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UK

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26.

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The other thing she said about

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Eli, are we ready?
>> Yeah, we'll tell our council. Right.

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» I know we got a minute, but I just want
to make sure. You ready? Okay.

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» Okay.
>> Good evening. Welcome to our meeting

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tonight. if we can uh stand for the
pledge of allegiance. And Robert, would

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you please lead us?
>> I would be honored, mayor. Thank you.

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Please stand.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

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United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation

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under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. For all.

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» Okay, if you'd like to remain standing,
uh Leanne Clark is here for the 28 Palm

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Ministo Association.
>> Thank you. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly

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Father, we thank you for this beautiful
evening for our city council, city

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manager, staff, and residents to gather
to discuss important issues that pertain

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to our community. We ask for your peace
to fall upon this place, and for each of

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us to share our ideas and concerns with
respect and honoring the golden rule. We

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ask for your blessing upon our city.
Blessings upon our hotels to have guests

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in every room 365 days of the year. For
tourists to come and enjoy our city and

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stay additional time and patronize our
restaurants and businesses. We ask for

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the blessings upon our business
community for prosperity for repeat

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customers and new customers and for
there to be a need to hire more staff to

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accommodate the need. We also ask for
blessing and protection over the men and

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women serving our country and especially
over the Marine Corps Airground combat

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center as well as their families. We in
addition ask for your protection and

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blessing over the Morango Unified School
District, Copper Mountain College, and

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the preschools and home schools as
students return to the fall schedule.

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With faith, hope, and love, we thank you
again in Jesus name. Amen.

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» Amen.
>> Thank you.

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» Okay, roll call, please. Council member
Wright

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» here.
>> Council member Bildering

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» here.
>> Councilwoman Ramirez here. Mayor Prom

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Scott
>> here.

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» Mayor Mintz
>> here. All present.

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» Okay. Uh we have no close session
announcements. Any changes to the

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agenda?
>> No. Okay. [clears throat]

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Okay. These proceedings will be viewed
on demand at 29 Palms website at

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ww.29.org.
You may also live stream this meeting by

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going on our website and clicking on
meeting agendas link. And obviously we

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have all the stuff over here for where
you could call in

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to the phone or zoom to the phone. So
you just have to go to where it says

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register link and it's all on our
website. Okay. Awards, presentation,

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appointments and proclamations.
Presentation by fine food bank and

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proclamation recognizing hunger action
month. So you're up. All right.

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Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon
mayor, council, um city rep, city

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members. U my name is Lennena Marukin. I
am the interim president and CEO for

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Fine Regional Food Bank. And in honor of
hunger action month, I came to share the

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state of hunger report within your city.
Um for those of you who don't know,

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September is hunger action month. Thank
you all for wearing orange and uh

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participating this year in um hunger
action month. Um I want to share with

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you 29 palm's impact report for 2026.
Um our map the meal gap partnership with

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feeding America shows that 17.3%
of city residents in 29 palms are food

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insecure. So though the these numbers
may be reflected um look a little high,

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there is still a lot of work to do
within the city in order to reach people

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who are food insecure. Um our data shows
that um we have four partner agencies

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within the city of 29 palms. Um
of those um agents I'm sorry um we have

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residents served through our mobile
markets. So, we also have community

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mobile markets where we do food access
and we're able to identify how many

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residents within the city are able to
access these markets. Um, for 2026,

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4,961
um 29 Palms residents were able to

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access food assistance through our
direct uh mobile markets. We also have

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eight residents in 29 Palms who provide
volunteer service, whether that's going

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to our food bank or going to our
community mobile markets to be able to

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provide service. um eight residents
within the city are providing that

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service.
[clears throat] We have um our annual

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food distribution numbers in 29 palms.
Again, these numbers um reflected are a

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little high because they show two
agencies that are with that have a 29

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palm zip code but might be without with
not in the jurisdiction. Um so we

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distributed 572,739
pounds of food assistance within the 29

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Palms um area.
Of that we have a senior partner um

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Reach Out Morango Basin who serves 300
seniors in need of food assistance every

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month which is the highest um one of the
highest sites that we have for our

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senior program. Um and we're able to
distribute 141,240

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um,000 pounds of produce. Um so clients
or neighbors are able to access this

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much pounds in the form of fresh
produce. Um along with food services, we

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also provide um assistance through our
outreach team that provides um

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application assistance for medical
section 8 unemployment disability. 22

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residents were able to sign up for um
these services um through our outreach

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team. And then our newest program in
ending hunger for a lifetime, which

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tackles the root causes of hunger, is
our find success workforce development

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program. We have four students who um
received um a stipen um in the amount or

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the total amount awarded was $2,000. And
this focuses on not only providing job

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skills but also um providing um
educational attainment. So money for

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them to be able to pay for school
immediate needs or whatever that looks

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like for that specific student. Um these
are the resources that we're providing

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in the area. Um, thank you for your
partnership and if there's any way that

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you can contribute or give back um to
for hunger action month, whether it's

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advocating by wearing orange, visiting
our website, doing a a local food drive,

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um partnering with one of our agency
partners, anything that you can do to um

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advocate for Hunger Action Month, we'd
greatly appreciate it. Thank you for

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your partnership.
>> Thank you.

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» Well, we have a proclamation. I'm going
to read this up here, then I'm going to

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present it to you.
>> Thank you. Um, see this is uh Tony Palms

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proclamation hunger action month.
Whereas September of each year is

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recognized nationally as hunger action
month a time to raise awareness about

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food and security mobilize communities
to support neighbors in need. Whereas

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the city of Twine Palms is committed to
working with fine food bank, a member of

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the feeding America nationwide network
of food banks in educating people about

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the role and importance of food banks in
addressing hunger and raising awareness

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in the need to devote more resources and
attention to hunger issues. Whereas

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local food banks, school nutrition
programs, community meal incentives, and

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hunger relief organizations provide
critical support to residents u facing

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food insecurities. And whereas hunger
action month encourages individuals,

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businesses, and organizations to take
action through volunteering, donating,

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and uh advocating for policies that
reduce hunger. Now, therefore, it may

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resolve that the city council of 29
palms does hereby proclaim the month of

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September 2026 as hunger action month in
our city and urges all residents to

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participate in activities that support
food securities and community

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well-being. Further, we recognize the
efforts of the fine food bank's ongoing

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commitment to providing food assistance
and providing promoting hunger relief to

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our community dated this 8th day of
September 2026.

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» Thank you.

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I go

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Can we clap now?
[applause]

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[applause]

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» Need you to be my fashion guy or
something.

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Okay. And now we have a proclamation by
the National Park Conservation

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Association.

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» Presentation.
[clears throat]

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» Good. Let's see. Good afternoon, city
council. Thank you so much for taking

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the time um to hear our presentation on
our work. U my name is Chance Wilcox.

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I'm the California Desert Director for
um the National Parks Conservation

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Association.
>> And my name is Mason Osgood. I'm the

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program director for the or sorry,
program manager for the uh California

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Desert Program.
>> And um we had asked to give this

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presentation because our names had been
popping up a little bit in the news here

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in 29 Palms and wanted to make sure that
um there's a mutual respect between the

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city council and the work that we do
with the National Parks Conservation

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Association. um not just on specific
campaigns but that you also know like

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what we have done over the years within
the Morango Basin and the California

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desert as well. Actually, if you want to
go back just you're fine. Um NPCA is a

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national organization that's been around
for over a hundred years. It was founded

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by the very first superintendent of the
very first national park. We have over

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1.9 million members nationwide who stand
beside us in the in the goal to protect

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our national parks, defend them, and
defend the landscapes and gateway

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communities in and around our national
parks as well. The California Desert

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Program has been around for over 25
years with staff on the ground. Um, our

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organization as a whole has a very on
the ground approach and regional

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approach of understanding that every
park and the communities and landscapes

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around them are unique and therefore so
is the work that we do. Um, so we have

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we work tirelessly to defend the
landscapes, communities, the cultures in

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and around Death Valley, Mojave National
Preserve, and Joshua Tree National Park.

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Um, just a little bit to demonstrate
kind of what we've worked on in the

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past, uh, and where where we are now.
Um, our past work in the California

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desert has included opposition to the
Eagle Mountain landfill, which was a

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very controversial project here in the
California desert, uh, defending the

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Joshua Tree landscape from, uh, Los
Angeles's landfill. Um we also have

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defended the support for Santa Snow,
Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains, and

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Chuck Wala National Monuments, which
create corridors of um natural

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resources, cultural resources, and
recreation between Joshua Tree, Mojave,

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and Death Valley National Parks. Um we
worked tirelessly as well in the

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opposition to the Ivanpaw solar
facility, which ultimately we recognize

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that sometimes in this work we fail. Um
but we have seen how the Ivanpaw solar

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facility has had its impacts on um not
just the national natural resources of

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the area but also the visual impacts of
the area. We also continue to and have

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historically garnered congressional
support for funding and staffing in

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Joshua Tree and Death Valley National
Parks including funding for wildlife um

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or for wildlife overcrossings and
funding for fire protection as well. And

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then we also uh and continue to be
engaged in the long-standing fight

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against the Kadis water extraction
scheme. So,

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um, currently what Mason and I work on
has revolved heavily around the long and

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current history of hard rock mining in
the Mojave Desert and a current federal

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critical minerals agenda from the
Department of the Interior that has

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really put a lot of pressure here in the
Mojave Desert. We recognize that

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minerals are necessary for us as an
organization, as a society, as a

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country, as a world. Um, but we
recognize that also with this history

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here in the desert of hard rock mining
for gold, silver, and rare earth

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elements that there's increasing
pressure on our communities and our

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landscapes and our parks. And that
finding a balance is particularly

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necessary right now and that sighting is
increasingly more important with every

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new project. So national parks in
particular have been center stage for

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this conversation about critical
minerals in the United States, not just

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here in California, but also in Utah as
well as in Arizona, New Mexico,

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Colorado, anywhere that there's ever
been a history of mining. Um, we're

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continuing to have this conversation
about what is appropriate for

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communities and for our national parks,
considering the impacts to water,

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wildlife, natural resources, cultural
resources, but more importantly, I think

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for the what we are about to present is
economies of gateway communities that

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have really built themselves up around
national parks and the residents who

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live there for the natural beauty and
the recreation for those places. So,

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one of the more uh important pieces of
advocacy that I think we have worked on

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in the last two years is to navigate
what this looks like with Dateline

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Resources, which is an Australian
company and their endeavor at Coliseum

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Mine. Um, Deline Resources is a junior
Australian company that prior to

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purchasing Coliseum Mine in the Mojave
Desert um had smaller projects in Fiji

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um throughout Asia. uh and they
purchased Coliseum Mine in 2021 which

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was a mine that had gone into
reclamation in 1994 with the passing of

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the California Desert Protection Act. Uh
this means that it was supposed to go

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into back into the earth that it was
supposed to be returned the way that we

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hope that all mines eventually will do.
The California Desert Protection Act

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turned the land in which Coliseum Mine
was situated into Mojave National

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Preserve and transferred the
jurisdiction of that area from the

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Bureau of Land Management to the
National Park Service. Dayline Resources

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purchased the um what we call um
patented claims which are privately

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owned uh in 2021 and the National Park
Service found them doing unauthorized

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road work through the National Park unit
in 2023 without a special use permit.

