City officials unveil street sign topper to name Cathedral City neighborhood
City officials today unveiled a street sign topper to name a Cathedral City neighborhood "Ocotillo Square" in what they said is an effort to give residents a sense of place.
The morning unveiling was held at the northwest corner of Ocotillo Park, 33300 Moreno Road -- with Cathedral City Mayor Rita Lamb and Councilwoman Nancy Ross taking part along with commissioners, residents and the sign-topper's artist, Barbara Swain.
"The neighborhood in question is known today by several names, The Mile or The Square Mile or the South City but no formal name has ever been attributed to the neighborhood,'' the city said in a statement.
"By adopting a formal name and installing sign toppers, this will give the majority Latino neighborhood a sense of place, helping to foster a real feeling of community."
Ross walked the neighborhood with approximately 400 homes in April 2022 to speak with residents and invited them to two neighborhood meetings at the park, according to city officials. Comments received at the meetings made it apparent that "Ocotillo Square" was the favorite name among the residents.
City officials said that, following the two meetings, Cathedral City High School students were hired by Ross in October of 2022 to ask each household if they would support the sign toppers.
The dark blue rectangular sign topper features a top-center arch with Swain's illustration -- the cluster of red flowers found at the stem tip of an Ocotillo plant -- and "Ocotillo Square" spelled out in a pastel yellow Luchador font.
The topper sits over the intersecting Moreno and Ocotillo roads found at the intersection of Ocotillo Park.
Ultimately, 191 of 197 visited households were in support of the "Ocotillo Square" sign topper for their neighborhood, city officials said.
"Naming the Ocotillo Square community brings a renewed sense of place to one of our truly important neighborhoods in Cathedral City," said Lamb on social media.
The city's communications and events manager, Ryan Hunt, told City News Service that 20 more toppers will be placed around the neighborhood. The locations of the street toppers will become available at
cathedralcity.gov/residents/public-art.
