Neighbors complain Desert X art goers make road dangerous
Neighbors in one Palm Springs neighborhood say they are burdened with thousands of tourists filling their streets to look at “Mirage,” a Desert X art installation. It’s a problem that was made substantially worse with people in town for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
“Mirage” is just one of many Desert X art installations in the Coachella Valley, but it is also one of the most popular because of its size and the amazing view.
“I think it is pretty spectacular. I am kind of frustrated by all the people. I would like to see the reflection of the landscape,” said Cheryl Schoepflin of Eugene, Oregon.
That complaint pales in comparison to ones made by neighbors who live just down the hill from the art installation.
On Monday, the day after weekend one of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, thousands more people than normal showed up to check out “Mirage” and were blocking the road.
“They pinned me in and I was shut down right outside my home, and couldn’t get out of my home. People were getting out of their cars and it turned into a parking lot,” said Ron Hanson, who lives in the Tuscany Heights community just down the hill from “Mirage.”
“It was a parking lot with three lanes of traffic going up the hill, and one little area for cars to come down the hill, and that jammed up,” said Brad Kain, who lives on Racquet Club Drive near the entrance to the Desert Palisades Development which is where “Mirage” is constructed.
KESQ and CBS Local 2 reporter Joe Galli contacted Tom Lynch, the construction manager for Desert Palisades Over the phone Lynch said they are normally not open in the morning on weekdays and thousands of people piled up before staff was ready.
Neighbors we talked to complained that people left trash and urinated in their yards.
“I think that they were overwhelmed with the amount of cars and they could not control the traffic,” said Ken Mollenhauer, who also lives in Tuscany Heights.
Lynch says the development has already adjusted their hours to open up in the morning, getting people parked on the property away from the homes further down the hill.
But, according to neighbors we talked with, there is another problem. Hanson and Kain say they see people speeding down the hill.
“They go 30, 40, 50 mph down our streets by people that don’t care about our neighborhood,” Hanson said.
“We walk every day and people are speeding. It is dangerous, and when there are that many lanes of traffic people are still speeding it’s very dangerous,” Kain said.
To address these problems the city is painting some curbs red so people won’t park where they are not supposed to and should be adding no parking signs this week.
Police will be setting up a radar trailer to catch speeders.
Lynch and the city hope these changes will fix these problems for the remainder of festival season.
The Desert X art installations end on April 30.
