I completely agree with Ms. Bollinger. Supervisor Rowe has it in her power to restore the MAC for the Morongo Basin's unincorporated areas, as well as other areas in the mountains and elsewhere. There's no reason why these areas should have no representation. There are no facilities in this area where the unhoused can take a shower or cook a meal or sleep. "Referrals" are completely inadequate. There's so much lip service and so little real help. More personnel are also needed to prevent law enforcement violence when it comes to people with mental health issues and disabilities. Too much in this county is done behind closed doors. Too little input is taken into account from the taxpayers and voters in this county.
The Housing and Homelessness Committee here in 29 recently discovered that the County has at least one mobile shower unit, they’ve been working on getting here, don’t know if they’ve had any success. City Council set aside funds to purchase one, but have not found a location to put it and a non profit or church willing to staff and maintain it. Shadow Mountain had originally agreed to lend a location, but were unwilling to sign the City’s MOU for operation. The Committee has since been suspended.
I have no problem with a large chunk going to law enforcement. $420 mil when spread around the largest country in the lower 48 is not going to go very far. None of the other services cited are any good without protection from the lawless elements coming in from other areas.
That was required by law because of relocating the elementary school. There was a bike path from Hwy 62 to the old elementary school too. It may seem ludicrous as a bike path, but many residents of the Avenidas now have a ‘sidewalk’ to walk on to get to town instead of a sandy shoulder. That is a plus in my book.
I am also going to assume that you have not lived here long enough to know why there is a white bicycle always parked at Sunburst and Jericho Way. RIP Tim Kelly.
Thank you Ann, and thank you Cindy for publishing her letter. There is the revenue that the county collects from the vacation rental market, but there is also ‘hidden’ revenue like sales tax collected from tourism, increased property taxes that we all pay, etc. There is an increased expense burden put on residents such as increased water rates, because the system cannot handle all of the pools and other water features that seem inherent in most strs these days. The stale tale that strs only exist to supplement residents’ incomes, and they are renting bedrooms and ADUs is no longer true. Those types of rentals are now the exception not the rule.
The fact that Yucca Valley and 29 Palms have capped strs only incentivizes developers and investors to build outside city limits, and both towns are too small not to have that growth affect them too.
In summary, my ask was for county government to be transparent regionally about where their revenue comes from, and in budgeting make an effort to give back and improve the communities on whose backs the revenue comes from, including social services. Solve the problems, instead of relying on law enforcement to clean up the mess later.
I completely agree with Ms. Bollinger. Supervisor Rowe has it in her power to restore the MAC for the Morongo Basin's unincorporated areas, as well as other areas in the mountains and elsewhere. There's no reason why these areas should have no representation. There are no facilities in this area where the unhoused can take a shower or cook a meal or sleep. "Referrals" are completely inadequate. There's so much lip service and so little real help. More personnel are also needed to prevent law enforcement violence when it comes to people with mental health issues and disabilities. Too much in this county is done behind closed doors. Too little input is taken into account from the taxpayers and voters in this county.
The Housing and Homelessness Committee here in 29 recently discovered that the County has at least one mobile shower unit, they’ve been working on getting here, don’t know if they’ve had any success. City Council set aside funds to purchase one, but have not found a location to put it and a non profit or church willing to staff and maintain it. Shadow Mountain had originally agreed to lend a location, but were unwilling to sign the City’s MOU for operation. The Committee has since been suspended.
I have no problem with a large chunk going to law enforcement. $420 mil when spread around the largest country in the lower 48 is not going to go very far. None of the other services cited are any good without protection from the lawless elements coming in from other areas.
As long as we don’t waste the money on stupid projects like the $940k bike path along Sunburst in Joshua Tree
That was required by law because of relocating the elementary school. There was a bike path from Hwy 62 to the old elementary school too. It may seem ludicrous as a bike path, but many residents of the Avenidas now have a ‘sidewalk’ to walk on to get to town instead of a sandy shoulder. That is a plus in my book.
I am also going to assume that you have not lived here long enough to know why there is a white bicycle always parked at Sunburst and Jericho Way. RIP Tim Kelly.
Thank you Ann, and thank you Cindy for publishing her letter. There is the revenue that the county collects from the vacation rental market, but there is also ‘hidden’ revenue like sales tax collected from tourism, increased property taxes that we all pay, etc. There is an increased expense burden put on residents such as increased water rates, because the system cannot handle all of the pools and other water features that seem inherent in most strs these days. The stale tale that strs only exist to supplement residents’ incomes, and they are renting bedrooms and ADUs is no longer true. Those types of rentals are now the exception not the rule.
The fact that Yucca Valley and 29 Palms have capped strs only incentivizes developers and investors to build outside city limits, and both towns are too small not to have that growth affect them too.
In summary, my ask was for county government to be transparent regionally about where their revenue comes from, and in budgeting make an effort to give back and improve the communities on whose backs the revenue comes from, including social services. Solve the problems, instead of relying on law enforcement to clean up the mess later.
Thank you Deborah for your comments at the meeting today. You were very clear and convincing and represented our community well!!