2012 SPRING FLING/ANNUAL MEETING




On Sunday, April 15, 2012 between 4:30 – 6:45 PM more than 80 Mesa-ites gathered at Moorten Botanical Garden for the 5th Annual Meeting/1st Spring Fling of The Mesa Neighborhood Organization (TMNO). A half hour Social Hour with wine tasting and appetizers preceded the beginning of the meeting.

Tom Donahue, Acting Chairperson after Joe Dunn moved out of The Mesa in March, welcomed everyone and thanked Clark Moorten for his gracious invitation to utilize his Botanical Garden for our Annual Meeting for the fourth year running. Tom also thanked Paulette Wright of PS Wines for donating 6 bottles of champagne and giving us a discount on the wine we bought.

    

Tom outlined what we accomplished in The Mesa in 2011: $2500 was raised auctioning off items at last year’s Annual Meeting; the landscaping project at the El Portal Gatehouse was completed by 15+ volunteers over 3 days in May 2011; $2500 was donated to the new PS Animal Shelter in July; 7 Neighborhood Watch signs were installed in November; the Mesa Mash Block Party in December collected 250 pounds of non-perishable food and $800 in donations for FIND (Food in Need of Distribution) Food Bank. (You can read more details about our accomplishments and the rest of the meeting’s business items under the “Minutes” tab on this website.)

Our areas of focus in 2012 were discussed. These include the installation of lighting and a metal gate at the El Portal Gatehouse, possible community garage sale, and Mesa Mash Block Party in November among other possible events/activities.

Dennis Duca, our Treasurer, reported that The Mesa’s bank balance as of the date of the meeting was in excess of $3200. An additional $4500 was raised during the Auction at the Meeting. So we have a nice cushion of funds available for projects in 2012.

    

Advisory Committee members were voted on and four officers were elected. The Advisory Committee consists of three new members, Teal Markley, Michael Slattery and Scott Woodward, and returning members Sidney Braquet, Bud Craine, Tom Donahue, Dennis Duca, Dewey Trost and Rosie Vacano.

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

The highlight of the evening was our Third Annual Auction. Local business in the area were approached for donations of gift certificates or merchandise – their response was great and we were able to collect $4500 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	Lyon’s English Grille
Cactusberry Yogurt	Pool Emporium
Azul Restaurant	P.S. Cyclery
Davey’s Hideaway	P.S. Follies
Desert Healing Hands	Rock Garden Bar & Grill
El Mirasol Restaurant	Smoketree Greetings
Elmer’s	Teriyaki Yogi
Europa Restaurant	Trio Restaurant
Garo Jewelers	Twin Palms Restaurant
Giuseppe’s Pizza & Pasta	Tyler’s Restaurant
King’s Highway (Ace Hotel)	Great Wall Restaurant
Kiyosaku Restaurant

There were also items donated by Mesa residents: Dr. Gil offered a Varicose Vein Exam & Treatment, Bill Byrne offered a guided tour of the Air Museum; Dennis Duca offered his delicious Pasta Bakes and Rosie Vacano offered her delicious baked goods.

    

This year we also had 6 Silent Auction items donated by our residents – those raised $425. And for the first time we had 6 Door Prizes donated by Patti & Bud Craine – names were drawn during the event and Happy residents walked away with a Great Door Prize.

It was a REALLY fun event!!! “More Socializing, Less Business” – it was a Meet and Greet your Neighbors Event and could not have been more successful! Thank you One and ALL!!!

Hope to see you again – March or April 2013.

Click here to view more photos of this event

Twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall, Palm Springs Disposal Services (PSDS) sponsors a Clean-Up in the City of Palm Springs. PSDS offers neighborhoods the use of a dumpster/roll-off if they want to clean an area within their neighborhood.



The Mesa Neighborhood Organization (TMNO) took PSDS up on their offer and a dumpster was put in place on the empty lot between the Bono Estate and 360 W Crestview Drive. On Saturday morning, April 14, 18 volunteers gathered in that area which slopes down into the El Camino Canyon and cleared the debris, cut back overgrown bushes and trees, raked and swept. Not only did we fill the dumpster but had enough debris to fill three more had they been available! We hired one of our local gardeners to remove the remaining debris.



We will purchase rocks and some boulders and place them about 6 – 8 feet from the street in an effort to prevent people from dumping their trash in our canyon areas.

After about 2 and a half hours of hard work, volunteers were rewarded with pizza and refreshments. Drive by and see what can be accomplished by resolute volunteers in a short period of time!

If you know of another area in The Mesa which could use a little “HELP” next spring, please send us an email at: psmesa@gmail.com

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FOURTH ANNUAL
MESA MASH BLOCK PARTY

SATURDAY DECEMBER 3, 2011




On Saturday, December 3, 2011, more than 70 Mesa Residents gathered on El Camino Way to celebrate the Fourth Annual Mesa Block Party. This was our best turnout ever, whether at a Block Party or the Annual Meeting. It was a wonderful celebration among neighbors!!! We are the smallest of the 28 Neighborhood Organizations in the City of Palm Springs, but we are the BEST!!!

    
We called this the “Holiday Edition” Block Party and chose to support FIND (Food in Need of Distribution) as the recipient of our fund-raising efforts. Bud Craine, an Advisory Committee Member of TMNO, is on the Board of Directors of FIND. We chose to support the Food Bank and were very successful in our donations. We collected a huge load of non-perishable food items – those donations filled the back of Bud’s SUV and he delivered them to FIND.

We also had a Silent Auction to raise additional funds for FIND. Vicki Hubbert donated her oil painting of the Gatehouse at El Portal – Jeff and Michelle who own the house at the NE corner of El Portal and Mesa Drive bought that wonderful painting.

    
Lee Ann Lucas, who lives on Crestview, just opened a gallery in Downtown PS at 333 Indian Canyon Drive. She donated a picture done by her son and Mary/Joe, her neighbors on Crestview, were the lucky bidders. Visit Lee Ann at her website www.lalfineart.com. Rosie Vacano donated four copper serving pieces – a copper ring with wooden salad bowl, wooden fork & spoon, a bean pot, a divided serving bowl and a coffee pot, creamer and sugar pot. Rosie also prepared three Food Baskets - Italian, German/Swiss and Asian, and decorated a Gingerbread house.

All in all, $1800 was raised at our Block Party: $1450 for the FIND Food Bank, $350 for The Mesa Neighborhood Organization. What a Great Success!!! This was our BEST ever – best attendance at a Block Party and best attendance at an Annual Meeting. Thank you all!!! The Food was fabulous! A BLT Pasta Salad, a Chicken Pasta Salad, sandwich wraps, shrimp, delicious macaroons, croissant sandwiches,, artichoke dip, salmon, pecan pie – it was Great!!!

Thank you to one and all – Volunteers on the AC who set up and tore down, Clark for providing tables, chairs and tablecloths, Dennis for buying all the decorations, plates, plastic ware, etc. Just remember that we have 6 easily assembled tents which are available to Mesa-ites at any time. Contact Dennis at ducadc@aol.com. Have a wonderful Holiday Season with Friends and Family!!!



Click here to view more photos of this event

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EL PORTAL GATEHOUSE PROJECT
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

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