Palm Springs 2024 Year in Review: Our top 5 stories ⋆ The Palm Springs Post

*A tough summer for local businesses, a politician’s concession, possible misuse of taxpayer funds, and more were popular reads on our website in 2024.*

We’re fortunate that our business model doesn’t depend on clicks. But readers still clicked a lot in 2024. Unlike previous years (see 2023 here, 2022 here, and 2021 here), a majority of our most popular stories did not have to do with development. Instead, residents were interested in a wide variety of news — from the ongoing saga over a statue to politics, with some City Hall allegations and business news thrown in for good measure.

Below is a countdown of the stories you clicked on the most — which are not necessarily the biggest stories of the year — dating back to January and ending on Dec. 13. Interested in looking back? Make sure to click on each title read the stories.

5. New location for Forever Marilyn statue announced

No other artwork in Palm Springs is as well-known — or as photographed — as the “Forever Marilyn” statue on Museum Way. That particular location was the subject of a lawsuit, and criticism, that reached a conclusion in August. It was announced then that the artwork would be moving roughly 16 feet (by our initial measurements) to the north, leaving the street and no longer blocking the view of Palm Springs Art Museum from Palm Canyon Drive.

4. Queer Works CEO under scrutiny for alleged misuse of taxpayer funds

We don’t have the resources to do much investigative work, but as we attempted to do follow-ups on a guaranteed basic income program being launched by a relatively unknown non-profit, and red flags appeared, we dived in. The result of months of reporting work was a seven-part series that exposed possible misuse of tax dollars, some failures at City Hall, and ended with a grand jury indictment of the organization’s CEO.

3. Riviera name returning to Palm Springs hotel

When the Margaritaville sign went up on the hotel property formerly known as The Riviera, it seemed an odd fit in Palm Springs. But when we broke the news in September that the old name would be coming back to the 400-room property at 1600 North Indian Canyon Dr., there was much rejoicing. “The Riviera IS Palm Springs, and Palm Springs IS the Riviera,” wrote one commenter on our Facebook page.

2. Holstege concedes 47th Assembly District race

Christy Holstege, who just last week left the Palm Springs City Council, had tried before to win a seat in the California Assembly. In 2022, the vote counting dragged out nearly a month and ended up with her losing by just 85 votes. In November, voters in the 47th District made it clear that the count wouldn’t be close — she lost by more than 5,500 votes. Her concession on Nov. 20 was the second most popular story of the year with our readers.

1. Pain Street: Downtown suffers summer slump

Reporter Maggie Miles had been hearing from friends and neighbors who worked in Downtown Palm Springs that times were tough. Business owners had been saying the same to our publisher. So, we asked Maggie to dive in and find out what was happening. Her Oct. 2 story, titled “Pain Street,” revealed that a dramatic and unexpected decline in business, combined with rising rents and higher living costs had local store owners and staff struggling. The story was picked up by regional and national media and took off a bit, becoming not only our most-read story of 2024, but also our most-read story ever.

BONUS: Our most shared social media post

Publisher Mark Talkington was home on the evening of Dec. 7 when his phone began to light up. Something serious had happened at the city’s annual Festival of Lights Parade, people were telling him, but it wasn’t clear exactly what that was. Instead of rushing to the scene, he rushed upstairs, fired up his laptop, and began monitoring the live parade coverage on TV and other signals, including his phone and social media. The Post was the first news outlet to report that a motorcycle operated by a Palm Springs Police Department officer had slid into a crowd of onlookers, causing serious injuries and delaying the much-loved event. Our Facebook post joined a sea of citizen reports — some more accurate than others — and was immediately shared more than 50 times that evening. That post barely beat out a post about of the return of the Riviera name to a local hotel for most shared, but didn’t come close to receiving the amount of “likes” that a post about moving the Marilyn Monroe statue received.