PALM SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL TO HIKERS: DROP DEAD

[cynthia23]

Bad news on the BLM giveaway front people (if you don't know what I'm talking about see the sticky first post). Although at the last city council meeting the council members said they would send a letter requesting the removal of parcels 16 and 36, they "had a meeting" with the tribe and are NOW sending a letter only stating that the tribe has to promise really, really hard, pinky please, to never ever stop hikers from using the trails. Don't be fooled folks: aside from fact that the tribe's promise is legally unenforceable, it also evades the fundamentally improper nature of this giveaway. I'm not going to give my house to someone no matter how much they promise to let me keep living in it; just so, there is NO reason to give our most important local recreational resources into the hands of two hundred millionaires (who plan to make even more money by building on the land.) DON'T LISTEN TO THEIR SOOTHING LIES! I talked last night to Larry Ligouri at the CV Hiking Club, who had just come from a lengthy meeting with the city council. Essentially (I'm paraphrasing) he said the city of Palm Springs is just too deeply under the thumb of the tribe to do anything that flouts them.To put it crudely, when the tribe tells them to bend over, their only question is how far and was it good for you honey? (and then: "give me my money") The tribe gives big bucks to all of their campaigns, and it gives money to the city itself--Larry was telling me that recently, the tribe gave 2 million bucks to the city to repair Ramon Road. It's all about money.

Then, to top it off, this morning I woke up to find the Desert Sun posted one of it's disgusting a--kissing editorials, saying that though hikers are 'understandably concerned', their worries are overblown, and it's much better to have the local tribe owning the trails than the federal government. Hello, the 'fed government' here is ME. (Florian, can you link to the editorial?) It was so disgusting I almost lost my breakfast. There are no words for how much I hate the Desert Sun, a paper that never, ever loses any opportunity to fawn over the rich and powerful and always, always takes the side of the criminals and bullies. (some of us still remember how endlessly they fawned over soon-to-be indited billionaire crook Tim Blixseth.) Or, actually, there are words for what I'd like to do to the Desert Sun, Gannet Newspapers, and editor Rick Green, but, since they all involve scenes from a Steven Seagal movie, I'd be arrested if I wrote them ...

But enough of my rich fantasy life. Here's my point: we can't look for help from any local power: the city council, Bono-Mack, et al. They are all desperately frightened whores for the tribe. We need to focus all our energy on contacting Barbara Boxer and Ken Salazar. Don't be nice in your letters. Start using words like Corruption, Investigation, Graft, Scandal, Collusion, Felony, and Backroom Deal. During the last city council meeting, it came out that an independent appraiser working for the Desert Trails Coalition CONSERVATIVELY valued the developent worth of Parcel 36 at EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS. Last night, Larry told me that the BLM had NEVER gotten an independent or outside appraisal of the lands they're giving away; they say they're going to wait until AFTER the exchange goes through. Don't you wish you could buy a house that way??? Here's my new suggested motto: BLM GIVEAWAY: IT SMELLS LIKE BELL!!

I know some of you who aren't locals don't understand why we are so worked up. You have to understand that this is a huge land grab by a tiny (less than three hundred) group of local millionaires, and that sooner or later, it will involve building mcmansions over the trails in the Santa Rosas, and the restriction or closure of Skyline. If you think it will only happen 'someday', you are wrong. If the exchange is approved, it will go through in a YEAR. Two days ago, on the Thielman trail, Emin ran into BLM surveyors out measuring the acreage! People, they are getting ready to do this!
Here's Emin's email to me about what they said (Emin gave me permission to post it"
"Today, I came down the Thielman trail around lunch time. Two surveyors were hauling some equipment uphill. Of course I couldn’t resist the temptation to engage them in a conversation about the proposed land exchange.

I was told the whole issue was just blown out of proportion and the Indians would really have no gain. Besides the fact that the BLM wouldn’t have the resources to manage the areas in question and the tribe had no intention to make any changes, everybody would be better off. I shouldn’t be concerned.

When I mentioned the fact that I’d never seen anyone out there and would like to know what they’re “managing”, he stated: “The BLM is much better with larger projects, such as the Sonora Desert etc.” What does that mean?

I brought up the point that the proposal already spells out that mountain biking will be banned, he responded that the bikers are basically a rude crowd, referring to their behavior on the trails and that there is always a battle between the horses, the hikers, and the bikers.

The final blow was the statement: “The Indians were here first!” Therefore he had an understanding of who should be in charge.

Obviously the person was not speaking on behalf of the BLM and just voiced his personal opinion. But if this is an indication what the BLM thinks, we can say goodbye to the trails for future generations."

