Jan. 29 Daily Briefing: Traffic safety and parking issues addressed, housing price report, and more

Welcome to Thursday. If you’ve been following the bouncing ball of our event listing for the Palm Springs Police Department’s annual open house (and judging by our inbox many of you have) as its date shifted around in our “Save the Date” section below, you’ll want to know it has changed again. Once listed as happening this Saturday (Jan. 31), it then changed to next Sunday (Feb. 8). But since that’s also Super Bowl Sunday, a police spokesperson said yesterday it is now planned for Feb. 28. We’ll keep an eye out for any future changes and make sure to alert you. In the meantime, you can find details on the city’s official calendar.

🎶 Setting the mood: “Gotta Get Up” by Harry Nilsson

LEADING OFF

Police chief: Speeding, right-of-way violations and DUI factor in traffic deaths

Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills told the City Council that traffic collisions remain a serious problem, with 27 people killed between 2023 and 2025. The presentation followed the recent hit-and-run death of Ricardo Marano, known as “The Walking Man.”

Driving the news: Mills cited speeding, right-of-way violations and DUI as the top three causes, together accounting for more than half of all traffic crashes during the three-year period that included 14,197 recorded collisions.

• Eight of the 27 fatalities involved pedestrians, all of whom were walking in the roadway when struck.

By the numbers: Police issued 30,672 traffic citations in 2023 and 60,713 in 2024 as enforcement increased. Palm Springs has 525 establishments licensed to sell alcohol — about 32% of all such businesses in the Coachella Valley.

• About 60% of injury-related DUI collisions involved drivers who were not Palm Springs residents.

Also at issue: Councilmembers raised concerns about red-light violations and pedestrian safety in downtown and along major corridors including Vista Chino, Palm Canyon Drive, Gene Autry Trail and Ramon Road.

What’s next: Mills outlined a three-part approach including engineering changes like traffic calming measures, education campaigns for safer behavior and enforcement focused on speeding, DUI and right-of-way violations.

Dive deeper with our complete story

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BRIEFLY

🅿️ Council addresses downtown parking concerns

• The Palm Springs City Council directed staff Wednesday to improve downtown parking signage and garage conditions after a study found public parking garages are underutilized while street parking is in high demand.
  
•  The study analyzed 2,286 parking spaces in January and May a few years back, finding an average occupancy rate of 29% across all parking facilities, with the Downtown Parking Garage at just 15% capacity while on-street parking along Palm Canyon Drive averaged 47% occupancy.
  
• Up next: The Council focused on short-term solutions like improved signage and garage maintenance before considering longer-term changes such as extending the three-hour street parking limit to 24 hours a day or implementing employee parking permit programs.

Dive deeper with our complete story

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TODAY’S FEATURED EVENTS

Library Story Times
10 a.m. | Library at Rimrock Plaza
Children’s Librarian Nancy reads stories, sings songs, and shares early learning concepts. Story time includes sessions for both babies and toddlers.

Lesbian and Queer Women’s Chat
10:30 a.m. | Virtual
This chat group is a welcoming place to find friendship, laughter, support, and understanding among people who truly get it.

Art Museum Free Admission
5 p.m. | Palm Springs Art Museums 
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., enjoy free admission to galleries and exhibitions, and explore the collections at both museums at your own pace. 

VillageFest
6 p.m. | Downtown Palm Springs  
The street fair features art, entertainment, shopping, and food. 

Billy L’Amour’s Va Va Voom with John Taylor
7 p.m. | V Wine Lounge & Martini Bar 
Join Billy L’Amour for her first-ever show at V Wine Lounge & Martini Bar! Billy will be shaking — and stirring — up a fabulous evening of live singing, storytelling, great laughs, and plenty of GL’Amour. ($15)

Assassins
7 p.m. | Revolution Stage Company
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s award-winning musical ASSASSINS comes to the Revolution! Directed by Gary Powers with an incredible cast of performers! ($33)

Stayin’ Alive – One Night Of The Bee Gees
7:30 p.m. | Plaza Theatre
Stayin’ Alive is the quintessential tribute band to the Bee Gees, capturing the excitement of live performance and the tender subtleties of the human voice! ($86)

View all events here

SAVE THE DATE

• Third Annual Palm Springs Readers’ Festival on Friday and Saturday
  
• Friends of the Palm Springs Library Book Sale on Saturday at Our Saviors Lutheran Church
  
• NUANCE Modernism Art Exhibit on Feb. 6 at Janssen Art Space
  
• Palm Springs Speaks with Cheech Marin on Feb. 10
  
• Modernism Week from Feb. 12 through 22 throughout the city
  
• Palm Springs Modernism Show on Feb. 14 and 15 at the convention center
  
• Palm Springs International Jazz Festival from Feb. 19-22

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AND FINALLY …

Palm Springs home prices are slightly lower than last year and the city has the second-highest number of homes for sale in the valley, according to the most reason housing sales report.

Driving the news: The median price of an average-sized detached home in the Coachella Valley last month was $660,000, a decrease of less than one percent from the year before. Attached home prices decreased 3% year-over-year to $460,000. 

Zoom in: In Palm Springs, detached home prices fell 5% year-over-year to $1.13 million in December. Attached home prices fell 5% compared to the year before, the average price is about $425,000.

By the numbers: The city saw the second-highest unit sales in the valley, with a three-month average of 113 homes sold, up from 97 compared to last year. 

• At the end of December, Palm Springs also had the second-highest number of homes for sale in the valley with 644, up from 623 last year. 

What they’re saying: “While inventory has recovered, because of low sales, supply is beginning to exceed demand,” the report notes. “This should not cause a problem for home prices unless it begins to extend average selling times.”

Zoom in: Analysts didn’t expect much from Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting, and that’s exactly what happened. The Fed held interest rates steady as expected, but two governors dissented, preferring a quarter-point cut. 

• The Fed had implemented three reductions in the final months of 2025.