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They gave them a cease and desist saying
that in any given situation on federal

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land, a company must apply for
permitting at the very least to do any

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sort of activity. and they found that
the company did the road work in the

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dead of night. Anyway, um the National
Park Service said, "You actually owe the

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taxpayers over $200,000 worth of damages
to a national park unit." To which the

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company said, "No, we actually don't."
And uh through a lot of conversation and

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back and forth, ultimately went silent,
and those fees were never paid back.

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They currently have a focus of projects
in national parks uh and monuments. We

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have seen them also start a new project
on the edge of Mojave Trails National

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Monument for Strontium and more recently
as well started staking 20,000 acres of

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claims on the edge of Joshua Tree
National Park and the city of 29 Palms

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boundaries.
Um these are some pictures of up at

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Coliseum. Um the top left photo is what
it looked like. That is what you would

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expect from our desert national parks.
Um a dirt road, solace, peace, nature,

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wildlife. Um the road on the right is
what it looked like after they had done

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the um road work, unpermitted road work.
And that pit is what rare earth element

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00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,920
mining looks like um up at Coliseum. So

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00:16:54,399 --> 00:17:00,639
uh thanks Chance. Uh we're going to move
on to the Music Valley Exploration

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00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:05,120
Project which uh Dline Resources is
currently really interested in. Uh this

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is just in the backyard of the city of
29 Palms. Um, so the basics behind this,

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00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:16,880
it's roughly 21,000 acres of state
claims in the Pinto Mountains region.

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Uh, lookers left if you're looking
towards the park entrance. Um, it's all

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00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:29,440
up in uh those mountains, Music Valley,
Pinto Mountains area. Um it's uh 1100

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00:17:27,039 --> 00:17:36,240
acres of patented claims which are
private land and then 20,000 acres of

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00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:43,200
unpatented claims um which range in size
from 30 acres to 5 acres. Um most of the

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claims are accessed through two access
roads. One is Gold Park Road which I'm

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00:17:45,679 --> 00:17:52,240
sure you all know quite well. That's at
the end of the Hansen tract neighborhood

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00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:57,120
in the city of 29 Palms. And that road
continues up into public land and most

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00:17:55,120 --> 00:18:01,600
importantly it crosses through into the
boundary briefly into Joshua Tree

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00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:06,160
National Park. The rest of the claims
are accessed through Shelton Road which

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00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:12,320
is just down the highway in Wonder
Valley and that um are really the only

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00:18:09,679 --> 00:18:17,440
two main access roads for these claims.
All the claims are in San Bernardino and

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00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:21,760
Riverside counties. Um though the
Riverside County claims are much harder

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00:18:19,679 --> 00:18:24,960
to access. they're not accessed um
through going through Riverside County.

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00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:31,360
You have to go through San Bernardino
County to get to them. Um and

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00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:36,320
majority of the claims are visible from
the city of 29 Palms. In fact, there is

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00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:42,400
a section of these claims that are
within the city boundaries. Um if I'm

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00:18:39,679 --> 00:18:48,160
correct, they're um currently staked in
a residential zoning district. Um and

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00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:53,760
you can see the claim stakes. We have
some photos after this um from Utah

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00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:58,720
Railroad and the park entrance booth.
And I think it's important to reiterate

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00:18:55,919 --> 00:19:02,799
that um Dline, this is a serious
company. Uh Chance and I have been

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00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:06,640
working a lot on fighting against this
company for what they're doing in

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00:19:03,919 --> 00:19:10,960
Colosseum and so we take them seriously.
Um and I think rare earth elements are

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00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:15,760
to be taken seriously as well. They have
an immense impact on communities,

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00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:20,559
economies, and involve a lot of heavy
truck traffic, helicopter exploration,

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00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:26,320
and tailings pile. And they leave a long
legacy of impact on our public lands.

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00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:31,039
Next slide. Here's some quick photos.
This is on uh Gold Park Road. You can

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00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:36,799
see the claim stake on the left here,
that pink uh ribbon there, and then the

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00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:44,559
uh national park boundaries right behind
it. Here is a quick map of the claims.

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00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:50,960
And um we also have some more detailed
maps as well, the flyers we handed out.

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00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:57,280
Um and as you can see here, all these
claims are um right next to the national

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00:19:54,240 --> 00:20:02,240
park. They go into the city of 29 palms.
We have the access roads there. Um and I

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00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:07,520
think what's also important to note is
that they're in um a ACE, which is an

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00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:12,000
area of critical environmental concern.
and it's a designation from the Bureau

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00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:16,960
of Land Management. It's managed for its
highquality desert tortoise habitat. Um,

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00:20:14,799 --> 00:20:21,520
and it goes right up against a national
park boundary and a wilderness boundary

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00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:25,440
as well.
Um, our organization is really concerned

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00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:30,240
about this project for a number of
reasons. Um, the first of which is its

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00:20:27,679 --> 00:20:34,320
tortoise habitat, its wildlife. Um, this
area is well known for its desert

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00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:39,200
tortoise habitat. Desert tortoises are
an endangered species and they have

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00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:45,360
impacts primarily from development all
across the California desert. Um, rare

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00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:50,159
earth mining, pit mining in general has
very large visual impacts which would be

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00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:55,200
seen from Wonder Valley and the city of
29 palms. And we're really concerned

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00:20:53,039 --> 00:20:59,919
about the economic impacts. Uh we
believe that a project like this is

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00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:04,559
really in congruous with where the city
of 29 palms is headed in their economic

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00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:09,760
development. Um I think you all have
done a wonderful job of positioning

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00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:13,679
yourselves um as a tourism based economy
with national parks, public lands

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00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:18,320
surrounding you, all sorts of music,
cultural and art development here I

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00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:23,200
think is really exciting and this is
this mine if developed would really be a

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00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:29,840
shift um from what you all have been
working towards. Um and then finally the

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00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:34,000
this project would use uh neighborhood
and city roads for heavy mining

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00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:39,840
equipment that includes going through
highways um hands and tract community as

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00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:44,640
well as Wonder Valley. So the question
here is what can the city council do? Um

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00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:49,120
I think you guys are in a really unique
position to use your voice in this

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00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:55,440
example. There are many examples of
cities passing road moratoriums for u

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00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:59,280
mining truck traffic on specific roads.
Um and even though one of these access

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00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:03,919
roads is outside of your city
boundaries, I strongly believe it's in

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00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:08,960
your sphere of influence. It's close to
your airport. It's close to the

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00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:15,360
community of Wonder Valley. And you can
advocate to the um county of San

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00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:21,720
Bernardino on how um this project would
impact your community and the economics

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00:22:17,679 --> 00:22:21,720
economics of this community.

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00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:29,360
» Yeah. Um just to emphasize as well how
um this company is moving in the

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00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:33,520
California desert. We've seen them erase
all of their other projects from their

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00:22:31,679 --> 00:22:38,640
website and are focused entirely on the
California desert. We filed a lawsuit

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00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:42,880
for the authorizations at Coliseum in a
federal district court and uh also filed

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00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:48,559
for a preliminary injunction for which
we were granted halted all activity at

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00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:52,159
Coliseum because of the wrongful
authorizations that went against the

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00:22:50,559 --> 00:22:55,200
protections of the California desert.
This is a quote from the judge who said,

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00:22:53,679 --> 00:22:58,480
"The federal defendant suggests a
national security interest regarding

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00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,760
rare earth elements in allowing
operations at Coliseum Mine to continue

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00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:05,360
because of the possibility of
establishing another rare earth's mine

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00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:09,440
in the future. Absent federal
legislation superseding the CDPA, the

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00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:13,679
court does not consider this speculative
national security interest to displace

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00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:18,000
Congress's stated interest in protecting
the California desert. This continues to

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00:23:15,919 --> 00:23:22,559
this day. Representative Ruiz, who's
going to represent 29 Palms starting

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00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:26,240
next January, also has explicitly
expressed interest in this project and

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00:23:24,159 --> 00:23:29,679
opposition to hard rock rare earth
element mining in the areas surrounding

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00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,720
national parks. Um there are a lot of
congressional champions. Senator Padz

295
00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:37,280
and Shiff have also been opposed to
Deline Resources activities here and we

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00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:40,720
think that the city at the very least um
has a voice here in their own region and

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00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:45,200
as the gateway community that would be
most impacted by it and so we urge you

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00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:49,039
to take action. So there's our contact
information and we're happy to answer

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00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:52,880
any any questions you might have. We're
also around. We both live here in the

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00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:57,280
Morango Basin. I'm a resident of Morango
Valley. Mason is from Joshua Tree and we

301
00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:01,679
care deeply about this park, this
community, our neighbors, and each of

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00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:05,001
you. So thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you. [applause]

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00:24:09,531 --> 00:24:16,320
[snorts] Okay. Uh, council comments,
reports, and meetings attended. Council

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00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:21,600
member Beldrain.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I attended the

305
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:25,360
Mojave Land groundbreaking. I think I
beat MacArthur, right? Pretty sure I

306
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:30,400
did.
Uh, pres participated in the 5K for

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00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:34,400
suicide awareness prevention month. And
what else did I have? Meetings with

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00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:38,400
citizens. Couple couple of those. That's
all I have. Mr.

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00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:43,200
Council member RmIrez,
>> I also attended the Mojave Land

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00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:50,240
groundbreaking. I attended the Basinwide
Foundation awards ceremony, Cal City's

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00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:55,039
Desert Mountain Division meeting. Um, I
went to two more Washington University

312
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:59,039
courses for elected officials um
regarding AI, governance, policy, cyber

313
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:05,039
security,
um, and other trainings as it relates to

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00:25:02,159 --> 00:25:10,320
um, cyber security threats.
Okay. Thank you, Council Member Wright.

