You can download the audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Public Safety Commission here. Swearing In The meeting commenced with the swearing in of Kelly Brady as Alternate Commissioner. Skate Park Safety Commissioner Martin brought this subject up last month so it could be agendized for this month's meeting. He is concerned that the city may be leaving itself open to unnecessary liability at the city's skate park. He cited an article in the Press-Enterprise. It may have been this article, although it has a different title from the one read which was "Rules And Care ...

The audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Planning Commission can be found here. Swearing In The meeting commenced with interim City Clerk Pat Hammers swearing in all the commissioners including new commissioner Steve Sobotta and new alternate commissioner Tony Colarossi. Commissioner Gustafson nominated Commissioner Gerardi to be chairman again. Commissioner Romero nominated Commissioner Versace for the position. Mr. Gerardi was confirmed again as chair by the votes of himself, Commissioner Sobotta, and Commissioner Gustafson. Commissioner Gustafson then nominated Commissioner Versace to be vice chair. Chairman Gerardi nominated Mr. Gustafson for another year in the position, but there ...

Mark Sedlacek, LADWP Director of Environmental Services At a press conference in Yucca Valley today, Mark Sedlacek announced that LADWP is ending its drive to build the Green Path North power lines from Desert Hot Springs through the high desert. Listen to his remarks here. I've edited out three ovations to keep it down to only 44 seconds. Thank you, my name is Mark Sedlacek from L.A. Light and Power. David Freeman was planning to be here today but other commitments came up at the last minute that kept him in the L.A. area. So, on behalf of David Freeman I ...

CITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE INCIDENT: SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team) Sweep Targets DHS area Sex Offenders in Compliance Checks as well as Parole/Probation Checks DATE: March 10, 2010 LOCATION: City of Desert Hot Springs and Surrounding Areas DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: Beginning this morning, approximately 50 officers from various local and federal agencies set out in several teams to contact approximately 90 registered sex offenders living within the boundaries of the 92240 area code. The purpose of these contacts was/is to ensure these offenders are complying with the terms of their registration requirements. The most basic requirements they checked ...

City of Desert Hot Springs 65-950 Pierson Blvd. Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 760-329-6411 City of Desert Hot Spring Redevelopment Agency Announces Local Supplier and Contractor Conference March 9, 2010 Contact: Laura Green Community Services Director (760)329-6411 x100 In May of 2009 the City of Desert Hot Springs approved the Neighborhood Renewal Program (NRP), an exciting tool aimed at improving neighborhoods, A major part of NRP is a grant program to assist city residents with improvements to the exterior of their homes including new roofing, landscaping, exterior paint and home weatherization. The goal of the program is to extend City assistance to stabilize neighborhoods, promote homeownership, remove blight, provide ...

CITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE INCIDENT: Gang Injunction Service/Probation & Parole Searches DATES: Week of 3-1 to 3-5, 2010; and ongoing LOCATION: City of Desert Hot Springs DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: This past week and on a continuing basis, the Desert Hot Springs Police Department, with assistance from the Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force, is continuing its fight against gangs in the City. Officers served a number of gang members from the West Drive Locos and True Crime Boys with their permanent gang injunction court documents barring them from congregating in certain areas and various other restrictions. These replace the ...

Very brief mention in the Desert Sun about a dinner and dance party ($65 a head) to be held in Coachella on March 21 to benefit Save A Pet, the no-kill animal shelter near Desert Hot Springs. Save A Pet's website (which could use some work). PDF with all the information, RSVP form and map. The website for the Corona Yacht Club in Coachella where the benefit will be held. Looks pretty spiffy. I don't know how old this Google satellite image is, but it was still orchards and groves then, and I suspect ...

Here is the audio recording of this study session of the Desert Hot Springs City Council. Neighborhood Renewal and Neighborhood Stabilization Programs Update RDA Director Rudy Acosta gave a report on the current state of the NRP and NSP. To refresh your memory, NRP is the city-funded program that fixes up owner occupied houses in order to reduce blight in RDA neighborhoods. NSP is the federally funded program that allows the RDA to buy up foreclosed homes, fix them up and return them to market. Map showing the homes currently in the NRP. 40 have been approved; 14 are ...

The California Department of Education is required to prepare a list of of the 5% of the schools that are "persistently low achieving," and Desert Hot Springs High School is on the list. Here's the list of Tier I schools, which includes DHS High as well as West Shores High in Salton City. And here's the Tier II list where you can find Indio High. According to the California Department of Education "schools identified as the lowest 5% of the state's persistently lowest-achieving schools are required to implement one of the following four school intervention ...

