I have had the great fortune of
getting to know Hank Plante.. Hank relocated to Palm Springs a few
years back after a tremendous career in journalism winning numerous
awards. He has always been very kind to me and it is appreciated.
Hank has a column coming out tomorrow
in the Desert Sun and it could be a defining moment in the downtown
redevelopment of Palm Springs. I am not going to steal any of Hank's
thunder so you are going to have to read the article but it is
critical of the designs submitted by developer John Wessman for the
the retail phase of the development.
It is going to be interesting to see
how the political elites in Palm Springs act upon reading Hank's
article. So far one councilman, Paul Lewin has sided with those who
want perhaps a different design.
I have been covering politics in this
area for almost 15 years and one
thing I have learned is that the some of our local politicians can be
hyper sensitive to any criticism real or perceived to their grand
plans. While Palm Springs tries to portray this cool, hip image to the rest of the world, many times its political leadership is strictly Mayberry RFD. Hank has gravitas that the Palm Springs leadership will find hard to shunt aside.
It is ironic that I find myself not as
concerned about the downtown renderings submitted by Mr. Wessman as I
am by the obvious lack of tenants that are to fill the new buildings.
We have been promised now for a few years that “National and
prominent” tenants are lining up. If so who and where?
The next few days around here are going to be interesting and I for one can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment