MY VISION
I am honored to have served on your City Council for 12 years and am proud of what we have accomplished together. As Mayor, I remain fully dedicated to leading Rancho Mirage by:
Building on the level of excellence our residents and businesses enjoy and have come to expect, including our streets and medians, landscaping, parks, recreational facilities, and amenities.
Rancho Mirage has a justifiable image that conveys a level of excellence. It is my job to make certain our budget provides for this distinction. This is immediately conveyed when driving on our well-maintained streets, which contain a rubberized compound mix in the concrete. This provides for a smooth ride at a lower decibel level. I believe our residents recognize the difference in driving on the streets when entering and exiting Rancho Mirage.
As a City Council Member, I am always looking to improve resident amenities. Recently, we added eight additional pickleball courts, the fastest-growing sport in the world, to our outstanding Rancho Mirage Community Park, and Wolfson Park was expanded by one acre to accommodate off-street parking. Hiking in our valley is the single most popular activity and we just completed updates to take foot traffic off Frank Sinatra Drive by expanding the Mirada Trail System to improve its safety. Plans are underway to make even more improvements in our amazing Amphitheater and our world-class library and observatory continue to upgrade facilities that accommodate year-round programming.
Rancho Mirage truly offers a diverse range of outdoor amenities, making it a perfect destination for those seeking both relaxation and adventure.
Keeping our neighborhoods safe with double the public safety officers than the national average, ensuring fast emergency response times, and world-class medical facilities.
I have successfully supported an increase in the budget for our sheriff and firefighters. The average ratio throughout the country is one sheriff per 1,000 residents. We increased this ratio several years ago to 1.7 and last year to 2 sheriff deputies per 1,000, twice the national average. I will continue my commitment that public safety is the single most important responsibility of our City Council. I am pleased to support free ambulance service to a hospital in the event of an emergency. This applies to anyone in a residence in Rancho Mirage, including visitors or guests.
I am a member of the Eisenhower Medical Center Subcommittee and work cooperatively with representatives of Eisenhower Health to ensure an effective partnership between the Medical Center and the city. This is critically important based on the demographics of our residents.
Due to the projected increase in future cardiovascular service demands, Eisenhower is expanding the Cardiac and Vascular Institute Clinic Building including the demolition of the existing 34,416 square-foot one-story Desert Cardiology Center and the construction of a 128,620 square-foot outpatient Cardiac and Vascular Clinic building. Eisenhower is also constructing new buildings for Memory Care, Child Care, and Administration along with 136 additional parking spaces. The Memory Care Building will serve two separate functions: for clients challenged with memory health issues and as a support space for the caregivers of the clients receiving care. As a way to attract world-class doctors and nurses to Rancho Mirage, the Child Care Building will be available to Eisehnhower employees and offer daycare from newborns to 5-year-olds between the hours of 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Guiding our city through thoughtful development and a broad spectrum of housing.
Before my time in public service with the City of Rancho Mirage, I worked as a developer of master-planned communities. I joined the Rancho Mirage Planning Commission in 2008 and served for 6 years, eventually becoming chairman. In 2015, the Rancho Las Palmas shopping center faced bankruptcy as its anchor tenant, Von’s Supermarket, left due to poor visibility from Highway 111. I felt it was crucial to address the issue of limited access, as the back of the property was 10 ft higher than the front. We created a new entry point that provided a direct view to the rear of the property. SteinMart quickly became a tenant, and it is now occupied by Amazon Fresh, set to open in 2025. My background as a developer helped me collaborate effectively with the new ownership, and I'm pleased to see that the center is now 94% leased.
Workforce, Veteran and Affordable Housing
The State of California has mandated that all cities provide a given number of affordable housing units. We were directed to develop 1,700 living units over the next 8 years. We submitted a plan, one of the first cities to be certified by the State for the development of up to 2,300 units. We presently have 4 disposition & development agreements signed on 4 city-owned sites with 3 different developers. One of the developments is for Veterans and their families. We are pleased to provide this opportunity for indeed it is the right thing to do for Rancho Mirage. These agreements will meet 65% of our State-mandated income-restricted dwelling units.
The proposed Catana project includes 210 market-rate single-family rental homes and 94 affordable housing units. The market-rate rental units are meant to bridge the gap between traditional home ownership and renting an apartment, including those who are not in a position to buy a home today, but saving to buy their own home in the future. School staff, teachers, nurses, and hospitality workers to name a few, will be able to access these lease homes. The affordable housing units will be available to tenants who fall within the area's median income limits for affordable housing.
Maintaining a balanced budget and strong financial reserves designed to support our community in times of need.
I am most proud of the financial condition of our city, one of the strongest in the Coachella Valley, and most likely in the entire country based on our population. We presently have a reserve in our general fund of $71 million including approximately $11 million in receivables. I am often asked, “why do we need this large a reserve balance”? The COVID pandemic, a black swan event, answered that question. Our revenue which totals $34 million is dependent upon the hospitality industry. 31% is generated by TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax) better known as hotel tax. During the black swan COVID event, this dropped to virtually zero. We used $10 million of our reserve for a program called The Great Plates, providing meals for our most vulnerable senior residents in our affordable housing properties. Our local restaurants were used to prepare and deliver these meals, many of whom would not be in business today without our help. In my many years on the City Council, I am most proud of bringing this program to our community.