Ron's Log

Plastic Bags Removed From Agenda

Everything on the agenda at tonight's Desert Hot Springs city council meeting was approved unanimously. How do they do it? Other political bodies in southern California must be jealous.

Even worse than unanimity, the two most interesting items on the agenda were delayed. The Chamber of Commerce quarterly report was delayed because the CEO was not present. Recently the C of C has generated some news by removing the CEO and then reinstating her. Me, I just wanted to hear her mangle her numbers again.

The other item was the plastic bag item. As anti-libertarian was it would be, it would have been very interesting for Desert Hot Springs to require local retailers to charge for those nasty plastic bags that float around us everywhere. It would not only have distinguished DHS from the other cities in Coachella Valley, but almost all other California cities. But the city councilmembers decided (unanimously, of course) to delay it for a study session. Very fair and democratic, but boring to those of us who were looking for a little excitement tonight.

In public comments Father Ted Pantels of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Palm Desert spoke about his desire to create a non-profit urgent care center in DHS. He didn't give any specifics as to whether any of the groundwork had been done yet, and I think he was looking to the city council for guidance, which they can't give during public comments, of course, but later Councilmember Baker expressed his strong support for the idea, so I expect a connection will be made and the idea will move along. I think it's an exciting idea, and I look forward to the day when I can entrust my urgent medical needs to a Greek Orthodox sponsored clinic.

Ted Mayerhofen got up and made a weak and offensive joke suggesting that in DHS a runner is a mugger, but in Palm Desert they're running for their health. I try to fend off remarks like from ignorant people in the rest of the valley. When it's somebody local and supposedly informed I can only express my disgust and disdain.

A Randy Buxbomb (I welcome spelling corrections) got up to plug a device called the "Cool N Save" which had something to do with improving air conditoning efficiency and costs $99. He rattled off a phone number, but who had time to grab it? As soon as he started speaking my internal spam alert was triggered, and I could see that it had done the same for attorney Rubin Duran. As soon as he could get a word in Attorney Duran pointed out that public comments were not a place to do commercial promotions. Mayor Parks agreed and Mr. Buxbomb sat down (and left shortly after) mumbling something about how no other city had problems with his presentation. Anyway, Cool N Save has a website and it seems to be a misting system for central air conditioning units.

Many other positive, constructive public comments were heard.

During city councilmember reports Russell Betts promoted his Shop Local campaign.

And here's the text on the back of that image:

Contest Rules

Save Your Receipts for all your retail purchases within the City of Desert Hot Springs from May 1 to May 31, 2008. The highest combined sales total wins $100.00. Prizes for second and third place to be announced. Qualifying purchases must be from a merchant or retailer with Desert Hot Springs city limits. Wholesale purchases and institutional supply purchases do not count. All receipts must show the retailer name, date of purchase and purchase total. Date of receipt must be for purchases 5-1-08 through 5-31-08. Qualifying receipts must be turned in before June 10, 2008 at midnight. For location on where to turn in receipts and more information, call (760) 288-1613.

It's time to get started. We can fix our city.™ Keep our retail dollars at home creating jobs and supporting our local economy!

My first thought was that I had already lost 6 days of receipts, although I could probably find a few from today in my recycling bin. How do I get on the Russell Betts mailing list so I can find out immediately when these things happen?

The deal is better than it appears. There are actually going to be TWO $100 prizes, plus another $100 prize for groups. Currently the Boys and Girls Club is competing with the city government of Desert Hot Springs in the groups category. The smart winner will be someone who buys a car in DHS, I think...unless buying a house counts.

In his comments Councilmember Al Schmidt said that the Skyborne development out on western Pierson is set to start building its next phase! In one of its categories of homes (and he didn't say if that was high, low or mid-priced) the development has sold all but two homes. So it wants more. Apparently that view is selling!

Councilmember Scott Matas made a presentation on city parks which was utterly destroyed by the evil forces of Redmond. It seems that when a Powerpoint presentation is created in Vista it will not run on an XP machine. Our city has been wise enough to stick with XP, but Microsoft has seen fit in its greater wisdom to cripple the reports of Councilmember Matas. I think we should sue for no less than a billion. I believe City Manager Daniels said that he would see that the report was put up on the city's website so that we could all see it.

The final show of the evening was a presentation on a proposed development to be called "Desert Rose" on Verbena Drive near Two Bunch Palms. This is a really forward, cutting edge design, being very creative and green. It was approved, but before that there were public comments from Tom Hydrick (spelling corrections invited). He wasn't able to get to his point in his three minutes, but on his way there he made it clear that he thought no residential construction should be permitted until every previously approved development is fully built out, completely sold, and nearly fully occupied. I think that's how the Soviets used to do residential development, but it doesn't work very well in the real world.

A Change On Palm Drive

Word comes to me that this landmark/eyesore midcentury modern gas station on Palm Drive will be torn down within about two weeks. Those who object are welcome to rush in with the thousands required to restore it to other-than-eyesore quality.

Fresh Cactus Photos

Carissa Nwene's Sidewalk

I haven't seen it mentioned yet in either the Desert Sun or Desert Local News that the new sidewalk on Palm Drive between Camino Aventura and Camino Campesino built in response to the hit and run death of Carissa Nwene has been complete for about two weeks. Maybe they talked about this at the city council meeting that I missed.

So I stopped there this morning to get a few photos. The complete set of photos is here, and these are some samples:

How many drivers actually observe this speed limit as they come into Desert Hot Springs? I try to get it down to 45 MPH, but there's always somebody behind me who wants to run right up my ass when I do that, so they pull around and pass.

Carissa's memorial which was moved further back from the road during sidewalk construction.

The new full-size bike lane.

TING Hike in the Mecca Hills

A group that calls itself "TING" comes to visit Palm Springs twice a year and asked me to lead them on a hike in the Mecca Hills today. I was surprised to see how many Mecca Asters are still blooming.

"Dirty Jobs" On The Tram

Dirty Jobs, the Discovery Channel show hosted by the stinky yet lovable Mike Rowe, will feature on May 5 a program on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Dirty Jobs website here.

Over here you can see Bossco's photo of Mike Rowe at the upper tram station when they shot the program back in January.

Dana Hobart Appointed To CVMVCD Board

Dana Hobart has been appointed as the new trustee from Rancho Mirage to the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. Mr. Hobart is currently a city councilmember in Rancho Mirage.

He replaces John Fuschetti who announced his resignation a few days ago. "Fuschetti, 83, said Thursday that it was hard to drive from Rancho Mirage to the vector control district's Indio office because of his age and that back problems made it difficult for him to stand and walk."

Apache Peak Fire

Complete, updated, official information here.

Million Person Marijuana March

18-year old Aurora Maldonado is organizing a march in Palm Springs to protest the prohibition of marijuana. She says she "grew up in Desert Hot Springs 'where marijuana was just a part of the natural order of things,'"

She said she was inspired to organize this march on Saturday when she saw an ad for the Million Person Marijuana March in High Times magazine. However when I Google for "Million Person Marijuana March" I get only four hits: two from this Desert Sun article, one from a blog who says 10,000 marchers were on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, and another blogger in Oregon who mentions a march there.

Maybe it's the first year of a movement and next year it will be bigger.

Escrow Closed On Lautner Motel

Escrow closed April 25 on the Lautner Motel (AKA, the "Desert Hot Springs Motel"), designed by John Lautner. Final selling price was $425,000. The new owners, Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge promise a swimming pool in the future.

My set of photos of the Lautner Motel can be seen here.

