Thorough and thoughtful: Those who know him best say Jeffrey Bernstein will bring passion, compassion to mayor’s job

Compassion. Kindness. Thoughtfulness. Thoroughness. Anyone wondering what the city’s next mayor will bring to the table as he steps into the role would be wise to listen to those who know him best.

Those were the themes that stuck out as The Post spoke with people who work for, work with, and even live with Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Bernstein, who one year after being elected as the councilmember serving District 2 will be sworn in as mayor during a ceremony at City Hall Thursday evening.

While largely a ceremonial position, becoming mayor will still see Bernstein thrust into being the most public face of the city. But, similar to what District 2 voters found appealing in electing him to the City Council in 2022, his broad range of experience should serve him well.

Like others who find themselves on the City Council dais, Bernstein’s path to local politics was a bit circuitous. Born in New Haven, Conn., to parents who were professors (his father was at Yale, and his mother would have been had the college had female professors at the time), his formative years saw him living in Gladwyne, Penn., but he also spent a year in Israel and two years in London.

Bernstein majored in economics at Columbia and went on to a career in the cable television and satellite industry. He focused on emerging media, business development, and marketing and programming for companies ranging from Warner Brothers to British Sky Broadcasting before closing out his career as a consultant.

“I was brought up by a father who was a social and political philosopher,” Bernstein said. “During the summer before I was born in 1964, my father went to Mississippi to participate in the Freedom Summer. He dedicated his life to his countless students and colleagues, offering opportunities for research and fellowship to philosophers around the globe who were victims of oppressive regimes.

“As a student at Columbia University, I was very involved in the anti-apartheid movement.  We staged a month long sit in focused on changing University policy to divest itself from companies that did business in South Africa for profit.”

Bernstein was also bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, opening a restaurant and nightclub in the Hamptons and developing an e-commerce business. In Palm Springs, he may be best known for pursuing his passion for retail business as the founder of Destination PSP, opened in 2012 first as a pop-up at VillageFest and later as one of the most popular gift boutiques in the city.

“We fell in love with Palm Springs after arriving,” Bernstein said as he explained how he and his husband, Dr. Oscar Chamudes, came to call the city home and open the store. “We wanted to send souvenirs home, but couldn’t find anything cool to buy. My husband said we should make it. That started it.”

As a small business owner, a volunteer at more than a dozen local non-profits, and — prior to stepping up to the City Council — chair of the city’s Measure J Oversight Commission and a founder of the newly-launched Sister Cities organization, Bernstein has gotten to know the city, its residents, and their needs remarkably well since he and Chamudes relocated here in 2009. He also spotted a need on the Council.

“When we started our business a friend suggested we contact a City Councilmember,” he recalled. “I contacted Paul Lewin who agreed to meet with me.  He spent an hour and half giving me advice and connections.  I have made a point of meeting almost every City Council candidate.  As part of the small business community, there was a common refrain that we needed a business person on Council.”

During recent conversations with Chamudes, current Mayor Grace Garner, and Councilmember Ron deHarte — who will become mayor pro tem Thursday evening — each pointed to Bernstein’s thorough grasp of every issue he votes on as a councilmember, made possible by his willingness to spend countless hours sifting through city staff reports and other documents that are often hundreds of pages long.

“What has surprised me is how involved he gets in the issues,” Chamudes said last week. “He doesn’t agree cursory. He investigates deeply into the issues. He takes one full day, sometimes on the weekends, to read through the packets for every meeting.”

“He’s very strategic in his approach to the issues,” said Garner.

Added deHarte: “The thoroughness he offers as he considers every issue that comes before us, to see him take that investigative nature to everything is what I’m looking forward to seeing” as Bernstein becomes mayor.

The fact he is the only member of the current Council who owns a Downtown Palm Springs business should not be overlooked. “That’s a real asset to the entire community,” Garner noted.

If you think that means he will favor the needs of business owners over others, those who work for him said to think again.

“He doesn’t show any favoritism,” said Catherine Hislop as she tended shop at Destination PSP recently. “He’s respectful toward everybody. When a customer has an issue, he listens to everyone while trying to solve the issue. It’s not just me he treats this way — it’s all the employees and customers here.”

As a lifelong Palm Springs resident, Hislop said she’s looking forward to the city she loves benefitting from the same approach Bernstein takes to managing his employees.

“I was just a girl looking for work” Hislop said, relating the story of how she first encountered Bernstein a year ago. “It has been a real blessing working here.”

Chamudes married Bernstein in 2014 during a ceremony performed by Rabbi Sally Olins at the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was at a dance in New York City 12 years before, however, that he first met him and began to notice the qualities others point out today.

“I realized what kind of person he was right away,” said Chamudes. “He has a very big heart. He’s very compassionate for other people. He’s always thinking of the good of the people and the good of the city.”

Neither Chamudes nor Bernstein were thinking about serving in local politics until they moved to the city. But that began to change the more they became involved in the community.

“We started going to City Council meetings and learning how the levers of power were moving,” recalled Chamudes. “Sometimes we felt decisions were not made for the right purpose or that the correct answer was offered. Little by little, he was involved more in the city and you could see how passionate he was about this.

“I always thought (politics) would be a good fit for him the way he was. In the end I strongly supported his decision to serve.”

Now, as his already-busy husband prepares to devote even more time to that service, Chamudes is looking beyond how it might impact life at home and forward to what it means to those who call Palm Springs home.

“I think it’s great for the city,” Chamudes said. “It’s not because he’s my husband. It’s because it’s the right thing for the city.”

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