Ron's Log

Monkee Davy Jones Dies

The really cute one.

Rolling Stone obituary. "In 1964 he had the misfortune of appearing in the cast of Oliver! on the same episode of The Ed Sullivan Show where the Beatles made their debut."

The Brady Bunch, third season, 1971-72.

World's Most Valuable Company

As measured by the total combined value of all of its outstanding shares of stock: Apple.

Over the last year Apple and Exxon Mobil have competed for first place, but in the last month Apple's value rose to half a trillion dollars, while Exxon Mobil sat at a mere $407 billion. Microsoft has been at the half-trillion mark in the past, but is now worth $267 billion. GE is worth $200 billion.

"Levitated Mass" Tweets!

Twitter account here. And its Facebook profile is self-deprecatingly enhandled "The Stupid LACMA Boulder."

Meanwhile, Simone Wilson of LAWeekly is clearly no lover of rocks, big trucks, art or hoopla, and she's already sick of it.

I'm beginning to suspect the problem isn't so much the boulder itself, but that it's coming from Riverside County to Los Angeles. Oh, if they had found a 340-ton boulder up by Palmdale, they'd be singing an entirely different tune. Hollywood moguls would be swarming out to see it at overnight stops just so they could try to snort some coke off its huge backside and pose for iPhone photos with it.

DHS Community & Cultural Affairs Commission - February 8

The audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Community & Cultural Affairs Commission is available here.

Swearing In

L to R: Dr. Brian McDaniel, George Fisher, Dot Reed, Joe McKee.
Dr. Brian McDaniel	Joe McKee

New Commissioner Luis Sanchez-Porras was absent from this meeting. I didn't hear an explanation for that.

Dot Reed nominated George Fisher for Chair. No other nominees. Approved 4-0.

George Fisher nominated Dot Reed for Vice Chair. No other nominees. Approved 4-0.

Public Comments

Donn Sholty said that three years ago he had suggested a Christmas time fireworks display. He said they do this in "his little town," and it drew about 1,200 attendees the first year. Now it's up to about 20,000 people who come to see it. He heard at the previous city council meeting he had heard the idea of doing fireworks before the Fourth of July. He wants that to be followed through with.

Adam Sanchez spoke next and said he had been brainstorming with City Manager Daniels. They are looking at some way to combine the tree lighting and the Christmas parade. He and Councilmember Betts are strategizing on that. Mr. Sanchez said he is also taking on the July 4 fireworks. He said that Mr. Daniels is looking at ways to "leverage some startup dollars from the city." Then some private funding will be sought.

Russell Betts congratulated all the commissioners. He said he's been working with Russ Martin and Larry DonVito on an event around the Fourth of July. He said the fireworks company will be in the Coachella Valley to do the Palm Springs fireworks show. He said that if we have them do a show on the weekend before the 4th, the price drops from about $30,000 to about $8,000. He proposes a concert and fireworks display. He expects we could a couple thousand people. He asked for a liaison from the CCAC.

Chair Fisher asked Martín Magaña to agendize this subject for the March meeting.

Carl May Mural

The first proposal from Bijan Masoumpanah. This one was originally designed to cover the entire interior eastern wall. But with the big TV installed there, it wouldn't work so well.

Here's a revision intended for the exterior eastern wall. It would fit between two columns.

Commissioner McKee had concerns about graffiti. He said that in L.A. gangs will not graffiti some murals because of who created them. But Mr. Masoumpanah is from outside, so it may be a target, he said. Mr. Magaña said it will have an anti-graffiti coating. Mr. Masoumpanah did the mural that's on the 8th Street Boys & Girls Club and it hasn't been tagged.

Vice Chair Reed said she liked the first proposal, but was not enthused about the second one. She thinks it gives too much prominence to Desert Hot Springs Park. It needs to focus more on history.

Chair Fisher said the fountain overpowers the whole mural.

Commissioner McDaniel said he agreed with Ms. Reed, and that it made it look like Miracle Springs Resort was the main focus of our city. "As much as I love Miracle Springs and I love what it does for our city," he said he prefers to see a more historical focus.

Ms. Reed moved to send it back to staff for a rendering that reflects the commissioners' comments - more history, less fountain.

Donn Sholty got up to comment. He asked whether it would be sized for the smaller interior space or the larger wall outside.

Mr. Magaña suggested that he could ask Mr. Masoumpanah to superimpose his proposed design on a photo that shows the entire eastern wall of the Carl May, so the commissioners could see how it would fit.

Approved 4-0.

Memorial Day

There is a proposal by residents of DHS who plan to build a scale replica of the Tomb Of The Unknown in Arlington National Cemetery.

The plan is to make it so that it can be easily assembled and disassembled, so that it could be taken to be exhibited not only in Veterans Park on Memorial and Veterans Day, but at other locations in Coachella Valley. It could be carried on a truck in the Veterans Day parade. Best Hardware in DHS and Home Depot have agreed to supply all the materials. Four men are ready to pick up the supplies and start building.

