Palm Springs Meaney Lawsuit A Joke

News came today that Palm Springs can now proceed with a lawsuit against Rich Meaney, the embattled Palm Springs developer over a $160,000 debt the city is claimed it is owed. The city claims  it is owed the funds because it had granted a $250,000 grant to Meaney and his Hacienda Cantina project for a 3 year period of operations. The placed closed closed after 1 year.

Meaney is a central figure in the ongoing corruption investigation into the former shall we say, questionable business practises at Palm Springs City Hall. I have been told by sources close to the investigation that he has been cooperating with the feds as they do their work.

It is fairly obvious that Meaney has no money. You can't get blood from a stone. This will only pad an already expensive city legal bill.

 An argument can be made that by filing the lawsuit, the city is merely protecting it's rights. Also that the city is preventing a moral hazard. I get that. But the real way you prevent this from happening again is to make sure the city never repeats such a corporate welfare type program. So why is the city still persisting with this Don Quixote-like litigation?

 Knowing the current political climate in Palm Springs, I fear the answer  as to why the city is pursuing this course is a matter of tacit obfuscation.  City Hall big shots like City Manager David Ready and Council persons Chris Mills and Ginny Foat can claim that they too were "victims" of the dastardly Rich Meaney. Of course that is all nonsense but such a course of action  will go over in certain sectors of Palm Springs.

The main question involving this grant question remains as to whether or not the program was used specifically to reward friends and supporters of former mayor Steve Pougnet. Anything else is just an entertaining sideshow.

Steve Kelly can be reached at svericker12@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @skellynj

.