Dean M Gray

www.desertvortex.com — 'Duckman' Richard Daniels Ducking City Financial Crisis DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - He said he was only on vacation but The Oregonian newspaper on Friday told a different story. City Manager Rick Daniels is one of three candidates selected as finalist for a County Administrator position in Clackamas County in Oregon. Daniels is clearly looking to exit Desert Hot Springs. A meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Finance Committee last Thursday may explain why. In a presentation to the committee by city financial consultant Michael Bush the committee learned the city does not have sufficient revenues to meet expenditures and is suffering a fiscal crisis.

www.desertvortex.com — Bucks Citizen Committee Push to Cut City Hall Salaries DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - With a city challenged by a $4.2 million deficit the recommendation of the citizens finance committee was not to raise taxes. Instead the committee recommended spending cuts, including salary reductions, and that not more than one third of city reserves be spent to make it through the next fiscal year. The city has $4 million in reserves and the proposal by city manager Rick Daniels was to burn through all $4 million in just one year.

www.desertvortex.com — 100,000 Expense Aimed To Educate Public and Reelect Incumbents DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - In the same week that a citizens finance committee reinforced their stand that the city must reduce spending it was a different tune being sung at a special meeting of the city council. For the third meeting in two weeks in which a city budget deficit was addressed, the city council heard a presentation aimed at convincing the council members - and later the public - that the only way to deal with the city's financial crisis is to view everything as hunky dory and win voters over to the idea of increasing taxes and to spend $100,000 doing so.

www.desertvortex.com — Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its a Mine DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Time and again those under the microscope of our reporting often dismiss our online newsroom as insignificant until once again the mainstream press follows our lead. So it is with our first reporting of the Skyborne Mine and a story picked up by KESQ television news and The Desert Sun in a story filed reporter Tamera Sone. More details are still emerging. Enough of that, let's get to the latest on the Skyborne Mine story.

www.desertvortex.com — Budget Discussions Take Bizarre Twist DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - The Desert Hot Springs City Council will consider a proposed budget for the next fiscal year when it meets today. According to numbers supplied by City Manager Rick Daniels, the city will have $16,252,208 in revenue and $18,362,517 in expenses. Daniels proposes to use $2.3 million in city reserves to cover the deficit. That proposal did not sit well with a citizen finance committee that spent several hours over the course of five months in detailed examination of the budget.

www.desertvortex.com — Property Owner Jim Kozak Allegedly Violating Environmental Regulations DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - A surface mining operation has started up in Desert Hot Springs with the operator planning to operate for the next ten years removing over nine million tons of material in that time. The mine has started up even though it has not met conditions required by the state agency that oversees mining operations. In fact, its already in business, exporting sand to a project in Twentynine Palms and rock for a project in Cathedral City making money.

www.desertvortex.com — Property Still in Limbo With Wait for Final Decision RIVERSIDE, CA - The trial is over. Still, after five days in the courtroom, a Palm Springs property once owned by Elvis Presley is lingering in limbo. It's status awaits a judge's final ruling now that both sides in the dispute have presented their respective cases. Former occupants of the house, Reno Fontana and wife Lori (or Laurie) Whittier, as plaintiffs in the proceedings, filed suit challenging their January eviction. It is this suit - and other legal wranglings - that kept the property in suspense for several years, preventing remedial action by the defendants, who hold title and have been the actual owners, not Fontana and Whittier.

www.desertvortex.com — Claiming Sucked Into "Investing" in Palm Springs Home Using Name of The King PALM SPRINGS, CA -They gave their money with the expectation of a return on their investment. The return they were looking for was the preservation of the west coast home of Elvis Presley in Palm Springs. Instead of their money going to buy the airplane used by Elvis, Elvis's car and even embroidered Elvis baking aprons, they say the money was used only to support the lifestyle of the occupants of the Palm Springs Elvis home, Reno Fontana, his wife Laura Whittier, their son and Fontana's mother-in-law.

www.desertvortex.com — Summer Swim Schedule Still Unknown DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - The long awaited opening of the John Furbee Aquatics Center is scheduled for this Saturday, June 8 at 10 a.m. The opening was pushed back from its planned opening a week ago as the pool awaited final inspection and corrections were made. The community pool located in the city's Health and Wellness Center was completed in January but there has been no swimming since that time. In addition to corrections needed, the pool was unable to open due to lack of an operator to oversee poolside operations, including lifeguards and pool program support services.

www.desertvortex.com — Reno Fontana Argues Palm Springs Property Tied Up in Court is His PALM SPRINGS, CA - Who owns the house that Elvis Presley lived in for seven years was not decided in a Superior Court trail with Judge David Chapman sitting in for Judge Evans on Monday, May 20. The trial that was expected to last two days instead was continued until June 10. One side wants to drag out the process, the other side wants a quick resolution. The question is who owns the Elvis Presley property occupying nearly 2 acres at 845 West Chino Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.

www.desertvortex.com — District Attorney Brings Charges INDIO, CA - An alarm installation and monitoring contractor was arraigned Monday May 6, 2013 at the Indio Larsen Justice Center facing three counts of operating his business in violation of State laws that apply to conditions on companies that sell, install, monitor and service alarm systems. The charges were brought against Peter Chryss (legal birth name of Peter Paul Chryssikos Jr.) of Chryss Home Automation by the Riverside County District Attorney's office acting on referrals from the State Contractors License Board and the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services after a one year investigation by those agencies.

