HomeMy WebLinkAbout2B Public CommentAnthony Mejia
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Ynid D. Finsten <deb8151@me.com>
Thursday, June 24, 2021 12:25 PM
City Clerk
Grace Garner; Christy Holstege; Dennis Woods; Justin Clifton; Geoff Kors; Lisa
Middleton; Pat Coppa; Carmine Coppa; David Murphy; David Toner; Virginia Giokaris;
Mary Miller; Bob Finsten; Rene & Steve Rosen; Andy & Diane Jessup; Mary Williams
Palm Springs City Council meeting regarding extension of provisional permit to The
Well of the Desert
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City Manager, Palm Springs, CA
Mr. Justin Clifton and City Council Members
My name is Ynid Deborah Finsten, I have been a resident of Palm Springs for over 40 years. I am also a
member of Community Partnership on Homelessness. Tonight is the City Council Meeting and I would like my
remarks to be included in the public record.
I am in complete agreement with the City's need to investigate The Well in the Desert, it's finances and it's
management. I have been attending City Council Meetings for the last 4 years and watched as Arlene
Rosenthal showed disdain for people living and working in the surrounding neighborhood every time the
provisional permit came up for approval. Most of the City Council, especially Christy Holstege and Geoff Kors
were as indifferent to the pleas from the community as Arlene Rosenthal. I have heard her answers when
asked to give exact numbers of people using her services on a daily basis, she doesn't keep those records. How
can The Well even have non profit status without keeping records? She and her staff have proven to be
terrible neighbors and have been forced to move at least 4 times that I know of. My personal opinion of the
services The Well provides is that it does just the opposite of what should be happening. I see The Well and it's
operation as an enabling mechanism. There is no virtue in leaving people with untreated mental illness and/or
drug addiction to live on the dirty, unsafe streets. It is my understanding that the county of Riverside is going
to provide cooling center locations this summer, therefore I believe The Well's conditional permit extension
should NOT be granted, but if it is granted, it should be for no more than one additional month. They need to
leave the current location on Calle Encilia and try to find another site, without help from the City. If they can't
find another site, they need to close and end their services. I think Martha's Village, offering services 5 days a
week isn't enough but they could work with the Riverside County's cooling centers this summer. Hopefully, by
the Fall, the city, working with the county can come up with a far better solution, using professional agencies.
The Well in the Desert, which is not run professionally, only offers services that enable the people living on the
streets to survive but with little or no hope of getting off the streets. Living on the streets is no longer an
option, especially in a country that should be providing so much more to the addicted and mentally ill with
heavy emphasis on prevention. Third World countries often offer more than we're providing, when did that
become ok??
City Council members, we're counting on you to provide help for the untreated and unmedicated mentally ill
and/or addicted but not at the expense of the rest of us who live and work and pay taxes here in Palm Springs.
City Council members Kors and Holstege, we all have civil rights, including those of us who are fortunate
enough to live off the streets.
Sincerely,
1 t:;,/:J~/~o:J/
ITEM No. :J6 Publle 6'111111111 f
Anthony Mejia
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James Gavin <james.57 _ps@yahoo.com>
Sunday, June 20, 2021 11:37 AM
City Clerk
Case 5.1419 CUP Extension Well In The Desert
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attachments unless you are sure the content is safe.
To our Supreme Leaders, The Palm Springs City Council, Again with your outrageous conduct on our
community and businesses, you have all again Lied and are continuing to destroy the quality of life in our
community with this reckless and irresponsible business operator. Not only are you even considering this
action, the community was only notified 6 days before your meeting is just another way to keep public
comments down, and when you know a majority of victims of this business are not in town. To extend the CUP
to a business that has violated this city's document since July 1,2017 is truly outrageous. The business continues
to violate this city document, and how do I know this I witness this.
