Potemkin Village City Council

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Palm Springs, CA.  Palm Springs downtown revitalization suffered a setback when the city council decided that hiding vacant storefronts would serve to divert attention from the real problem.
Once again Palm Springs city council members have demonstrated why they lead and we, the community, follow. At the last council meeting they reminded us there are but two ways to deal with issues - resolve them or hide them. In keeping with that reminder our City Fathers (and Mother) have decided to require the windows of downtown vacant storefronts be camouflaged - hidden. Historic photos, artwork or anything that will serve to convince passersby there's something there will be acceptable. Blogger Steve Kelly has written that the whole idea smacks of a Potemkin Village - a sham community that doesn't exist. The decision by the council to hide this particular unresolved problem is in keeping with a long series of missteps, subterfuges, mistakes and fuzzy reasoning that's dogged the Palm Springs downtown revitalization issue for years and years and years. When will council members realize their efforts have failed, they've reached the bottom of the barrel of ideas, and they need to become part of the solution and stop being the problem?

The Empress of Russia wasn't fooled by the Potemkin Village created for her benefit in the Crimea and Palm Springs residents, shoppers and tourists won't be fooled by camouflaged store fronts. What's really needed is for the city council to get out of the downtown revitalization business. The subject requires expertise, knowledge, planning abilities and a host of skills not possessed by the members of the council. The future of downtown revitalization, if there is to be a future, requires that council members admit failure and prove they are real leaders by turning the problem over to professionals with expertise in the subject. It's time for the pretense, that downtown problems are or will soon be resolved, to end. And the council needs to realize their efforts have now fallen to the level of meddling and they are not serving the best interests of the community.

Bond Shands
Palm Springs
September 3, 2009

Posted by Desert Observer at 9/3/2009 8:14 AM
Categories: Opinion, City Council
Tags: Palm Springs City Council
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