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Desert Local News - Desert Local News Print at Home Edition 11 March 26 - Index

dhs town-hall meeting
A Town-Hall Meeting With DHS Council Member Al Schmidt
By Leslie Andrews
Desert Hot Springs City
Council member Al Schmidt invited
members of the public to
a small gathering Thursday afternoon
to help gather ideas to
improve the image of the city.
The meeting was informal,
but informative, with only one
city council member present
and leading the group. Schmidt
was collecting ideas from the
citizens that attended that he
could later present to the other
city council members later.
“The direction I want to go to
is all about ‘what can we do’,”
said Schmidt. “I had some wild
thoughts about this image thing
and thought about holding contests.
Things like that we could
actually do, by collaborating
with local businesses.”
Rumors have started in town
that Applebee’s Restaurant
and Target may be coming.
Though not confirmed, Schmidt
did say that in order to do so,
there needs to be more rooftops
to attract the big names to Desert
Hot Springs. “Already we
have two of the largest corporations
in the world here, which
are Bank of America and Mc-
Donalds,” he stated.
Local activists like Terry
Scheurer, who is in charge of
the sidewalks committee, suggested,
“We need to bring in
some festivals into town.” He
has also been collecting names
and emails to help organize
some of these goals, and if
anybody wishes to participate,
he offered contact through his
e-mail at TerryScheurer@verizon.net
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Realtor Vonda Pate-Davis
mentioned her concerns about
the city’s image. She knows
there is a progressive side of
town as well as an economically
depressed area of town as well.
When showing people properties,
she gives them a tour of all
areas in Desert Hot Springs. “So
far, the only people that have
backed out of buying anything
are investors,” she says. Davis
compared Desert Hot Springs to
Palm Desert when they first incorporated
back in 1973. “Palm
Desert used to have a lot of depressed
areas in town and they
have improved dramatically
over the years.”
Schmidt agrees, and yet he
also believes that while the economy
nationwide may be slowing
down, Desert Hot Springs is go-
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65005 Dillon Road, DHS (At Little Morongo Rd.)
ing to have a big boom coming
soon. “What could we do in the
next 18 months to prepare for
the next boom,” Schmidt asked
the crowd.
Property owner Alibaba
Farzanheh mentioned, “We
need to have a clean city to bring
in developments. If you take
away from economic developments,
you will lose power.”
The city has had a bit of Redevelopment
Agency (RDA)
funds given to them recently.
Schmidt explained how such
monies could be used in the city.
He said, “It could be used to buy
buildings and revamp them. Enterprise
zones will be helpful
too. We could get $8-9 million a
year. Many other cities borrow.
Indio applied for $80 million in
RDA funds so far.”
31
Finally, Schmidt addressed
the issue of annexation and how
important it is to take lands
close to the I-10 freeway before
Palm Springs does. “As a quick
matter of information, the city
has to annex the properties from
here down to the 10 freeway,”
he stated. “LAFCO will hold a
meeting in a couple of months.
We will have to go down there
with our swords and guns.”
Camille Lynde, who attended
the meeting with about
a dozen others, commented, “I
thought that this meeting was
very exciting. We now have an
idea to create strategies on a
grassroots level. Next, we carry
it on to the rest of the council.”
Al Schmidt plans to hold another
meeting within the next
two to four weeks.
Ward at Yard • (760) 272-4973
George • (760) 272-4319
Jean • (760) 272-6294
Ignacio • (760) 272-1936 (Se Habla Español)