UPDATE: In response to Tomm's question about the condition of the exterior of the place I took a drive by the Lautner Motel this afternoon and walked around the perimeter taking photos. You can get to them by following this link or these thumbnails:

Another Cactus

Not sure if those are going to be flower buds or just more cactus. It formed similar, but much smaller buds last year and they eventually dried up and fell away, so I think those were flowers.

Soup Supper at Cabot's Pueblo

The next Desert Hot Springs Historical Society soup supper will be held at Cabot's Pueblo Museum, 67616 East Desert View in Desert Hot Springs, California. A very entertaining presentation has been promised.

And Now The Paving Begins

3rd Street got a layer of asphalt today. 1st Street got partially paved, too. It looks like the whole project includes a little widening and curbing on Cactus between 1st and 3rd (a little beyond 3rd, actually) which will be fabulous. I remember my very first night in Desert Hot Springs (it was magical!) and I tried walking down Cactus Drive in the dark. I thought it was nearly impossible, dodging potholes, not tripping on curbs that suddenly moved left or right (like it was Boston, or sump'n), and wondering about the dogs. Now I can negotiate it in the dark quite easily, but I have a good spatial memory. Still, a straightline curb would be nice.

New SunLine Bus Bench

Isn't it pretty? A metal bench in that rich blue with zero shade. I'm going to sit there at noon on the first day over 110° and see if I don't get permanently branded.

Fire in the San Jacinto Mountains

Photo by bossco. This is the view last night from Desert Hot Springs. This morning the Desert Sun is still saying "near Idyllwild" and only 7 acres. I suppose it depends on your definition of "near."

This morning I can see only smoke and can hear the drone of fire fighting aircraft.

Big Fire on Mt. San Jacinto

I've got no info other than what my own eyes bring me, but there's a big fire on Mt. San Jacinto. It may be above Tahquitz Canyon, but it's almost impossible to say in the dark. I went outside to see why we have a low-flying helicopter hovering in the neighborhood and saw the fire on the mountain. The Desert Sun says this fire started near Idyllwild and had burned only 1.5 acres! Something's not correct in that info, since the fire would have had to travel many miles from Idyllwild to be visible where it is from Desert Hot Springs, so lots more than 1.5 acres have burned. (Google map showing Idyllwild here.)

Sidewalks

Some of the new sidewalk construction in Desert Hot Springs:

3rd Street.

2nd Street.

1st Street.

Seen In The Desert

Gary Dourdan Busted in Palm Springs

From this...

to this.

Gary Dourdan (filmography), star of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, was found by Palm Springs police sleeping in a car parked on the wrong side of Sunny Dunes near Gene Autry Trail (i.e., close to Lowe's) at 5:20 AM on Monday. Actually, the linked Desert Sun article says it was on Sunday morning, but every other news source on Earth says it was Monday morning, so we can be pretty sure it was Monday, and I hereby announce yet another charitable fund for the benefit of the Desert Sun. This is the "Buy The Desert Sun A Calendar Or A Watch Or Reading Specs Or Whatever They Need To Know The Day Of The Week." (My other funds are to buy them a compass and a spellchecker).

But back to Mr. Dourdan (or "Durdin," as his driver's license says).

"The officer described Durdin as disoriented and possibly under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs," [Palm Springs police Sergeant] Spike said. "(He) subsequently located suspected cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, miscellaneous prescription drugs and paraphernalia (in the car)."

The Desert Sun says it is not known if Mr. Dourdan was here to enjoy the Coachella music festival. As long as they're naming things they don't know, we could just as easily say we don't know if he was here for the White Party and was so intoxicated he couldn't find his way out of town for two weeks.

The Smoking Gun provides a scan of his complete mugshot profile from the Palm Springs P.D. showing the photo was taken at 9:51 AM, Monday, April 28.

Earlier this month it was reported that Gary Dourdan would be leaving CSI after this season.

I'll Be Keeping My Eyes Open

An inflatable pig "the size of a school bus" escaped its tether at the Coachella music festival. The owners are offering a reward of $10,000 plus 4 Coachella tickets for it. My fellow hikers know that the Mecca Hills are a magnet for escaped balloons, and it's not far from the concert site to the Mecca Hills, so I expect there's a fair chance that we'll be dragging that thing out of a canyon some time in the next couple of years.

UPDATE: Much to my disappointment, the pig has been recovered in pieces in La Quinta.

When A Gay New England Couple Visits Palm Springs

I don't know these two from Vermont, and nothing scandalous or ridiculous happens. They just have a pretty typical visit to Palm Springs: clothing optional resort, the restaurants, the bars, hiking in Joshua Tree. I wonder, though, at the quantity of raw seafood consumed. This is, after all, the desert, not Boston.

There are no Target stores in Vermont?! Now, that is news.

An Update On The Phallic Cactus

More Cactus Blooms

In my yard:

Art at Coachella

Photo by joshc.

Ain't that sump'n. Ever see anything like that before?

UPDATE: Wired has several good photos of art that was on display at Coachella, featuring Big Rig Jig, above. The art display at Coachella does fainly resemble that at Burning Man, in a small, cramped, safe, grass-covered sort of way.

Fuschetti Resigns

Vice-President of the board of trustees of the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, John Fuschetti, will resign from the board effective May 1. The next board meeting (May 13, I believe) will be presided over by Secretary/Treasurer Underwood.

The linked article also tells us that the Riverside County D.A. has asked Indio Police to do some additional investigation of the CVMVCD.

Amtrak To Coachella A Success

Here's the L.A. times story on the special Amtrak train from L.A. to Indio for the Coachella music festival. 300 passengers and 4 DJs made the trip, arriving yesterday afternoon. Optimistic hopes are expressed that train service to other music festivals may be in our future.

Compare the long, well-wrtten Times article with the typically short and mostly uninformative Desert Sun (the Gannett newspaper, not the new nude resort) article here. It arrived about 5 o'clock, had five cars, and was free to anyone with a campground or festival ticket. The Times says it was six cars, but the Times reporter actually rode the train, so his sobriety may be an issue.

I don't know when they started doing this, but if you go look at that Desert Sun article you will not find any photos or links to photos. It's like their photographers and reporters can no longer consort with each other. To find out if there are photos, go up and click on their "Photos/Video" tab, then look down the list of photo subjects until you see Coachella Campers, which will take you to 11 nice photos of the Amtrak train sitting in Indio and the happy festival goers disembarking. I had thought that one of the jobs of an edited newspaper was to draw information together. While one news story might have several different articles and photos, the newspaper somehow links them together so that the reader knows what's available. Now when I read a news article in the Desert Sun do I have to ask myself "I wonder if there are photos" and go through some rigamarole to search them out? Do they have an editor there who cashes his paycheck? Could he do his job?

But, to wrap up on a positive note (you know how I like to do that) the Mydesert.com search function seems to have been fixed.

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - Hurd House

We come to the very last house on the modern home tour, the Hurd house, which is on the Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage at 37380 Marx Road. I'm almost reluctant to show you the photos of this house because I think they can feed the "golf course syndrome." The golf course syndrome is something that may exist only in my imagination, but this how I imagine it works: Some middle-class couple working their way up through life in some part of the world where things like snow, humidity and flying insects are constant nuisances, entertain themselves by leafing through Better Homes & Gardens or Architectural Digest admiring those over-saturated color photos of beautiful places where they might take their nest egg and retire. Repeatedly, one's eyes are drawn to the images of country club retirement living: great swaths of perfect, green grass lying under an endlessly perfect blue sky, framed by sharp, dramatic mountains. Amidst that the magazine photo shows a strikingly designed home where, on the verandah, we see the happy, gray-haired owners serving chilled cocktails in colorful glasses to a few stylishly dressed, well-tanned friends who are lounging about on all sorts of poolside furniture. In the background of the shot, slightly out of focus, are a few golfers standing around their golf carts. In short, Palm Springs.

