Leaders preview Coachella Valley’s economic future at ‘All Valley Mayors, County and Tribal Chairperson Luncheon’

Leaders throughout the Coachella Valley gathered at Monday's 'All Valley Mayors, County and Tribal Chairperson Luncheon' to discuss issues impacting the region.

All nine valley mayors, along with the County Supervisor and two Tribal Chair leaders attended the luncheon.

Each panelist was given five minutes to discuss key issues in their city.

Both Indio and Coachella mayors focused on renovation in their downtown areas.

Indio Mayor, Steven Hernandez says, "Now the Annex is going to see about a $4.5 million improvement. And it's going to allow us to do different media arts as well as like theater."

While Coachella Mayor, Waymond Fermon says, "Our downtown is under construction right now. We have about five restaurants that are under construction as we speak. We have our Gambino scraper we have a coffeehouse, we have a downtown amphitheater that we're working on."

Palm Desert emphasized the city's new housing and their advances in education.

Palm Desert Mayor, Jan Harnik says, "

Palm Desert Mayor, Jan Harnik says, "

Palm Desert Mayor, Jan Harnik says, "We have almost 4 thousand housing starts, some are under construction, some still in the pipeline, almost 20% of those are affordable, and it's in the area around the university. And it makes perfect sense for those homes to be there.”

The City of Palm Desert is also adding a student center to their CSU San Bernardino campus.

Palm Springs says tourism is thriving in the area, and is projected to see an increase of around $60 million in revenue.

The city is also focused on their homeless outreach efforts.

Palm Springs Mayor, Lisa Middleton says, "I am proud that our city is partnering with Martha's, we are going to build an absolute state of the art facility."

Other issues that were discussed in today's luncheon included the potential rail system and energy use throughout the region.

You can see the full list of panelists here.