www.desertvortex.com — Pink Phoenix Rising After Public Funds Lost DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Another long stalled construction project is on a new track to completion. The Village shopping center sat for years blighted and unfinished. It is now complete. Now the old pink Flamingo Hotel is on a similar track for a comeback. In both instances, private developers purchased the properties and poured private funds into what seems a massive undertaking to take the worst of Desert Hot Springs construction disasters in efforts that will not just finish them but make them look beautiful.

www.desertvortex.com — DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - It has the appearance of a fortress built to last a millennium. It was intended to be a much needed health clinic. For two years a Riverside County building has sat abandoned as officials continue to seek a purpose to justify its existence. Riverside County Supervisors were informed last month they face a deficit that could reach $102 million. A new County building located in Desert Hot Springs sits empty. It cost $14 million to build. Construction fence blocks access.

www.desertvortex.com — State To Look Into Illicit Sale DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Cities all across California are wrangling with the state Department of Finance to get permission to sell public properties owned by their former redevelopment agency. Millions of dollars of real estate are hung up over an inability of cities to sell those properties. One city did something no other city has done. It went ahead and sold property without Sacramento 's permission. The problem for California cities started when the State Legislature voted to end redevelopment agencies across the state.

www.desertvortex.com — No Swimming in Pool No Playing on Playground No Exercising in Gym DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - It's a great swimming pool. There is no question about that. The question is - four months after a grand opening of the city's new community center - why are gates remaining locked on the $20 million facility. Would be pool-goers have the same question about a gym fully stocked with brand-new exercise equipment gathering dust and a fantastic never-used children's gym equipment remaining all locked up while people looking for health and wellness get fatter and more lazy.

www.desertvortex.com — Admissions of False Docs Floating Around John Furbee Pool DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - A subcontractor claiming he has not been paid for construction on the John Furbee Aquatics Center detailed over-billing and contract steering in testimony before the Desert Hot Springs Health and Wellness Center Foundation Board. During April 17, 2013 testimony before the Foundation Board, the subcontractor, Jim Barger of Pacific Custom Pools, detailed pervasive over-billing which misrepresented facts in order to qualify for funding. "This [over-billing] has been approved by the contractor, the architect and by the city showing this has been approved and that it [the work] is 100 percent done at the end of October.

www.desertvortex.com — Two Factions Fight Over Building DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - While months wear on with a city building sitting empty, a debate rages between two opposing factions inside the city over how to best use the building. The debate finds one councilman struggling to bring vocational job training to the city and another that thinks youth boxing is the best focus of city efforts. Boxing is seen by Councilman Scott Matas as providing self-discipline and a way to get kids off the street.

www.desertvortex.com — Council Member Votes Against Use of City Facilities DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Youth sports are universally recognized as a deterrent to crime. The city does not have enough recreational parks to meet the needs of youth baseball, football and soccer. At Tuesday's council meeting, the councilman used this logic the councilman throwing a hissy fit trying to block a Hispanic soccer organization from using city facilities. He was defeated on a 4-1 vote. The organization opposed by the councilman is Desert Hot Springs Soccer which operates a year-round program providing recreational activities for hundreds of youth in the region, many poor, nearly all Latino.

www.desertvortex.com — City Job Was Elizabeth Versache's First Grant Writing Job DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Should Desert Hot Springs award a contract to an experienced grant writing company or award the contract to a company with no prior grant writing experience? In late 2009 the city council decided that question by awarding the $85,000 annual contract to an inexperienced company. Three years later that company has come back to the council with a request for a 35% increase in the contract amount, bringing that contract's annual amount to $115,000 per year.

www.desertvortex.com — Luxury Prison Incarceration Revealed DULUTH, MINNESOTA - It ranks #4 on the Top 10 List of Luxury Federal Prisons. While most inmates are happy not to rock the luxury boat, two prisoners escaped on Saturday and have not been seen since. Michael Krzyzaniak, serving a 12-year sentence for a 25 million fraud scheme involving a Desert Hot Springs project known as Palmwood simply tap danced away from the unfenced facility. The Duluth Prison Camp boasts an impressive supply of musical instruments, including a piano, drums and acoustic guitars. The camp offers a gym, movie theater, private sleeping quarters resembling a college dorm room and food service that includes a salad bar.

www.desertvortex.com — DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - He's was sentenced to jail for his part in a Desert Hot Springs development scheme that bilked investors out of nearly $26 million. He's out of jail now but he did not serve out his sentence. He escaped. His name is Michael Crosby. Or at least that's the name he used in Desert Hot Springs. His real name is Michael Krzyzaniak, age 62, fraudster as the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper called him when it reported this week Krzyzaniak had escaped a minimum security prison in Duluth, MN.

www.desertvortex.com — DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - Most city managers maintain a low profile. It is unusual for a city manager to have a personal website. City managers usually work in the background, giving credit to city staff and the city council for municipal accomplishments. Not so the city manager of Desert Hot Springs. City Manager Rick Daniels has a difficult time keeping himself away from the speaker podium at public events and avoiding the awkward appearance that he is unable to stand back without thrusting himself into the spot light of public recognition.

www.desertvortex.com — DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - A local real estate developer received a $10 million dollar giveaway thanks to a special relationship with the city manager who helped engineer his release from pricey development bond obligations. This city manager coached the developer on what to say to the media, guided him on how to influence the city council, and worked behind-the-scenes to ensure city staff took the steps needed to help the developer achieve his objectives.

www.desertvortex.com — SPENDING FOR MANAGEMENT NOT CUT AS CITY GOES IN HOLE - $500,000 cut from police. Auditors reveal city $1 million in red. Finance Committee kept in the dark. Fees and taxes going up.