So one member of the couple says to the other "Oh, darling, this is where we must retire - to a country club in Palm Springs." "But sweetums," the other one replies, "we don't play golf!" to which the first one replies "Who cares sugar, maybe we can learn. Just look at this! Oh, honey, I must have it." And they can afford it, so five, ten, fifteen years down the road there they are, just like the people in the magazine photo. They never took up golf, but they've got a tan, and some large chunk of their country club dues go to pump a gigantic amount of water out of the aquifer to spray it across the greens that lie around their home, so that the happy couple can take photos of themselves to send to friends they left back in snow country to make them jealous so that they, too, can buy a country club home here.

But that's just my theory to partially explain why we have so very many golf courses here with so very few players on them.

Anyway, the Hurd house, country club living. If you want to retire that way, get here soon.

It's a real party house; probably the real estate people would say it's designed for entertaining. The owners celebrated the place by letting us go without our booties, to actually use the toilets in the house, and to enjoy drinks from the bar and food from a little buffet in the kitchen.

The central axis of the house seems to be a small, internal courtyard with a fountain, surrounded by glass walls on all four sides. Overhead may have been originally open to the sky, but it's covered by shade cloth now. On the four sides of this courtyard are the entrance to the house, the swimming pool area, the "formal" (the biggest, anyway) living room, and the formal dining area. Beyond those areas are more glass walls to the outside, so the effect is glass-on-glass throughout. Here's what our tour booklet says about the house:

Designed by C.H. Barlund and built in 1967, the Hurd House, so named for the original owner, F. E. Hurd, is a fine example of Desert Modern; Barlund, a Finnish architect, also designed the 1967 Dillman House at 40780 Thunderbird Road, Rancho Mirage. In the Hurd House he has combined the design simplicity of Desert Modern with touches of the luxe formalism of International Style to create an exceptional example of the Rancho Mirage country club esthetic.

Situated on almost an acre (.93 acres to be exact), the 6,178 sq. ft. L-shaped Hurd house contains a swimming pool in the courtyard with southerly views to the seventh fairway of the Tamarisk Country Club golf course. Just two fairways over (on the 17th to be precise) is the 1957 house designed by William Cody for Frank Sinatra. Other neighbors included the Marx brothers, Jack Benny and Red Skelton.

The flat roof and slender fascia raised on thin posts dematerialize the house, an effect intensified by the reflection of the landscape in the long band of floor to ceiling windows and sliders, so that you feel you are looking through rather than into the structure. Simple design choices often carry significant consequences and this effect of dematerialization is one of them. Compare the relation of the Hurd overhang resting atop the posts with Cody's design for Abernathy. There the architect chose to suspend the roofline from the posts (not unlike Mies' decision to 'hang' the Farnsworth from steel beams) which adds a dramatic delineation between porch and patio. Barlund chose instead to de-empathize [sic?] the role of the posts - they appear less to offer support than to articulate a rhythmic progression around the three-sided courtyard. Neither roof nor posts prevail here, all is a comfortable stasis. The treatment resembles that Cody used on the
aforementioned Goldberg House on Southridge.

The wide eaves shade a deep patio that runs on all three sides of the courtyard; the long southern side was originally screened. Most of the rooms of the original 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath, design open to this covered area with a view of the pool. The pool, partially nestled in the two projecting wings, projects beyond them leading your attention to views of the fairway and the mountains in the distance.

The new owners purchased the house in 2006, falling in love with the expansive lot, the extensive glass, the wide overhangs and the Hollywood history of Tamarisk Country Club.

The house had not been much changed from its original 1967 iteration, though it had suffered some from lack of maintenance. The new owners sought to accomplish a sensitive restoration with only the kitchen receiving significant alterations. For the rest of the house, it was a case of 'spit and polish' to restore the glamor. Having originally purchased the house with the intention of 'flipping it', the owners instead fell victim to its -- quite evident -- charms, captivated now by the light and vistas from every room.

For the Hurds and now enjoyed by our twenty-first century owners, Barlund* designed a simple stylish hallmark in perfect harmony with the gracious life style of the storied country club and golf course surrounding it.

The house is a testament to another time when Hollywood's stars wandered the desert landscape, golfed with the great, partied with peers, drank until dawn, while the rest of us, daydreamed, the thoroughly-thumbed copy of the latest Photoplay dangling deliriously at our slumbering side.

[*Note that the house has been attributed to the firm of Patten & Wild; information on them has proven impossible to come by. The plans in the possession of the current owners, while including the name Patten & Wild, do show that the plans were drawn by CH Barlund, S.A.F.A. As the recognized architect of at least one other Rancho Mirage house, Barlund is likely a better attribution. There is no record of either a Patten or a Wild at AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.]

Go here to see all my photos of the Hurd house or here to see photos from all eight houses on the tour. These are a sample:

Riverside County Reverse 911

The Desert Sun reports that Riverside County is encouraging residents to register for "reverse 911." I was afraid that "reverse 911" means the police would call me when they got too backed up with emergencies and all officers were in the field and ask me to go check on the report of shots fired somewhere on my block. But no! I was wrong again. It only means they call me to tell me that my worst fears are about to come to pass. In a less secular society we might call this the "Final Prayer Opportunity 911."

God forbid the Desert Sun should ever include a useful URL, but there are no gods here so I can tell you to go here to register your phone number(s) for reverse 911 in Riverside County. And then you can experience that special moment (for which I do not yet have a cute name) as you recall that even though retailers on the web have software that allows the user to put in an address and phone number in just about any ol' way, the government has yet to figure out how to do that.

A really good government service would be to let me set up an alert so that when disaster strikes my area, Riverside County will load a final message onto Ron's Log to say farewell. I might even pay for that.

Desert Shadows Closes - Desert Sun Opens

The Desert Sun (the newspaper) reports that the famous Desert Shadows nude resort has closed, after being in bankruptcy since October. The old Desert Shadows website.

But here's the website for the new and unfortunately named Desert Sun Resort which has, presumably, no connection to the Gannett newspaper company. Here's a message that I believe was a press release:

Re-opening of DSI as " http://www.desertsunresort.com/ " by new owners Desert Sun LLC John and Elizabeth are the new legal owners of the resort as Desert Sun LLC, and condo owners and residents at the resort. The facility will be opened as a family naturist and nudist resort allowing singles soon as the required permits and licenses, and inspections, furniture, and fixtures are in place.

The new Resort web site reference: http://www.desertsunresort.com/

Refer to the new web site for new contact, phone, and reservations, opening, and planned events. List of what will be available soft opening this weekend: The rooms are in fine shape and have all received or are receiving a thorough cleaning.

The phones should be operational upon (PBX) installation today Tuesday, 4/22/2008 The condo rental pool is being slowly formed. At least one of each condo type in the rental pool is available now, more are expected by the weekend. They'll try to provide some food, perhaps pizza, perhaps a BBQ, perhaps ordering out, but it's definitely BYOB for now. It's possible that one pool or hot tub might be under maintenance at various times during the weekend.

They are still on track to having everything up and running by the holiday weekend. What's not available: The restaurant, Spa, in-room Movies on Demand. The state of the in-room and condo rental cable TV is unclear at the moment. The status of the volley ball pool, new poles and net is unclear at the moment.

Please check the website http://desertsunresort.com/ and phone # 1 800 960 4SUN before arriving. 1533 Chaparral Road, Palm Springs, CA 92282

CVMVCD Gets Its Range Rider

And Raymond Greist is the Range Rider's name. He will become the new Interim General Manager at the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. The Desert Sun has his bio and particulars here. He's a resident of Orange County and after a 30-year career in government service has served in seven interim positions with the Range Riders.