Do you hear how the BLM is saying they don't want to manage these crummy little trails? And how they basically don't give a rat's a-- about what we, the public, want?

WRITE OR CALL BARBARA BOXER AND KEN SALAZAR. DEMAND, don't Ask, that they stop this deal! DEMAND a criminal investigation. DEMAND an outside appraisal and public hearings.

BLM LAND GIVEAWAY: IT SMELLS LIKE BELL.

[Ellen]

Howdy St. Cynthia

I don't even know what to say

What happened to the so-called "comment period"?

Thanks,
Ellen

[Florian]

I don't know what to say. Very disappointed with the city council but can't say i'm surprised. I guess i should hike section 36 as much as i can before the bulldozers arrive.

Here is link to today's Desert Sun article ► http://www.mydesert.com/article/2010111 ... ree-to-all

-Florian

[Sally]

I just got back from a great hike with my daughter in the Anza Borrego Desert. I logged on to my favorite website expecting the usual pleasure I get, only to find that our PCT to Tram hike for Sunday is cancelled, and now THIS! Talk about knocking the wind out of my sails!

Now I am going to have to write some more letters. Cynthia, I wish I were as articulate as you. I'm afraid I probably come off as some sort of yokel in the letters I have written. You have given us some good points to emphasize.

I guess I had better get writing.

[Florian]

Please write the mayor and city council expressing your disappointment. You should be able to copy and paste the following line into the "To" field of your email program ..

Steve.Pougnet@palmsprings-ca.gov, Chris.Mills@palmsprings-ca.gov, Ginny.Foat@palmsprings-ca.gov, Rick.Hutcheson@palmsprings-ca.gov, Lee.Weigel@palmsprings-ca.gov

-Florian

[cynthia23]

i'm also posting this in the sticky ... Thanks for your responses! Sally, you are hardly a 'yokel' and I'm sure your letters are quite articulate. But articulate or simple garbled rage, it doesn't matter; the only thing that matters to elected officials is numbers. If enough people write them screaming bloody murder, they will be forced to respond.

I did actually attend the PS City Council meeting last night. It was awful. I'm sorry to save the hoped-for change of heart didn't manifest; they're simply going to send a letter saying they will support the inclusion of 36 and 16 if hiker's access is assured. Since the proposal only says that the tribe has to keep access for a year, this is hardly a triumph. I actually spoke to Ginny Foat last night and she told me bluntly that the tribe is very upset about all us and very upset with the PS city council when they suggested removing parcels 36 and 16. They actually called the PS city council up and made them all come to a meeting. (Foat said something to the effect of 'they had been called to the woodshed") It tells you something about who really calls the shots in Palm Springs; the city council rushed to the meeting and then rewrote their letter. Could you and I get such a hearing and such immediate deference? Anyway, it became very apparent in the conversation with Foat that the city council is extremely anxious to kick the can down the road and get the tribe off their back; Foat kept urging us to contact Bono-Mack. In other words, nobody wants the hot potato. Let somebody else confront the Mob/Oops-I-Meant-the-Tribe.

And speaking of the Mob. Last night I started really thinking about this less from a hiking point of view and more from an Elliot Ness point of view. If Parcel 36 ALONE is valued at 80 million dollars, what do you think the total value of this exchange is? Granted, probably only 36 is directly developable. but Ken (Wildhorse) also thinks part of the reasoning is the Tribe may want to gain some protected habitat so they can 'trade it off' and develop other properties they already own--in Chino Canyon for instance. Or they may simply leverage this land for cash--i.e. borrow against it. The rumor is that the recession has hit the casinos and I'm guessing that like everyone they overbuilt (they sank huge bucks into the Rancho Mirage casino.) Who knows, but the bottom line is, there is at LEAST two hundred million dollars at stake here. It's enormously naive for us to think they are going to respond to pleas from locals. There is no way in hell they are going to give up 200 million bucks; remember there's only a few hundred of them, so for each of them that's at least a million they're adding to their net worth. People do not walk away from money like this, they're going to fight to the freaking death. It's no use asking quietly or privately or being nice or any of those things. Asking someone to give up two hundred million dollars does not work.

What does work? WAR. WE MUST GET NASTY. This will be hard for most of us to do because we're nice middle-class people who enjoy solitary jaunts in the wilderness. Aside from a few online tiffs, I'm guessing few of us enjoy confronting others and making enemies. But that's what we're going to have to do. We will have to piss people off. The tribe, obviously; but also the Palm Springs City Council; Bono-Mack; the Desert Sun, and anybody else who is ON THE SIDE OF THE ENEMY!!