Current Violations as of June 20,2021;
ADM 3-Conform to all Codes and Regulations ADM 10-Cause No Disturbance PLN 1-Hours of Operation
PLN 7-On Site Security PLN 8-Loitering PLN 9-Lighting PLN 14-Outside Storage Prohibited-
PLN-21 Expansion of Tenant Space
You all need to read ADMl 1-Grounds for revocation, and ADM-8 Revocation or voiding of CUP. It doesn't
call for extension it states Revocation.
With what has been allowed to exist in this community for 4 years to even considering to allow this reckless and
irresponsible business to continue her business in the city is preposterous.
Her words at the April Council meeting is "I don't care about the neighborhood, I don't listen to public opinion
"
Even at the April council meeting the Chief of Police stated if you allow her to move her business to the Boxing
Club you need to have rules and regulations in place and ENFORCE THEM FROM DAY ONE. Something that
was not done in our community, not even to this day. You all pick and choose who has to play by the rules.
To be honest it's like having 5 Donald Trumps running the city. You go through the motions and just push your
agenda onto the people and businesses. We have to live with your decisions, you don't and wouldn't. All 5 of
you and past council should have put in resumes to Donald Trump when he was President, and in your resumes
report how you are politicians that force your agenda on the people , you hire Yes Men to get your agenda
through and most importantly how you Lie And Cheat to the people. You are just the politicians he admirers.
All of you would have been Cabinet Members, and are city could have been without you. How great that could
have been.
It's time this city with there lack of knowledge and lack of managing and with the continued failure of Well In
The Desert it's time to get out of handling homelessness. Turn it over to the County. Even the County is smart
enough to know not to fund this failure Well In The Desert.
Again we know your decisions have been made already regarding this reckless and irresponsible business
operator, you just follow the motions of having a meeting because of the law. Like I told everyone, don't
believe this council until you see those doors closed, the council has done nothing but lie and back up this
reckless and irresponsible business operator for years. This is how a corrupt council works. They don't work for
1 ul~l)1
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the people, they work for Ms Rosenthal. There is not 1 community that wants this reckless and irresponsible
business operator near them, Ms Rosenthal's reputation speaks for itself, failure.
It's time for change and get the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission here if you truly want to make a dent in
homelessness. This business has all the resources in place for helping and working to get people out of
homelessness.
I know this is falling on deaf ears, it's been like this for 4 years now. I just can't wait until are absentee
representative Geoff Kors runs for any office, I will be there to voice your do nothing attitude.
Sincerely, James Gavin
Sent from my iPad
2
Anthony Mejia
From:
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To:
Chris Jares <chrisjares@yahoo.com>
Saturday, June 19, 2021 12:38 PM
City Clerk
Subject: Well in the Desert
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sure the content is safe.
I'm responding to Case 5.1419 CUP Extension related to Well in the Desert, which is being debated at City Council
Thursday, June 24. I'd like to add the following commentary about my experience. This is an email I sent to the City
Manager last week on the issue.
I am against the extension of the conditional use permit for this facility. They've been given notice to relocate, and they
have not performed. If they want to drag this out, then the City should require them to hire and pay for a private
security to patrol the neighborhood until they do relocate.
I live at 534 S Calle Ajo, Palm Springs, CA, about 2 blocks from Well in the Desert on Calle Encilia. My
street has become a bit of an expressway between the Motel 6 at Sunny Dunes/Palm Canyon and Well
in the Desert. The Motel 6 here is home to all sorts of shady dealings. Drugs, prostitution, etc. My
mechanic even bought a car from a lady that had her car stolen and left at the hotel. The trouble is
those folks don't just hang out there .. They walk the neighborhood and cause problems.
Since I've lived here (2 years), the homeless population has increased noticeably. Just on my street,
I've seen people defecate in the bushes by the Union Bank (across the street from me), tweakers
walking up and down the street at all hours of the day and night screaming at no one in particular
(weekly), fights between homeless people, and more. Today, for the second time in a month, I've had
another package stolen. I put in a secure mailbox, but that doesn't help with packages. Sometimes, the
police patrol here, but not as often as they should. It's honestly getting out of hand.