The best news for all of us is that he will be paid an hourly rate based on suspended General Manager Don Gomsi's salary, which comes out to only $77 per hour! Why after hearing about contracts with attorneys and negotiators and God-intercessors at rates of $300 or $400 or $500 per hour, I was sure I misheard Mr. Greist's rate and that perhaps it was actually $7,700/hour. But no, it's really $77. Cheap at twice the price.

This special board meeting began at 6 o'clock with both Mike Duran's and Lisa Copeland's name tags removed from the dais:

Up on the wall the still new (but rapidly gaining experience) Trustee Keck's photo had appeared, but former Trustee Duran's photo was still on display. Vice-President Fuschetti did, indeed, preside, while sitting in the chair formerly occupied by the President. When the roll was called, the clerk called for Trustee Gilbert, the new Indio trustee, rather than Duran. (Trustee Gilbert was, however, absent).

We heard public comments from Harold Williamson, Brian Passaro and Edward Kotkin who is the attorney for the City of Indio. Attorney Kotkin warned that anyone doing business with Lisa Copeland might very well find themselves called in for questioning by the Grand Jury.

The issue of election of new board officers was on the agenda, but since the nominating committee will be selected in May and new officers voted in June, the board agreed to simply re-affirm the current board officers in their positions, meaning Fuschetti is Vice President and Underwood is Secretary/Treasurer.

On the subject of approving the contract with Rutan & Tucker for interim general counserl services, the item was moved, second and approved unanimously before Vice President Fuschetti could finish reading the title. For a moment it was like a glimpse of the smoothly functioning Desert Hot Springs City Council.

But then we moved on to the discussion of a contract with Lisa Copeland for transitional counsel services. Public comments were heard from Laura Lord, Attorney Kotkin from Indio and Harold Williamson (a well-informed citizen who has been attending a few board meetings). All agreed in their thorough condemnation of Lisa Copeland and the notion of doing any business with her. The word "vindictive" was used more than once. She was called "perhaps immoral." It was said that to have any contact with her was "ludicrous - a bad idea." The human decency of all present, however, prevented anyone from commenting on her fashion sense, or rather, her lack therof.

Trustee Baker pointed out that guidelines for attorneys required them, upon severance, to turn over all records to their former client at no cost.

Trustee Lock pointed out that the district had had no written contract with Lisa Copeland for years. That was a shocker that made my head jerk up.

Finally, the motion was made to modify the proposal so that only attorneys Jenson and Poturico could have contact with Copeland. Originally, the proposal would have allowed the General Manager to contact Copeland as well. Trustee Lock pointed out that this would provide an uncontrollable hole in the dike and the board would lose control over costs and policy. With that change, the contract was approved. Basically, what it means is if one of the attorneys has to contact Copeland with a question, the district is willing to pay Copeland $155 per hour for her answer.

Then we moved on to the discussion of the "April 14, 2008 Desert Sun Article." The discussion began with Trustee Lock telling her fellow trustees how she went back through all the agendas and minutes of all the board meetings since her appointment last August. She said she found nothing agendized nor in the minutes regarding any Pacific Life Open tickets, nor any complaints from any employees, until the issue was raised by Brian Passaro in public comments at the March 11 board meeting. Discussion of the subject by Don Gomsi was on the agenda for the March 17 special meeting, but as we all recall, Mr. Gomsi was suddenly taken ill, did not attend that meeting, and was suspended. So the issue was never discussed.

Trustee Howell recalled that at the Strategic Planning Session, Lisa Copeland had made it clear that Don Gomsi himself was the only personnel matter that the board could concern itself with, and that all other personnel matters were the responsibility of Mr. Gomsi himself. IOW, any complaints brought forth by Robert Mann or any other employee could never be discussed by the board.

Others on the board either basically agreed with the memories of Trustees Lock and Howell, or at least offered no disagreements. The consensus, then, was that the board had NEVER discussed or been apprised of the complaints from Robert Mann, including the counterfeiting of Pacific Life Open passes.

In light of that conclusion by the ten honorable and reliable trustees present on the board, it's rather breathtaking to read the statements of Lisa Copeland as quoted in that Desert Sun article.

District attorney Lisa Copeland, who submitted her resignation to trustees Thursday, said in a statement faxed to The Desert Sun that a "comprehensive investigation" was made into district public information officer Robert Mann's claims regarding general manager Donald Gomsi, including that Gomsi directed Mann to create counterfeit tennis passes last year.

The results of that investigation were given to the district's full board of trustees and "the board determined that no disciplinary action was warranted," Copeland said.

Copeland said the results of Reilly's investigation were shared with the full, 11-member board. Gomsi also presented his side to trustees, she said, not specifying when that occurred.

"Mr. Gomsi addressed the board of trustees in closed session concerning the tennis pass allegations and the board determined that no disciplinary action was warranted at that time," she said.

I knew there was a word that lawyers use to describe this sort of thing, and with a room half-full of attorneys I only had to keep my ears open and eventually I would hear it. The word is "misstatement." A Nixonian term. But for those who speak English, the correct word is "lie." Lisa Copeland lied to the Desert Sun. One wonders why she did it, accusing the trustees of being complicit in the coverup of the counterfeiting. Surely, she should have known that a trustee with the integrity of Sharon Lock would go over the record to confirm the facts.

The next item was the discussion of the labor negotiator. It seems that Ms. Copeland had retained the services of a Tom Hock of Ohio for that job. The district was to pay him $240 per hour plus his travel expenses from Ohio. Mr. Hock's specialty appeared to be labor relations in transit system management. On a wild shot in the dark, Trustee Baker phoned over to Sunline Transit where their general counsel is, of course, Lisa Copeland. He found out that Mr. Hock had, indeed, done work for Sunline Transit. Trustee Baker is mastering a new, more subtle way of making his points and stopped his discussion at that point without actually saying this Mr. Hock smelled of Lisa Copeland. We all recognized her familiar stench. In a unanimous vote, Hock was sent packing with a check for only $6,577.93, and Jeffrey Freedman from Ms. Poturico's firm was retained to handle labor negotiations at $270 per hour.

The last item before the closed session was a discussion of the oath of office issue. All of the trustees have now sworn an oath of office, including Karl Baker. I was incorrect when I earlier reported that he had been sworn in before this. I saw Vice Presidence Fuschetti being sworn in as I walked into the building before the meeting. Attorney Jenson recommended that each trustee have his appointing body reconfirm the trustee's appointment for the balance of his term. Karl Baker's reconfirmation will be on the agenda at the next Desert Hot Springs city council meeting.

The closed session was brief. When we were called back in, Trustee Henderson moved that Raymond Greist be appointed Interim General Manager. The motion was seconded by Trustee Baker, and the board approved it unanimously. His pay rate of $77 was also approved unanimously.

In trustee comments Trustee Nigosian said he thought it was possible that recently retired trustee Ben Laflin may now know that the district had named a building for him. Former Interim General Manager Glanz said that a special presentation would be made in May and that Mr. Laflin had been informed. Trustee Underwood announced that on Monday, April 28, the finance committee would meet at 8 AM, and that any citizen concerned with the fiscal accountability of the district should be in attendance.

Broken Search At Mydesert.com?

Go to Mydesert.com (the online Desert Sun) and try out their search. Use a term that's obviously been in the news in the last few days, like "Gomsi," "Duran," or "Indio." Does it find anything? It doesn't for me. Won't find a single thing. Fortunately, you can still use a site specific Google search to find material on the Desert Sun site - and using Google was always faster than using the newspaper's own search.

