Just one more reason
Another motivation to live and do business in Cathedral City – our
community had the lowest overall crime rate of all cities in the Coachella
Valley in 2004.
According to the Uniform Crime Report just released by the FBI, Cathedral
City last year had 505 crimes per 10,000 residents. Figures from every other
municipality in the valley exceeded that number, with Desert Hot Springs and
Palm Springs posting the highest figures, 988 and 842 respectively.
Conversely, Cathedral City has among the lowest number of officers per
population – one officer for every thousand residents. Two cities, Palm
Desert and Palm Springs, have about two officers per thousand residents. The
Police department had 36,763 calls for service in 2004; this year the calls
are expected to rise to 38,000 by the end of December. Once again, doing a
great job with less …..
A second reason for the good news: Cathedral City now has 21 Neighborhood
Watch groups, where involved neighbors remain vigilant and report any
suspicious activity to police, preventing crimes before they can occur.
Medians to be spruced up
Beginning Monday, Oct. 31, landscaping of medians along Dinah Shore, East
Palm Canyon and Date Palm Drive at Gerald Ford will be contracted out to
Greenview Landscape, Inc. The two medians at Date Palm and Gerald Ford will
be tackled first and then the crews will move to the Mid-Valley Parkway
along Dinah Shore. Work along East Palm Canyon will start later.
The help will enable the Public Works crews to keep up with the rest of
the city, including new landscape and lighting districts that have been
added this past year.
Twice the benefit
The Economic Development Department has jumped another hurdle in bringing
the Desert Cove Golf Course to Cathedral City. And this one will have a
double benefit. An Indian lease has been approved for 30 acres behind
Denny’s and the Big Lots shopping center. Twenty-seven acres of the property
will be used for an irrigation lake and green space between the front and
back nines on the golf course; the other three acres will be subleased to
Palm Springs Motors so the dealership can expand its big-truck sales
operation.
More car dealership news
Wrecking crews have demolished at the old McDonald’s, Nona’s and the
carpet store along East Palm Canyon to make way for what will now be three
(not two, as originally planned) dealerships, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and a
third unknown franchise.
In the meantime, auto dealer Don Stewart will build facilities for Toyota
truck and SUV sales on three acres previously occupied by the Pink Lady and
part of Tramview Mobile Home Park. This will take some time, however,
because of a number of issues that need to be handled first.
And the Jessup Auto Plaza is tearing down the gas station at the
southeast corner of Perez and East Palm Canyon to provide more space for
auto display and storage. Business is just Humming along …
Overnight duty
Thanks to Public Works employees Juan Gonzalez, Manuel Espinoza, Javier
Cervantes, Dick Ornales and Carlos Rodriguez. Going beyond the call of duty,
they recently took overnight weekend shifts at Panorama Park to run off
vandals who were determined to destroy the newly installed soft rubber
surface as it was curing in the playground area. Deanna Pressgrove dropped
by off and on, bearing Cokes and goodies.
During the recent rains, Danny Michael, Dave Franz and Dale Bolls worked
until 2 a.m. clearing mudslides from Varner Road and then, with two hours’
sleep, showed up bright and early at 6 a.m. to put in a full day’s work the
following day.
Kopp steps in
Senior Planner Bud Kopp will be the Interim City Planner during
recruitment to replace former City Planner Joe Richards, who left to take a
job with a Western County regional agency overseeing the Multi-Species
Habitat Plan.
Meet set for parks discussion
The City Council and Parks and Recreation Commission will hold a joint
session at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 2 to discuss a draft Parks Master Plan prepared by
Play-Safe. The meeting will take place in the Study Session Room and is open
to the public. Strategies to elicit public involvement, which is crucial in
funding the recommendations, and the next steps needed to implement the plan
will be discussed at the meeting.
Raising the barre
The world-famous Joffrey Ballet of Chicago is coming to Cathedral City.
Funded by private contributions and community outreach grant funds, the
program will feature a performance by two dancers, a master class and
student outreach. The event will take place at Cathedral City High School in
May and is being arranged by Public Arts Commissioner Lenore Davis.
Sunflowers to bloom on stop signs
Friendly sunflower cutouts with safety messages will adorn the back of
stop signs at 10 intersections throughout the city. The purple and yellow
signs with messages such as “Buckle up,” “Don’t Litter” and “Drive
carefully,” are being provided by Cathedral City resident Marc Breslow in a
pilot program. They will be placed primarily in residential neighborhoods.
He presented the idea to the Transportation Commission and City Council
after realizing that the blank back side of stop signs represents a sizable
amount of space that could be used city-wide for public awareness safety
messages. Breslow hopes to expand the program nation-wide. Once the signs
are installed locally, residents can provide feedback on the program by
emailing the city’s web master.
See their tails wag
Calling all animal lovers. Volunteers are needed for the new Animal
Campus that will open soon in Thousand Palms. People who want to help out at
the valley-wide facility can call the Coachella Valley Association of
Governments (CVAG), which is shepherding the project. Phone number is
346-1127.
New homes in lower Cove
The City Council has approved a zone change and General Plan amendment
that will pave the way for the Tesoro development of a two-story residential
project at East Palm Canyon and Bankside Drive. The 1,500-2,000 sq. ft.
detached homes, with three floor plans, are expected to sell between
$500,000 and $600,000. Construction of a bridge over the wash in phase two
and plans for an eventual traffic signal at the intersection are
incorporated into the project. The development will conform to the city’s
new Night Sky Ordinance to protect residents in the Cove from glare. Council
approved the project with several conditions, including that it be sent back
to the Architectural Review Committee, which did not have full membership
during the initial review.
Date Palm gets attention
City Engineer Bill Bayne is working on bridge projects at either end of
Date Palm Drive. The bridge crossing the Whitewater channel (at the south
end) was damaged during an earthquake in 1994. Council has awarded a
contract to KLM Construction to replace damaged concrete and joint seals
with a system that provides greater expansion. Federal funds finally came
through to help pay the $206,000 cost. Bayne is also overseeing the widening
of Date Palm Drive over the railroad tracks in preparation for ultimate
improvements to the I-10/Date Palm interchange. The railroad is putting in a
second track, so rail traffic is expected to increase significantly.
Construction over a rail track cannot take place while trains are passing
underneath. Therefore, if the City waited to widen the bridge until after
the double track is installed, the cost would have been exorbitant due to
down time for the contractor. So, lighter traffic means there is more time
each day to work.
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