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00:25:07,679 --> 00:25:14,559
» Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I I had to
give it to him. I I lost count on how

316
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:18,320
many strokes it took me to get it in
there, [laughter]

317
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:22,799
but it was still fun. Um I did attend
the Mojave Land groundbreaking. Um I'm

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00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:30,480
really looking forward to that. I think
it's going to be an exciting place and

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00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:37,279
so when it's here [snorts] and also um
um we attended the basinwide foundation

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00:25:33,919 --> 00:25:42,720
dinner an award ceremony
um and that was a fantastic event and

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00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:48,799
along those lines um I did get the
chance to um offer the invocation for

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00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:55,200
that event as well as last month I
forgot to mention it that um I went to

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00:25:51,760 --> 00:26:00,960
the uh county uh board of supervisors
meeting and did the invocation for that

324
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:10,159
meeting uh last month as well. Um I
really enjoyed that [snorts] and um went

325
00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:15,919
to Reach Out uh barbecue
um Friday. It was good. It was it was

326
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:23,120
good. They they threw down. I can say
that. Um it was crowded. Uh they they

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00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:32,960
had a lot of seniors there and I went as
a senior cuz you know I'm 60 now so I'm

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00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:38,799
I'm good. And then also um we had a a
tag grant meeting for with Basin

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00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:45,279
Transit. We're going to be awarding some
uh tag grants um here after the meeting

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00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:50,159
if the board approves it. Um but we'll
be awarding some uh tag grants and went

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00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:55,520
to that meeting and then um meeting with
some constituents um about resources in

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00:26:53,360 --> 00:27:00,080
the city and things like that pointed
them in the right direction to get them

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00:26:57,679 --> 00:27:05,600
the help that they needed. And also want
to let everybody know that u the wall

334
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:10,559
hawks the youth football program uh
we'll be having our first game Saturday

335
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:16,720
at the high school. Our first game
starts at 9:00. our first team and then

336
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:22,880
the next team is at 11 and then the last
team will be at 1:00. So come on out and

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00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:28,000
support us and I do want to thank uh uh
the sponsors that we have. We have a lot

338
00:27:25,279 --> 00:27:32,799
of sponsors in the city and it's greatly
appreciated. Um but come out and support

339
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:37,520
these young kids and watch them play
football and and have a good time.

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00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:42,240
That's all I got. Mr. Mayor, thank you.
>> Thank you, sir. Mayor Pro Tim Scott. Uh,

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00:27:41,279 --> 00:27:44,799
thank you very [clears throat] much, Mr.
Mayor. Um, it's going to be hard to

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00:27:43,919 --> 00:27:51,679
follow.
>> Wait, sorry. I I gotta do this. Um, I'm

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00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:59,720
going to be having my 41st wedding
anniversary on the 10th. Happy

344
00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:59,720
anniversary. Love you, Freedom.

345
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:08,720
» Yeah, it's it's hard to follow that one.
Um, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I I

346
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:13,200
also attended the uh Mojave Land
groundbreaking ceremony. And I'm really

347
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:16,240
looking forward uh to that as well. And
I just want to congratulate I think

348
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:20,559
she's in the audience, but uh Anna
Stump. Um if you could raise your hand,

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00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:24,384
let everyone know it was your vision and
we really appreciate that. [applause]

350
00:28:25,919 --> 00:28:33,600
And um I had I also attended the Labor
Day barbecue. I I know this gray hair

351
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:38,720
makes me look older, but I'm I'm not a
senior yet. And so but it was it was um

352
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:45,120
it was really good. I appreciate
everyone that reach out um Larry Bowen

353
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:49,279
and the semi dabba semi da foundation as
well and I had meetings with

354
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:54,880
constituents and uh stakeholders
regarding uh tourism and mining. Thank

355
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:59,360
you.
>> Thank you sir. Well I got to miss the

356
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:03,520
golf thing because I was in San
Bernardino at the SBTCA meeting. So

357
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:08,640
thanks Honor for not checking my
schedule but I love golf miniature golf

358
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:13,200
anyway. So, yes, it was it's going to be
a great um addition to the city and I

359
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:17,360
think it's going to um provide a a great
service to everyone. Uh as we went to

360
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:20,159
the uh barbecue at the senior center, I
want to thank Robin and her staff. They

361
00:29:18,799 --> 00:29:24,240
worked very hard. The place was packed
when I got there. And I do want to thank

362
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:29,840
Larry Balon for his ribs cuz he always
does a great job. Um I do want to remind

363
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:34,880
I think I see Lori back there, but I do
want to remind everybody about the uh

364
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:39,360
soup contest will be um this Saturday to
support all the food pantries. It's on

365
00:29:36,559 --> 00:29:43,120
Sullivan Road at 6 p.m. They I don't
know if you guys still have tickets,

366
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:46,799
Lori, but um that's going to be she told
me they had like 30 people making

367
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:50,399
already had the soups. 30 34 people are
doing soup. So, it's going to be a great

368
00:29:48,399 --> 00:29:55,200
event. Please come out and help support
our um food pantries. And Anna, sorry

369
00:29:53,760 --> 00:30:01,360
you you'll have to make your comment on
the public comment portion of it. So,

370
00:29:58,159 --> 00:30:05,440
sorry about that. Okay. And that's all I
have. So, now we're in the city manager

371
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:11,200
update.
Thank you, uh, Mayor Council. Um, I just

372
00:30:08,159 --> 00:30:15,360
have a couple of things. Um, I I we got
some exciting stuff coming up. Uh, one

373
00:30:13,039 --> 00:30:19,279
of the things that's coming up, um, it's
about a month away. Uh, beginning of

374
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:23,360
October, October 3rd, we're going to
have our community cleanup day. And so,

375
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:28,159
I urge all residents to start getting
your stuff ready. You can bring it down

376
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:35,600
and, uh, dispose of it at the, um,
behind our LPAC down at the Lucky Park

377
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:39,760
area. And um and uh there's some flyers
out in the foyer that kind of tell you

378
00:30:37,919 --> 00:30:44,880
what what you can get rid of, but uh
it's a good opportunity to um uh to

379
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:50,000
bring that stuff in for free and get rid
of it. So I encourage all residents to

380
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:54,240
do that. City's trying to uh do some
major cleanup around around the city. We

381
00:30:52,000 --> 00:31:00,399
encourage uh individuals to participate
that in that with us. Um, also, uh, in

382
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:05,200
October, we have Pioneer Days, uh,
coming up. And Pioneer Day schedule is

383
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:12,080
coming together. It looks like it it's
going to be a great, um, a great week,

384
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:16,799
uh, weekend. Um, October um, the weekend
of October 16th, 17th, and 18th. There's

385
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:20,320
a few events before that. So, I
encourage everyone, we'll have another

386
00:31:18,399 --> 00:31:24,960
meeting. Um, encourage everyone to look
up that schedule and participate in

387
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:30,799
those events. Um the parade is on the
17th. So um I'd encourage everybody to

388
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:35,679
come out and join us for that. Um
finally, I'll just uh say and the mayor

389
00:31:33,279 --> 00:31:42,240
will um talk about this at the end, but
uh our second meeting in um in in

390
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:47,840
September is going to be on the 29th as
opposed to the 22nd. So I just wanted to

391
00:31:45,039 --> 00:31:52,000
let the public know that.
That's all I have.

392
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:54,399
» Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. Consent
calendar. All matters listed in the

393
00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:57,840
consent calendar to be considered
routine by the city council will be

394
00:31:55,919 --> 00:32:01,039
enacted by one motion in a foreign list.
Any item may be removed from this

395
00:31:59,919 --> 00:32:03,919
consent calendar and considered
separately by the city council. The

396
00:32:02,559 --> 00:32:08,640
public will be given an opportunity to
comment on the consent items prior to

397
00:32:06,559 --> 00:32:13,120
the city council actions. Anybody want
to pull into the items? Pretty short

398
00:32:11,279 --> 00:32:18,880
one. Okay. Anybody from the public like
to make a comment on any of our consent

399
00:32:15,519 --> 00:32:23,360
items? There are four of them. No.
Seeing none. Okay. Okay, I'll bring it

400
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:25,760
back to the council for a motion.
>> I'll move the consent calendar.

401
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:30,640
» Second.
>> Okay, I have a motion to second. Any

402
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:33,360
other discussion? Hearing none.
>> Councilwoman Ramirez,

403
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,039
» I.
>> Council member Bilderin

404
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,399
» I.
>> Council member Wright

405
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,000
» I.
>> Mayor Prom Scott

406
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,120
» I.
>> Mayor Mintz

407
00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:42,640
» I.
>> Approved 50.

408
00:32:40,159 --> 00:32:45,919
» Thank you. All right. So we didn't have
any written. We have no public hearings.

409
00:32:44,559 --> 00:32:50,720
The discussion of potential action
items. Item number seven, tourist

410
00:32:47,919 --> 00:32:53,720
business improvement district TBID
reauthorization.

411
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,487
Oh, Brienne's going to do that. All
right, come on up. [clears throat]

412
00:33:06,799 --> 00:33:14,159
All right. Well, good evening, mayor,
members of council. I'm here before you

413
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:19,120
this evening on behalf of visit 29 palms
the city's tourism business improvement

414
00:33:16,159 --> 00:33:23,840
district as the T-BID advisory board is
seeking reauthorization.

415
00:33:21,519 --> 00:33:28,799
Our T-BID operates under one-year terms
under the parking and business

416
00:33:25,519 --> 00:33:33,120
improvement area law of 1989 with the
purpose of promoting travel and tourism

417
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:37,679
in 29 palms, increasing overnight
visitation and strengthening our local

418
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:41,440
tourism economy. Our work spans
destination marketing, events,

419
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:47,679
partnerships, and visitor services, all
funded by the 1.5% assessment on lodging

420
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:53,519
properties across the city. Before you
tonight is T-BID's annual report for

421
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:57,919
2025 2026 fiscal year, which I'll share
some highlights from in just a moment,

422
00:33:55,679 --> 00:34:02,320
as well as TBID's proposed tourism
marketing plan and budget for our next

423
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:07,679
fiscal year, um, which was discussed and
approved by the TBID advisory board on

424
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:12,800
August 20th. So, I'd love to take you
through some highlights of the annual

425
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:16,000
report. Um, starting um, with really
just an update at the state level. Our

426
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:20,240
ongoing partnership with Visit
California continues to create really

427
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:25,520
valuable opportunities for us to expand
visibility and reach. Visit 29 Palms was

428
00:34:23,679 --> 00:34:30,560
selected to return to their media
reception event in LA earlier this year,

429
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:34,720
which gives us direct access to major
national and regional travel media. And

430
00:34:33,359 --> 00:34:40,399
we're really thrilled by the strong
representation that 29 Palms has earned

431
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:43,760
across Visit California's 2026 consumer
publications.

