Indio highlights successes as “Next Big Thing”

Indio Mayor Glenn Miller spent his last day as mayor touring the city he helped revitalize. Wednesday, he will pass the gavel to Mayor Pro-Tem, Elaine Holmes.

Business leaders across the Coachella Valley toured the self-proclaimed “City of Festivals” with Miller, learning about new projects and growth opportunity available in the city.

The group toured the History Museum, Coachella Valley Art Center, and various city murals.

They also saw the progress at construction sites of some of Riverside County’s biggest investments. The county will be investing over $350 million into Indio through public projects, such as the East County Detention Center, the Indio Law Building, College of the Desert: East Valley Campus, and the California Desert Trial Academy College of Law.

To surrounding businesses, and business owners, City Manager Dan Martinez says this enhances “Indio’s economic base, spurring future development, and increasing job opportunities in the region.”

Close to 200 new businesses have established themselves within city limits in the last year alone.

Many point to the fairly-recent popularity of Coachella Music and Arts Festival, and Stagecoach Country Music Festival as sole economic drivers for the city. Leaders, though, are quick to defend the multitude of other festivals, and business-friendly policy, that also spur economic success in Indio.