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Bulletin Board
Petition Drive
Regarding La Quinta's Proposed Annexation of Vista Santa Rosa
La Quinta is one of the best managed cities in the valley. It appears to be in excellent financial condition. However, as has been reported in the paper, the City is contemplating a substantial increase in size and obligations through the annexation of all or a part of a 15 square mile area known as Vista Santa Rosa. A number of persons have raised concerns about this.
Recently Dan Callister met with Kay Wolff of the La Quinta Cove Neighborhood Association to discuss her specific concerns. Kay is the wife of the former first mayor of La Quinta. After researching these concerns, including meetings with several City officials, Mr. Callister and Ms. Wolff, along with others, decided to initiate a petition drive to urge the City to cease any further actions towards annexation.
Below is a list of some of the major concerns regarding annexation. If you are willing to assist by signing a petition or circulating a petition, please contact Spencer Callister at 799-6300.
Concerns Relating to Annexation of Vista Santa Rosa:
1. Larger City boundaries and population substantially increases the need for La Quinta police and fire personnel along with a variety of other City personnel.
2. These costs are paid for by sales and hotel taxes. The City's share of residential property taxes is insufficient to cover these expenses.
3. The City is comtemplating asking developers to pay a large fee in order to be annexed to help offset the costs of the increased personnel needs. However, the estimation of what the fee should be in order to adequtely cover all costs associated with increased services is a guessing game that can sometimes be influenced by politics.
4. At best, even if the City officials guess right as to the increased costs, it is a break-even scenario. There are no obvious benefits that the annexation provides for th existing residents of La Quinta. Furthermore, it could hasten the day when we are either provided reduced services or have to pay increased or new city taxes.
5. At a time when we are all concerned about the values of our properties there is nothing about this annexation that could do anything to improve property values and could eventually result in increased taxes.
Thank you for your consideration of this important city matter.
Increased Attention on Security in the Cove
As many of you know, representatives of the Top of the Cove Association meet regularly with the Police and City to lobby for increased security. There has been quite a lot of attention in the media lately about various criminal activities both in the La Quinta Cove specifically and the
Coachella
Valley as a whole. Captain Rodney Vigue from the
Riverside
County’s Sheriff Department recently met with representatives from the Top of the Cove Association. It was a great meeting in which many of the concerns facing the Cove were addressed. Captain Vigue spoke frankly about the recent shooting and why it did not, in his opinion, represent a new trend in violence.
We have also spoken to the Captain about the crime of breaking into cars to steal contents. He noted that these are crimes of opportunity and that it is important to keep valuables out of sight.
In response to our concerns the SET team has become more proactive and has set bait cars with surveillance teams to attempt to catch offenders. While no immediate arrests have resulted, it was a great example of how the Cove Association can work directly with police authorities and have specific security concerns quickly addressed.
If you have specific concerns or issues that you would like to the Cove Association to continue to follow up on with local police authorities please let us know. Contact Spencer Callister at 760-799-6300. The Top of the Cove Association exists to help make sure your concerns are being addressed, so please let us know how we can help!
Top of the Cove Neighborhood Association Clean & Pristine Project
Come and help restore the Top of the Cove to it's natural state in our annual Spring Clean and Pristine Project!
It's a great way to preserve this beautiful desert we all love.
Saturday, April 18, 2008
7:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Top of the Cove
Calle Tecate Parking Lot, La Quinta
Bring plastic shopping bags, pooper scoopers, and work gloves. Large trash bags and lightweight gloves will be provided.
Give a little of your time and make a big difference!
Bear Creek Nature Walks
These nature walks are a collaborative effort between the City of La Quinta and the Stewards of the Fred Wolff Bear Creek Nature Preserve and Trail. This is a free program offered to anyone interested in learning about the Preserve.
Walks will be led by the Stewards with assistance by *Coachella Valley Water District staff and **City of La Quinta staff.
Walks will meet at the Shade Shelter on the trail located at the corner of Calle Ensenada and Avenida Montezuma.
Come and enjoy these wonderful opportunities to experience and learn more about the natural environment you live in.
Walk schedule:
*History of Water in the La Quinta Area
March 29 - 7:30am
Natural History of Bear Creek / La Quinta Cove
April 12 - 7:30am
**Overview of Nature Preserve Master Plan
May 17 - 7:30am
Geology of La Quinta Cove
June 21 - 7:30am
Community Service Officer Fowler Receives Award
Community Service Officer Thomas Fowler was awarded the Non-Sworn Employee of the Year award at the Coachella Valley Peace Officer Public Saftey Awards Luncheon last month.
CS Officer Fowler is a great friend to the Top of the Cove Association and has always been extremely responsive with helping the Association in any way he can. The award could not have been given to a more deserving man.
The full story can be read in the Thursday, December 6 edition of the La Quinta Sun, on page 13.
Thank you CS Officer Fowler for being such a valuable member of our community. Congratulations!
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Cove Clean-Up is a BIG Success
The October 13th Top of the Cove Clean and Pristine Project was a huge success. Once again the Top of the cove is a cleaner and more beautiful place!
Here's a picture of just a few of the 75 people that participated.
In addition to people in the community, various groups contributed their time and effort, including:
- Cove Neighborhood Association
- Cornerstone Covenant Church
- La Quinta High School students from Advancement Via Industrialized Determination (AVID)
- La Quinta High School students from California Scholorship Federation (CSF)
- Palm Desert High School students from Nexus, an enviornmental science club.
Volunteers worked so hard and picked up so much trash that they kept a City of La Quinta worker very busy collecting all of the trash bags they filled.
This year volunteers were able to cover a much larger area than at the last clean-up. The entire east side, along the Bear Creek Path, North to Calle Ensenada was cleaned.
Thank you so much to ALL who gave their time and energy to this important project!
This is a Bi-Annual project, the 2008 clean-up will be on April 19th and October 11th.
We look forward to seeing you at the next Top of the Cove Clean and Pristine Project!
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New signs: Welcome, help us stay clean...
La Quinta's Top of the Cove Neighborhood Association held a new sign unveiling at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 10, 2007, at the parking lot on Calle Tecate.
The two wooden signs, inspired by similar signs in Hawaii's National Parks, welcome visitors and ask them to help keep the area pristine.
This is a beautiful wilderness area and we have to keep it clean. This includes NO dog waste and NO trash. The city paid for the two signs at $1,200 each and is also adding ten new trash cans and two new mutt mitt dispensers.
The association organized a top-of-the-cove cleanup in October 2006 that drew about 100 volunteers and netted several pickup trucks and trailers full of trash.
It's next cleanup is slated for Saturday April 21, 2007, 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. The Association plans to hold two per year.
For more information, call Mishael Patton at 771-3731.
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Dog Owners Play A Crucial Role
Dogs are welcomed guests, however, the responsible behavior of dog owners plays a crucial role in protecting and preserving our local natural desert areas.
Domestic dog waste is not only unsightly, but also extremely dangerous, transmitting disease to wildlife and people. It contains harmful parasites, bacteria, and odors that wild animal waste does not.
Dog waste has an unfamiliar scent that confuses and disturbs the natural hunting patterns of surrounding wildlife.
Domestic dog waste gets washed away, contaminating our storm drains. Children play in wash zones where fecal contamination is greatest. Children, or a person with a weakened immune system, can get Toxicaris, a disease caused by the eggs of round worms, which can lead to permanent blindness.
Mutt mitt dispensers are conveniently located. Please, for the sake of all who enjoy our beautiful Top of the Cove and the Santa Rosa Mountains National Monument, it is imperative that dog’s waste be scooped up and carried out.
When in nature, only footprints should be left behind.
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Neighborhood Watch
To date, 20 people have volunteered to be block captains for the neighborhood watch program. Spencer Callister, Block Captain Coordinator, is working to secure additional volunteers and to make sure that all captains are trained. For a description of the workings of TCNA Watch, please see the details which are in a separate item of the Bulletin Board.
It is the desire of the Association that the signs put up for the watch are very nice ones which will enhance the neighborhood. The Steering Commitee is working to obtain the best price possible for the signs, but it anticipated that they will be more expensive than the standard, orange neighborhood watch signs which can be seen in other areas.
Private Security Patrol
The steering committee has worked with Bower Security, the premier private security company in the Valley, to develop a proposed private security patrol. Mr. Steve Serna from Bower Security spoke about Bower's experience and explained how similar patrols are operating in other non-gated areas of the Valley.
Dan Callister explained that the service would initially be offered only to members of TCNA and then opened to the remaining Cove but would be limited to 120 homes. It will require a minimum of 100 subscribers by January 1, 2007 to become operational. The cost would be apx. $75 per month. Details of the proposal follow this report.
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Proposal for private security patrol by Bower Security
The La Quinta Cove Patrol Service would consist of the following services:
1. 8 hours per night, state licensed, armed security patrol officer driving a late model professional security patrol vehicle, from the hours of 10 pm to 6 am.
2. Patrol officers will provide a visual deterrence to crime in your neighborhood by driving highly visible marked and striped professional patrol vehicles.
3. Patrol officers will randomly patrol your neighborhood, watching for suspicious persons, vehicles and circumstances. Patrol officers will reports suspicious behavior to the police department and keep a log of such activity which will be provided to the Top of the Cove Neighborhood Association.
4. Patrol officers will confront suspicious persons, look for open garage doors, open gates or other signs of entry or attempted entry and advise homeowners at residence of persons who have contracted with Bower Security.
5. The patrol officer will work to develop and maintain an outstanding relationship with the La Quinta Police Dept.
6. Patrol officers will respond to calls for service such as alarms, disturbances, suspicious circumstances or criminal activity at residence of contracting persons. This means you can phone the officer directly and he will come to your residence IMMEDIATELY. The patrol officer will also call the police if you request to do so.
7. A Bower Security patrol supervisor will be called for back-up to assist your community patrol officer if necessary.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION CONCERNING A PRIVATE SECURITY PATROL PLEASE CONTACT MR. STEVE SERNA OF BOWER SECURITY, 760-200-2865, OR MR. DAN CALLISTER, 564-3186.
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Neighborhood Watch Operations
The following details how the Top of the Cove Neighborhood Watch program works:
1. If something suspicious or illegal is observed it is to be reported to the block captain and the appropriate La Quinta authority (i.e. police, code enforcement, graffiti hot line. etc.)
2. The block captain keeps a log of all reported problems.
3. The block captain determines whether to contact other members on the block and whether to contact the block captain coordinator.
4. The block captain coordinator keeps a master log of all items reported by block captains. The coordinator also determines whether to alert all block captains of a reported problem.
5. The block captain records in log resolution of problem (did police respond, was graffiti removed, etc.). Also reports resolution to coordinator who records action in master log.
6. Every six months the logs are reviewed and the Steering Committee determines if there is a problem which requires additional City attention.
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Please note a change in our mailing address:
Top of the Cove Neighborhood Association
78-365 Hwy 111, PMB 149
La Quinta, CA 92253
The change to a new P.O. box is the result of Postal Mania in Old Town going out of business. We're sorry to see them go. Please support La Quinta businesses! |
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