Contact: Cindy Uken
Communications Director
City of Palm Springs
760.323.8250
February 15, 2008
By the time New Year’s Eve 2008 rolls around, the Palm Springs Neighborhood
Involvement Committee (PSNIC) hopes to have added seven new officially
recognized neighborhoods to its growing roster.
There are currently 15 officially recognized groups associated with the City’s
Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI). Established by City Ordinance in
April 2005, the ONI is a vehicle for encouraging citizen involvement in service
delivery and improving communication among citizens, City staff and elected
officials.
The PSNIC works with the City Manager and staff to address matters of
concern to citizens and other neighborhood interests. The PSNIC is comprised
of elected representatives of Neighborhood Organizations that have become
officially recognized by the City through an application process.
Increasing the number of officially recognized neighborhoods is just one of 19
enterprising goals the PSNIC has set for 2008.
"The PSNIC has set some ambitious goals for the coming year, but that's
good,” said Lee Husfeldt, Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations.
“They have listed what's important to them and where they want to focus. I'm
particularly excited about their goal to have a speakers’ bureau. That will be an
excellent way to spread the word and share the excitement about our
neighborhood program."
Other goals include:
- to be involved in the City’s budget process.
- to have each neighborhood identify its two worst streets in need of repair
- to have neighborhood identification placed on street signs by the end of 2008
- to have a speakers’ bureau
- to have sidewalks on the south side of East Ramon between Palm Canyon and Warm Sands Drive
- to support the revitalization of Downtown and Uptown
- to have pieces of art installed in at least two neighborhoods as Warm Sands has done
- to focus on graffiti removal and support doubling this department’s budget
- to explore securing grant money for neighborhood projects
- to have two trained Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members in each neighborhood
what we want to be and where we want to go,” said John Williams, chair of the
PSNIC. “I think the goals are aggressive but they are attainable. I don’t think
there’s anything in there that we can’t achieve. We’re asking the City to come
on board and listen to what our needs are and what our desires are because
it’s important that they pay attention to the neighborhoods because they do
represent the citizens of Palm Springs.”
Palm Springs residents who are interested in organizing their neighborhoods
should call Husfeldt, at 323-8255. You may also find additional information about the Office of Neighborhood Involvement online at www.palmspringsneighborhoods.com.
