A large turnout at the Joshua Tree Community Center listened to Supervisor James Ramos, and told him plenty about flood control concerns. Reporter Dan Stork says that housing planning, unhappiness about block grant funding, and help for the homeless were other subjects at the meeting…
The October meeting of the Morongo Basin Municipal Advisory Council started with a “state of the Morongo Basin” address from Third District Supervisor James Ramos. He recited issues that either affect the Morongo Basin, or deal directly with it, that his office has addressed. These include desert and mountain tourism development, the solar developing moratorium and resulting ordinance, homelessness, the Pioneertown water project, the Wonder Valley road maintenance vote, getting other supervisors to visit this area, and funding for beautification of downtown Joshua Tree. But the issue that he addressed, and which dominated audience questions, was flood control. Ramos toured the area after the September flood in Joshua Tree. Audience members voiced concerns about development increasing flood hazard, worried about the potential of the Alta Mira project in this regard, and questioned the appropriateness of work done by the Department of Public Works after the flood.
Following agency reports, Jeremy Warren, of the WFN consulting firm, described the work that his firm is doing for the County on a consolidated 5-year plan for housing needs, which is required by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, and which effectively constitutes an application for HUD funds. The plan takes in funding for Community Development Block Grants, affordable housing support, and facilities and programs for the homeless. He urged residents to complete an online survey available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SanBernardinoCounty . Audience comments focused on the drying-up of CDBG money for unincorporated areas, since allocation for these funds is being done (or rather not done) by the nearby municipalities—Twentynine Palms, and particularly, Yucca Valley.
In community reports, Max Rossi said that road problems in Wonder Valley are exacerbated by lack of rain, leading to unhealthy dust conditions. Gayle Swarat said that the success of a recent Morongo Valley Fire Auxiliary event was probably due to an inexpensive mass mailing. Mary Helen Tuttle said that the Copper Mountain Mesa foundation is hosting seminars on PTSD, held by Pacific Clinics. She also said that Morongo Basin Haven will be accepting donations of sleeping bags for homeless people at the Welcome Center in Yucca Valley through December 1. Mike Lipsitz said that there have been no applications to fill the Flamingo Heights MAC seat, and said that the seat could be filled from any unincorporated part of the Morongo Basin.
SUPERVISOR RAMOS HEARS JOSHUA TREE FLOODING COMPLAINTS
