Merger of Dissimilar Desert Cities Proposed

As the San Fernando Valley grapples with the prospect of seceding from Los Angeles, here in the desert there is talk of going the opposite way: joining Palm Springs with neighboring Cathedral City.

In a move that caught local officials by surprise, a political action committee two weeks ago proposed that the cities unite to form the biggest municipality--with about 90,000 residents--in the small but growing Coachella Valley. Palm Springs’ flashy star-studded reputation, they argue, would blend well with Cathedral City’s developable land.

More than 50% of voters in both cities would have to approve the proposal.

The Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission is taking the proposal seriously, noting that such a consolidation would be California’s first in 30 years.

Backers say the plan would cut costs and boost both cities’ clout, and are circulating a petition to get the proposal on the 2003 ballot.

“When we started looking at consolidation, it was amazing how much money we’ll be able to save by erasing a fictitious line in the sand that divides the two cities,” said Craig Marlar, secretary of the De Ville Group, the Palm Springs-based committee pushing the plan.

Proponents notified LAFCO on Feb. 12 that they intend to circulate a consolidation petition. To put the measure on the ballot, they need signatures from 5% of registered voters in each city--a total of 1,771. They must also submit an application spelling out the costs and benefits of consolidation, details that critics say are currently lacking. LAFCO would then conduct a public hearing, and unless half the voters in each city objected in writing, the consolidation proposal would go on the ballot.

If a majority of voters in each city approved it, the consolidation would be complete--a first in California since San Jose and Alviso united in 1972, said Raechelle Cline of the League of California Cities.

So far, officials in both cities have been cool to the consolidation plan, under which the Palm Springs name would be retained but the existing city councils would be dissolved and a new council would be elected.

“I’m surprised that the whole thing came up,” said Bob Hillery, a former Cathedral City mayor and board member of the Palm Springs Historical Society, who said the plan was all but unknown before the local paper publicized it. “I don’t know why it came up. Even members of city councils hadn’t heard of it.”

In some quarters, the proposal is also raising concern because it has been presented by the De Ville Group as part of a slate of other measures. One of the original proponents, former Palm Springs City Manager Rob W. Parkins, has pulled his name off the consolidation petition, saying he does not wish to champion the other proposals.

The group is calling for term limits on elected officials in Palm Springs, a repeal of the city’s 5% utility tax, reform of its parking system and a switch from the city’s elected mayoral seat to a rotating council position, Marlar said. It is also backing a statewide initiative to allow Indian casino-style gaming at already licensed racetracks and card clubs.

“I just have a difference of opinion with those, and wasn’t asked if I was going to subscribe to those,” Parkins said. “I would not have [agreed to be a consolidation petitioner] if I knew there was the perception that this would be linked to those.”

The consolidation proposal, however, seems to make a natural match, say proponents, who describe it as a marriage of equals, with each city bringing its unique wealth to the union.

Palm Springs is the grande dame of the desert, renowned for its Rat Pack connection and Albert Frey architecture. Cathedral City is an up-and-coming bedroom community with affordable housing, a sleek new civic center and room to grow.

Palm Springs has trendy restaurants and intimate boutiques. Cathedral City has Wal-Mart, Target and Sam’s Club. Palm Springs has the airport. Cathedral City has the auto mall.

Combining the cities would give them added leverage when vying with other desert cities for coveted developments such as golf courses and shopping malls. And it could save as much as $7 million to $15 million a year by consolidating staff and services, Marlar said.

The details of such a union could be an unwieldy mess, some local officials caution. They’re warning residents against signing the petition without knowing how the two cities would share fire and police services, merge their respective library systems and reconcile differing local taxes and budgets.

“It’s like signing a blank check, or signing a letter without anything typed on it,” said Palm Springs Mayor Will Kleindienst, who said he was only dimly aware of the proposal in the weeks before its public announcement late last month. “It’s not prudent.”

Finances and politics aside, some critics say there’s a cultural divide across the city lines. Cathedral City is a suburb largely of young Latino families, and Palm Springs is a haven for white retirees.

“The philosophy of both people are different,” Hillery said. “The ones that want to live in Palm Springs are looking for the aristocratic development, more of the nightclub scene. And the ones in Cathedral City are working-class.”

Consolidation proponent and former Cathedral City Councilman Robert Gomer, however, sees the cities as two sides of the same coin, with their interconnected businesses, large tracts of Agua Caliente tribal land and substantial gay communities.

“I don’t see any difference between someone that lives on one side of the street and someone who lives on the other side of the street,” he said. “We’re very much intertwined with the way the populations live and work and play.”

But for some desert residents who retreated from urban areas in search of a quieter life, the two small cities would simply be too big as one.

“I think it would work great, but it would never go,” said former Palm Springs Mayor Frank Bogert. “If it comes up to a vote, I guarantee that people would vote against it.

“They just want to keep their own little town.”