Frank Tysen Bitter After All These Years

Almost 20 years ago, Frank Tysen had a legitimate voice in Palm Springs politics. I would often chat with him when something was happening. But in he late 90;s, things started to go off the rails. He had a big fight with Mayor Will Kleindienst about restaurants having live music till 2 in the morning and disturbing his guests. Frank was right, he was lied to about the ordinance and it's enforcement. One of the low lights of this event was the then city planning director going at night around the corner from a restaurant taking decibel measurements. At an open city council meeting he declared, "I heard sound but it wasn't noise." What the French Toast?

But even after resolution, Frank became somewhat more of a bitter character. Lawsuits threatened all the time. Palm Springs changed but Frank never did. It was almost as if he was waiting for a chance to become a consequential player again in Palm Springs and Measure J gave him that shot.

To be clear, I did not like all of Measure J. I am not going to rehash old arguments. The people voted in favor of it. It was time to move on. Frank never moved.

When you have developers and a lot of cash, money talks and all else walks. I thought the citizen involvement in the downtown redevelopment was more of a public relations ploy and a feel good thing. I thought the real battles would be in the planning area. (I was right.) Regardless, again the people had spoken.

Then Frank and his group filed their first lawsuit. They were paid 50 grand to drop it. Frank has threatened lawsuit after lawsuit and according to Michael Braun of Wessman Development, he may now have filed another.

This is just flat out wrong. A given is that there have been some mistakes in the process, of course. But it is time for the BS to stop. The people of Palm Springs have spoken on numerous occasions. Another lawsuit now will not stop downtown from getting rebuilt. But it may drive away investors and businesses who are tired of this stupidity.

In my opinion, Frank Tysen was wronged by a City Council. That was over 20 years ago. The war is over. Drop the lawsuit Frank. It is finally time to let go.

Steve Kelly can reached at kellyscorner59@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @skellynj.

Palm Springs It Will Get Darker Before The Dawn

Saturday, I had the honor of being at the Stonewall Democratic cook out. (Point of disclosure, I attended with my step-son who now interns at Democratic Party headquarters.) At this LGBT event, most people were curious about the recent drama at Palm Springs City Hall and because I have written about it, they asked about it. I enjoyed the event very much and came away with several impressions.

First of all. there is more coming out on the Rod Pacheco hire. One of the best lines about was from an unnamed wit who said, "Rod Pacheco was a unifier. Gay. straight, bi-sexual, transgender, progressive, conservative everyone is united. Pacheco is a few fries short of a Happy Meal".It was equally insane for him to be hired. A panic move and when you add in the Warm Sands hateful stand he took, I feel safe to say he is gone. Sooner rather than later.

I also see no way Doug Holland or his law firm stays. If hiring Pacheco is the best legal advice you can give, it is time to go.

As for City Manager David Ready remember all Mayor Moon is asking is for his evaluation to be moved up 2 months. Even if the Mayor wants to dismiss Mr. Ready, he needs 2 other votes. If Mr. Ready was more involved in the hiring of Mr. Pacheco than he is now stating, those votes may be easy to find.

I will admit I poked a stick into a hornet's nest the last few days on this blog but I feel that someone has to ask questions. I appreciate both the official and unofficial input.

I must say that I think the next 3 months will be crazy in Palm Springs as all things continue to unravel. But as much of a downer that may be, there is a silver lining. That being the new leadership in Palm Springs.

I have been critical in the past of Geoff Kors and Mayor Moon. It has been my experience in over 15 years of doing this, the mature politicians respect the job you do and can still be civil. Both of these men were that and more on Saturday. We had jovial, informative discussions.

I was impressed by Mayor Moon keeping the whole City Hall situation in perspective. And Mr. Kors demonstrated some outside of the box thinking on a few issues that I think will surprise and impress people when they are rolled out.

The key issue I see before the City Council is that it must continue to make a break with the past. That is hard to accomplish right now because 2 members of the current council are looking at their legacy including the last 4 years.. And that is taking up too much oxygen in the room.

Steve kelly can be reached at skelly@rbroadcasting.com aand @skellynj on twitter

Courage Talks Cronies Walk In Latest Palm Springs Drama

I was very impressed the other night watching Mayor Rob Moon keep a campaign promise about looking for more transparency in city government. Now most people would think that looking at the contract and employment of a City Manager who was in charge while City Hall was raided would be a reasonable action. Not apparently for some members of the Palm Springs City Council,

3 members, Ms. Foat, Mr. Kors and Mr. Roberts all have expressed varying degrees of indignation at Mayor Moon proposing this. Now let's cut through the nonsense and say exactly what was asked for.

David Ready, the Palm Springs City Manager, has an annual performance review in July. Mayor Moon wanted to schedule the review earlier. He did not say Mr. Ready should go. If one looks at the calendar, the review would take place in May. That would be 2 months before the currently scheduled. 2 months earlier!! Oh the heavens

Then there was this gem from councilman J.R, Roberts on a potential Ready review courtesy of the Desert Sun:

“My fear is there is great collateral damage even in making public statements the way that he did because it sends the rest of the staff a scary message, quite frankly. That they might be losing their boss, or in our case, our chief-of-staff,”

In one of the worst kept secrets in Palm Springs, Mr. Ready earlier in the year had expressed interest in maybe going to Santa Monica. Yet, I saw no signs of panic emanating from City Hall if he was to depart.

Now I like Geoff Kors personally. but he is now early in the running for the dumbest thing said in a public meeting this year by a Coachella Valley elected official. When discussing whether or not the hiring of former DA Rod Pacheco as a consultant should have disclosed.

"I was unaware that this information was not shared with the public when Mr. Pacheco was retained and believe that the hiring of legal counsel should always be disclosed unless it would somehow jeopardize the city's legal position,

How could you have been unaware? You were here in September running for office. This tells me that a bright mind like Mr. Kors is pretty oblivious to his new home area. An outcry equal to if not surpassing the current one would have been forthcoming if Pacheco's name had been released in September. A little less time at cocktail parties and a little more time hanging out at Bit Of Country may be in order for Mr. Kors. He is not a councilman from the Bay Area but one from a medium sized town in Riverside County and he should be aware of happenings in the last 10 years here both in Palm Springs and the County.

The writing is on the wall for both David Ready and City Attorney Doug Holland. And I applaud Mayor Rob Moon for picking up the pen.


Steve Kelly can be reached at skelly@rrbroadcasting.com or on Twitter @skellynj

The Good The Bad The Ugly In The Rod Pacheco Debacle In Palm Springs

As the gentle breezes of the evening made their way into Palm Springs last night, little coud one imagine the a hurricane force wind was about to roar out of the Palm Springs Council Chambers, Mayor Rob Moon has called for a performance review of City Manager David Ready, a look at whether or not to ditch City Attorney's Doug Holland's law firm and also take a gander at the consulting contract secured by former Riverside DA Rod Pacheco.

                                                            The Good             

3 people, Roger Tansey, Robert Julian Stone and Barbara Beaty were eloquent and spot on discussing the odious hiring of Pacheco as a consultant after the September 2016 raid by a joint task force at Palm Springs Cit Hall. Now a lot of attention was paid to Pacheco's role in the notorious Warm Sands sex sting years ago. Even I harped on that in yesterday's blog. While that in itself is dreadful, as someone pointed out all of Pacheco's tenure as DA was awful. 

Mayor Rob Moon was forceful and courteous demanding a closed session meeting regarding. Ready, Holland and Pacheco. He also caught Ginny Foat off guard as she was "perplexed" by the call for a special meeting. And wisely ignored her.

The Desert Sun ran a strong editorial that has called for a similar review.

                                                          The Bad

The whole "Dog ate me homework" explanation of why Pacheco was hired was convoluted. Doug Holland had to know this guy was radioactive. The intricacies of how he was and is still being compensated scream out to the heavens that Palm Springs was trying to hide his employment

Newcomer J.R Roberts did himself no favors when he called the fight over Pacheco, "Blown out of proportion." Not the most brilliant thing uttered in the illustrious chamber..

                                                            The Ugly

Council member Ginny Foat and her explanation of  Pacheco hiring was self-serving at least and responsibility shirking at best. In her melodramatic speech, she even said the janitorial staff was depressed when City Hall was raided? It is possible because I was depressed listening to her. It is fairly obvious she still can not accept her election loss to Rob Moon last fall. Ms. Foat can see the "legacy" of the prior council becoming not one of progress but one of crony capitalism marred by bureaucratic arrogance and incompetence.  

   
All in all the star of the night was Mayor Moon who kept his eye on the prize and would not be deterred. It is going to get interesting around here.

Steve Kelly can be reached at skelly@rrbroadcasting.com or followed on Twitter @skellynj

                                                 

Will The Gay Community In Palm Springs Demand Doug Holland Get Fired Over Rod Pacceco

In an eye-opening article, the Desert Sun's Barrett Newkirk disclosed that following the FBI raid last September, the city hired former Riverside County DA Rod Pacheco to help with explaining to city officials, how to deal with the joint federal-county task force. It was recommended by city attorney Doug Holland. Obviously, Holland was in a panic mode when he brought up this idea. And since it is Palm Springs, and city officials have a need to be clever, it was done in private and Pacheco's law firm was paid and his name was kept out of it. Not a huge sum under 20 grand but still crazy.

Pacheco, the Zika virus of ex-DA's, is largely known for a first and only term that was marred by behavior that was eccentric and vicious. Some of the low lights included:

Trying to set up his own SWAT Team

Losing 500 grand in a lawsuit to a former prosecutor of the year who was moved 3 times in 20 months for not supporting him in an election.

Refusing to plea bargain cases which basically closed down Riverside County courts. Judges had to be brought in at great expense to clean up the mess.

Travelling around to news conferences with his own podium and spokesman Michael Jeandron at the ready. Jeandron is the son former PSPD Chief and failed political candidate Gary Jeandron.

Having a jury trial for a man charged with vandalism after cutting a cactus in Corona.

Spending a couple hundred grand tinting windows in his office building.

Wanting to void plea deals for about 80 kids who were caught in an underage drinking sting at Coachella Fest. Yeah, I know none of us ever did that. The judge who did the pleas thought he was nuts and an Appeals Court slapped this nonsense down but not before thousands of dollars was spent.

And finally, after the disastrous Warm Sands sex sting, Pacheco wanted the men who were arrested to plead guilty and become registered sex offenders!!! What a mess!!

The gay community was in an uproar about this event and rightfully so. The sting cost the Palm Springs Police Chief his job. The LBGT community came together and now does numerous outreach with the police.

By hiring Pacheco, the city has slapped members of that community in the face. Now to be clear, the new mayor and council people did not vote on this contract. But they can vote to end it. And they really may want re-think Doug Holland's tenure as well. Decisions made in panic lead to trouble. 

Steve Kelly can be reached at skelly@rrbroadcasting.com and on Twitter @skellynj on Twitter