City of Desert Hot Springs Redevelopment Agency Announces Completion of Neighborhood Renewal Program Home Improvements Contact: Laura Green Community Services Director City of Desert Hot Spnngs (760) 329-6411 ext. 100 The Neighborhood Renewal Program is an exciting opportunity for Desert Hot Springs residents to apply for up to $15,000 in grant funding to improve the exterior of their homes, including weatherization, roofing and landscape improvements. The goal of the program is to extend City assistance to stabilize neighborhoods, promote homeownership, remove blight, provide public safety and reinvest in the community The mission of the Program is to create economic recovery through neighborhood partnerships. The Agency is ...

Desert Hot Springs' Mission Springs Water District was recognized at last month's Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Festival for having won the most medals in the 20 years of the festival. ...

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CONTACT: TERRY CHAPMAN 951-240-9967 CABOT'S PUEBLO MUSEUM TO PARTICIPATE IN HERITAGE PRESERVATION'S CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT PROGRAM March 1, 2010 Heritage Preservation, a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the United States, is pleased to announce Cabot's Pueblo Museum has been chosen to participate in the 2010 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP). Heritage Preservation's CAP is supported through a cooperative agreement with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency based in Washington D.C. CAP assists museums by providing funds for professional conservation and building preservation specialists to professionally identify the conservation needs of ...

Over three days last week a rundown house in my neighborhood, abandoned by its owners, home to a couple of drug-snarfing squatters, was demolished at the behest of code enforcement. And I got photos. My thanks to the police, code enforcement and city staff for their patient work to get this done, and to Councilmember Karl Baker for keeping his eye on things. Before. After. Woulda been nice if they could've knocked down that tamarisk tree while they were tearing things out. ...

Amazing, the farthest afield a Boston Globe travel writer usually gets is Atlantic City. This reporter must have been here for the spa tour. She gets things almost perfectly accurate, except the Sidewinder Grill is somehow teleported to the outskirts of town. She got a much better photo of the Spring Resort than I did. As growth and development spun off Interstate 10 along Route 111 south, the town was left in the dust. There is a sense that you could drop off the map here and nobody would notice. For years this town of some 25,000 had been ...

More photos of downtown Desert Hot Springs here. ...

Petroglyph boulder at the Salton Sea Visitors Center. I've no idea how they justified moving this boulder, since the actual location of the petroglyphs is nearly as important as the petroglyphs themselves. The snow covered peaks of Coachella Valley seen from Mecca Beach. It was warmer and much less windy at the Salton Sea than it was in Desert Hot Springs...but that's almost always true. Sunrise. A bear visited our camp. More photos from the campout on the Salton Sea. ...

Back in late December there was the news of Kevin Anthony Bryant who was stabbed at 8th and Mesquite. A little investigation revealed that Mr. Bryant was not only a victim, but also a much-wanted bad guy. He was arrested before he could leave the hospital. Even so, police were like all WTF?! Who did the stabbing and why? And now the answers: CITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE **UPDATE #2** Date/Time of Update: February 24, 2010/1510 Suspect: Kevin A. Bryant, 5-22-86, Male, Black, 5-7, 180 lbs, Brown, Black; Address: Transient Charges: (2) cts PC 211, Robbery; (1) ct PC ...

Darius GriffinCITY OF DESERT HOT SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE INCIDENT: Craigslist Posting Leads to Arrest DATE OF ARREST: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 DATE OF PRESS RELEASE: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 SUSPECT ARRESTED: Griffin, Darius M. A., 4-12-91, Male, Black, 6-1, 145 lbs, Black hair, Brown eyes; Address: 68200 blk Calle Azteca, DHS CHARGES: PC 496, Possess Stolen Property STATUS: In Custody, Riverside County Jail, $5,000 Bail NARRATIVE On 1/17/2010 officers were dispatched to the 67900 block of Whitney Ct. reference an alarm activation. When they arrived they found the rear sliding glass door had been smashed out and the home burglarized. On 2/22/2010 the victim contacted DHS ...

You can download the very brief (under 12 minutes) audio recording of this special meeting of the Desert Hot Springs City Council here. Closed Session On the subject of potential litigation from the BIA, the council voted 4-1 (Councilmember Betts voting against) to extend the tolling agreement. SERAF The city is required to notify the county auditor by March 1 of how it intends to pay for the $4.1 million ($3.4 million this fiscal year) that the state is taking from our RDA. The payment itself is not due until May 10. Staff proposed to pay it from the RDA's housing set-aside ...