By John Paul Valdez
Yes, but when? The Hard Rock just opened a few days ago and is rumored to be featuring some live bands that will later come to Coachella. The resulting sales revenue from that is a year or two away, and that will affect PS more so than other valley cities. Another hotel complex put on hold for a review.
The kind of tourism that each valley city gets differs from town to town. As we move further to the east, golfing seems to be the name of the game. Moving further west, PS has been the draw up to now with swimming and tennis. DHS is all about being The Spa City, Pioneer Town, and Joshua Tree.
Depending on the results of the local elections and how each city is managed shortly afterwards, sales revenue and hotel taxes for cities like DHS are far flung into a five or ten year future when that particular town is on the brink of a bankruptcy in less than two years under their announced budget. That’s a problem that needs immediate attention and one that won’t allow a ten year wait. One wonders aloud why that particular city isn’t releasing their final budget until just AFTER the election on Nov 5.
As a north-west valley homeowner, I am happy to see the bullish attitude on tourism, but it means understanding several things that are not necessarily currently embraced. For one, although local politics seem to rely heavily on those here for thirty years, we need to keep constant in our minds those who will be in our lovely cities three days, not three decades. Those dollars are the ones that support a tourist economy.
PS is just now realizing that the new higher hotels, that admittedly block some views of the mountains if one is close by, are the very kinds of developments that will bring the big city dollars to these towns. That is the future. Persons wanting the views are moving a bit further away, just like in real neighborhoods throughout the US where the residents don’t live in the tourist zone.
The foothills of the mountains that start in DHS will become the Hollywood Hills to the tourist zone beneath us in PS a decade from now and everyone will have to embrace some level of development if they want the money that comes with it.
Holding onto a thirty year old vision isn’t going to bring “bullish” (or money) into your time horizon during your lifetime unless you vote it in, and welcome it.
