Property owner raises blight concerns after tree removal in Palm Springs
A property owner in Palm Springs is raising safety concerns over blight that’s visible from her tenant’s unit. It comes three months after controversial tamarisk trees were removed in the Crossley Tract neighborhood.
A line of dirt and new grass marks where tamarisk trees were removed in Palm Springs three months ago. The backyards of homes in the Crossley Tract now visible in the Tahquitz Creek Golf Course.
“Direct view of the window. here of the property, so tenants that I have full time here now have this lovely view,” Suzan Felando, a property owner said.
She’s referring to the blight from a backyard in the Crossley Tract with appliances and other items left outside. Felando is the property owner of this unit in the Mountain Shadows community at the golf course. Ever since the trees were removed, this has been a concern of hers.
“There are children that play here on the golf course and for a child to go inside of an appliance, that’s not safe,” she said.
The trees were removed in May, after some residents believed they were planted years ago to block out views of the golf course from the historically black neighborhood. Felando says while she didn’t have an opinion on the tree removal at the time, other owners in her community were against the removal.
“To my knowledge, all of that, yes they did not want any trees to come down and it did serve as a wind block,” she said.
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The city of Palm Springs says they are addressing the concerns of the community and did schedule free weekend cleanups for property owners in the Crossley Tract to which most owners have complied.
“We initiated a proactive approach with all the property owners there regarding property maintenance and cleanup,” Marcus Fuller, assistant city manager, said.
Fuller said there were properties at the time of the tree removal that were not up to the municipal code for property maintenance and notices were sent. The weekend cleanups did help get many of them back up to code, addressing complaints from the Mountain Shadows community. the city’s municipal code on property maintenance cane be found here.
Felando says she has seen the cleanup progress in her own eyes, except from the owner of the backyard directly from her unit. She says she’s willing to extend an olive branch to help make their property less of an eye sore.
“I’ll offer my neighbors any assistance they would like. I’ll be more than happy to come over there and help clean up,” she said.
KESQ News Channel 3’s & CBS Local 2’s Jeremy Chen Thursday morning did ring the doorbell of the house with the blighted backyard, however no one answered the door at the time. If you do have a complaint about a blighted property, you’re encouraged to contact your city’s code compliance division.
