars for the city to have the multi-species plan reworked so they could join it.

Cactus & Ants

This is from well before the rain.

All Mail Goes Uphill From Here

Mecca, California, post office. Photo by Chuck “Caveman” Coker. This is the lowest post office in the United States. If there is one at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, it's only about 40 feet below sea level. The Mecca post office is officially 180 feet below sea level.

DHS Festival Advisory Committee - July 27

The audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Festival Advisory Committee is available here.

A few members of the public were in attendance, as at the previous meeting. A reporter from KMIR was there and recorded almost the entire meeting.

The next meeting of the Festival Committee will be Wednesday, August 10, 3 PM, Senior Center. The August 3 meeting has been canceled.

Mission Statement

During the past week committee members had submitted, by email, suggestions for revisions to the proposed mission statement. Several remarked that they liked the comments from committee member Warren Bradshaw. He said he tried to leave out some of the hyperbole like "ever-deserving Desert Hot Springs residents." It's a given that you don't need to say, he said, and it sounds like it might have been written by a politician. Ms. Lennon-Roth said the words "educate as well as entertain" should be retained in the mission statement. Chair Michaelz agreed. Attorney Duran suggested that Mr. Bradshaw read his suggested mission statement aloud:

The mission of the Festival Advisory Committee is to assist the City Council in developing a successful annual signature event, health and wellness and water-themed music festival that will promote positive awareness of Desert Hot Springs' natural wonders and healing waters to locals and tourists in the Coachella Valley, southern California and around the world. Our goal is to recommend a qualified event development and promotion team to organize an annual event that will provide an opportunity to promote the city and its assets [and educate the public] including the hot mineral waters, boutique spa hotels, and diverse businesses, thus creating long range benefits for the community.

He said he would insert the words "educate and entertain the public" after "to promote the city and its assets."

Approved 7-0.

Assets

The discussion centered around the assets listed on the memorandum that Attorney Duran had sent out a week or two earlier with some warning about confidentiality. I don't know if it was entirely intentional, but the committee members did a very good job of revealing nothing. Items on the list were referred to simply by number "item 1" or "item 6" for example, with no further description as to its nature or value.

Attorney Duran said the assets fell into three categories. The first was relationships, such as agreements with talent, with potential sponsors and with production related entities. The second category are tangible assets. These are only "touched on" in the memo, Mr. Duran said. His reluctance to reveal them totally was not only due to potential litigation, but due to the need to protect intellectual property, strategy, trade secrets, etc.

Here Mr. Bradshaw asked a question, and I don't think Mr. Duran ever got to finish his train of thought to tell us what the third category was. Mr. Bradshaw asked if the city is the owner of the festival. Mr. Duran explained that the producer was the owner, but the city is the owner now. Ms. Lennon-Roth asked about the money given to three talent agencies, had the producer (the still unnamed Tony Clarke) signed an irrevocable agreement to assign those to the city. The answer is yes. Her concern was that the former producer might go to William Morris and draw down money. Mr. Duran said he could not do that.

Ms. Lennon-Roth said she was concerned about cash deposits, but as for the other relationships, she said that it will be up to the future promoter to decide what to do with them.

Mr. Ryan said that the assets are things the city may turn over to the future promoter, and the promoter may or may not want to pursue them. Before we know who our promoter is, we don't really know the value of the asset list, he said. The sponsorship packet has value because the promoter could simply update it. "Items 1 and 2" would have no value, he said. All the "bottom items" may or may not have value to the promoter. He did mention Kiner as one of the parties with whom a relationship had been established.

He said his point was that they are not so important to the advisory committee at this point. They're the assets of the city that the city will turn over to a promoter after selection.

Chair Michaelz brought up the projected cost of last year's proposed festival and whether that was public knowledge. Mr. Daniels said that, yes, the feasibility study which was public did disclose the $1.2 million total cost [that's total cost to the producer and sponsors, not the city]. Mr. Michaelz said he was in shock at some of the numbers he was seeing. Vice Chair Mary Stephens said "Well, look at Ziggy Marley." [Ah, if only we could!] "He's not worth $100,000," she said. "Damian, maybe," she added. Mr. Ryan said he agreed with that, but it's water under the bridge. He suggested a motion saying that the committee had examined and discussed the assets that belong to the city and will be made available to a promoter upon selection. As an advisory committee there's no need to spend more time with this. Mr. Bradshaw suggested that the list of assets be given to the proposers so they know what assets will be available for them. This may serve to prevent wildly divergent proposals. Attorney Duran said that perhaps what would be released would be a sanitized version of the list the committee was looking at. The motion was amended to say that the sanitized list should be made available to proposers before they submit their RFP "as appropriate."