I mention this here rather than send a little note to the Desert Sun because I can't find any email address or page on the Mydesert.com site where I can report a malfunction or offer a suggestion for the site.

What's An Attorney Without An Opinion?

Katherine Jenson who was retained as the "supplemental" legal counsel for Lisa Copeland at the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District is referred to as the "district legal counsel" in today's article in the Desert Sun. After Copeland's resignation, Jenson is certainly the senior attorney there, but if the board has officially made her the general counsel I missed it when I blinked. Nonetheless, she's got an opinion that people are listening to.

Her earlier opinion was that no city could remove its trustee from the board of the vector control district, except under the provisions of some possibly inapplicable California law (which includes all the obvious things, like leaving the country, conviction of a felony, etc.). Now, her opinion is that every board member of the vector control district must be sworn in. The linked article says only Gene Gilbert, the new Indio trustee, has been sworn in. Karl Baker, however, has been sworn in and has made the point repeatedly in board meetings that each of his fellow trustees must also be sworn in.

Long story short is that Duran was never sworn in, therefore his appointment is not valid, and since Indio has a valid, sworn trustee ready to take over, Duran is out and Gilbert is in.

As for the obvious question of what effect this opinion will have on any and all actions taken by the board during its many unsworn years — well, the answer to that may require many more legal opinions.

Mike Duran says he will NOT show up at Tuesday night's board meeting. Gilbert will be out of town on a previously scheduled vacation. I believe this means that John Fuschetti will preside at the meeting. Without Copeland at his right and Gomsi at his left, Fuschetti will be able to speak freely, and heroically guide the board through this new tight spot. An event not to be missed.

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - Menrad House

The penultimate house on the modern home tour was the Menrad house at 1070 Apache in Palm Springs. You can see all my photos of the Menrad house here, and all my photos from this tour here. These are some of the Menrad house:

Here's the description of the Menrad house from the tour booklet:

The Menrad House

The Alexander Company, run by father and son George and Bob Alexander, were tract homebuilders in the San Fernando Valley. In 1955, they hired a young architectural team; Dan Palmer and William Krisel to design a tract in the San Fernando Valley called Corbin Palms. These were of a modern design and sold well and made the company more money than traditional designs.

In 1956, Bob Alexander decided that there was too much competition for homebuilders in the San Fernando Valley and he decided to look to Palm Springs. Their first project here was the Ocotillo Lodge and it too was designed by Palmer and Krisel. The hotel was located in front of what would become the Twin Palms Neighborhood. After the hotel was finished, they decided to try a small tract of homes behind Ocotillo. Palm Springs was a place of custom vacation homes, so this was really a new concept for the desert. Mr. Krisel had just completed his own custom home in Brentwood, which Bob Alexander really liked. The Alexanders specified that certain things in this new home also be incorporated into the tract houses then under consideration for Palm Springs. So lots of clerestory windows, an atrium in the master bedroom and the post and beam construction technique were incorporated into the new project.

In 1957 the first homes were completed. Even though the floor plans were essentially all the same 40 x 40 foot square, the different rooflines, rotation of the home on the lot and unique exterior finishes gave the homes a custom look. There was no brochure and no advertisement ever created, but the homes sold like hot cakes, many to guests of the Ocotillo. They were priced at around the $30,000 range, which was not particularly cheap for the time and many of the buyers were doctors, lawyers, successful people in entertainment and other captains of industry. This was their first taste of desert resort living, and many would move on to more elaborate custom homes around golf courses. However, Palmer and Krisel were the first ones to create in Palm Springs a modern, custom-like tract that was appreciated by the buyer and profitable for the builder. With Twin Palms, the Alexanders started something that would forever change the face of Palm Springs. Their work, and that of other builders such as Fey and Meiselman, who replicated their concept of the clean lined modern tract home, caused a rapid increase in the population of the city during the post-war period.

The Alexander Company went on to build many more homes in Palm Springs, with Palmer and Krisel and other architects as well. Later examples no longer included the atrium. And to lower the costs, the HVAC, which was unique at that time for combining heating and air and dueling it through the foundation, (an article on this pioneering system was written in Progressive Architecture) moved from the foundation slab into soffits which had the effect of lowering entry and hall ceilings and changing the overall open effect of the original design. After many years of neglect, these homes are now beloved icons of the desert.

This example of a Palmer and Krisel home was built in the first of three tracts of homes, originally called Smoketree Valley Estates, now known as Twin Palms. This house is mostly in original condition. The kitchen, which was originally enclosed, had been remodeled in the 1980's. It has since been re-imagined and designed by architectural designer Phillip K. Smith using a Julius Shulman photograph of the original P & K design as a guide. The bathrooms have had the cabinetry rebuilt as originally designed. Ninety percent of the furniture seen in the house today was available for purchase at the time the house was built. William Krisel, also a landscape architect, designed the front landscaping in 2006.

Gomsi's Emails

The Desert Sun has reprinted some emails sent by Don Gomsi (suspended General Manager of the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District). Here's the main article where Gomsi denies ordering the counterfeiting of Pacific Life Open passes, with responses from Robert Mann and Brian Passaro. Here's the list of the five emails the newspaper is publishing.

• Gomsi's email to Pacific Life, denying that he ordered the counterfeiting. He blames the passes on Brian Passaro, and the general brouhaha on the union.
• A self-serving email from Scott Kiner of Kiner Communications who blames EVERYthing on the Desert Sun and says he would like an additional $5,000 from Don Gomsi to deal with the PR fallout. Yes, when you're the nail merchant you want to sell everyone a hammer - preferably for $5,000, the limit on how much Gomsi could spend at his own discretion.
• Don Gomsi refuses to respond to the Desert Sun, in case you wondered why the stories in the paper seem to lack his point of view.
• A series of emails in which the general manager of the Orange County vector control district asks Gomsi to resign from the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California where he served as the southern region representative and chair of the legislative action committee.
• In this last one Gomsi resigns from the legislative action committee of the MVCAC. Here's the link to the MVCAC where Gomsi is still listed as the Southern California Representative.

Damn These Cacti!

This flower appeared today on another cactus that's been growing in my front yard for at least three years, but this is the first time it's bloomed.

Cactus Doing Well

I transplanted a single cactus pad into the ground about a year ago, and look how well this thing is doing now!

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - J. Porter Clark House

Oh no, I didn't forget the modern home tour. We still have three houses to look at. I hope you've been taking notes, because there will be a rigorous exam when we finish!

The fifth house on the tour was the J. Porter Clark house at 1200 Paseo El Mirador, Palm Springs. We weren't allowed to go inside this house, either due to its delicate state, or our hefty weight. Here are a few pics:

You can see all my photos of the J. Porter Clark house here.

Here's what the tour organizers told us about the Clark house:

The Clark Residence

By the end of the 1930's the population of Palm Springs had more than tripled, from a little over 1,000 people in 1930 to about 3,400. That staggering growth rate was accompanied by a great burst of Modernism by the end of the decade. The Kocher-Samson Building, by Albert Frey and A. Lawrence Kocher, was completed in 1934 (760 N. Palm Canyon Drive). Completed in 1937, the Grace Miller House is a diminutive temple for perfervid believers in that apodictic modernist deity, architect Richard Neutra. (Really, who's more infallible, Neutra or the pope? Rest assured that the true Holy Trinity is, incontrovertibly, Mies, Kahn and Corbu.)

Then in 1939 came the irresistibly winsome house designed and built by John Porter dark, a bold metal and glass aerie poised on the slightest of daringly canted piers, mid-air over a desert landscape, his first bachelor home and then family home, enjoyed until he died in 1990.