432
00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:47,919
Some of our largest advertising
investments this year have included a

433
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:52,240
two-page advertorial in Palm Springs
Life's annual Desert Living Guide,

434
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:58,240
year-round advertising at Palm Springs
International Airport, and a 13week I 10

435
00:34:56,159 --> 00:35:02,560
billboard campaign um which generated
more than 5 million impressions reaching

436
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:07,119
people headed eastbound from LA, San
Diego, Orange County, and all of our

437
00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:11,359
primary drive markets.
It's been an exciting year for media

438
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:16,560
coverage as the story being told about
29 Palms continues to grow. One of the

439
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:22,160
highlights there is Get to Going, which
is Sunountry Airlines national travel

440
00:35:19,599 --> 00:35:28,000
series, which featured 29 Palms as part
of a Southern California episode. This

441
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:33,119
was produced for Sunount's in-flight
entertainment and also is available

442
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:37,760
online. um and really creates a pretty
cool new way for travelers to discover

443
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:42,320
uh the city and and learn about all the
things to see and do. Between our

444
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:46,960
website and social media channels, it's
been a year of really significant growth

445
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:50,240
as well. Um both seeing the growing
interest in the city and the work that

446
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:55,280
we're doing to strengthen our content
strategy. So, visit 29.org, which is our

447
00:35:53,359 --> 00:36:00,320
city's official tourism website, reached
a new benchmark this year, surpassing

448
00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:05,760
over a 100,000 new users. And notably,
we've also seen a 32% increase in the

449
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:10,160
direct online referrals that our site is
generating, uh, pushing traffic directly

450
00:36:08,079 --> 00:36:15,760
out to our local businesses, our events,
and some of our visitor resources.

451
00:36:13,359 --> 00:36:20,400
On social media, we've seen the emphasis
on short form video drive some pretty

452
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:24,880
exciting results, giving us also a more
engaging way to showcase the destination

453
00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:28,400
and reach new audiences. Across
Instagram and Facebook, our content

454
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:34,320
views have more than doubled from last
year, reaching over 895,000.

455
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:38,960
Engagement's grown even faster with over
24,000 content interactions, which is

456
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:44,720
more than seven times last year's
results. And we've added over 3,500 new

457
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:49,440
followers. Again, eight times the uh
audience growth that we saw last year.

458
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:54,079
Tik Tok content has reached more than
92,000 viewers. Again, really

459
00:36:51,599 --> 00:36:58,880
significant increase over last year. um
seeing the same trend um on YouTube as

460
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:02,240
both platforms are showing us pretty
strong results driven through search and

461
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:08,160
discovery showing us how video content
is helping new audiences find and

462
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:12,880
explore 29 palms. The T-BID's events
program remained a significant area of

463
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:16,880
focus and investment this year with the
T-BID advisory board awarding over

464
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:23,280
$105,000
in event funding support across 16

465
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:27,119
events and 79 days of event programming
over 2026.

466
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:31,520
We're seeing new event anchors continue
to develop and to grow, including the 29

467
00:37:29,599 --> 00:37:37,200
Palms Book Festival, the Love It Amp
Music Series, and one of our biggest

468
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:41,920
wins with the events program has been a
attracting vacation races Joshua Tree

469
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:46,480
half marathon into the city and this
didn't happen overnight. It reflects a

470
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:49,760
lot of ongoing relationship building and
a lot of work behind the scenes to

471
00:37:48,079 --> 00:37:54,320
demonstrate what we can offer as an
events destination. So this November

472
00:37:52,400 --> 00:38:00,240
that half marathon is expected to bring
over 2500 runners directly into the

473
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:04,160
city. Um, and it's also a really
exciting example of how new lodging

474
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:07,920
investment can create opportunities
beyond just simply adding rooms, helping

475
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:10,880
us to compete for some of these
established destination events.

476
00:38:10,561 --> 00:38:14,480
» [snorts]
>> The TBIT advisory board also spent a

477
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:19,440
very significant amount of time this
year evaluating and making improvements

478
00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:24,480
and changes to the events program with a
stronger focus on tourism impact driving

479
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:28,960
overnight stays uh along with
improvements to the application and the

480
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:33,119
post-event reporting process.
One of the most important measures that

481
00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:38,000
we track is TBIT assessment revenue
because collections are directly tied to

482
00:38:35,599 --> 00:38:42,480
lodging performance and provide an
important indicator of the strength of

483
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:48,079
our local tourism economy. We now have
third quarter results and we can now

484
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:55,119
report collections of $342,000
year to date, which is up 16.8%

485
00:38:51,599 --> 00:39:00,079
over last year. The hotel and RV
segment, their collections are up 28%

486
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:05,839
year-over-year, while vacation rental
collections are up 3.7%.

487
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:10,400
And with one quarter still to go, um we
are on track for what will surely be a

488
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:15,520
record year in T-BID assessment
collections. So overall, we've seen

489
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:20,720
pretty exciting growing um growth in
destination visibility, um some growth

490
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:25,760
across our digital channels, continued
development of our events and program

491
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:29,680
and visitor experiences, and strong
lodging performance reflected in our

492
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:35,712
assessment results, which creates a nice
momentum for us to carry forward as we

493
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,760
look ahead to next year.
>> [clears throat]

494
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:43,040
» So, our focus for next year, as you'll
see reflected in our proposed plan and

495
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:46,480
budget, um overall remains pretty
consistent. We're here to strengthen

496
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:51,359
awareness for 29 Palms, increase
overnight visitation, and support

497
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:55,359
lodging demand year round. Our proposed
plan continues investment in paid

498
00:39:53,520 --> 00:40:00,320
advertising, of course, social media,
public relations, events, partnerships,

499
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:05,599
and visitor services. The TBIT operates
on an October 1st through September 30th

500
00:40:03,119 --> 00:40:10,240
fiscal year. Um we began the budget
planning in mid July at the time we had

501
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:15,839
um first and second quarter results and
tracked year-to-ate expenditures through

502
00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:20,400
middle of July for 2027. The proposed
budget plans 661,000

503
00:40:18,079 --> 00:40:25,839
in revenue which is an increase of about
19% over current year's adop the current

504
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:30,400
year's adopted budget. That includes
375,000

505
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:36,240
in projected T-BID assessment revenue
along with planned use of 275,000

506
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:40,880
in TBID reserves pulling from our
current reserve balance of approximately

507
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:46,000
488,000.
Our planned expenditures total

508
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:50,800
approximately 658,000 which is a 20%
increase over current year.

509
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:57,040
Events and destination development will
remain a major focus with $200,000

510
00:40:54,079 --> 00:41:01,520
um dedicated to the events program.
Destination marketing and advertising of

511
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:05,680
course the core of the work that we do.
Um we'll see an allocation of about

512
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:10,319
$155,000.
We're also looking to build capacity

513
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:14,960
with a plan to add a second part-time
staff to help support TBID programs and

514
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:19,359
initiatives and also have funding
allocated for contract services which

515
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:24,960
can include social media content
creation and contract services through

516
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:30,240
civotas as modernizing the city's TBID
to the 94 law is a priority which would

517
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:34,319
allow the district to move from these
annual renewals to a five-year term

518
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:38,560
providing greater stability for
long-term planning.

519
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:44,560
So ultimately the continuation of the
T-BID means the continuation of the 1.5%

520
00:41:41,839 --> 00:41:49,760
lodging assessment fee that provides the
funding for all of the work that we do.

521
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:54,480
Um the growth we've seen this year we
feel is a really great foundation to

522
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:58,960
continue to build from. Um and continued
investment allows us to keep 29 palms

523
00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:04,400
visible, competitive and actively
working to grow overnight visitation.

524
00:42:01,599 --> 00:42:08,160
So, your consideration of these plans,
perhaps approval tonight, allows us to

525
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:12,240
move forward to the next step of our
reauthorization process, which is a

526
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:16,560
public hearing, which gives our T-BID
stakeholders the opportunity to voice

527
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:21,520
their support or opposition of the
renewal. Um, and before we answer any

528
00:42:20,079 --> 00:42:26,400
questions you may have or public
comment, um, I'd love to invite one of

529
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:30,520
our board members, Ben Ua, um, to share
a couple of comments as well.

530
00:42:33,359 --> 00:42:40,319
Hello, I'm Ben Ua. I'm one of the board
members, also one of the co-owners of

531
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:43,920
the Reset Hotel. Uh, dig into the
report. It's it's quite encouraging and

532
00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:47,680
with everything going on in the world,
it's nice to get some good news about

533
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:53,520
the city, right? So, let's highlight the
main things. Revenu's up, always a good

534
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:57,200
thing. And we actually are under budget
for this year. We're going to spend less

535
00:42:55,119 --> 00:43:02,000
than what we sort of projected. When I
hear those from a municipal agency, I'm

536
00:43:00,079 --> 00:43:07,200
ecstatic. Like those two things on their
own are amazing, right? Revenue going up

537
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:11,440
and disciplined spending. Kind of what
you would want. On top of that, there's

538
00:43:09,599 --> 00:43:16,449
the digital media growth, which we
should see as increasing our reach over

539
00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:21,680
time without spending the money.
[snorts] But the part that I'm most

540
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:26,000
excited about is kind of what we saw
with bringing vacation races out here.

541
00:43:24,319 --> 00:43:31,359
We knew it was a good event. We knew
that thousands of people come out to run

542
00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:36,160
at night and spend quite a bit of money
when they do it. And it was a

543
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:39,520
coordinated effort between the city
staff. We were in there talking to

544
00:43:37,599 --> 00:43:43,119
Keith. We were talking to Kev, talking
to everybody, talking to the tourism

545
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:48,079
board. Everyone was working at the
different hotel owners and and and uh

546
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:53,119
short-term rental owners. Everyone was
doing a little bit. Oh, can you handle

547
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:58,400
this? Can you do this? And that's kind
of the public private partnership that I

548
00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:03,760
love seeing and I think you see that
kind of centered around the tourism

549
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:08,960
board. So please re uh please consider
the reauthorization and I'll take it

550
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:12,560
even a step further. Uh if you think
about it what we're doing right and the

551
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:18,000
stats that are sort of improving
year-over-year with a very very small

552
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:21,760
staff and if you look at the budget you
can see where the sort of money is going

553
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:27,760
and a good part of that is the staff. A
big amount of the hours of that staff is

554
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:33,440
spent getting ready for reauthorization
every year. Imagine if re-elections were

555
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:38,319
every single year. what percentage of
your time would be campaigning versus

556
00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:40,960
administering, right? You'd have less
time for listening. You'd have less time

557
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:46,880
for meeting with the different
stakeholders. So, yes, I think we should

558
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:49,839
reauthorize it for this year, but we
really should start thinking a little

559
00:44:48,079 --> 00:44:53,359
bit long term. And I would encourage you
not just to look at this year's staff

560
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:58,400
report, but look at the numbers from the
previous one and start to consider if

561
00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:02,640
this is a worthwhile investment because
where we'll see the efficiencies. We're

562
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,599
I've been a member for about two years.
And the first year I said, you know, I'm

563
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:08,800
mostly going to listen and kind of lay
back. And [snorts] then year two is

564
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:12,319
where you're going to start to hear me
be a little bit more assertive. And when

565
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:15,760
I kind of look at where we're at and
we're seeing improvements, we're going

566
00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:19,119
to hit a plateau when it comes to
efficiency. If you're thinking about

567
00:45:17,119 --> 00:45:23,520
negotiating contracts with meteor
purveyors and such, it's very hard to

568
00:45:21,839 --> 00:45:27,680
negotiate a contract when it's just
every single year ending up. If we had a

569
00:45:26,079 --> 00:45:31,760
couple years ago when I first came on
could have negotiated two or three year

570
00:45:29,599 --> 00:45:36,560
deals, we could have locked in way lower
rates because you're buying in bigger

571
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:40,560
bulks. So, we'll keep improving
regardless, but there's something to

572
00:45:38,319 --> 00:45:44,240
consider about the sort of how we're
performing at this level already and

573
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:48,079
then what we could sort of unlock in
terms of efficiency if we had a little

574
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:52,720
more time to work with when it comes to
sort of the event grants. We can invest

575
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:56,240
in these grants, but can we build
long-term relationships? It's kind of

576
00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:59,839
hard when you don't even know if you're
going to exist the following year.