Kelly McDaniel has been asked to get a community choir together for the Memorial Day event. One of the high school bands will perform too.

They will put chrome stanchions and velvet ropes around the Tomb, just as they do at Arlington. The Junior ROTC will stand at attention while it is being put together in Veterans Park. After it is completely assembled there will be a red carpet and every 15 minutes a JROTC cadet guard will walk back and forth in front of it.

It will be mounted on hidden casters. It will be about 4 or 5 feet high. A local graphic designer will be involved to design the exterior surfaces. It will be painted to look like marble. It will be stored in Bill Cook's garage. He was the speaker at the Veterans Day event last fall.

Ms. Reed said that the CCAC was responsible for creating Veterans Park and raising the money for it. Each year it has gotten better, and she thinks this going above and beyond and is just wonderful.

Mr. Fisher said there's a list of names waiting to be put into tiles for the park. He asked Mr. Magaña if those could be done before Memorial Day. Ms. Reed said she had all the information for that and would email it to Mr. Magaña. Mr. Fisher said one of the tiles waiting is for Bill Cook's son.

Dr. McDaniels said it would be a good idea to invite the JROTC units from other PSUSD schools to get them more familiar with Desert Hot Springs.

Decorating Utility Boxes

Mr. Magaña said he had prepared a draft process for this, but hadn't brought it with him. In discussions with the City Manager they decided it should be a policy, not an ordinance. A policy does not require formal public hearings. A policy is easier to revise.

In Indio and Palm Desert, the city provides $700 to the artist to offset some expenses. Mr. Magaña expects that in DHS the city will provide no funds. The artists proposal would be approved by the CCAC and then the City Council, and then the artist is on his own, so long as he gets it done within a certain time frame.

Dr. McDaniel said the high school had many award winning art classes. He suggested a request to the school to take charge of some of the utility boxes. This will also help to reduce the likelihood of graffiti.

Trails Committee Report

Jane Seawald gave this report. The Blind Canyon brochures are being worked on. She reported on clean ups in different canyons.

At the Little Morongo clean up there was a big turnout. Camille Linde is negotiating with various parties to try to arrange a final pick up of the trash that was collected. Her fallback solution is to call on the Marines at 29 Palms to help.

Mr. Fisher reported vandalism to a sign on "Brice's Trail." (It has since been replaced). Ms Linde said the best response to vandalism is to repair and rebuild and eventually the vandals get tired and go away. "They're lazy people," she said.

Dr. McDaniel suggested that student volunteers could be recruited from the high school, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for trail building.

Ms. Linde said there will be a final clean up of Blind Canyon on February 25.

Staff Reports

Mr. Magaña gave an update on the Health & Wellness Center construction. He reported on the upcoming street rehab project for the area bounded by Pierson, Palm, Hacienda, and Cactus.

Mr. Fisher asked for an update on art in public places. There are a few pieces waiting for placement. Mr. Magaña said he is still working with staff to develop a budget for proposed locations. A piece has been accepted from Alibaba Farzaneh. The pieces from Tim Brophy and Ginger Hitzke have not technically been accepted yet.

City Clerk Jerryl Soriano explained the Statement Of Financial Interest that they must complete. The city is scheduling an ethics training class that the commissioners must attend.

Commissioner Reports

Mr. Fisher thanked Ms. Linde for all her work on the clean ups. He also said he went on the Spa Tour for the first time and was very impressed.

Ms. Reed summarized the history of the CCAC and her role in it. She said it was started by Mayor Weyuker and he invited her to put in an application. She wasn't picked on the first round, but did get picked on the second round. That was in 2002, and she has been on the commission since. She mentioned Veterans Park, several July 4 celebrations as past projects of the CCAC. She thinks it's a great idea to do fireworks on a day other than the Fourth, and she's delighted to see somebody else doing all the necessary work.

Mr. Fisher announced the earthquake expo scheduled for February 25.

Mr. McKee asked to be liaison to the not-quite-July-4 fireworks committee. He also wants to look at putting together a DHS concert series, similar to the Palm Springs Community Concerts.

He also wants to work on a theater series. When he was a music major in college they developed relationships with a bunch of "99 seat theaters" around L.A. that would put on plays year around. We might be able to bring in one of those productions once or twice a year.

Also, he wants to look into an art work. He suggest art could be displayed in the "RDA store fronts" downtown. There they could display art from professionals, COD, the high school, etc.

Ms. Reed recounted the history of the group of actors that put on one production about 3 years ago. They obtained a 501(c)3 for that. She suggested Mr. McKee get in touch with the organizer of that play.

Dr. McDaniel said he wants to create things for the youth of DHS. He grew up here. He said he hopes there can be a concert series, something with professionals and collegiate level players, perhaps with performances in the soccer park at night. He suggested that for the Christmas Tree lighting that some heaters be rented to create a warm zone in case we get another cold snap like we did this past December.