When you look at the house today, you must reconstruct it in stages. Look initially at only the simple two story structure, eliminating everything to the east, including the rain guard over the stairs, for that was the starting point. What a perfect volume it is, perhaps 800 sq. ft. of living space; the upstairs comprised the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bath. The living room opened to the the east balcony with large windows to the south and east, ribbon windows on the north. The bedroom, (now the dining room) opened to the west with captivating views of the mountains. A small galley kitchen shared the line of ribbon windows on the north side as did the bathroom (sacrificed in a later remodel to enlarge the kitchen).

Below these enveloping spaces was the carport and a covered porch (where today you can see the Mexican fetish spirits of J. P. and Louisa dark hanging on the wall in appropriate filial devotion.) It is easy to picture the real Clarks on the balcony in the late afternoon, the hot sun behind the house to the west, a breeze across the desert ruffling the leaves of that great American elm (alive even today though struggling; sad to report, its twin, which stood just to the east, died just five years ago; the carcass recently removed, after it toppled over in the wind).

The Clark's lot was carved from acreage that had been part of the El Mirador Hotel property, illustrious in the 1920's, bankrupted in 1932 due to the depression, then purchased and re-glamorized by Warren Pinney. Two other owners were offered the same opportunity to build on the old property; they were, fanfare with drum roll for Modernist deity worshippers, Albert Frey, who built his radical Frey I here in 1940; and E. Stewart Williams, who built his own mesmeric residence here in 1956.

Then as now, a small patch of grass enveloped the dark house, seemingly holding the desert at bay; the current homeowners " Clark's youngest son, his wife and their three daughters, residents since 1991" are working to restore the desert landscape, hence the request that you not cross it to reach the house, but follow the outlines of the old driveway. Cars entering the property followed that curve to the gravel car park area by the carport. There was no pool then, it came in 1980. Only the pristine metal building rising from the contained plot of green, that slash of red deck an aggressive structural irruption or a provocative come-up-and-see-me-sometime.

As you look inside the living room from the balcony, note the original hi-fi cabinet and globe lamp; the Eames chairs and the lamps by the couch are original to the house. Carpeting covers what was the original maroon linoleum floor.

With children came pressures for expansion; and the solution, as devised by dark, was quite simple: a series of three bedrooms in a one story wing attached only by the rhythmic reach of that dramatically suspended rain guard. Thus the bedrooms were added in 1946, an unprepossessing but extremely comfortable one-room deep structure that looks like the wake to the two story ship in front of it. (The storage area was added in 1972).

Note that on the upper level the corrugation is aligned vertically; on the ground level it is horizontal, a simple trick to heighten the verticality of the upper structure and increase the visual impact of the lower without overbuilding the footprint.

The flat planes of glass and corrugated metal separating bedrooms from living area act less as connecting planes than as an artful articulation of interior and exterior, where exterior is the new entry court to the north. The 'front door' is that glass slider that lets you 'in' off the covered porch with its long cantilever supported by that totally improbable steel pipe. It's like walking into a one-walled atrium, a very expansive atrium.

If you walk out the 'front door' to the new entry court on the north side of the house, note that the fountain was added in 1966. Looking at the early structure, you can see where a stair came down the side from the entrance balcony. That stair was removed and the new stair added to the west of the house to provide access to the dining area and kitchen when the house was enlarged in 1946.

Goodtimes Jam, May 3

This is 100% of the info I have. That phone number is 760-365-1078.

Highland Falls

I got this photo during take-off from Palm Springs last week. The graded area is the southern half of what was to be Highland Falls, a double-golf course residential development at the west end of Pierson Boulevard. The Colorado River Aqueduct can be clearly seen running across the photo below the graded area. In addition, the abandoned naked resort, the so-called "Nude Bowl" is visible in the foothills behind the graded area. Click on the image (or here) to go to Ipernity where I have added notes to the photo highlighting these features as well as others.

Fuschetti Doesn't Know A Lot

In this Desert Local News article Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District Trustee John Fuschetti knows that Lisa Copeland should have stayed and Would-Be-President Mike Duran should stay. Other than that, he says this:

• Why do anything now.
• no idea
• As far as I know...
• what have I got to ask?
• doesn't remember hearing anything
• Nobody knew anything
• I don't know.
• I don't know.

His words, not mine.

In this other article, Rancho Mirage Mayor Hobart expressed some concern that John Fuschetti, his city's trustee on the board, did not give them a heads up on the trouble that is now boiling over. But he does not fault Fuschetti: "There are a lot of things beyond his ability to know."

You might enjoy Mayor Hobart's comment about suspended General Manager Don Gomsi's porn viewing at work: "It could have been done for artistic reasons or for a computer test." Yeah, he's right, it could have been, because Mr. Gomsi has been trying to develop his artistic side. I look forward to the day when Mr. Gomsi clears his name by displaying some of his stunning works of art. I'm hoping for something like this:

No, I think that Mr. Gomsi's porn viewing was done for the same reason every other male does it: to supply material for whacking fantasies. We might eventually find out if he whacked it right there at the desk, or went to the men's room or just waited until he got home, but we don't really want to know....unless, of course, it ties into the sexual harassment allegations.

Tonight's DHS City Council Meeting

I totally missed it! Taxied home from the airport tonight and dashed to the TV, but I saw nothing there. I thought maybe the meeting had been rescheduled, because no way they could have wrapped it up so fast.

I was wrong! Here's the Desert Sun report on it. It's an unusually report for the Desert Sun. They usually pick just a few major items to report on. There's no reporter's name on it. Who was the reporter there tonight?

Those Pacific Life Passes

More background on the counterfeit Pacific Life Open passes prepared on Don Gomsi's order. It's odd that this issue seems to be getting traction while the more serious charges of sexual harassment seem to be idling on the sidelines.

DHS Suddenly Richer

It almost sounds like an April Fool's article, but I'll take this April 13 article in the Desert Local News at face value for now. It seems that in the sudden change of city managers and city council last year $1.5 million designated for parks and recreation was overlooked! City Councilmember Scott Matas discovered it by looking closely at the books. Wowzer! It must be spent by the end of the '08 fiscal year! Suddenly the problem becomes one of trying to figure out how to spend it all.

Old News: Copeland Resigns

Old news to many of my readers, but I'm just learning it today. Lisa Copeland resigned her position as attorney for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District last Thursday. The NY Times, the local rag, failed to put that on the front page, so it escaped my notice until now. In her resignation letter she cited her own failure to provide pizza for the citizenry who had to wait through lengthy closed sessions as the main reason for her resignation. She probably had other reasons, too.

Nor have the Indio police been sitting on their butts:

Indio police on Thursday recommended to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office that it file felony forgery charges against Gomsi and district public information officer Robert Mann for creation of the phony event passes.

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - Sieroty House

Next on our tour of homes was the Sieroty house at 695 Vereda Sur, Palm Springs. Here's the info from our tour booklet:

During 1938, Mr. and Mrs. Julian Sieroty brought their family to vacation in Palm Springs. They rented a house and fell in love with the desert. That house was the Halberg house, and it was designed and built in 1936 by Albert Frey. Mr. Sieroty had purchased some property three blocks away from the rental house and asked Mr. Frey to replicate the house on his lot.

Though the Halberg House is completely altered, the Sieroty House, its twin, is fortunately here for us to view today. To quote from Rosa, "Frey designed a planar roof that extended over the volume of the house and carport to shield the windows from the sun. The volume of the house was broken up in elevation by the articulation of the fireplace and windows."