577
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:04,000
Thanks.
>> Okay. Thank you. Does anybody have any

578
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:08,000
questions for Banna or Ben? No
questions. Okay, I'll open up to the

579
00:46:05,839 --> 00:46:12,960
public. I don't have any slips here,
Cindy. No slips on this item. Okay,

580
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:17,760
we'll bring it back to council.
No.

581
00:46:15,359 --> 00:46:23,359
Um, will you come up really quick? I
have a few questions and and a couple of

582
00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:29,040
comments to make. We We do this uh first
of all, good job on your presentation. I

583
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:33,760
loved it. We do this every year right
now.

584
00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:39,040
Um, and I just wanted to highlight some
of the things that have changed right

585
00:46:35,839 --> 00:46:45,920
over the past year. Last year, we were
looking for this reauthorization and we

586
00:46:42,079 --> 00:46:52,000
instead set up a council
T-BID subcommittee which was made of um,

587
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:58,160
Council Member Bilder and myself. We met
quarterly and I gave you some

588
00:46:55,920 --> 00:47:02,720
milestones. I asked a lot of questions
at first. I've been one of probably, I

589
00:47:01,119 --> 00:47:05,720
will openly admit it, your toughest
critic.

590
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:15,680
And then I dug deeper.
I pulled this entire report apart. I

591
00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:20,240
compared it to the reports from the past
3 years. I was expecting to see, and I

592
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:23,119
didn't tell you guys, I said, I want to
see, you know, more revenue, this, that,

593
00:47:21,599 --> 00:47:29,040
and the other. And I gave you a lot of
things I want to see. I was expecting to

594
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:34,240
see a 7 to 12% increase. We have a 19%
increase.

595
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:38,160
» I told you that I needed you to start
building relationships with Visit

596
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:43,119
California.
You not only built them, you fostered

597
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:46,960
them, you grew them, and we have a
presence with Visit California. That's a

598
00:47:45,359 --> 00:47:52,079
big deal.
Um, I told you that we needed to find a

599
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:57,599
way to make sure that our grants for our
T-BIT events were better and you guys

600
00:47:54,640 --> 00:48:04,000
came back and said that you needed um
that you guys have come up with clear

601
00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:09,920
guidelines and a postevent evaluation.
I also

602
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:16,880
asked you what was your vision and you
said I want more people. We want to

603
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:22,960
increase the revenue and um we want to
make this a destination that people want

604
00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:27,200
to come to. So you did abundantly and
exceedingly more than anything that I

605
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:30,720
could ever have hoped for and I just
wanted to take the time to tell you good

606
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:37,119
job Brienne and thank you.
>> Thank you.

607
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:41,599
» Okay. Anybody else?
I think the report speaks for itself as

608
00:48:39,119 --> 00:48:46,400
far as [snorts] uh uh the improvements
and obviously now we have this we have

609
00:48:43,599 --> 00:48:53,040
2500 people coming to run in the dark.
I've I've driven by some of those events

610
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:59,520
before and it's um I God bless them
running in the dark like that. So it's

611
00:48:55,599 --> 00:49:03,280
I'm I'm it's I think the the um the um
the hotelers got to be ecstatic. I mean,

612
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:08,960
it's gotten it's just going to be and
plus they got um the uh vacation home

613
00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:13,119
rentals or so I think it's going to be a
great event for hopefully it continues

614
00:49:10,559 --> 00:49:19,079
on too. So, okay. So, I'm looking for a
motion to um to approve this.

615
00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:19,079
» What number Cindy?

616
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:31,040
» Okay. Okay, I'll make a motion that we
approve the TV viz annual report for

617
00:49:27,119 --> 00:49:35,280
fiscal year 20 2526 and the TV tourism
marketing plan and budget for fiscal

618
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:40,160
year 20 2627
and adopt resolution number 2629

619
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:45,839
confirming the intention to levy an
assessment for fiscal year 2627.

620
00:49:43,359 --> 00:49:49,839
» Second motion to second. Any other
discussion? Seeing none, roll call,

621
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:51,440
please.
>> Council member Bildering,

622
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:55,280
» I.
>> Council member Wright,

623
00:49:52,559 --> 00:49:56,319
» I. Councilwoman Ramirez I. Mayor Prom
Scott

624
00:49:55,839 --> 00:49:57,359
» I.
>> Mayor Mitz

625
00:49:57,119 --> 00:49:58,880
» I
>> approved by vote.

626
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:01,899
» Thank you Brand.
>> Thank you very much.

627
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:03,919
» Great job.
[applause]

628
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:13,839
» All right. Future council initiated
items. Does anybody have any items?

629
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:19,520
» I have one. Um, and this is kind of uh
something that's coming down from the

630
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:22,800
state um from Cal Cities and SCAG,
Southern California Authority of

631
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:26,640
Governments. And
um it's probably going to be something

632
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:30,720
we need to put sooner than later if we
can. That would be to discuss Prop 1 and

633
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:35,680
consider adopting a resolution to
support Prop 1's, the Veterans and

634
00:50:32,559 --> 00:50:41,839
Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026. um
that will be on the November ballot in

635
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:46,200
accordance with um housing efforts uh
supported by Cal Cities and Skagg.

636
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:56,559
» We we'll have that uh coming up in the
if not the next agenda the following one

637
00:50:54,559 --> 00:51:00,640
» before before definitely before the
vote.

638
00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:04,720
» Okay. Well, I'll second that.
Um I have I have an initiated item that

639
00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:10,640
I'd like to put on. I would like us to
um to look into getting two-mile road

640
00:51:07,599 --> 00:51:16,640
ready for um shovel ready for any kind
of grants or um monies that come down

641
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:21,200
the road for curb gutter and bike path
to expand two-mile road from Mosquite

642
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:29,440
Springs all the way down to Encilia.
I'll second that. Thank you. Okay. And I

643
00:51:26,079 --> 00:51:34,000
I want to um I think we need to discuss
this mining situation.

644
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:38,240
» I second that too.
>> Second.

645
00:51:35,359 --> 00:51:43,359
» What I will say up to this point um with
discussions um about the mine happening

646
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:47,200
throughout the community. Um city staff
has been looking at what our authority

647
00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:52,880
would be in in the event of this. We're
we're becoming educated on mining and uh

648
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:56,880
uh what we might be able to do and and
uh with respect to uh exerting some

649
00:51:55,440 --> 00:52:00,400
influence.
>> Okay.

650
00:51:57,599 --> 00:52:03,200
» Thank you. Okay. Public comment. This is
a time for the public to address the

651
00:52:01,839 --> 00:52:06,800
city council on issues within the
jurisdiction of the city council that is

652
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:09,599
not on this agenda. All comments are to
be directed to the city council and

653
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:12,880
shall not consist of any personal
attacks. Members of the public are

654
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:17,440
expected to maintain a professional
courteous decorum during their comments.

655
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:20,800
There's a time limitation of three
minutes per person. If you have haven't

656
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:24,079
already done so, please fill out a name,
address, slip, and give it to the city

657
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:27,119
clerk. City council's prohibited by
state law from taking action discussing

658
00:52:25,839 --> 00:52:31,760
items not included in the printed
agenda. Public comments are specific and

659
00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:37,359
general items will be uh deferred until
a consideration on the agenda. Um Eli,

660
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:41,200
there was it during I guess it' be under
the the number seven. We didn't have

661
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:44,640
anybody called in or anything. I forgot
to ask check with you. No, we had one

662
00:52:43,119 --> 00:52:47,520
registrant but they did not show up
before the meeting was locked at 605.

663
00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:48,960
» They didn't show up there at the house
but they didn't show up.

664
00:52:48,559 --> 00:52:52,480
» Yeah,
>> I like that. All right. Do we have any

665
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:56,640
comments right now for on the open
comment?

666
00:52:53,839 --> 00:53:00,079
» We have no no attendees in the queue.
>> Okay. [clears throat] So, these are the

667
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:03,680
public comments and first one is Etha
Williams. Etha,

668
00:53:02,720 --> 00:53:08,119
» did I say that right?
>> Yes.

669
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:08,119
» Oh, thank you. God.

670
00:53:08,720 --> 00:53:15,599
» Uh, thank you. Hi. My name's Etha
Williams. Um, I've been a 29 Palms

671
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:19,920
resident for about uh just over six
years now. Um, and I'm just uh speaking

672
00:53:18,240 --> 00:53:24,559
to encourage the council to take
whatever action possible to prevent uh

673
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:28,800
the mining developments we heard about
earlier. Um, whether that be, you know,

674
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:34,160
preventing the use of Gold Park Road um
or other actions. Um, I have recreated

675
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:39,280
actually on Gold Park Road extensively.
I like to ride my bike up there. Um, I

676
00:53:36,559 --> 00:53:42,800
do a lot of running up there, climb 29
Palms Mountain from there. So, it's a

677
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:47,520
very important area for me personally.
It's very short distance from my house.

678
00:53:45,599 --> 00:53:51,440
Um, and I would just hate to see that
destroyed by this extremely destructive

679
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:58,920
mining. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um, Nicholas Garver

680
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,920
Graver.

