For Morongo Basin’s more than 100 homeless people, bathing, doing laundry, and receiving mail represent challenges for which there are no simple solutions. But if all goes as expected at tomorrow’s 10 a.m. meeting of county supervisors in San Bernardino, those activities will no longer represent challenges. Reporter Mike Lipsitz has the details …
With the expected passage of item 78 on tomorrow’s consent agenda, Fire Station 35 in the Panorama Heights section of Joshua Tree will become a day-use drop-in facility for area homeless. The fire station, which has been closed for more than 15 years, offers almost 2,800 square feet of space. The Family Assistance Program, which has operated in the area for more than 30 years, plans to sign a five-year lease agreement with the county for $1 per year. Adjacent to a Morongo Basin Transit Authority bus stop, the facility will be the first of its kind in Morongo Basin to make basic services available to area homeless on an ongoing basis.
Agenda item 24 will add $50,000 to Reach Out Morongo Basin’s current allocation of $120,000 for administration of Family Caregiver Support Services. And in a related matter, item 71 will bump up Morongo Basin Unity Home’s allocation for those same services by $300,000 for a total of $1.4 million. Item 76 will authorize continued collection of various voter-approved taxes including Wonder Valley TV4 and Yucca Mesa TV5 both unchanged from last year. That item also includes Wonder Valley road maintenance which is slated for a 2.5 percent increase and totaling $32.31 per parcel beginning July 1 of this year.
Tomorrow’s meeting streams online and to the first-floor teleconferencing room in the County Government Center on White Feather Road in Joshua Tree where public comment may be made via live video link.
Supervisors will hold a special meeting and study session at 1 p.m. following tomorrow’s regular meeting. County building security is the topic of discussion.
