Dec. 12 Daily Briefing: Commercial districts coming, tribe mourns historian’s passing, and more

Welcome to Tuesday, where we’re busy tallying your responses to our year-end survey asking your opinions on the biggest story of 2023 and what might be the biggest story of 2024. So far, the themes are very similar to those that bubbled up in past years — the related issues of homelessness and housing affordability are top of mind for many of you. Our vote for top comment, however, goes to one reader concerned about simply being able to walk here. “Being a pedestrian in Palm Springs is like being a contestant on Squid Games,” they wrote. 

🎶 Setting the mood: “Back To December” by Taylor Swift

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LEADING OFF

Hoping to foster greater communication, city set to encourage commercial districts

An effort to foster improved communication between businesses and the city is set to be formally adopted later this week.

Driving the news: The Palm Springs City Council is expected to adopt an ordinance Thursday that would establish a process for forming and administrating commercial districts in the city.

• According to language in the ordinance, a commercial district is either contiguous businesses at least one block long or 10 or more businesses in a delineated area with common interests.

Why it matters: While business owners in several city sections have informally organized, the ordinance would make it easier to make a district official. That formality would open the lines of communication between City Hall and business owners, giving them a greater say.

• The two-way communication between the city and commercial district will also help encourage diverse perspectives, “which is intended to lead to innovative solutions and consensus,” according to a staff report.

Zoom in: Business and commercial property owners would initiate the voluntary process. Commercial district organizers must submit a petition to the city signed by a minimum of 50% of the business owners in the proposed district boundaries to participate.

Details: District organizers would decide the boundaries with consultation from the city. Then, the city manager would be responsible for certifying the commercial district organizations and meeting with their representatives at least semi-annually.

Up next: On Thursday, the City Council is expected to adopt the ordinance during its regular meeting. It would go into effect 30 days after adoption.

IN OTHER NEWS

📣 A billboard campaign from the Section 14 Survivors group has launched with “Know Before You Go” as the tagline. 

✈️ Alaska Airlines’ new coast-to-coast route from New York to Palm Springs will make its first landing Thursday at Palm Springs International Airport.

🏠 A stunning Albert Frey-designed home in Araby Cove, built in 1926, is featured in the “What you get” section of The New York Times. For $2.4 million it can be yours. 

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FEATURED EVENTS

Menorah Lighting
4 p.m. | City Hall
In celebration of Hanukkah, the City Council will join Rabbi Yankel Kreiman from Bikur Cholim of Palm Springs for a special Menorah lighting ceremony.

Photos with Santa
4 p.m. | Library
Come dressed in your holiday best and bring your own camera to meet Santa.

ONE-PS meeting
4:30 p.m. | PSPD Training Center
This month’s meeting of the Organized Neighborhoods of Palm Springs (ONE-PS) will feature end-of-year announcements and presentations on topics like sustainable transportation and more, according to the agenda. 

Barbershop Discussion Group
5:30 p.m. | Mizell Center
Brothers of the Desert and Let’s Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome) Palm Springs present, Barbershop, a Black men’s space for honest talk about sexual wellness.

SAVE THE DATE

• Palm Springs District 3 Community Meeting on Wednesday.
  
  
• Palm Springs Animal Shelter Tail-A-Thon on Thursday.
  
  
• Breakfast with Santa at the city’s pavilion on Dec. 16.
  
  
• Snowtopia at Palm Springs Air Museum starting Dec. 19.
  
  
• “Die Hard” at the Cultural Center on Dec. 24.
  
  
• Palm Springs International Film Festival Jan. 4 through 15.

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AND FINALLY …

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is remembering the late Lowell John Bean, Ph.D., the preeminent scholar and ethnohistorian of the Cahuilla people.

Looking back: As a student at UCLA in the 1950s, Bean was told there was little to learn about the original people of the Morongo Valley. He persevered, however, eventually helping to clean eggs after meeting Jane Penn, a tribal leader at the Morongo Indian Reservation.

• Bean maintained he was in the right place at the right time, as he was able to witness the work of the first all-female Tribal Council and learn first-hand from Tony Andreas Jr. and Richard Milanovich.

Life’s work: As chronicled in this story in the tribal magazine Me Yah Whae, Bean went on to author several books (From Time Immemorial is the most expansive of his efforts), scholarly articles, and reports on the Cahuilla and other California tribes. 

• Working with Penn, he also helped create the Malki Museum in 1964.