681
00:54:03,359 --> 00:54:08,640
» Hi. Uh, I'm going to introduce myself.
I've spoken before city council before,

682
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:13,119
but I'm introducing myself in a slightly
new way, which is um as the uh newly

683
00:54:11,599 --> 00:54:19,599
appointed interim president for the
Pacific West Region National Park

684
00:54:14,720 --> 00:54:24,319
Service uh union. Uh so uh we represent
14 National Park units up and down the

685
00:54:21,599 --> 00:54:29,119
West Coast uh expanding soon to be many
more parks uh but including Joshua Tree

686
00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:34,800
National Park. Uh our members are very
concerned uh uh at um uh what we're

687
00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:38,000
looking at with this mining operation.
Um we're really concerned about what

688
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:42,400
happens to the national park. We know
the sort of dynamic with 29 Palms,

689
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:47,200
right? Where the park brings in about
$56 million in economic activity to

690
00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:52,000
these communities. But we have to make a
extra pitch in 29 Palms to bring people

691
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:55,280
over here and say, "Hey, this is a great
way to go in. We want to go we want you

692
00:54:53,359 --> 00:54:59,200
to go in the north entrance. That's
better for the park for for the workload

693
00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:03,920
of staff having to manage two entrance
stations. It's much better if it's more

694
00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:07,280
balanced out. Um and it's also 29 Palms
is where we we have our park

695
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:12,480
headquarters um where most of the park
staff work and also um within the sort

696
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:17,040
of what I imagine is the dust cloud of
this new mining operation. Uh we have

697
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:22,480
our our north entrance station and we
have our uh workstation at Pinto Y at

698
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:26,160
the base of Bell Mountain. Uh these are
all places where if there's a huge dust

699
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:29,440
cloud, if there's visible mining
activity, uh we're going to be impacted

700
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:34,640
by that. We're going to be breathing
that air. Um and also, uh we know that

701
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:37,440
park visitors aren't going to want to
come through 29 Palms. They're not going

702
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:42,160
to want to come through the north
entrance if there's a giant mining

703
00:55:39,359 --> 00:55:45,839
operation right outside the door. Uh and
we know we know what those sightelines

704
00:55:43,599 --> 00:55:48,720
are. We we work there every day. Uh we
know that you'll be able to see that

705
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:53,520
mining operation. I also want to speak
to you as a as a person that lives uh if

706
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:57,280
you saw that map that uh MPCA handed
out. Uh there's a little arrow pointing

707
00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:01,040
uh towards the Hansen tract. The little
tip of that arrow is my house. Um and

708
00:55:59,839 --> 00:56:06,400
somebody that lives in that community,
we have children playing in the street.

709
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:09,839
We have dogs. We have um uh you know,
our community is alive out there and we

710
00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:14,319
like to spend time in our yards. We like
to spend time in our neighborhood. And

711
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:17,839
that neighborhood is where those mining
trucks will be driving through if we

712
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:23,760
have a mine out there. There's no other
way in and out of that um that mine of

713
00:56:21,359 --> 00:56:28,720
Gold Park Road without without hitting,
you know, driving past people's houses,

714
00:56:26,319 --> 00:56:32,160
residents of 29 Palms. And we don't want
to see that. We we really want to

715
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:36,480
continue to live in a quiet, peaceful
community, a community that's not uh

716
00:56:34,240 --> 00:56:41,359
plagued by data centers and plagued by
big mines. Um uh we want to have a a

717
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:46,799
beautiful town. We want to watch the
sunset and the sunrise over those

718
00:56:42,799 --> 00:56:53,040
mountains uh where that um that uh that
mine is proposed. Um and so uh please

719
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:57,520
urging you to to keep our our city roads
our neighborhood roads for neighborhood

720
00:56:55,040 --> 00:57:03,079
uses uh and introduce that moratorium.
Thank you.

721
00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:03,079
» Thank you sir. Sandy Bernard.

722
00:57:07,040 --> 00:57:12,640
» Hi. You caught me by surprise. I wasn't
going to announce the city council

723
00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:16,559
candidate forum at this meeting, but now
I have to because the next meeting is

724
00:57:14,559 --> 00:57:21,200
after the forum. So, I just want to let
everybody know that uh Desert Trumpet is

725
00:57:18,720 --> 00:57:24,960
holding the only in-person city council
candidate forum, as far as we know,

726
00:57:23,280 --> 00:57:31,680
that's going to be public and open to
everyone. Um it will be happening on

727
00:57:27,359 --> 00:57:37,520
Saturday, September 26th at 3:00. Um it
will last until approximately 5:30. The

728
00:57:34,960 --> 00:57:41,599
first 15 minutes, we will have in-person
taking of questions that can be asked of

729
00:57:39,839 --> 00:57:49,119
the candidates by the moderators. The
moderators will be me and um Chris Clark

730
00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:53,119
from 90 Miles of Needles podcast. Um we
are also taking public questions via

731
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:57,359
email, although we do have some
guidelines for public questions which

732
00:57:54,880 --> 00:58:02,000
I'm going to read out right now. Um
public questions for our council

733
00:57:59,359 --> 00:58:05,599
candidates can be emailed to editor
desert.org.

734
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:12,240
This will also be on our website when we
set up our city council um forum page.

735
00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:16,319
Um and questions from the public. It
should be noted that all of them will be

736
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:20,880
screened in advance to avoid partisan
questions, personal attacks or profane

737
00:58:18,559 --> 00:58:24,880
comments. The public will be instructed
to submit questions that all candidates

738
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:29,040
are able to answer and anonymous
questions are not allowed. So if you do

739
00:58:26,559 --> 00:58:34,400
email questions into us, please be sure
your name is on them. Um, and all

740
00:58:32,319 --> 00:58:38,480
questions will be read out by the
moderators. We're not able to have the

741
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:42,480
public directly ask questions of the
candidates, so we can ensure the

742
00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:46,319
questions meet our rules. Also, I want
to make it very clear that candidates

743
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:51,280
will not have access to the questions in
advance. So, all of their questions will

744
00:58:48,720 --> 00:58:56,480
be happening on the spur of the moment,
and I know you guys can all handle that

745
00:58:53,200 --> 00:59:01,359
really well. [laughter] Um, we have um
confirmations from all candidates that

746
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:04,720
they'll be participating. Um, Council
Member Wright might be a few minutes

747
00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:08,559
late due to a football conflict, but
everybody's supposed to be there. So,

748
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:13,920
looking forward to it and I hope we see
you all for free at um the gym at

749
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:19,359
Freedom Plaza for our forum. Thanks so
much.

750
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:24,606
» Saturday, September 26th.
>> Thank you,

751
00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:24,606
Anna Stump. [applause]

752
00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:38,799
Good evening, council members. Um,
honest, thank you so much for coming to

753
00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:43,280
the opening of uh the brown
groundbreaking of Mojave Land. And I

754
00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:48,079
forgive you, Mayor Mintz. I will catch
you later with the moneyolf, but I don't

755
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:52,720
want to talk about mini golf uh in that
capacity. Uh, I do want to say that

756
00:59:50,079 --> 00:59:58,480
Mojave Land is very opposed to the
mining activity. I urge you um to try to

757
00:59:55,920 --> 01:00:05,920
make it very difficult um for this mine
to exist. Um when Mojave line gets

758
01:00:01,599 --> 01:00:13,920
finished, I will be one of of several uh
nonprofits in District 4, including

759
01:00:09,359 --> 01:00:20,400
Theater 29, the historical society and
um Sky's the Limit and the 29 Palms Art

760
01:00:17,839 --> 01:00:27,280
Gallery. All of us depend on tourism
dollars to help us support what we bring

761
01:00:23,839 --> 01:00:32,079
to the public of 29 Palms and the Rango
Basin, which is our real goal. And we

762
01:00:30,319 --> 01:00:36,160
need those tourism dollars. I'm only
speaking from Mojave Land, but I really

763
01:00:34,480 --> 01:00:40,880
do not want to see a mine while I'm
playing miniature golf. And that is

764
01:00:37,839 --> 01:00:45,599
where you will be able to see it from
the golf course. So, please uh and hear

765
01:00:43,599 --> 01:00:50,160
it and smell it and see the trucks
rumbling by. So, I hope that you will

766
01:00:48,400 --> 01:00:55,400
oppose this mine. Thank you.
>> Thank you, [applause]

767
01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:55,400
Daniel, you're up.

768
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:06,400
» Good evening everyone. Mayor, Mayor Prom
Scott, city manager Cole, and members of

769
01:01:04,319 --> 01:01:09,599
city council. We're are standing at a
critical junction for 29 palms.

770
01:01:08,160 --> 01:01:13,440
California Proposition One and the
updated behavioral health services act

771
01:01:11,599 --> 01:01:17,920
are fundamentally reshaping municipal
funings.

772
01:01:16,319 --> 01:01:21,520
For our community, this is not just
regulatory shift. It is a massive

773
01:01:19,839 --> 01:01:25,839
financial vehicle to permanently address
local homelessness, behavioral health,

774
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:29,760
and neighborhood strain. All without
spending a single dime of our city

775
01:01:27,280 --> 01:01:34,319
council's general fund. Right now,
municipalities face relentless pressure

776
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:38,079
to meet state housing quotas and manage
complex social challenges. Too often,

777
01:01:36,720 --> 01:01:41,520
cities get caught in a loop of
fingerpointing between private

778
01:01:39,680 --> 01:01:44,720
landlords, overburdened case workers,
and code enforcement. But we have a

779
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:48,799
unique opportunity to look closely at
what outside resources are actually

780
01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:55,440
available to our city to target and
apply for through POP Prop 1. Billions

781
01:01:52,240 --> 01:01:59,119
of uh billions are flowing into specific
state pipelines in our city can leverage

782
01:01:57,839 --> 01:02:04,480
behavioral health continuum
infrastructure program $4.4 billion in

783
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:09,040
state grants for outpatient clinical and
crisis intervention facilities including

784
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:14,079
1.5 billion ring fence for public
entities. Home Key Plus is $2 billion

785
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:17,440
dedicated to permanent supportive
housing acquisitions for individuals

786
01:02:16,160 --> 01:02:24,640
facing severe behavioral health
challenges or housing instability.

787
01:02:20,559 --> 01:02:28,640
Expanded local revenue under SB 326, San
Bernardino County must direct 30% of its

788
01:02:26,720 --> 01:02:32,160
local behavioral health revenue towards
housing interventions and tenency

789
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:36,720
support for those with serious mental
health or substance abuse challenges.

790
01:02:35,119 --> 01:02:40,400
While Prop One was passed at the state
level, the real work happens right here

791
01:02:38,240 --> 01:02:44,400
during local implementation. As the
county updates its three-year spending

792
01:02:42,240 --> 01:02:47,920
plan, this council and our residents
must watch closely for upcoming local

793
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:51,200
resolutions, county alignment
opportunities, and capital grant

794
01:02:49,599 --> 01:02:55,359
windows.
When these items come before you, your

795
01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:59,680
support and leadership are vital.
By proactively streamlining zoning,

796
01:02:57,280 --> 01:03:04,240
establishing site readiness, and
inviting turnkey operational models, 29

797
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:08,960
Palms can capture its fair share of
external dollars. We can secure our

798
01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:12,880
housing goal, protect our neighborhood
standards, prevent revolving door

799
01:03:10,799 --> 01:03:16,559
evictions, contribute to fewer 911
emergency calls, and support our most

800
01:03:14,640 --> 01:03:19,698
vulnerable residents at zero cost to our
local budget. Thank you guys.

801
01:03:18,640 --> 01:03:26,119
» Thank you. Thank you, Daniel.
[clears throat]

802
01:03:21,039 --> 01:03:26,119
Jimmy Bower, come on down, Jimmy.

