Today (Oct 17th discussion) at Mountainview Clubhouse

[JMBrooks61]

Mike, Thank you for taking the time to put on the discussion today. Jay

[mschwartz]

I really appreciated the turnout. I think everyone who wanted to speak got to, and we didn’t limit anyone’s time like we have with the open board meetings.

I’ll try to keep us more focused as we go forward.

I am planning to go to the 2nd clubhouse at 6:30, which is about 1/2 hour before the Republicans Club meeting there. The sheriff is going to be there and I intend to ask him one on one about how we want to partner with him with our neighborhood watch program.

Anyone else want to come keep me company?

[mschwartz]

Note - this was originally published in General Discussion and I made a category for Grass Roots Meetings and moved this topic there.

[judylerne]

Summary of October 17 Meeting
[This was sent to members of another List as well as others who expressed interest)

On Tuesday, October 17, about 24 neighbors/residents met in the Mountain View Club House prompted by the recent home invasions in our community and concerns about improving SCPD safety and security. This summarizes just a few of the highlights of a wide ranging discussion in which all attendees were encourage to voice their opinions and raise their concerns about any SCPD topic.

One note/caveat: This group will continue. Its goal is to improve what most believe is a great community but not without some areas needing serious attention and improvement. It aims to be constructive, to raise problems and pose solutions - not to be a gripe session. It also has a sub-context to encourage those who are like-minded to seek leadership positions in the community where they can represent our voices and ensure we are heard. In order to facilitate regular meetings (weekly? biweekly?) and have access to a meeting facility that can hold the larger numbers we hope to attract, we are exploring creating a "Club" within SCPD, which would help us get needed space and support (amplifying devices, seating, etc.)

And now a few of the highlights:

• Several attendees say they intend to run for vacant Board seats - and they explained how they would focus on resident needs, resident feedback, more transparent decision-making, and possibly rule changes about the votes needed to pass important budgetary measures and projects, the process for vetting and presenting vendors for such projects, and requirements to ensure that residents have adequate notice-information-access to providing input and voting (when the majority of residents are on site, i.e. not the summer months).

• Some of those in attendance presented detailed information on crimes in the community, vulnerable areas with photos (e.g. locations where there are large gaps in the fencing with no monitoring - anyone can walk in), recommendations that may not have been pursued, information on our security patrols (previous company, current company - and the wages and conditions that might be acting as a disincentive to getting and retaining the best people).

• The group discussed possible discrepancies in the number of "incidents" SCPD has experienced recently: 11 v. 18 home invasions, an assault and robbery of a resident walking down one of our streets in the daytime. It has been verified that our security has a count of 11 home invasions reported to them, but some attendees have been told of additional home invasions reported directly to the Sheriff's office not included in that count. Details on the assault-robbery are being withheld due to confidentiality/privacy issues. We do not yet have information from the Sheriff's office as to any investigations they are conducting (and if our security staff has information, it has not been shared with us).

• Among the ideas floated at the meeting - and some will be pursued if found possible and practical to implement: a neighborhood watch/patrol staffed by residents; efforts to get the Sheriff to change its responding station from Thermal (that's where our calls/alerts/emergencies get routed) to Palm Desert; and setting up space in the community that Sheriff's personnel can use, making it easy and comfortable to set up a presence here. Also discussed: "comping" meals to Sheriff's deputies in our restaurants as an incentive for them to be on site and a "lunch with a cop" program to create relationships between residents and Sheriff's personnel (even if we have to drive to Thermal to start this up).

• Many raised concerns about major decisions made over the past year that the felt were made without adequate involvement and "listening" to the residents: of course, the controversial solar project ("it's too late" to change?), the closing of Billy Q's, and details around the new cafe to open soon.

• Besides disagreement by many with these decisions, there was significant discussion about the expenditure of very large sums of money on projects so far into the future that none of us will be here/alive to reap the benefits.

• Also getting a fair amount of discussion: the condition/appearance/maintenance of parts of the community that create a first impression not only for current residents but also for visitors and potential buyers.

People acknowledged that on various topics, there are different perspectives. But most agreed that clear, concise communications are not what they should be. People these days (human nature) won't go digging to find information that's not easily accessible. People often will not pay attention until very close to the time of decision-making/voting (be that in our local-state-national elections or in our SCPD measures requiring a vote). And blaming residents for not attending every meeting over a long expanse of time or for not reading every magazine or bulletin that comes out is missing the point: we the residents deserve to "know" and to have information distributed in a clear, understandable, digestible way at the time that's most important if we are being asked to participate/vote.

We invite all residents to join us. All ideas and points of view are welcome; no censorship. But beyond talk, this group aims to be action focused - constructive action. And it's a work in progress. So please join us.

There is a web site as well as the Google group at
scpdgroup@groups.io. as well as a web site: https://scpdresidents.org/ Please join us.

Judy Lerner Please join us.
judylerne@aol.com

[JKG]

@mschwartz

My wife &I went to 2nd clubhouse last night at 6:20pm. Did you get to talk with the Sheriff about Neighborhood watch?

[mschwartz]

@JKG said in Today (Oct 17th discussion) at Mountainview Clubhouse:

@mschwartz

My wife &I went to 2nd clubhouse last night at 6:20pm. Did you get to talk with the Sheriff about Neighborhood watch?

I did. I had about 2 minutes to speak to him. I gave him 2 of my business cards with “neighborhood watch” on the back. He seemed enthusiastic about it.

I asked him if we couldn’t get 911 responses from a closer office and he said it’s all based on city boundaries.

I asked him if he could have a patrol car drive down Washington at night once in a while, we have thieves climbing over the walls. He didn’t answer.

[mschwartz]

I went to the clubhouse and spoke with our events coordinator. I picked up a price sheet for renting rooms (we do get a 50% discount as residents), and guidelines and applications for both Resident Groups and Chartered clubs.

It will cost us $25/hr for the San Gorgonio room at the main clubhouse on Tuesday at 2. Minimum of 2 hours, so our cost is $50.

[Mary Mitts]

@mschwartz
Great!.Thanks for checking on the costs.. sounds pretty reasonable to me!
Even if I'm not able to attend.. it's a gathering place ..and we need one.