Redevelopment director named

Janet Davison, a seasoned veteran with 21 years of varied experience in redevelopment, has been named Cathedral City’s redevelopment director. She will oversee redevelopment and housing functions.

Currently the director of redevelopment and housing for Watsonville, Davison will assume her new duties Oct. 3. She will be returning to her family and roots in Southern California, where she attended school and worked for the City of Riverside from 1984 to 1998.

Throughout her career, which also included three years with the City of La Mirada, Davison has been involved in attracting, retaining and expanding business, negotiating development agreements, developing a downtown satellite community college campus, issuing bonds, securing and monitoring grants, rehabilitating neighborhoods, soliciting and evaluating development proposals and working with citizen committees.

She holds a B.S. in business administration from Cal State University at Dominguez Hills, is a master’s degree candidate from Long Beach State and is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional from the National Development Council. She is a Rotarian.

Buddy Greco to open dinner club here

Buddy Greco, one of the world’s top jazz pianists and custodian of Frank Sinatra’s high-rolling showroom style, is coming to Cathedral City.

He and his wife, singer Lezlie Anders, just closed escrow on Beto’s Bistro and will turn it into an intimate dinner club. Greco on the piano, his quartet and other legendary entertainers, will perform during two dinner seatings at 7 and 9:30, followed by cocktails and a late night menu with jazz until 2 a.m. The club will feature continental cuisine.

Plans call for Buddy Greco’s to open on Dec. 1.

The new décor and renovations to the building on East Palm Canyon Drive will recreate the great night clubs of the past, including many photos of Greco and his celebrity friends.

The Grecos are moving to the Coachella Valley from their home in Las Vegas, where he has performed since 1950 with Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack and present day entertainers. Anders began singing in Las Vegas in 1992, after performing in a nightclub she owned in Portland. Prior to that, the multi-talented recording artist was a divestiture specialist and business broker, owning companies throughout the Midwest.

The couple wrote and produced “FEVER! A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee,” which opened to rave reviews and is now on national tour.

Greco began playing piano at the age of four and recorded his first hit at 18. He has toured with Benny Goodman as singer/pianist/arranger, sold millions of records, including gold records, gave a command performance with the Beatles for Queen Elizabeth, and just recently wowed audiences at Carnegie Hall in “An Evening with Nat King Cole,” a tribute to a dear friend.

Greco is a singing pianist with a smooth vocal delivery. Critics say he invented acid jazz and, according to Will Friedwald of Verve Records, he has an “aggressively cocky stance that has more in common with the hard rockers of recent generations.”

New playground equipment coming

The old play equipment has been removed from Panorama Park and Public Works crews are getting ready for the arrival on Sept. 12 of the new equipment for children, as well as barbecue grills, benches, picnic tables, drinking fountains and extra trash receptacles. Miracle Recreation installs the equipment and sets the footings, then city employees pour the concrete on top of which Miracle Recreation will install the soft surface to enhance child safety.

No junky cars, please

If you want to get rid of that old junk heap in your front driveway, just call Code Enforcement at 770-8200 during the September “Junk your Jalopy” campaign. Your inoperable car or truck will be towed away at no charge … and your neighbors will thank you. It’s part of a program to rid streets and neighborhoods of abandoned cars and to beautify Cathedral City.

Green arrows going, going, gone

Left-turn arrows will be removed and traffic signal timing will be improved at intersections along East Palm Canyon Drive between Date Palm and Cathedral Canyon Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Left-turns on the green light will be permitted; it’s just that the arrows will be eliminated.

The green left-turn arrows will be removed for east-west traffic at Allen, West Buddy Rogers and Monty Hall/Van Fleet and for north-south traffic at Cathedral Canyon Drive.

Removal of the arrows and upgrading traffic signal equipment is designed to ease the flow of traffic along East Palm Canyon and reduce waiting time for motorists going in and out of the Cove.

Funds for the change and new equipment come from a grant secured by the Police Department. The Department will monitor the area to ensure motorists comply with the newly modified signals.

Value engineering

Thanks to the hard work of the Apparatus Committee in the Fire Department, cost of the proposed Quiller truck has been reduced by about $100,000. The committee was able to develop cost-cutting specifications that will still provide the department with what it needs. The truck will be used primarily as a rescue vehicle for multi-story hotels and the plan is expected to be presented to City Council Sept. 28.

Committee members are Firefighter/Paramedic Rick West, Engineer John Hess, Capt. John Aman, Division Chief Robert Van Nortrick and Chief Steve Sowles.