803
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:37,200
Thank you so much, Mayor, uh, and
everyone in attendance. Uh my name is

804
01:03:35,440 --> 01:03:40,640
Jimmy Brower. I'm a 20 and Palms
resident, business owner, and nonprofit

805
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:45,119
leader. Uh I'm here to voice my
opposition for Music Valley to be

806
01:03:42,880 --> 01:03:48,400
commercially mined. Uh as a resident in
the Hansen track and living off one of

807
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:52,160
the potential access roads, a mining
facility in my backyard would be

808
01:03:49,839 --> 01:03:57,039
devastating for residential property
values, residential health, our local

809
01:03:54,559 --> 01:04:02,000
economy, and our residents overall
quality of life. This mining facility

810
01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:05,760
will inarguably create adverse health
conditions through constant dust

811
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:09,440
contamination, commercial vehicle
exhaust, and light pollution, working

812
01:04:07,760 --> 01:04:13,920
against residents and one of our largest
tourism industries, outdoor experiences

813
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:18,799
such as stargazing in our dark skies,
hiking, uh, climbing, and our

814
01:04:16,319 --> 01:04:22,559
hospitality. As someone who owns and
operates a small business here in 29 and

815
01:04:20,640 --> 01:04:26,160
thrives on both a local demographic as
well as out of town visitors that come

816
01:04:24,640 --> 01:04:30,000
for the desert's natural beauty, this
mine would be crushing to mine and many

817
01:04:28,079 --> 01:04:34,400
others momentum that have been built and
invested. When I think about the driver

818
01:04:32,319 --> 01:04:37,920
of our local economy, I refer back to
park visitorship numbers by park

819
01:04:36,079 --> 01:04:41,760
entrance in addition to overnight
campers in various forms. With all this

820
01:04:40,160 --> 01:04:48,240
data being made publicly available
online year-over-year for 2024 to 2025,

821
01:04:45,680 --> 01:04:51,920
overall park visitorship dropped by 2%.
Uh it might not sound like a lot, but it

822
01:04:50,319 --> 01:04:55,839
is, especially whenever you compare it
to uh spending in our communities. In

823
01:04:54,400 --> 01:05:01,440
that same time, overnight camping
dropped nearly 18%. Also in that time,

824
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:06,960
the west entrance of Joshua Tree was
nearly up 1% while the north entrance

825
01:05:03,760 --> 01:05:11,039
here in 29 Palms was down 6.2%.
And through July of this year, overnight

826
01:05:08,799 --> 01:05:14,720
camping is already down 11% and
visitorship year-over-year is on an

827
01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:19,520
accelerated decline, trending down by
8%. Um, now I can read a pie chart and

828
01:05:17,920 --> 01:05:23,680
know that the huge part of our tax
revenue goes to support city services

829
01:05:22,319 --> 01:05:27,119
such as public works and road
maintenance, as well as the resident

830
01:05:25,440 --> 01:05:32,000
enjoyment and character development such
as our wreck, youth, uh, sports, and all

831
01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:36,960
the fantastic programming that comes out
of parks and wreck. This equates into

832
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:41,039
visitor tourism which helps us keep
running literally in a really big way. I

833
01:05:39,760 --> 01:05:45,200
don't know about you all, but I would
rather see a visitor a visitor's

834
01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:49,200
vehicles buzzing around town, patroning
our retail stores, restaurants, and

835
01:05:46,880 --> 01:05:53,039
calling uh calling our tow trucks when
they're stuck in the sand and also lined

836
01:05:51,359 --> 01:05:56,799
up at our north entrance of the park
rather than commercial hall trucks, dump

837
01:05:54,799 --> 01:06:00,799
trucks, and mining trucks rumbling
through our streets, creating more

838
01:05:58,799 --> 01:06:04,960
potholes, and lined up at our north
entrance. The facts are simple. Opening

839
01:06:03,119 --> 01:06:08,480
up a mining facility might create a few
jobs in the short term and fill some

840
01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:11,839
pockets, but it will effectively kill
our residents quicker from pollution,

841
01:06:10,079 --> 01:06:15,680
kill our small town or our small
business and nonprofit economy that runs

842
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:19,119
off visitorship, and it'll kill the
hometown pride so many have worked hard

843
01:06:17,359 --> 01:06:23,039
to build now and across the last
century. When you make your decisions,

844
01:06:21,039 --> 01:06:26,960
consider three things. Our residents
quality of life, the impact on our local

845
01:06:25,039 --> 01:06:31,920
economy, and the effects of our natural
environment. All these add up to two

846
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:35,440
words, strategic plan. Thank you.
>> Thank you. [applause]

847
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:39,520
You must have rehearsed that because you
did it right at the right at the mark.

848
01:06:37,760 --> 01:06:44,520
Right at the second it went off. That's
good. Good job, J. Robin, you're up.

849
01:06:51,520 --> 01:06:57,599
» Hello, Mr. Mayor and city council
members. A couple of things I wanted to

850
01:06:55,520 --> 01:07:02,400
touch on real quick was for the barbecue
on Friday. Um, I wanted to say a huge

851
01:07:00,400 --> 01:07:06,880
thank you, a public thank you to the
Simidava Sculpture Foundation for

852
01:07:04,559 --> 01:07:10,960
helping sponsor that and for our two
anonymous donors that also helped with

853
01:07:08,720 --> 01:07:15,680
that. Um, I would like to personally
name some people. I would like to thank

854
01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:20,640
Larry Bowen and Eli Marshall for cooking
the ribs and the chicken were a big hit.

855
01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:24,799
I wanted to thank our city manager Kevin
Cole and his wife Karina for coming and

856
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:30,240
helping serve everybody in their
volunteer time and Dana Bowen for coming

857
01:07:27,039 --> 01:07:34,079
and helping volunteering and for mayor
MZ and Mayor Prom Scott and Mr.

858
01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:39,200
MacArthur Wright who was an official
senior woo woo for coming and enjoying

859
01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:42,799
barbecue. Um, bouncing back to the
senior center real quick. I wanted to

860
01:07:40,960 --> 01:07:48,319
read a letter real quick that I got from
a couple of our senior congregants and

861
01:07:45,440 --> 01:07:53,039
in regards to our youth council of the
29 Palms youth council and it says to

862
01:07:50,720 --> 01:07:57,680
whom it may concern. My name is Dorothy
G. Rose. I am a regular member of the

863
01:07:54,960 --> 01:08:03,200
senior center here in 29 Palms. She goes
monthly or is it quarterly? A few of the

864
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:07,119
youth come to the center at about 1,400.
Here they usually play board games with

865
01:08:05,039 --> 01:08:10,960
a few of us. This letter is to let you
know how appreciative I am of them being

866
01:08:09,039 --> 01:08:14,799
there. They surely bring joy and
laughter. They show that despite our age

867
01:08:13,119 --> 01:08:19,359
differences, their friendship is much
accepted with great gratitude. They come

868
01:08:17,520 --> 01:08:23,199
with such friendship and care for us,
and their leadership and wonderful

869
01:08:20,960 --> 01:08:27,520
demeanor surely will carry them a long
ways into their future. I hope that the

870
01:08:25,600 --> 01:08:32,000
program continues long after these
particular young men and young women who

871
01:08:29,759 --> 01:08:35,679
do come to the senior center. Now, thank
you again for the wonderful program you

872
01:08:33,839 --> 01:08:39,199
have in showing the youth of the
opportunity and the service of their

873
01:08:37,199 --> 01:08:44,000
community. What they bring is not just
the hour or two of joy and laughter from

874
01:08:41,440 --> 01:08:48,239
this one particular senior center man.
They bring much more. Respectfully

875
01:08:46,159 --> 01:08:53,279
submitted Dorothy G. Rose and Sandra
Harris. So, this the youth council comes

876
01:08:51,120 --> 01:08:57,920
to the senior center every month and
we're and does activities with them.

877
01:08:55,679 --> 01:09:03,279
They do games. They they have done art
activities. Um and some a lot of it is

878
01:09:01,120 --> 01:09:08,000
just having conversation and that
intergenerational act is just they love

879
01:09:06,159 --> 01:09:12,400
it and it so thank you for having the
youth council and thank you for them

880
01:09:10,239 --> 01:09:17,359
coming out to see us. And then last but
not least, last time I was here I talked

881
01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:21,199
about a sign on Mosquet Springs Road and
semi trucks. And the funny thing was was

882
01:09:19,600 --> 01:09:24,960
that night I was driving home and it was
about a quarter to nine at night and

883
01:09:23,040 --> 01:09:29,440
sure enough there was a semi-truck going
up up Mosqu Springs Road in the dark and

884
01:09:27,520 --> 01:09:33,679
I'm like he's going to have fun backing
out of here. But I also noticed that a

885
01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:38,159
couple of days later there was this
really cool sign at the end of the road

886
01:09:35,759 --> 01:09:43,839
with a semi-truck and a circle and a
line going don't go this way and a sign

887
01:09:40,719 --> 01:09:46,000
going macak that way. So thank you very
much for putting that sign up. Have a

888
01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:51,440
great day.
>> Thank you Robin. [applause]

889
01:09:48,080 --> 01:09:56,640
Leanne Clark.
>> Thank you, Mayor Mens. Thank you,

890
01:09:53,679 --> 01:10:01,600
council. Uh 29 pounds ministerial
association wants to remind everyone we

891
01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:08,800
will be hosting our uh last mayor's
prayer breakfast for 2026 on Tuesday,

892
01:10:04,719 --> 01:10:12,800
September 22nd, 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
at First Assembly of God Church. It will

893
01:10:11,040 --> 01:10:18,400
be in the Youth Activities Building
located at 73355

894
01:10:15,679 --> 01:10:23,600
Sullivan Road. There's no cost to attend
and includes breakfast. And secondly, uh

895
01:10:21,760 --> 01:10:29,920
the ministerial association will be
participating in the 90th annual pioneer

896
01:10:27,199 --> 01:10:36,080
days. Uh we will be hosting a pioneer
day sunrise service on Sunday, October

897
01:10:32,719 --> 01:10:40,960
18 at 6:00 a.m. at Patriotic Hall in
Lucky Park and the speakers will be

898
01:10:38,480 --> 01:10:46,239
reflecting on the theme for this year.
So it's always a exciting thing to hear

899
01:10:43,679 --> 01:10:51,360
as each of them share their perspective
on the theme for pioneer days. Also I

900
01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:56,239
just want to congratulate the T-BID and
especially Brienne and all of the hard

901
01:10:53,679 --> 01:11:00,960
work um that has been done and I thank
you council member Ramirez for

902
01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:05,040
reflecting on that. We've been praying
for this community. we are going to see

903
01:11:03,199 --> 01:11:12,800
even further increase and you'll be
impressed by next year of the uh

904
01:11:08,880 --> 01:11:17,360
percentage increase that uh RT bid is
going to be providing. So I'm excited

905
01:11:14,960 --> 01:11:21,520
and also I want to say that I do agree
with each of the individuals that uh

906
01:11:19,280 --> 01:11:27,360
came up here regarding the concern of
the mining project. I do agree and

907
01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:33,199
especially the business owners I do know
have uh shared with me the importance of

908
01:11:30,400 --> 01:11:39,040
that north entrance to the park because
it draws the people on Highway 62. It

909
01:11:36,719 --> 01:11:43,920
causes them oftentimes to stop in their
business and so I do think it's

910
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:49,840
important that we support our business
community very much. I'm a very big

911
01:11:46,880 --> 01:11:53,199
advocate for local business and so again
I know you'll be looking into more

912
01:11:51,440 --> 01:11:59,199
information and and making a good
decision but I just want to share uh

913
01:11:55,679 --> 01:12:04,000
again my concern of uh that project as
well and again thank you guys uh for a

914
01:12:02,320 --> 01:12:07,199
great meeting tonight. I thought it was
wonderful. I really enjoyed it and God

915
01:12:05,920 --> 01:12:13,760
bless you all.
>> Thank you Gretchen. Gren Gretchen, sorry

916
01:12:11,199 --> 01:12:18,170
my throat is
being funny.

