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Home My WebLink About4/19/2017 - STAFF REPORTS - 00 (2) Terri Milton From: sergio07l364@aol.com Sent: Sunday,April 23, 2017 6:37 AM To: Terri Milton; Kathie Hart Subject: Fw:from Sergio Garcia, speaker at City Council meeting,4/19/2017, non-agenda item. Topic: Homeless Situation in Palm Springs Hello,Terri and Kathie: Below please find the text of what I intended to say at the 4/19 City Council meeting. (I ran out of time.) I forwarded this to The Mayor and all City Council members,etc.,on Friday,4/21,but I did not have your business cards with me at the time. 1 really put a lot of thought into what I wanted to say, so I hope you enjoy reading it. And,Terri,many thanks on helping me follow the proper protocol in presenting to Council. Regards, Sergio Garcia 786.459.8438 ------Original message------ From: Sergio071364 Date: Fri,Apr 21,2017 2:26 PM To: robert.moona,i)almsnrinasca.gov: inny.foatnapalmspringsca.gov:geoff.kors(analmsaringsca.gov:chris.mills(apabnspringsca.gov:ir.ro berts(apalmspringsca.gov; Cc: citymanager(a),palmspringsca.gov:amy.blaisdellApalmsoringsca gov:dale cook(&,palmspringsca gov:denise og olsby@palmspringsca g ov:vicki.olteant7a palmspringsca.gov; Subject:from Sergio Garcia, speaker at City Council meeting,4/19/2017,non-agenda item. Topic: Homeless Situation in Palm Springs Dear Mayor and City Council Members, including those that were absent at this Wednesday's,4/19,City Council meeting: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak at this Wednesday's meeting. I ran out of time on Wednesday,so I wanted to get you the full version of what I intended to say. I would have needed about another 30 seconds. I really wanted to end on a positive note. The full text appears below this brief note. After attending yesterday's(4/20)Homeless Task Force meeting, I am more confident that things are moving along on certain issues. I know that The City cannot release details of things until they are finalized,which must present you all with many challenges. Again,thank you. Hello. My name is Sergio Garcia. I am a resident of Palm Springs and I am not the famous golfer. I am here to address Council on the homeless situation. I have 2 minutes. 1 will be precise. (1) California passed the "No Place Like Home" Initiative in 2016. S2 billion for housing for the homeless with mental illnesses. The funds are being dispersed to counties. But many California CITIES are taking a pro-active approach,hosting town halls,etc. Is Palm Springs going to wait and have Riverside County take the lead on this? (2) Roy's,the overnight homeless shelter, is closing soon. Well in the Desert is looking for a new location. Well in the Desert is, 1 ironically, homeless. Where is the City's long-term, sustainable plan,that includes funding,to address the critical homeless situation in Palm Springs? (3) 1 will be attending the Homeless Task Force meeting tomorrow. The last meeting was 3 months ago. Yes,3 months ago ... (4) Quite recently, I put together a proposal for a homeless fundraiser at The Riviera Resort. I worked with their Catering Director on this. The proposal outlined how a half million dollars could be raised for the homeless and their needs. As promised, 1 delivered my proposal to my Council contact on April 12,one week ago. 1 have not received any feedback on this proposal. (5) Last week,I went to Sunrise Park to distribute some items to the homeless. Sunrise Park,the one that parents are afraid to take their kids to. I then went to the Mizell Senior Center. What a great place !!!!! And I thought,why can't there be something like this for the homeless? Simpler, of course,and instead of Salsa classes and knitting,there would be counseling and the teaching of job skills and help with filling out government forms,etc. WHY NOT??? AND(6) Measure J was passed, in part,to"maintain local community services." Do the homeless not deserve local community services? Wouldn't we ALL benefit if the homeless were integrated back into society? (Here's what I couldn't say ...) I would like to see The City develop a comprehensive, long-term plan to address the growing homeless problem in Palm Springs. If implemented correctly,the plan will result in minimizing the number of homeless in our parks and streets,and would create a better environment for our residents, business owners AND our visitors to Palm Springs. Just as importantly,the plan would result in returning many members of the homeless community back as contributing members of our society. In closing, I've had a lucky life,so I just want to give back. PLEASE let us ALL be of service on the homeless issue. But we really need your direction on this. And THANK YOU, Mayor and Members of the City Council, for all the hard work you do. 2 April 19 Palm Springs City Council / Cv Link / Cvag Tom Kirk Randy Roberts, desertwaterenergy@gmail.com The design of Cv Link is horrendously flawed. Its a $100 million dollar waste of"OUR MONEY"..... The only reason this bike and walking path is costing anywhere near $100 million is because CVAG & Tom Kirk wanted to increase their political clout and