Well in the Desert has a good mission, but it's not appropriate to have it in a residential
neighborhood. Even if they move (which I believe is in process), we do need more security in Warm
Sands. We need policing, and we need to deal with the drugs and homeless situation.
I left LA because I was sick of these issues, and this part of Palm Springs is quickly becoming the same
mess as Hollywood. People are paying serious money to live here, and it really isn't in anyone's
interest that we let these neighborhoods decline in livability.
Hopefully, you'll read this as a constructive critique and not an indictment of the City's governance. If
there's something I can do to get involved and help out, please let me know.
Thanks
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JR Havendale, LLC 11111 Santa .\lonica 81,·d., Ste. 520 Los Angeles, CA 90025 • Phone: (310) 474-8844 • Fax: (310) 391-8844
June 18th, 2021
Honorable Mayor and City Council,
I am the landlord of the Palm Canyon Shopping Center located at 440-490 S. Palm Canyon Dr. in Palm Springs,
CA, and I am writing to express my deep concern regarding a potential extension of the Conditional Use Permit
for Well in the Desert cooling center.
As I and my staff have discussed in previous meetings, the failure of the city and of Well in the Desert to
provide adequate services to Palm Springs' homeless community has resulted in a drastic increase in both
nuisance offenses and serious criminal acts on my property. After four years of constant problems, the
relocation of Well in the Desert is dangerously overdue. I urge you not to delay this process any further by
extending their CUP (multiple violations of which have been ignored by your office, putting public safety in
jeopardy) for any amount of time.
This past Tuesday, at approximately 2:00 AM, a palm tree on my property was lit on fire and severely burnt
(incident #2106P3064). If you recall, this is the second incident of this nature, the first having occurred on
August 17, 2020. One of my tenants at the site provided the following photos and comments:
"Last night around 2 a.m. someone's lit the palm tree on fire behind the restaurant"
"This was a plastic
sign that I had In front ·
for the restaurant
that they lit on fire
and it melted luckily it
didn't catch the patio
canopy on fire"
"This is the light
behind a restaurant
where the fire started
what's working
Sunday Monday but
not now looks like
they were trying to
charge their phone or
something"
Enough is enough. Who is liable if the plaza burns down? If someone is hurt or killed? I hold the city
responsible for the destruction and vandalism at my property.
When I contacted your Assistant Director of Planning yesterday, I was advised to take this matter up with the
police. As you are aware, the Palm Springs Police Department is completely overwhelmed. Capt. Mike Kovaleff
confirmed this during the public hearing on March 25, stating that the department " ... [has] never had the
volume of issues that we are having in that area in my career here." The incident was not even reported to
your office, despite being extremely relevant to your decision making process for potential CUP extension.
Our visitors to the plaza are terrified. The tenants who have not already left because of these issues are
halfway out the door. My staff is overwhelmed with attempting to rectify the endless problems. You have
shown us a complete lack of care and disregard for these public safety hazards. You have failed us. Do not
make this worse by dragging out the problem.
Sincerely, tr 12~·
Joseph Ramani
Managing Member of JR Havendale, LLC
Anthony Mejia
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Subject:
BOB BUTLER < bobstenworlds@comcast.net>
Friday, June 18, 2021 6:51 AM
City Clerk
Hearing for extension of Conditional use permit of cooling center
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It will obviously due me little good to repeat the long list of problems in my neighborhood directly due
to the cooling center. Now we can add the terrible stabbing teen death one block from the center (his
little memorial shrine is still on Palm Canyon).
Our neighborhood is easy to keep abusing as it is largely Latino (all the way down to Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church) and they have given up asking residents of my complex (largely seniors) to
speak for them. The problem: the council is deaf.
Thanks.
Bob Butler
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