917
01:12:16,150 --> 01:12:18,170
» [clears throat]

918
01:12:20,880 --> 01:12:28,719
» Hello, I'm Gretchen Grunt and I just
want to make comments as well on the

919
01:12:24,560 --> 01:12:33,760
mining uh prospects. Um I got a call
about a week and a half ago, a random

920
01:12:30,719 --> 01:12:41,120
call from a woman who said that she was
randomly calling 29 Palms businesses. Um

921
01:12:37,840 --> 01:12:47,199
she was about to sign to purchase a
house in 29 Palms. She's been a longtime

922
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:51,840
visitor to 29 Palms and fall in love
with our community. And she's at the

923
01:12:49,760 --> 01:12:56,719
11th hour of signing for this house she
wants to purchase here. And she hears

924
01:12:54,239 --> 01:13:01,760
about the mining prospects and freaks
out and trying to get all the

925
01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:06,159
information she could about whether it
was going to happen or not. And I don't

926
01:13:04,640 --> 01:13:10,320
know if she ended up buying the house
here or not. So, just wanted to share

927
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:16,600
that story.
Thank you,

928
01:13:12,400 --> 01:13:16,600
Miss Audrey. You're up.

929
01:13:16,719 --> 01:13:24,800
» Good evening, council members, mayor,
city manager, city clerk. It's a

930
01:13:22,239 --> 01:13:30,640
pleasure to be here today to speak with
you. So, here's first I'll give you the

931
01:13:27,360 --> 01:13:38,800
good news. The good news is the fall
season of the Levit Amp 29 Palms music

932
01:13:35,760 --> 01:13:45,840
series is about to start on September
26th and it will be every Saturday

933
01:13:42,640 --> 01:13:52,320
through October 24th.
And as part of this, and I have cards if

934
01:13:48,960 --> 01:13:57,199
anybody wants them after the meeting,
um,

935
01:13:53,840 --> 01:14:02,800
part of this is a site visit from the
Levit Foundation.

936
01:13:59,440 --> 01:14:09,760
This is the grant that we got to produce
30 concerts in three years. We're

937
01:14:05,600 --> 01:14:15,120
halfway through year one right now. And
what I think about all the time and

938
01:14:12,159 --> 01:14:20,560
since the grant officer is coming, all
of the city council members, city

939
01:14:17,600 --> 01:14:27,760
officials, and other stakeholders are
being invited here to hear her and meet

940
01:14:23,199 --> 01:14:33,679
her on September 26th at 10:30 to 11:30
in the morning. So, please mark that on

941
01:14:30,239 --> 01:14:41,760
your calendar as well. But here's here's
the here's the rub.

942
01:14:36,960 --> 01:14:46,560
This is about creating sustainable
events [snorts]

943
01:14:43,440 --> 01:14:54,560
and building the economy and the
community in 29 palms. So there's the

944
01:14:50,719 --> 01:15:01,120
rub. Everything that I am doing as the
chairperson of this committee and also

945
01:14:56,960 --> 01:15:08,159
the producer of the concert series um is
aimed toward longevity.

946
01:15:04,960 --> 01:15:14,880
Levit has a habit of renewing these
three-year grants.

947
01:15:10,960 --> 01:15:21,000
What do you think might happen if mining
started here? What do you think might

948
01:15:18,000 --> 01:15:21,000
happen?

949
01:15:21,120 --> 01:15:33,120
I live on the Hansen tract right off of
Baseline Road on Persia Avenue.

950
01:15:28,640 --> 01:15:40,159
I love the views that I have. I love
going out at night and I bought this

951
01:15:37,199 --> 01:15:47,360
house knowing thinking that my property
values would increase and I would have a

952
01:15:42,960 --> 01:15:53,679
nest egg for my children and a place for
them to live. My son lives with me now.

953
01:15:50,960 --> 01:16:00,719
My stepson just moved to Yaka Valley.
We're talking about creating

954
01:15:56,560 --> 01:16:05,920
a a a our own family
compound, if you will, where we could

955
01:16:03,440 --> 01:16:13,360
continue to live and contribute for
generations to come. But is that going

956
01:16:09,520 --> 01:16:21,600
to happen if the air gets polluted? If
the water gets polluted, if tourism

957
01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:28,239
stops, if the music series stops, what's
going to happen? I ask you to seriously

958
01:16:25,679 --> 01:16:30,080
consider these questions. Thank you.
>> Consider what the council can do. Thank

959
01:16:29,840 --> 01:16:36,679
you.
>> I appreciate it. Thank you.

960
01:16:31,600 --> 01:16:36,679
» Okay. Chris Cardner Carver.

961
01:16:38,640 --> 01:16:46,000
» Good evening, council members. My name
is Chris Carer.

962
01:16:42,960 --> 01:16:51,120
» I live in Wonder Valley and tonight I
represent Protect Music Valley. We are

963
01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:56,719
residents of Wonder Valley who are
gravely concerned about the Music Valley

964
01:16:53,199 --> 01:17:02,000
Mine Project. We have joined together as
protect Music Valley, uniting to defend

965
01:16:59,840 --> 01:17:07,920
our desert community from destructive
industrial scale mining.

966
01:17:04,719 --> 01:17:13,679
We like our neighbors in 29 Palms have
much at stake in the face of a Music

967
01:17:10,239 --> 01:17:19,120
Valley mine. the impacts to our economy,
on our roads, to the health of our air

968
01:17:16,159 --> 01:17:23,840
and water, to our night skies, to our
quality of life, and to the future of

969
01:17:21,120 --> 01:17:29,840
the wild desert that we love. These
impacts are potentially disastrous to

970
01:17:26,560 --> 01:17:36,640
both our communities. We hope and we
expect to work together with the people

971
01:17:32,560 --> 01:17:42,000
of 29 Palms and the city of 29 Palms to
protect both of our communities from the

972
01:17:39,040 --> 01:17:46,480
threat of the Music Valley mine.
Uh for neighbors who are interested in

973
01:17:43,920 --> 01:17:52,159
learning more, we are at protectusic
valley.org. We have these little slips

974
01:17:50,320 --> 01:17:56,239
and we thank you for the opportunity to
address you tonight.

975
01:17:53,679 --> 01:17:59,520
» Thank you so much, [applause]
Katherine Powell.

976
01:18:00,159 --> 01:18:06,400
Katherine Powell.
I'm sorry. I was telling the city clerk.

977
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:10,880
» Oh, [laughter]
Katherine Powell. Um, also a resident of

978
01:18:08,560 --> 01:18:16,480
Wonder Valley. I am a member of Protect
Music Valley and uh thank you for uh

979
01:18:14,080 --> 01:18:20,560
allowing the National Parks Conservation
Association to speak tonight and to

980
01:18:18,239 --> 01:18:25,840
inform you about the upcoming proposal
for a mine and that I feel very strongly

981
01:18:23,600 --> 01:18:30,159
against it as well as a resident worried
about our water, worried about our air.

982
01:18:28,080 --> 01:18:34,239
Love the park. It's sacred. We need to
protect it. So please, we look forward

983
01:18:32,560 --> 01:18:37,520
to working with you to stop this. Thank
you.

984
01:18:34,480 --> 01:18:41,440
» Yeah. Thank you, Eli. Do we have anybody
waiting to come on?

985
01:18:39,520 --> 01:18:46,560
No, we don't. But could I add a quick
comment about the cleanup?

986
01:18:43,520 --> 01:18:49,679
» Um, last cleanup in April, anybody if
you've come know you'll see me there in

987
01:18:48,000 --> 01:18:54,480
a straw hat guiding you through the
process. But we had about 40 residents

988
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:58,880
bring household batteries. We do not
take batteries at the cleanup site. Um,

989
01:18:57,199 --> 01:19:03,280
if you want to dispose of household
batteries, the city pays on your behalf.

990
01:19:01,520 --> 01:19:06,800
the third Saturday of the month, you can
go to Joshua Tree Household Hazardous

991
01:19:05,040 --> 01:19:11,520
Waste Facility and get rid of the
batteries batteries there from 9:00 am

992
01:19:08,800 --> 01:19:15,280
to 1 pm. So, if you bring them, there's
nothing I I can't take them. People have

993
01:19:12,960 --> 01:19:18,239
tried to please please take I can't help
you. Please don't bring them. Take them

994
01:19:16,640 --> 01:19:21,440
to the other site. So, that like this
month, the 19th of the month, that site

995
01:19:20,159 --> 01:19:24,400
is open from 9:00 to 1 for our
residents.

996
01:19:22,239 --> 01:19:29,040
» Yeah, that also includes paint and uh
other um chemicals. We, you know, the

997
01:19:27,120 --> 01:19:32,719
city, we pay for that. You're we
everybody pays for into that. So, please

998
01:19:31,199 --> 01:19:36,159
use that if you have them. That's
>> it's a third Saturday of every month.

999
01:19:34,480 --> 01:19:39,440
» Third Saturday of every month.
>> Okay. Uh that's all the slips I have.

1000
01:19:38,159 --> 01:19:43,920
So, we are going to
>> Mr. Mayor, if I could uh one more thing

1001
01:19:41,840 --> 01:19:48,400
I I want to um because we have quite a
bit of public here tonight. We have

1002
01:19:45,440 --> 01:19:53,440
someformational um flyers on the back
counter about measure G. So, it's just

1003
01:19:51,360 --> 01:19:58,080
some information. We have the sales tax
measure on the ballot in November and

1004
01:19:56,080 --> 01:20:02,239
there's um someformational flyers back
there. If you have questions, there's a

1005
01:19:59,440 --> 01:20:05,920
website on there that you can go uh and
email me directly and I can answer some

1006
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:08,239
of your questions.
>> Thank you.

1007
01:20:06,960 --> 01:20:12,679
» Okay, we're going to adjourn this
meeting to September 29th.

1008
01:20:12,995 --> 01:20:15,015
[applause]