"Good Government" City Council Candidates Needed in Palm Springs
 | Desert Observer's Page Palm Springs, CA. The current crop of candidates for seats on the Palm Springs city council includes two incumbents and nine challengers. Some have declared themselves as main street, business or neighborhood candidates. Others are in it for fun or to briefly bask in the political limelight. But none appear to be running as Good Government candidates. All seek to please special interests and none appear to be giving thought to the actual tasks of governing. Such issues as budgets, taxes, expenses, safety, emergency preparedness, parks, schools, conservation and the environment don't seem to merit serious attention. What's needed are a few candidates willing to run on a Good Government platform. |
The City of Palm Springs employs an accounting trick to siphon off Redevelopment Fund money to pay city salaries and other expenses each year. The money that could and should be used for downtown revitalization and other development projects is being used to balance the city's budget. Palm Springs needs Good Government candidates who understand this issue and are prepared to take a stand against it. Redevelopment Fund money should not be used for ordinary city expenses.
The City of Palm Springs doesn't have an independent auditor/controller responsible for analyzing the annual budget. That task remains with the city staff responsible for the budget's preparation. The result is a budget that meets the requirements of the staff and the political demands of council members, but not necessarily the needs of the taxpayers. What's really needed is an independent citizens Finance Commission charged with responsibility to scrutinize annual budgets and provide written assessments following their review. Palm Springs needs Good Government candidates who support creation of a strong, independent, citizens Finance Commission.
The City of Palm Springs spends over $100,000 each year on a position in the City Manager's office whose task is to issue press releases. The Director of Communications job is to publicize the activities of city officials. The City's mayor is this year's record holder for publicly funded press releases for the count of press releases bearing his name stands at 46. Palm Springs needs Good Government candidates who recognize that spending money to publicize the activities of city officials constitutes a waste of taxpayer funds and it must be stopped. So long as taxpayer funds remain a precious commodity, they should not be splurged making City officials look good.
The City Council has placed a proposal on the November ballot to tax cell phones belonging to City residents. The measure includes two additional features designed to permit automatic taxes to take effect in the future without a vote of the City Council or the citizens. One feature provides for an automatic tax on any future telephone-related technology product that may come on the market. The other feature is to take the heat off the City Council by providing for the existing $1.13 Emergency Response Fee to automatically increase to keep up with annual cost of living adjustments. Palm Springs needs Good Government candidates who understand tax increase decisions need to be made by elected officials, in public meetings, and on the record! Proposals by the City Council to hide future taxes and tax increases through self-serving ballot measures should not be supported.
Palm Springs needs more City Council candidates for none of the current crop appear ready to step up to the plate on behalf of citizens by running on a reform platform. Or, is it possible one or two of those running will opt to run as Good Government candidates - and really mean it? The betting odds answer, of course, is that better government will not be one of the results from the current election.
Bond Shands
Palm Springs
Posted by Desert Observer at 8/31/2009 10:21 AM 
Categories: Opinion
Tags: Palm Springs Palm Springs Redevelopment Agency Palm Springs City Council
Categories: Opinion
Tags: Palm Springs Palm Springs Redevelopment Agency Palm Springs City Council
Excellent comments but move forward and remove those current candidates that did all the things you talked about! Our voices count.
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