New Info! Palm SpringsCity Council meeting on November 3rd!

[cynthia23]

There is a Palm Springs City Council meeting on November 3, at 6pm. Ken (wildhorse) urges all who can to attend and express our views on the BLM swap. He says it would be especially valuable for the city council to hear from Skyliners and out of town folks. He suggests getting there by 5.30pm. See the first/sticky post on this board ("Urgent: Palm Springs trails threatened") for more details ....

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Please post if you are able to attend the Wednesday evening Palm Springs city council meeting to STS (Stop the Swap) and SOS (Save Our Skyline).

I'm going to try to be there. You won't recognize me -- I'll be wearing make-up and clothing to hide blood from the Skyline scratches

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[guest]

Hi,
I'll be there to support the protection of many of these great trails!

Folks, please realize access to YOUR Skyline route is threatened.
Yes, there's been lots of talk on this board over the past couple years, regarding this possibility, and that day may be fast approaching.

Help give your support to this cause if at all possible, if you want Skyline, and over 8 other greats trails, including some of the best mt. biking ones, to remain open and public.

[bluerail]

So I guess I should repost this from the "sticky" thread ?:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.deserthiker.typepad.com/

November 3rd 2010 at 6 pm
Council Chambers City Hall
3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs


Stop the Exchange

[zippetydude]

So I guess I should repost this from the "sticky" thread ?:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.deserthiker.typepad.com/

November 3rd 2010 at 6 pm
Council Chambers City Hall
3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs


Stop the Exchange

Umm, Steve... "Exchange" doesn't rhyme with "Stop", hence the
"Stop the Swap" idea.

Now, if you insist on Exchange, you could always paraphrase it to Exchanga, then say, "No Exchanga with Pechanga!" Oops, wrong tribe. How about "Say no deala to Cahuilla?" Okay, it's getting worse, not better.

Stop the Swap!

z

[guest]

Hey hikin friends,

my hikin friend received this from city councilman Weigal:
"Thank you for your e-mail.
As a matter of fact the City has already weighed in on the subject.

In a nut shell, our position was; any transfer of land should not have an impact on the use by the public.

Ultimately this decision is made by the BLM and BIA working with the Agua Caliente. The City of Palm Springs weighed in during the comment period but we have no control.
I hope you are communicating with them as well.

Again thanks for your input.

Lee Weigel

So, it appears the letters many of you have written & calls made to people in "higher" places may have more impact.
Unfortunately, even Mr. Weigal seems to think the tribe will manage this land as the BLM has, in a mostly hands-off method, but many of us have our doublts.

Here's a great letter Larry Liguori of the Coachella Valley Hiking Club will read during council meeting Wed night, covering many points a lot of folks may not have considered or want to acknowledge.


November 2, 2010

Mayor, Mayor pro tem and Council Members
City of Palm Springs
3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way
Palm Springs, CA 92262

Re: Proposed Land Exchange in the National Monument

Dear Mayor, Mayor pro tem and Council Members:

The membership of the Coachella Valley Hiking Club has a membership of nearly four hundred people and leads hikes in the Coachella Valley and its surrounding mountains for its members and for hundreds of visitors to the area each year. Our membership and the other citizens that we meet through our hiking programs are shocked, frustrated and angry that the BLM would seriously considering giving up land in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument in a highly unequal land exchange that does not benefit the public. We need the City of Palm Springs to stand up for the public’s interest and tell the BLM to stop.

This letter provides a summary of our concerns.

1. Why the public should fear losing access to the land

a. As the BLM has proposed this exchange, future public access depends on a management agreement that the BLM negotiated with the Tribe. That agreement provides for public access, but allows the Tribe to place restrictions on that access. (Source: Management Agreement, Section 3.)
b. The management agreement provides no legal remedies if access is cut off or unreasonably restricted.
c. The management agreement can be terminated after one year.
d. In the official document that initiated the exchange process, the BLM stated that after the exchange the lands “may not be available for public use and enjoyment.” (Source: Feasibility Report, section 4)

2. Why the value of the land the public would receive is low

a. The land the public receives is a little more than 2 square miles. The land it gives up is much larger - more than 9 square miles.
b. Land the public now owns (Sections 16 and 36, T4S) contains popular trails. They begin in the City of Palm Springs where access is easy, and many people can use them because they are not too strenuous. Land the public would receive is remote and hiking to it is too strenuous for most people.
c. Land the public would receive could only be practically accessed from land the Tribe now owns or would own after the exchange (i.e., Section 36.) The easiest access would be through Indian Canyons where the daily use fee is $8, the hours are restricted, and if one does not get back before closing time one’s car may be towed.

