Karl
Baker's credentials and vision for the City
- active in Desert Hot Springs city issues for
more than 10 years
- passionate about smart development and growth
- retired, businessman, teacher, currently
working on a degree in civic administration
Welcome to my first attempt at a web page. Over the next few days I will be
commenting on a variety of city issues and will include "tidbits" from
my experience in government. Feel free to e-mail me at BakerKarljr@aol.com
if you have any questions or wish to talk with me. This site is updated
regularly, and the most recent was on Thursday, November 01, 2007.
READER
COMMENTS
I am pleased to share the following comments
that I have received in response to my website. I have not included the names of
the individuals – but if you are interested - I will contact them to provide
authentication.
each
comment is highlighted in a different color
March 2007
Last week DHS lost hundreds of millions
of dollars generated from Freeway retail that could have paid for police, fire
and city services. Now we have less to stand on, having cut off one of our legs.
Loss of 1/2 of Palm Drive today is a bigger loss than giving away the north side
of Indian was 20 years ago. Karl Baker understands this better than our present
City Council.
Cathedral City has now announced grand development plans for the East side of
Palm Drive... commercial, retail and housing on land that last week was Desert
Hot Springs. Smart and rich Cathedral City might now be able to make a logical
offer for a strategically located West Campus of COD on the edge of DHS. Our
City Council has given away the prize.
Desert Hot Springs is a poor town compared to the richer cities of Palm Springs
and Cathedral City. We didn't trade or sell this valuable property. The City
Council unanimously ENDORSED the give away. The DHS Chamber of Commerce opposed
this give away. Karl Baker stands united with voters of DHS who agree that
giving this valuable land away to another city is a bad idea.
Millions and millions and millions of tax dollars were lost with this fast
decision last week. The strange decision was made in the light of day by a
united and oddly silent DHS City Council. Our poor, little town has been
crippled for too long by a City Council out of touch with reality. It's time for
a change.
I believe that Karl Baker is an honest man and an independent thinker who
understands the issues and has a positive impact as a champion for good
decisions.
xx
Mr. Baker,
I am convinced that you are the only qualified candidate for this
election. Furthermore, I think you are more qualified then anyone on the
current council. You can count on my receiving my vote on March 6.
I am married with three children and own a home here in the City of Desert
Hot Springs. I work for the Postal Service in a different city, and my
wife is a school teacher at Bubbling Wells Elementary. I have become very
concerned about the way the City is being ran. This is a city with a lot
of potential if it were ran correctly.
With the slow down in the housing market, is the City even more financially
strapped? Can we expect more layoffs and budget cuts coming in the near
future? This City need commercial tax dollars. It can not rely on
just new housing alone.
Here is what I think needs to happen. Start at square one.
We need to find out just what this City has and/or does not have. A
full blown audit and inventory of everything. Also, need to look
at contract services. I don't care if it is to hire gardeners
to mow the grass at the parks. We have to bring back some
form of Code Enforcement. Driving down West Drive between
Hacienda and Two Bunch Palms looks like used car lots in the
yards. I stand on my patio and look at house directly below me
and there are six cars parked in the drive way and/or
yard. Only two of them are used.
I would like the City to contract with Riverside County Sheriff's
Department for police and dispatch services. Here is my reasoning for
doing that. It is my opinion that the biggest liability that the City
has is the Police Department. There is pending litigation against the
department. By contracting the Sheriff's Department, the city no
longer has the liability. You also get more services with
the Sheriff's Department. It will cost more, but in the long run
the City will save more in civil litigation expenses. I was
told that the Police Department is looking at contracting dispatching
services in the future.
This City is a mess and needs the right people on board to turn
this around or this is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Hopefully, you can win this election and with the November election
remove those who are not getting the job done.
Sincerely,
xxx
Hi Karl
I like your website. I hope you are able to maintain it and pass along
information after your election.
Got your web site looks very good and I will support you.Good luck.
Thank you for doing our homework and reducing the spin.
Site looks good, sir. Continue adding to it. I enjoy
that you've actually done your homework on these
issues, and some of them (I-10 overpass, windmills,
allowing other cities to annex land which would seem
to be de facto ours) are issues I've puzzled about
many times. My mother and grandmother both live in
this city, and I've lived in DHS for 21 of my 26
years. Our city has a terrible case of arrested
development.
Should you get elected (and I certainly hope you do),
please make sure that someone is confirming that
infrastructure is in place (water, power, and
ESPECIALLY roadways) before we develop any more
residential properties! Traffic is bad NOW. Getting
onto I-10, across to Palm Springs, or onto 62 will be
a NIGHTMARE when Skyborne finishes and the other
developments finish selling. Naturally a market base
is necessary for commercial expansion, but I think
code inforcement is the key to all this. It may be
somewhat draconian to write and enforce restrictive
codes, but I believe a few good rounds of code
enforcement sweeps could potentially drive out those
who are a detriment and beautify the city. At one
point, I was dragging my feet about a mess left behind
in a front yard by an evicted tenant of mine, code
enforcement got on me about it and that lit a fire to
get it cleaned up. In less than a week, it was gone.
How many residences in the "DHS Trailer Park" on 5th
Street are up to code?
Sorry to talk your ear off. It's refreshing to hear
someone address issues rather than just littering the
town with posters.
Yours in service,
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Being that DHS has been long populated by members of
the permanent underclass, is it any surprise that
we've had the kind of elected leadership we have? Who
was it who says, "People have the government they
deserve?"
Hopefully all that is changing. I was going to allow
apathy and indifference to keep me from the polling
place on March 6, but now I will make time to go cast
my vote for you. Well done with the paper. Minor
revision, and then get it out to the people. They
deserve to know what has happened. Continue to fight
the good fight, sir.
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Karl
Baker's credentials and vision for the City
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