PALM SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL TO HIKERS: DROP DEAD

[cynthia23]

Hi Phydeux, and thanks for your post. Don't worry I'm not offended I agree with Zip that you're actually correct and that the BLM is at least partly motivated by the problems with Skyline. I also agree with Zip that a desire to decrease one's workload is not a good reason for a government agency to give away 200 million or so bucks to private individuals.

Speaking of which, I'm underwhelmed by the City Council's letter. Respectfully I would disagree that this is a victory for us. It's 'better than nothing" of course, but I don't agree that if the tribe would just promise to give hikers continuing access, the BLM should go ahead and give them 36 and 16. As I said previously, I agree with the general idea of historical reparations: the tribe should get back some of their ancient tribal holdings, especially areas with a strong cultural significance to them. But 36 and 16 were added, later on, to the deal: 36 undoubtedly because of its' huge development value, and 16--we suspect--because the BLM is simply tired of hearing Riverside County Sheriff's Dept. complain about it. This deal is really wrong because it is the BLM transferring HUGE amounts of land wealth into the hands of a few hundred private indivuals who are already very wealthy (it would be different if this tribe were poor or numerous. They're neither.) When Palm Springs schools can't pay for school busses, kindergarten aides, or new textbooks, why is a government agency transferring a Mexican-drug-cartel size pile of funds into the pockets of a few hundred wealthy people?? There are real issues of financial impropriety and corrupt governance here. The Palm Springs City Council should be calling for an audit, independent appraisers, and an investigation--not just meekly saying "Oh well, so long as we get to keep hiking on it, okay, I guess...."

Part of what makes this conversation difficult is that no one wants to come off like a racist jerk. There's no question that the Native Americans were genocidally massacred and deserve reparations. However, that has to be balanced with reason and good governance requires considering all citizens. This tribe is very small and very rich, and they have made huge amounts of money off gaming, a detestable business that feeds off the poor and desperate and causes tremendous harm to families. They also make money by treating their service workers like crap, and they bust every union that tries to organize their workers. The amount of money they give to the cities of the CV is negligible compared to how much they drain out for city services and all the social harm their loathsome trade causes (and remember, they don't have to pay the same amount of taxes as you and me.) So: in conclusion--I can't see ONE DAMN REASON the public should give them 200+million and our best hiking trails. Call me crazy!

[phydeux]

Good analogy by "Z", but take it one step further by comparing the trails around Palm Springs/Coachella Valley to a chain of retail stores. Each entity will always have a few maintenance issues (straightening clothes and utility problems vs trash pick-up and clearing downed brush), but the store/trail management isn't going to tolerate any whose upkeep goes beyond that of the other in each respective group. A store in a bad part of town might have shoplifting, grafitti, and burglary problems, while Skyline has the extra added expenses of rescue boxes, water stashes, and a more-than-normal need for search and rescue personnel deployment. Unless that 'problem child' is bringing in a lot of goodwill or revenue to cover those extra expenses (profit for the store, tourists for the Coachella Valley), it ain't worth keeping it operating. Call it too much of a good thng, or being killed by its own new-found popularity, but the Govt entities might just want to let the BLM/Indian land swap happen to get rid of Skyline's fiscal headache.

A somewhat related example is the San Mateo Wilderess that straddles OC/Riverside/San Diego counties. Due to neighboring private land, there's no way to access it from the OC side. With only a few exceptions, an OC resident has to drive over to Riverside County to access it from trails just east of Wildomar.

And don't forget Kitching Peak over in the SE corner of the San'G' wilderness. The Indiands closed off access to that trailhead with no cause that I'm aware of.

Overall, a real bummer.