Approved 7-0.

Review Of RFP Draft

The committee was working from a draft RFQ that had been handed out at previous meetings. Mr. Ryan said it should include some outline of what we are asking the party to propose. He described it as a "not less than" or a minimum description, including details such as traffic flow, parking, vendors. The "vision of the event" should be included. He also said the potential promoter will need to know how "turn key" this event is.

Mr. Ryan said any promoter will ask "Do I get a guarantee or do I get the gate?" What's the city say? Are we paying them to be the promoter, or are we saying the promoter is responsible to do all the things they have to do and get the gate. Mr. Daniels said the city is not looking to hire someone to do it on the city's behalf. The city is trying to license somebody to conduct a private event. (Murmurs of concurrence from various committee members.) "But it will be an event that will have to meet the minimum requirements for the city to issue license and permits for," Mr. Daniels said. The city is not hiring a "festival director." Maybe the city will grant some form of exclusivity, by not granting permits to another promoter for another event within a certain time frame. "We want to cut somebody loose for the entrepreneurialship and the creativity of the promoter to do their thing."

Mr. Trost asked, then, if the city has minimum requirements. Mr. Daniels said the city wants to select someone with the qualifications and financing to conduct a "couple-thousand, five-thousand person event."

Ms. Lennon-Roth said it didn't seem realistic to aim for less than four or five thousand people. Mr. Bradshaw said he thought it could be successful with only two or three thousand people.

Mr. Ryan noted that the feasibility study counted people per event over the entire course of the event, so that if you had, say, 5,000 people on Saturday and 5,000 people again on Sunday, it would count as 10,000 people. He went on to say that the RFP needed to include some guidelines so that someone doesn't propose a Coachella Fest when the city is looking for a wellness festival.

Ms. Lennon-Roth said the average concert promoter has probably never done a wellness festival. We might get one entity to produce the wellness aspect and another entity to produce the music festival.

Mr. Ryan and Mr. Michaelz suggested it would be up to the promoter to decide if they needed to bring in someone else to provide a complete package, wellness and music.

Mr. Bradshaw said he was amazed to see in the feasibility study the idea of holding a Friday night event for only 500 to 1,000 people at $500/head. He wondered where the former producer was going to get those people. "Maybe if he was the kind of guy who stayed at Two Bunch Palms all the time, he knew those kind of people, but I certainly don't."

Mr. Daniels explained that the former producer had been trying to create a gala. Mr. Bradshaw said that may have been, but he doesn't think anyone pays $1,000 to go to the Palm Springs Film Festival where there are lots of stars.

Mr. Michaelz raised the question of whether the promoter would get the entire gate, or would the city get a percentage, too. Should that be in the RFP. Mr. Ryan said that the promoters should propose what they want.

Mr. Trost discussed how the committee could clarify what it expects to see in a wellness festival and how that could be expressed in the RFP. Mr. Daniels suggested that each of the committee members send him their thoughts on that. He would aggregate them, and then send that back to each committee member so they could be discussed at the next meeting.

Ms. Stephens brought up the question of how the RFP would be publicized in such a way that it wouldn't cost the city a lot of money. Mr. Bradshaw said that if the city and Chamber of Commerce are really behind the festival, then you get easier access to print media, like the Desert Sun. Mr. Daniels said that if he put out a press release, he could have three media outlets show up within six hours "because of the infamous nature so far." [I wonder if Mr. Duran has that on the list of festival assets: "Item 11: infamous notoriety - priceless."]

Mr. Trost asked if once a promoter has been selected, does the committee's job end. "No," was the answer from Mr. Daniels. Mr. Trost suggested that then the committee could serve as liaison between the city and the promoter to assure that deadlines are met and the project is tracking. Mr. Daniels agreed that the committee should sit down with the promoter on a regular basis and ask him questions "because that is where the thing fell apart last time. I did not have, nor did the person assigned have the expertise to know when it was going bad until it was too late." He went on to say that the greatest contribution the committee could make to the city would be to stop that from re-occurring.

Mr. Trost said that the ultimate contract should include regular meetings between the committee and the promoter. Mr. Daniels agreed and said the minutes of those meetings would then go to the city council.

Mr. Michaelz said he has noticed that there is still a website up for the festival (Ms. Stephens interjected that Kiner Communications is responsible for that site) and he asked if there is a way to take that down. Mr. Duran said that demand was made of the former promoter and his lawyer, but there was no response. Mr. Michaelz said he didn't want anyone who is going to submit a proposal to find information on the internet about the former festival and get any sort of ideas. [Yes, we'll just press the magic "internet erase" button and make all that history go away.] He wants original ideas from promoters. Mr. Daniels said there's a hundred articles out there.