mislead the Public as to the best use of MEASURE A/ Peaker Plant mitigation funds. Kirk & CVAG saw lots and lots of public money available if they could just figure out a way to get it..... So..... They came up with an idea to design this bike /walking path to handle (Electric E.V. vehicles) and get Measure and Peaker Plant Mitigation money to fund it. That's the BIG LIE this CvLink proposal is built for. These are E.V. vehicles that do not exist, won't exist and certainly won't be using the CV link to go shopping, dining and seeking entertainment. Golf Carts along the washes in North Palm Springs and along Ramon Road? Come on! Many of us avoid these areas to keep our windshields and paint jobs from getting pitted by the prevailing winds and sand. Where are all these E.V. Vehicles coming from and why are they going to be 'JOY RIDING" on the Cv Link? Anyone who would consider an alternative energy vehicle is going to own a HYBRID, A LEAF, A Tesla, A VOLT and any other number of Electric vehicles that will transport them anywhere they want to go on our city streets and highways. Cv Link's only purpose is to attract the $100 million dollar financing that requires the Cv Link to be built to a $100 million dollar specification for these IMAGINARY E.V.'s THAT DO NOT EXIST. So.... Why not get a great bike path built or a much scaled down CvLink???? Why pursue a $100 million dollar boondoggle built on the lie of E.V. usage to take "OUR MONEY" from projects that can use these funds for real needs. If you pursue CV Link as proposed it will be a failure in costs, benefits, ongoing maintenance and security issues................ Shut it down now...... 1 �.\� .n April 19 Palm Springs City Council / Cv Link / Cvag Tom Kirk Randy Roberts, desertwaterenergy@gmail.com Use your passion and energy to do a great project not a wasteful project built on a lie to suck up government dollars. Please come up with a great and safe bicycle /walking pathway that doesn't cost $100 million dollars....... Crazy is as crazy does......Please don't let CVAG continue to go crazy with this madness. Finally, as regards Tom Kirk's tenure at CVAG. I strongly urge you to take a look at all CVAG budgets from 2015-2017. Specifically look at in-house personnel and outside consultants. The amounts are now over $8,000,000. An outside audit should be done on hours worked, vacations & sick-leave as well as exactly what work was done by whom. I believe you will be shocked at the findings. The following information should clearly call Mr. Kirk's management into question. State pulls recommendation for $24.3M CV Link grant • o http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/05/state-pulls- recommendation-243m-cv-link-grant/95012806/ o An error on a state application is costing the Coachella Valley Association of Governments more than $24 million in grant funds that were slated for the construction of the CV Link. CVAG takes Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and soon Palm Springs to task on CV Link criticism Tom Kirk as taken an adversarial position with Mayor Hobart, Ted Weil, Ty Peabody and soon yourselves regarding CvLink. 0 Tom Kirk has fought with Indian Wells On previously agreed funding for a Sound Wall on HWY 11 o Tom Kirk has resisted thoroughly investigating the concept Of Community Based Solar projects wherein the cities, the local agencies and the residents all participate in Solar Projects that will 2 April 19 Palm Springs City Council / Cv Link / Cvag Tom Kirk Randy Roberts, desertwaterenergy@gmail.com reduces their energy bills @ a minimum of 20% immediately and lock in their rates for 20+ years. 0 1 personally informed Tom Kirk on multiple occasions about the viability of using the massive Edom Hill Landfill / Transfer Station as a perfect sight for a large Community Based Solar installation. He, and his staff were completely unreceptive to investigating this concept. 0 There are more than 200 Solar Landfills In America Today. The EPA has given guidelines for conversion: 0 0 https://www.epa.gov/re-powering/best-practices-siting-solar- photovoltaics-municipal-solid-waste-landfills Instead of investigating Community Based Solar solutions and Edom Hill Solar concepts, Tom Kirk has already spent more than $250,000 on consultants for a CCA (Community Choice Aggregation) which may save our residents a few dollars on their electricity costs rather than the real and substantial savings of Community Based Solar proposals. In short, Tom Kirk lacks the administrative skill and the vision to lead CVAG and our cities to their best and brightest future achievable. He has antagonized the very leaders his agency is sworn to represent. He has an incredibly large compensation package with less than a stellar record of serving the Coachella Valley Stakeholders in the most efficient, prudent and responsible manner. The $100 million dollar CVLink is a symptom / manifestation of Tom Kirk's mono-vision and refusal to listen to his constituents. The Cv Link must be redesigned and Tom Kirk should step down. Thank you for your time and consideration of these issues. I would be happy to answer any questions. 3