For its time, this house was very avant-garde. This house was completed in 1941 and was celebrated with a Thanksgiving dinner to which Albert Frey was invited. This house is a wonderful example of Frey's early desert work which was done primarily in the moderne style. At the time, the house stood alone in the landscape. Albert Frey was a great colorist and the original rental house was a bit more daring in the use of interior colors. Beth Meltzer says that each wall was a different color and her parents were not quite ready for that. However you will see some of Frey's influence in the current color schemes of the bedrooms. The house has very large windows in the living room, unusual for the time but influenced by the modern notion of bringing outdoors in. This allowed Frey to capture views of the surrounding dunes and the mountains in the distance. The family did not spend much time at the house in the early years, as naval personnel working at the nearby hospital that had been converted from the El Mirador Hotel occupied it.

After the war, the house was enjoyed for many years by the Sieroty family and many friends and relations. With time, the living room glass walls were extended out to the edge of the covered patio and made into sliders and a staircase to a rooftop sunbathing deck was removed. In the 1950's, Chester "Cactus Slim" Moorten was commissioned to do the cactus garden and brought in many of the boulders seen on the property. The pool was added as well.

As time went on, however, the family's use of the house decreased. By the 1980s, Beth Meltzer says the house had gone to seed. Beth and her brother Alan, who had inherited the property, decided to restore it. They wondered if Albert Frey was still around. They decided to give him a call and to their delight, he was very willing to help them with the project. By 1989, the restoration was complete and was celebrated with a Thanksgiving dinner to which Frey was again invited. This house, perfectly preserved, is a wonderful capsule of a time gone by when Palm Springs was all about horseback riding and tennis and the post-war boom of mid-century tract homes was still 15 years away.

All my photos of the Sieroty house can be seen here. This is a link to the collection of all my photos from the tour. Here are some of my photos of the Sieroty house:

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Saving A Frey?

Here we have a visiting Cantabrigian excitedly surveying Albert Frey's yacht club building at North Shore in anticipation of Riverside County's turning it into a community center!

Very Local Cactus Flowers

Now I only have to walk a few steps to see flowering cacti.

Barry Manilow

IAmNotAStalker doesn't stalk Barry Manilow's residence at 2196 South Camino Barranca. Google satellite view.

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - Abernathy House

After strengthening ourselves with a healthy lunch, we all descended on the Abernathy House at 611 Phillips Road, Palm Springs. Here's what our booklet told us about the house (slightly edited):

In the Abernathy House, 1962, built for Ralph Abernathy and his second wife, Madge Phillips, William F. Cody eschews the tight rectilinear classicism of Goldberg in favor of a loosely woven fabric of sumptuous pavilions, a compound of organic perfection.

The house is a beauty. It has all of the Cody touches that we expect, the impossibly attenuated line of the colonnade fascia. The slump stone, pure white; its robust horizontality the antithesis of the strict grey verticality of the wood siding. The formality of the forecourt. The simple pavilion-hipped roof lines, most perfectly expressed in the car shelter, undulating across the grounds with rigorous discipline.

If Frey and Wexler thrust wall planes past the habitable footprint making a visual claim to the outside, Cody is much more controlled here. Outside is out there, in here is inside; they meet at the physical envelope but they don't intermingle; with Cody, even when walls are glass and slide open, you know when you're inside and when you're not. He is a master of envelopment, of engendering comfort and security. In Cody's work, there is a physical articulation of sense of place, belongingness, an affinity, in the purely biochemical meaning translated into architecture. He makes a house a home, no matter how princely. Perhaps only a man like Cody who spent his nights cultivating his hard-earned reputation for 'carousal' could understand the intricacies of translating roof and wall into sanctity.

Cody is expert at creating significant shifts in dimension and purpose with a bravura subtlety. You'll experience that in the Abernathy House as you move from pavilion to pavilion, these virtuoso shifts in scale: width to length, height to width, glassy porosity to dense enclosure, ardently public to raptly private, all of it wildly theatrical. Each purpose is expressed not as room but as pavilion, as pure theater, life lived in a series of interconnected sets, each defined by the boundaries of its own hipped roof. Even the pool terrace, where imagined pavilions appear to shelter its shifting levels, seems to follow suit.

The living room pavilion is clearly not illusory. With polished terrazzo floors covering its thirty foot square area and topped by a twenty-six foot ceiling, the central living room pavilion is the focal point from which all the other pavilions project.

This is an easy house to love. The current owner, very protective of his jewel, has lavished an affectionate restoration on it; the Abernathy House is anew the gem it should have always been.

Go here to see all of my photos of the Abernathy house. This is a link to all of my photos from this tour. What follows are some sample images of the Abernathy house:

Still No Free Pizza During CVMVCD Board Closed Sessions

The lengthy open session at the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control board meeting tonight wore down a lot of people who work for a living. The equally lengthy closed session took out most of the rest. Eventually the only citizens still waiting to hear what those trustees who "represent EVERYone in the district" had done to protect our tax money and our faith in the institutions of democracy were the reporter from the Desert Sun, one stalwart union employee and myself. I found myself trying to get Interim General Manager Glanz to get the security guard to shoot down a mylar Happy Birthday balloon that had been allowed to drift up to the ceiling of the lobby. Ms Glanz would not have it done. I long for the days of Don Gomsi. He would have grabbed the gun from the guard's holster and shot that balloon himself...and then blamed it on employee vandalism.

The only reportable action out of the closed session was that the board had instructed attorney Lisa Copeland to request an opinion from the Attorney General as to whether the City of Indio could replace its trustee on the board. She was also instructed to invite the City of Indio to join the district in that request. My advice to Indio is to make prepare a request for the Attorney General and invite the district to join you in that request. This may reduced the chance that attorney Copeland will screw you over some more.

I was disappointed not to see either Gene Gilbert or an attorney from Indio at the board meeting tonight. I think someone from Indio should be asking Duran to step down at every meeting.

An interesting moment came when the board was approving expenses from March. Trustee Lock asked about a $2,500 expense. Would-Be-President Duran fumbled around a bit in explaining that it was an expense for debugging. Not insect debugging, but sweeping for electronic eavesdropping equipment! After a bit of prodding he stated that items from closed sessions were being reported in the media. Really! I do wish he had identified the media, because it's none that I read. After more prodding he explained that the board meeting room and another conference room at the Indio headquarters were all that had been swept. And he told us that he himself had ordered the sweep! Now, the thing I wonder about is what authority does the board president have to incur $2,500 in district expenses? He did NOT say that he advised Interim General Manager Glanz that he thought it was necessary and that SHE ordered it. No, he said he ordered it. In that case I think he should pay for it out of his own pocket.

A long part of the open session was spent discussing the discovery of west nile virus in mosquitoes in what is called the "duck club area." That is the area south of Avenue 66, along the Whitewater River as it goes into the Salton Sea. The four pools where infected mosquitoes were found were at Filmore and Avenue 68, Buchanan and Avenue 68, Lincoln and Avenue 70, and Lincoln and Avenue 72.

Dr. Lothrop reported this is the earliest detection of west nile in Coachella Valley and that in previous years it was found further away, in North Shore. She said the suppression efforts need to be doubled. Jim Saulnier told us that he wants two more technicians to deal with this. They are fogging the area, and only after they get 10 consecutive nights of successful fogging (aerial and ground) will they begin to consider whether they may have been successful in reducing the infected mosquito population in the duck club area.

There are a dozen private duck clubs in the area and their members tend to be rich and powerful. Their practices which are intended to provide ideal habitat for ducks during duck season also happen to be the ideal practices for creating a rich mosquito reproduction area. Mr. Saulnier recounted some of the history of trying to get better cooperation from the duck clubs.