We can't be afraid to confront people and say rude, offensive things. Here's some suggestions: flood the Desert Sun with letters scoffing at the recent cruditorial; flood the Mayor and City Council with angry emails denouncing their cave-in to the Mob/Tribe (Trob?), and let's start CALLING Bono-Mack (202-225-5330) and Barbara Boxer (951-684-4849) Demand a House or Senate investigation of John Kalish's overly close relationship to tribal members and possible financial improprieties in this huge giveaway of over 200 million in public lands to a few hundred millionaires. Demand an independent appraisal. Demand public hearings. We're talking about 200 million dollars for God's sake! If Parcel 36 were to be developed (and of course, I'm totally against that), but if it were, wouldn't it be better for the money to go into paying for schools and hospitals, rather than into the bank accounts of people who already have them stuffed like hogs? What I'm saying is, we shouldn't just be concerned about this as hikers and environmentalists; we should also be concerned as citizens. This truly is wrong, wrong, wrong ...

I'm going to a meeting of the Desert Trails coalition next week, and will report whatever I learn .... meanwhile, let's all ..... FIGHT ON!!!

[OsideMatt]

Thanks for the editorial Cynthia. I'm new and not quite local so I've never really taken the time to understand EXACTLY what's going on but after doing my reading it's about what I expected.

Something you mentioned in there potential intent is very insightful however and could work to your benefit. It's a very common practice for major developers (I worked for the land division of a Fortune 500 homebuilder for many years) to effectively "buy" land impact development credits. Example being the mining company who to get permission to strip mine and tottaly tear up an area in exchange deeds a parcel a wilderness preserve. Hopefully that's the case.

The other thing I was thinking about was my local golf course and how much trouble they had developing and building it. We had some marginally protected bird that "supposedly" bred nearby. In the end they stopped construction of the course for the entire breeding season and then had to remobilize all that equipment, opened years late, etc. Cost the city an estimated $15M (rediculious right!) extra. Point being that there are lots of things that make a parcel undevelopable from a cost-benefit standpoint. Rare plants, endangered animals, cultural signifigance. I worked on a site once where we found an old rail yard during an excavation. Want to talk an expensive shut down. Some national historical society got involved. It was a train wreck (nice pun huh?). My whole point is that lots of agencies regularly make development a nightmare. Bureacreacy at it's worst. If you need to buy time and want to muck this deal up use another agency. Nobody listens to us or frankly gives a S#%$ but if you find a gnatcatcher out there it'll be a park until the Salton Sea connects to the Gulf of Calif again.

Food for thought.

[phydeux]

Disclaimers to start: I've never been up the Skyline Trail, nor done much hiking on the Coachella Valley side of the San Jacinto Mtns or Santa Rosa Mtns, and I don't have any connection to the Indian tribe, the BLM, or any other govt agency involved in the land swap.

Just for the sake of bringing up a counterpoint to try and cool the toasty rhetoric, do you think that maybe, possibly, quietly in their own minds, the local jurisdictions who provide emergency services in/around the Skyline Trail area (City of Palm Springs police/fire, Riverside SAR, etc), see this as a way to stop the impact of rescues up on Skyline? With municipal budgets being really tight right now, the P.S. City Council and staff could see this as an easy way to stop spending their limited resources on rescuing folks who hike up Skyline ill-prepared?

Just throwing this out there for consideration. Take some time to let the anger subside, think about all the pros and cons of the land swap, and you can make a better decision on how to act.

. . . . I will now go hide in my secret cynthia23-proof bunker until the rage subsides.

[bluerail]

The main area in concern really has no rescues to speak of, and is miles away from skyline.

[zippetydude]

Hi Phydeux. No, I don't think that's a crazy thought, unfortunately I think you've hit the nail on the head. But it makes it even more incriminating towards the BLM. Why?

Well, I heard this story years ago. A stock boy at a grocery store was irritated and spoke to the manager. "Every time I get the shelves neat, these customers come in and take things, messing things up again and again!" The manager didn't seem to understand. "The purpose in the well-stocked shelves is to attract customers. If that requires effort on our part, so be it. Our job is to make the product available."

By the same token, the BLM may be saying it's easier to manage dirt, rather than people and dirt, but the only reason they're paid is because there are people walking on that dirt. The dirt will manage itself for free.

If it's so hard to manage both that we have to remove the people, the people at the BLM should go too. Laziness and incompetence have never paid all that well.

Make sense?

z