Our #1 Project for the last couple of years has been the land- scaping around and lighting inside the Gatehouse at El Portal. That project is finally nearing completion and we are delighted with the outcome. The only remaining item to be completed is Solar down-lighting inside the Gatehouse and we are researching our options.

We decided to proceed with the project before the heat of the summer descended upon us; we did not want to wait until Fall to undertake the Project.

Quite a few volunteers came to the site on May 6 and work began. We transplanted many cacti from the NE corner of El Portal and South Palm Canyon to the SE corner with the professional help of Clark Moorten. We laid rolls and rolls of Weed Block, stapled it into the ground, then hauled 18.5 tons of rock and gravel to the site. We worked for 3 days completing this work.

There are a lot of people to thank. Steve and Doniece, owners of the property at the NE corner, started the whole process many years ago by planting many cacti and installing an irrigation system. Those cacti grew over the years and we were able to transplant many of them to the SE corner next to the Gatehouse.

Jeff and Wade, who own the property at the SW corner of Mesa and El Portal and who own the Ace Hotel, donated the services of their two gardeners to install the railroad ties and irrigation system on the Gatehouse side. Jeff and Michelle at the SE corner of Mesa and El Portal allowed us to tap into their irrigation system.

Dallas, a fellow Mesa-ite who owns Fantastic Exterminators, provided spraying to eliminate three colonies of red ants. Lee at Southwest Boulder helped us select the gravel, rock and boulder and supervised the installation of the Boulder on Friday, May 13.

Several Mesa-ites donated plants including Clark, Gene and Michael, Mary and Joe, Tom and Dan, Tom and Catherine, Don and Terri. We would like to thank everyone who participated, volunteered and donated. The wonderful result is a testimony to everyone’s efforts. We will summarize our costs and provide you with that information soon. There were donated monies/services earmarked for this Project, but we had to dip into the General Funds to come up with the balance to pay for the project.

If you are pleased with the results of our efforts and would like to donate towards defraying our expenses, please send a check to The Mesa Neighborhood Organization at 287 West El Camino Way, Palm Springs, CA 92264 or drop your check in the secured mailbox at that location. We no longer collect dues annually so we are reliant on donations to fund our projects.

    
Hope that you will enjoy the new landscaping at the Gatehouse, the entry to our Wonderful Neighborhood. By September 1, you should also see 7 Neighborhood Watch signs at each of the entry points to The Mesa. These signs have been paid for, but we are looking to get the best price for the signs. We are also looking into making NW decals available for you to put in one of your front windows.

Please send us your comments at www.psmesa.com and also send us suggestions for future projects. Thank you for your support of TMNO.

We have more photos of this project in our GALLERY

---

TMNO 2011 ANNUAL MEETING

On Sunday, March 20, 2011 between 4:30 – 6:30 PM more than 50 Mesa-ites gathered at Moorten Botanical Garden for the 4th Annual Meeting of The Mesa Neighborhood Organization. A short Social Hour with wine-tasting and appetizers preceded the beginning of the meeting.

    
Joe Dunn, Acting Chairperson after the resignation of Tom DeWitt last summer, welcomed everyone and thanked Clark Moorten for his gracious invitation to utilize his Botanical Garden for our Annual Meeting for the third year running.

Joe outlined what we accomplished in The Mesa in 2010: $1200 was raised auctioning off items at last year’s Annual Meeting, blade signs with our logo were unveiled, an initial clean-up of the El Portal Gatehouse took place, a BBQ and Silent Art Auction raised another $1200, all 28 fire hydrants in the neighborhood were painted by Desert Water Agency, logo items with The Mesa embroidered on them were introduced and sold, and more than 270 bags of unwanted/excess citrus were collected for the City’s Citrus Rescue program. (You can read more details about our accomplishments and the rest of the meeting’s business items under the “Minutes” tab on this website.)

Committee Updates were the next order of business. These updates included the El Portal Gatehouse, Traffic Calming on South Palm Canyon, Block Captains/Neighborhood Watch, Street Slurring, Website and Twitter.

Our areas of focus in 2011 were discussed. These include the installation of one Neighborhood Watch sign at each of the 7 entry points to The Mesa, desert landscaping and soft lighting at the El Portal Gatehouse, and Mesa Mash Block Party in November among other possible events/activities.

    

Dennis Duca, our Treasurer, reported that The Mesa’s bank balance on 2-28-2011 was in excess of $3,800. An additional $2,500 was raised during the Auction at the meeting. So we have some funds available to begin our #1 project which is the El Portal Gatehouse – projects will only be undertaken when funds raised through donations are available.

Advisory Committee members were voted on and four officers were elected. The Advisory Committee consists of one new member, Bud Craine, and returning members Sidney Braquet, Tom Donahue, Dennis Duca, Joseph Dunn, Dewey Trost and Rosie Vacano.

Joe Dunn was elected Chairperson, Tom Donahue – Vice Chairperson, Dennis Duca – Treasurer and Rosie Vacano – Secretary.

The highlight of the evening was our second annual Auction. Local businesses in the area were approached for donations of gift certificates or merchandise – their response was great and we were able to raise $2500 for the organization. Donations were received from the following businesses and as a Thank You for their participation in our event we would like to encourage you to patronize them:

AIM Mailing Center Cost Plus World Market Desert Healing Hands El Mirasol Europa Restaurant Garo Jeweler John Henry’s King’s Highway (Ace Hotel) Kiyosaku Restaurant

Leon’s at the Canyon Oceans Restaurant Old Creek House P.S. Cyclery P.S Wine Shame on the Moon Smoketree Greetings Thai Smile Desert Wine & Spirits

It was a GREAT meeting. Hope to see you again - March ’12.

---

HUGELY SUCCESSFUL CITRUS COLLECTION


Congratulations to The Mesa Neighborhood Organization for their hugely successful citrus collection, Saturday, March 5.


Mesa residents were asked to put bags of their excess or unwanted citrus curbside before 10 a.m. Six volunteers went around and collected the bags – more than 270 bags! Eight residents asked for help picking their fruit and that was accomplished on Friday, so Saturday was only collection day. They caravanned in three SUVs and one truck to the citrus drop off point at the City Yard (425 N. Civic Drive). Hidden Harvest, a local produce recovery program, collects and distributes the fruit. The organization provides produce to 65 agencies in the Coachella Valley – including nonprofits on the western end of the Valley like the Desert AIDS Project, Well in the Desert, Golden Rainbow Center and the Stroke Recover Center.


The Mesa reached out to their residents through an e-blast as well as by handing out flyers as they completed their Block Captain duties of updating profile info for their Emergency Data Base.


Hats off to The Mesa Neighborhood Organization and thanks to Rosie Vacano for sharing this good news story with us! Lee Bonno Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations City of Palm Springs

---

Click Here for Feature Page 2