3. Why the public cannot trust what the BLM is doing

a. The BLM has a long history of making land exchanges that do not benefit the public and that give away public land that is more valuable than the land that is received.
b. In this exchange the BLM has not been adhering to federal regulations that ensure land exchanges are fair and benefit the public. For example, federal regulations require the BLM to get a preliminary independent appraisal from the Appraisal Services Division of the Department of the Interior at the beginning of the exchange process and to maintain ongoing coordination with that agency throughout the exchange process. In this case, the BLM has not yet consulted the Appraisal Services Division even though the exchange process began ten years ago.
c. The BLM has been telling the public that the Monument Act requires it to make this exchange. That has given the public an impression for nearly ten years that this exchange is a “done deal.” In fact, the BLM has no mandate to make this exchange. The Monument Act does not require this exchange and it only allows the BLM to make this exchange if the benefits of getting new land in the exchange exceed the benefits of keeping the land the public already owns and if the value to the public of the land it receives is at least as much as the land it is giving up. (Source: GAO)
d. The BLM attempted to issue its environmental assessment and to close off the public’s opportunity to comment on it while many Palm Springs residents were away during the summer. It turned down a request from the Desert Trails Coalition to extend the comment period to allow more time for the public to hear about and comment on the exchange. It finally extended the comment period only after a member of Congress and the Secretary of the Interior pressured it to do so.

4. Why loss of public ownership is bad for the land itself

a. Land preservation requires ongoing public support.
b. Public support for preservation of land it does not own, and may not be able to freely use, is unlikely to be maintained.
c. The public will lose its legal authority to preserve the land.
d. The public feels more responsible for land it owns than for the land it does not own.
e. After the exchange the public will own nearly 7 square miles less than it now owns in the National Monument.

5. Why public ownership of the Skyline trail is important

a. This trail is iconic and has national as well as local importance.
b. It represents one of the most difficult and dramatic mountain trails in the nation.
c. Hikers come here from all over the nation to climb it.
d. It begins on the desert floor in Palm Springs and leads past the upper tram station to Mount San Jacinto.
e. The BLM has stated that after the exchange the lands “may not be available for public use and enjoyment.”

6. Why the public should protect its right to ride a bicycle on the land

a. Public interest in riding bicycles is increasing because it improves health, is safe for the environment, and is a lot of fun.
b. The average age of bicycle riders is roughly the same as the average age of residents of Palm Springs (late forties.)
c. The land the BLM wants to give up contains beautiful areas in which to ride.
d. According to the BLM’s environmental assessment, the land exchange would reduce the number of trails and miles on which the public could ride. It would cut off the most practical access for many (the Thielman Trail) to places where people can most easily ride.

7. Why the voice of the City Council matters so much in this exchange

a. The Palm Springs City Council has the ability to stand up for the rights of its citizens.
b. The land exchange will harm the citizens of Palm Springs who use and enjoy the National Monument that is right here where we live.
c. The land exchange, if it does lead to loss of public use and enjoyment as the BLM warns it may, will hurt businesses in Palm Springs that depend on tourism.
d. In this time when ecotourism is growing, the land exchange takes away the unrestricted access to the land that attracts such travelers.
e. The BLM is a powerful entity that has a track record of failing to meet its obligations to protect the public interest in land exchanges. It takes all the power the people can muster to protect itself from the BLM. The City of Palm Springs can help us exert the rightful authority of the public.
f. When people learn about this exchange they are shocked, frustrated and angry. We are shocked to learn that the government would do this to us, frustrated by our lack of power to stop it, and angry for the lack of care for our rights shown by the government.
g. The BLM is required by regulations to “ensure effective public participation.” It has not done so. The City of Palm Springs can help make sure the BLM hears our voice.

Another Critically Important Concern – Value and Possible Use of the Land

The Coachella Valley Hiking Club is continuing to investigate the land exchange. In addition to the concerns expressed above, we are particularly concerned about a complex issue that we would like for the City to help us investigate. It involves the value of the land that the BLM would give up. We are investigating the possibility that the Tribe would be able to use this land to mitigate the environmental effects of developing other land that is outside of the Monument. If that possibility exists, then the value of the land the BLM would give up could be worth many millions of dollars more than the land it would receive, more than even the gross imbalance in acreage may imply. In addition, the possible use of the land to mitigate adverse environmental effects of other development may represent an effect on the environment that the BLM's environmental assessment has not addressed because the exchange could result in the use of far more land for development than would be possible without the exchange. We are trying to determine the scope of this possibility, what laws would apply to the regulation of this possibility and how they could be enforced. A thorough investigation of this possibility may be critical to assuring that the BLM will not complete an exchange that harms the public.

For additional information about any of the concerns summarized in this letter, please contact Ken Garrett, Chair of our Conservation and Trails Committee, 760-322-4015.

Very truly yours,


Larry Liguori
President

[Sally]

I may be able to make it to the meeting. I hope my presence might help to make a difference. It's pretty frustrating that city councilman Weigal makes it sound like the City has already thrown in the towel.

[cynthia23]

Wow, Guest, I am blown away, in the bad sense, by that letter from Councilman Weigel. To coin a phrase: they just don't get it. Or, because they have to be very careful with the ACBCI, they can't afford to get it. That's why it's SO important that everyone who can, attends tomorrow night's city council meeting! This aft. I went to a meeting of the Coachella Valley Hiking Club. They have heard from many people and expect and hope to see a couple hundred people turn out. It's really important you go! There are going to be crews from the newspaper and local TV stations. Again: it's Wednesday night at the Palm Springs City Hall, on Tahquitz, at 6pm. Stop the Swap! (although I really liked Zip's No Deala with Da Cahuilla!)

[Florian]

I'm planning to attend the city council meeting tonight. I might be a bit late arriving as i have a schedule conflict.

-Florian

[zippetydude]

It's 7:57 and I just got in from work. What's the word, people? How did it go at the meeting?

z