Mr. Bradshaw asked if anyone thought the website was damaging in any way. Ms. Stephens suggested that the city contact Kiner to get it taken down. Mr. Daniels said his goal was to get the website taken down first. And if that's not possible, the alternative is to turn it into something the city can use.

Ms. Stephens suggested that the name of the future event should have the words "Desert Hot Springs" in it.

The members agreed to email their comments, ideas and suggestions to Mr. Daniels who would aggregate them for discussion at the next meeting.

Next Meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting would be August 10, Wednesday, 3 PM (not August 3).

Prop 8 Court Dates

Judges are thinking about the end of their vacation and getting back to their judging work. One scheduled hearing is August 29 for the U.S. District Court hearing on releasing the videos from the original trial (the one with Judge Walker). Then on September 6 the California Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue of the standing of the Prop 8 propnents in the appeal of Judge Walker's decision in the federal court of appeals.

Possible outcomes: maybe we get to see the videos of the Prop 8 trial; maybe the Prop 8 proponents get standing and the federal appeal continues; maybe the Prop 8 proponents get kicked to the curb and then they appeal that decision to, uh, I guess the U.S. Supreme Court.

Netflix Relief

DHS Senior Center Pancake Breakfast, September 17

Desert Hot Springs Senior Center Pancake Breakfast

Saturday, September 17, 2011

8:00 - 11:00 a.m.

DHS Senior Center

$5.00 per person for tickets bought in advance
$6.00 per person at the door day of

Breakfast will include pancakes, scramble eggs, sausage, fresh fruit and orange juice

This is not just another fundraiser event, it's for the DHS SENIORS! Please come show your support!

Tickets available at the Senior Center:
11-777 West Drive in DHS
(behind the Carl May building and Library)

For more information, please call (760)329-0222

Burglars Busted

Joshua Anderson

CITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT

PRESS RELEASE

INCIDENT: PC 459 / Residential Burglary / Arrest

DATE: 07-27-11 DAY: Wednesday / TIME: 1526 hrs.

LOCATION: 66000 Block of San Remo Road

SUSPECT/ARRESTEE: #1: Anderson, Joshua Matthew WMA 18 yoa 510 210 Bro Blu Resident of Desert Hot Springs

#2: WMJ 17 yoa 511 148 Bro Bro Resident of Desert Hot Springs

#3 WMJ 17 yoa 600 130 Bro Blu Resident of Palm Springs

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT:

On Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at approximately 1526 hours officers from the Desert Hot Springs Police Department were dispatched to a local pawn shop on a report of subjects at the location attempting to pawn stolen property. Upon officers arrival the subjects had fled the location. Officers searched the area and located the subjects. The subjects were identified and arrested for a residential burglary which had just occurred. At the station officers, with the assistance of detectives, were able to link the suspects to two other burglaries. Property from all three burglaries was recovered and identified by the victims.

Anderson was transported to RSO Banning Jail and the two juveniles were lodged at juvenile hall.

CITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT

PRESS RELEASE

INCIDENT: PC 459 / Residential Burglary / Arrest

DATE: 07-27-11 DAY: Wednesday / TIME: 1901 hrs.

LOCATION: 13000 Block of Calle Amapola

SUSPECT/ARRESTEE: BMJ 17 yoa 507 130 Blk Bro Resident of Desert Hot Springs

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT:

On Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at approximately 1901 hours officers from the Desert Hot Springs Police Department were dispatched to a report of a residential burglary that had just occurred. Upon officers arrival they located the subject a short distance away. The juvenile was identified and was in possession of property from the victim’s residence. The juvenile was arrested and transported to the station.

The juvenile was lodged at juvenile hall.

Capri Restaurant To Close Permanently

The Capri Restaurant, generally recognized as the number one restaurant in Desert Hot Springs, will be closing its doors permanently after this weekend, July 30-31. If you've been waiting to try their food, this will be your last chance.

UPDATE: The Desert Sun story.

Did anyone else notice in the Desert Sun photo (click the link above for a bigger image) the steak on the plate in the foreground is shaped like the 48 states (north is to the right)? In the background the photographer has gotten Chief Pat Williams, Assistant City Manager Jason Simpson and City Attorney Ruben Duran at lunch as well. If the other two people in the photo want to identify themselves, then we'll have everybody documented.