S.O.S requests designated parking space at Palm Springs Airport

Soldier’s Organized Services has been providing local military personnel with free transportation for 10 years. Their busiest time of year starts next week and for months S.O.S has asked the city of Palm Springs for a designated parking spot at the airport. On Thursday, a decision was made. “We’ve transported almost 120,000 (people), we’ve saved them $16 dollars in transportation costs, we get to be there and interact on a personal one-on-one (basis). We’re just asking to serve them better with the amount of numbers that are increasing year after year.” said Erica Stone, the founder of Soldiers Organized Services. Palm Spring’s Mayor Robert Moon says officials with the city discussed Stone’s request and believe the shared space at United Services Organization is adequate. “We feel very strongly and we’ve talked to the airport manager and he agrees with us that the USO is the best spot for drop-off and pick-up of the Marines,” Moon said. The United Services Organization is located at the airport and provides military personnel with housing during their travels. But Stone says the shared location is not working logistically and is afraid that S.O.S’s services will have to be disabled during busy holiday travel days. “There’s a lot of traffic at the airport. We have to worry about security and keeping the cars moving, and we don’t want additional cars standing there waiting for marines. I’ve driven for S.O.S, they have a lot of luggage, it takes a lot of time to get them in and out of the cars. We have a much better space over at the USO for this, so as a city we’ve made the decision that we want to continue doing it the way we have been for the past five years,” Moon said. S.O.S plans on having a board meeting to decide what their final decision will be in regards to transporting military personnel this holiday season.