Another issue that is a growing challenge are "green pools," which are home swimming pools and jacuzzis that have been left to turn green and provide a rich mosquito habitat. With the growing number of foreclosures, there are more abandoned homes with abandoned pools. The district finds these either by complaints from neighbors or aerial surveillance. If the district can get access to a green pool they will treat it. If it is behind a locked gate they will try to get the city's code enforcement people to cite the owner and cut the lock. Mr. Saulnier reported that there are about 650 known green pools in the Coachella Valley and that they were working 376 of them. Another employee reported that there are only about 15 or 20 pools where access is a problem. Mr. Saulnier said they have a device that I think he called an "ingot" which they can throw over a fence and into a pool if necessary. The device will suppress larvae in the pool for up to 100 days, I believe he said.

At one point during the meeting a previously unidentified citizen wanted to call out a question from the audience. Would-Be-President Duran seemed willing to engage in an endless back and forth with her, saying that the usual procedure was to fill out a request to comment, to which she responded that while that is usual, the law did not require it. Fortunately, Trustee Howell short-circuited this nonsense by simply answering the citizen's simple question, which was whether any members of the public were on on the finance committee. Later this citizen spoke during public comments and identified herself as Rose Mindeola of La Quinta and said that after seeing tonight's performance she would be back to observe the board at future meetings.

Very interestingly, after that point many well-formed and relevant questions and comments were called out from the audience, and occasionally citizens would come to the podium even when it was not a comment period. Would-Be-President Duran tolerated this and responded decently to the comments. We knew, however, that a significant point had been reached when even Desert Sun reporter Keith Matheny called out a comment from his seat and offered to help explain to Interim General Manger Glanz how the district could get its message out without having to buy ad space in the newspaper.

I'm leaving out many interesting details for the sake of brevity. Come to the next board meeting and experience it all yourself! The Desert Sun's report.

Update: And then there'sthis over the top report from Dean Gray at Desert Local News.

The Mural In Tedesco Park

WTF?!

KESQ is reporting yet another fire in the tamarisk trees along I-10 west of Ramon. This is the third fire there in the last couple of weeks! Are the homeless people who live there being especially careless with cook fires, or are they making meth now? Maybe it's an environmentalist who is determined to wipe out the invasive tamarisks. Good goal; poor way to achieve it.

CHP officers estimate a lane of westbound Interstate 10 to stay closed until 1:30 p.m. at the latest as fire crews work to contain a brush fire on the side of the highway.

The CHP first reported the fire near tamarisk trees just west of Ramon Road and just north of the freeway just after 6:30 this morning. The number four lane of I-10, or the far right lane, remains closed,

Smoke has reportedly caused low visibility for drivers on I-10 West.

The CHP reported a possible person seen running from the fire moments after it ignited. The fire is under investigation.

Here's the Desert Sun story on the subject. They say the fire covers a 4-acre area! They are optimistically reporting that the areas burned earlier may act as a fire break now.

Two DHS Restaurants

Two photos, and their only connection is that they were both taken in restaurants in Desert Hot Springs.

First, the Cottage restaurant on Pierson displays a lot of old LP covers that seem to be in great condition, especially considering they're in a restaurant, unprotected, and in the hallway to the restrooms. This one certainly caught my eye. "TV's Dr. Kildare."

This one is from another restuarant I won't identify, where they serve a new miracle "non-fat" oil. It must be a mineral oil.

Palm Springs Modern Home Tour - Russell House

Third on the modern home tour was the Russell House at 660 Palisades Drive, Palm Springs. This is behind and 200 feet higher than the museum. There was a shuttle van, but some of us walked the steep driveway to get up there.

The description of the house tells us that there were three different owners named Russell, but it doesn't say if they were related. I have edited this text from the tour booklet a little to remove some unnecessary, uninformative weirdness:

Sited 200 breath-taking feet above the valley floor, the Russell House was built in 1959 for Russell who was a jobber, digging oil wells in Long Beach for Standard Oil. Eventually, he went bust after building here and moved to Hawaii.

Russell had the distinction of having the first of the three houses that are located on this side of the mountain -- of course, the O'Donnell House on the east face of the mountain (directly above the Museum) was the first, designed by architect Charles Tanner, built in 1925 by Nellie Coffman, a founder of Palm Springs and owner of the then world-famous Desert Inn, for oil magnate Thomas O'Donnell.

From 1977 to 1982 the house was home to Allen Carr, famous as producer of the 1978 film Grease and 1984 Tony winning producer of Broadway's La Cage aux Folles.

The next owner was Douglas A. Russell, with Boise Cascade affiliations, for whom Frey designed the sunshades, based on plans dated Nov 30, 1982, and revised Dec 8, 1982. Douglas Russell held the house until placing it on the market in 2004.

The current owners first saw the house in 2004 just as they entered escrow on another house in Las Palmas. Though the site was overgrown, they decided on first sight to buy it. Restoration of the pool, based on Frey drawings, was the first project. That wonderful sand beach that slips down into the waters of the pool and the spillover were Frey's casual genius at work. In his day the technology was not so well developed to create these, but the owners scrupulously followed his design and adopted current technology to bring Albert's pool design to extraordinary life. The update was completed a year later in the fall of 2005, at which point they could turn to restoration of the house. That work required 18 months, and the owners moved into the finished house in late November 2007.

Renovations were made with every luxury available. The current front door, a single plate of glass that pivots open automatically replaced a fixed-pane of glass. Elsewhere double-pane glass replaced the environmentally inefficient single-pane glass. In the living room, the renovation included replacing one set of sliders with a fixed glass plate, and added glass to both sides of the southeast corner to heighten the floating roof effect - structural necessity obviated the desire to butt the glass edges at that corner without a structural member, but the existing structural element is narrow enough in profile to lend the illusion credence.

The brightly colored canopies shading the east exposure are true to Frey's 1982 concept. At some point that iteration was replaced by a single cover across the entire span, which idea proved foolhardy when a gust of wind removed the canopy and the supporting wooden beams. In the renovation, steel beams on the exterior, painted to match the interior wood, are tied into the structure and support the three laced awnings as Frey had shown in his 1982 plan. The result is an interesting and curvaceous contrapunto set against the emphatic linearity of the exterior.

Inside feels refreshingly outside at the Russell House. In a close 1,700 sq. ft. the air inside the house seems to breathe with the stirring air beyond the planes of glass. The hinted tint of orange drifts from the canopies through the living room like zest in a souffle; the air is suffused with a view tumbling into ripples from the pool and falling into the horizon over the water's edge pulling your senses outward and downward; you feel out-of-body as a part of you skirts the tops of palms 200 feet below.

In the Russell House, the view is given over to the living room; the boulder here is outside, languishing in the shallows of the pool; resisting the tug of water tippling over the edge; it caroms the sight lines toward the southeast and away from the mountain. From any vantage point on the patio you are drawn to the view.

The current owners have worked hard to strengthen your power to resist a little bit by providing a palette of furnishings certain to keep you occupied with the interior. A one-of-a-kind Milo Baughman sofa set with coffee table paired with Taraxacum Castiglioni hanging lamps from the 40's compete wholeheartedly for your attention. The set of six modular Panton light panels in white fiberglass is to be remarked on as well; as are the Mans Wegner stacking chairs surrounding the Hans Wegner designed dining table, all under the Verner Panton V Globe lamp. With those two Milo Baughman couches positioned so perfectly for reveling in the sight of the valley beyond, it is inevitable, the view wins. It is quite wonderful.

The master bedroom is at the west end of the house and is both a comfortable space protected from the earliest morning light and a perfect backdrop to the current owners collected modern vintage pieces. Note the McCobb chest on Lucite stand; the Frank Lloyd Wright rug from the Arizona Biltmore and the 1952 rosewood Eames chair with ottoman. The bed is