Life At The Temple

The best video I've yet seen showing how life happened at the Temple Of Transition at Burning Man last year. This includes clear photography and explanation of the Earth Harp:

For those following along on the DHS Spa/Miracle Springs TOT issue

At the February 21 city council meeting the almost-Perry-Mason-moment came when City Attorney Duran revealed that the city had received some recent communications from Mike Bickford's attorneys on the matter of the Transient Occupancy Tax audit of his hotels and that a previously unagendized closed session was called for right damn now. Mr. Duran said that copies of the communications had been made available at the back table for the public, but when I got back there I found none. Yesterday I was able to obtain scans of these documents from the city, and I want to share them here now, imagining that one or two other people in the city want to keep abreast of this ongoing matter - or maybe some of our younger citizens want to learn about the law and how some people practice it.

• Handout 1
• Handout 2
• Handout 3
• Handout 4 - this is the one that includes a declaration by Dean Gray that Scott Matas was present at the October 30, 2009, campaign event for Russell Betts at Miracle Springs Resort. Mr. Matas was not actually there. Here's my story about that event, written the day after. I showed terrible lack of foresight by not making an effort to list everyone who was not there, but I did point out that Robert Bentley was not in attendance - so we probably won't see his name in any affidavits submitted by Mr. Bickford's attorneys.
• Handout 5
• Handout 6

One Item From Last Night's City Council Meeting

I know...no, let me correct that...if I were a betting man, I would bet this issue gets distorted in the news, so let me share here now the letter that the City Council approved last night, 3-2, Mr. Betts and Mr. Sanchez voting against, some time after 10 PM.

The PDF scanned version is here. Plain text version:

City of Desert Hot Springs
65-950 Pierson Blvd. ° Desert Hot Springs ° CA ° 92240
(760) 329-6411

www.cityofdhs.org

February 29, 2012

Tom Kirk
Executive Director
Coachella Valley Association of Governments
73-710 Fred Waring Drive, Suite 200
Palm Desert, CA 92260

RE: LETTER OF INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLANNING GRANT AND INCENTIVE PROGRAM

Dear Mr. Kirk,

I am writing to express our support for the planning grant application to the California Strategic Growth Council for the Parkway 1e11 Project. The City Council is pleased to participate in the planning of this exciting project to promote sustainable community planning for our region and authorize the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) to submit this application and act as lead agency on behalf of the City of Desert Hot Springs.

The Coachella Valley is working as a region to advance greenhouse gas reduction efforts, air quality improvements, healthy living and alternative transportation options. We appreciate that the 54-mile Parkway 1e11 from the City of Coachella to Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs is designed to be a multi-modal parkway, allowing neighborhood vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians to travel along the Whitewater River and connect to residential areas, businesses and tourist attractions in our community.

This innovative project will revitalize our communities by bringing "Ecotourism" to the Coachella Valley, as well as creating a new network for alternative forms of transportation and stimulating the economy with new jobs.

The Desert Hot Springs City Council is in full support of a feasibility study to determine the overall cost, the revenue sources, (i.e., the amount of CPV mitigation monies, matching measure A funds, grant funding, etc.), the potential for city monies, over what period of time and to establish when construction would begin and how long it would take to complete.

At this time in the planning process, the City of Desert Hot Springs wants to be included with the rest of the Coachella Valley cities. In conversations with elected officials in other cities, they also support the concept and the planning process without a total commitment until the full project is brought to the Executive Committee for a vote.

We appreciate that CVAG will be working with cities in the areas of close proximity and environmental justice to ensure that there is equity in allowing for projects in these areas to acquire mitigation monies. We also understand that the final decision of the distribution of these monies is under the control of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

Sincerely,

Yvonne Parks
Mayor

cc: DHS City Council Members
DHS City Manager

Levitated Mass Moves Tonight

After 10 PM, the 340-ton boulder will begin to travel on its 295-foot vehicle.

DHS Tire Recycling - Saturday, March 3

Oh, the fun never ends in Desert Hot Springs!

Tire Recycling Event: March 3rd, 8 a.m.-12 Noon. 65810 Hacienda Avenue, Desert Hot Springs, in front of city yard.

Public Service Announcement
Event: Tire Recycling
When: March 3rd, 2012, 8 a.m to 12 noon
Where: 65810 Hacienda Avenue, Desert Hot Springs, CA. 92240
Who: Residents of Desert Hot Springs
Contact: Desert Hot Springs Code Enforcement, 760-329-6411 Ext. 266

Description: This event is sponsored by the Coachella Valley Association of Governments and the City of Desert Hot Springs. Each resident of Desert Hot Springs may drop off up to 9 tires for recycling. No truck or agricultural tires. No commercial or non-profit orginazations.

Food Now Chili Cook-Off Photos

Photos by Michael Ray Burke of the event last Saturday: