Reporter Gabriel Hart looks back on his last three years covering MVCSD, MUSD, and other beats over 500 stories
I joined the dynamic Z107.7 crew in August of 2022 when I was first assigned to the Morongo Valley Community Services District due to my residence there. I delivered my first story on August 18, where former Morongo Valley Fire Chief James Brakebill honored two of his captains with award plaques, overseen by the MVCSD Board. While it was a pleasant introduction into the inner workings of my town’s CSD, little did I know I’d soon be thrown into the fire to report on one the CSD’s most contentious eras.
That fall, three new members would be voted into the Board whose intentions may have been benevolent, but the unfortunate combination of large personalities, demographic ignorance, incendiary language, and local rumors would blow the monthly CSD meetings into fierce storms of civic emotion, testing my own instincts for balanced reporting while pulled by both sides of the argument.
In retrospect, I saw that situation as a catalyst for Morongo resident’s new hardscrabble will to learn how local politics work, and community members have since learned to properly organize against outside opportunists, like Sarah Fernandez and her successful grassroots campaign to stop the communications tower on Morongo’s compromised BLM land that would have encroached on neighboring residents and wildlife.
As for changes in the Morongo Valley Fire Department, we’d see the beloved Fire Chief Brakebill retire (succeeded by the current Chief McEachen), and the Morongo Valley Community Services District Board of Directors would become a cooperative team despite the unincorporated town’s continuous fiscal challenges. For the MVCSD’s neighbors at the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, it’s always a pleasure to meet with BMCP’s Executive Director Kevin Wong to learn of the latest developments in what I consider the most unique nature preserve in the whole Basin.
As for my other assigned beat covering the Morongo Unified School District, I also saw an increase of positive developments. The MTA remained consistent in their negotiations for higher pay for teachers and smaller class sizes while challenging the necessity for staff layoffs. The Board of Trustees exhibited admirable integrity when they decided to forgo their 5% bonus and approve a one-time 5% bonus for MTA and MUSD management in 2024. Other notable student achievements included the Twentynine Palms Junior High “Steam Cats” robotics team competing in two national robotics events, young multilinguists earning their Seal of Biliteracy and Reclassification, and perhaps the best news for MUSD and its students was the passing of Bond Measure C, an $88,000,000 bond with revenue funding improvements to campus infrastructure, complete with a Bond Oversight Committee for transparency of its spending.
I also get the chance to pitch my own stories here at the station, and I’ve been able to amplify voices like the Native American Land Conservancy and our local chapter of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, as well as spreading word about our growing mutual aid for desert conservation like the annual Giant Rock Cleanup gatherings and helping bridge the gaps between military veterans and civilians by covering the tireless efforts of Mil-Tree.
As an author, I’m also grateful to cover our growing literary scene, like reading events at Space Cowboy Books, other live reading series like Desert Split Open Mic, and other literary events leading up to the annual Twentynine Palms Book Festival.
As the Morongo Basin continues to grow in popularity, sometimes giving the impression it may be bursting at the seams, it’s my hope we stay focused on preserving the integrity of our small vibrant community, rather than forcing it to expand beyond its natural limits. Let’s continue to remind ourselves: we are here because there’s no other place like it.
Here’s to 500 more stories chronicling the Morongo Basin.
