The city of Palm Springs may have finally realized that the “Palm Springs Walk of Stars” – a series of sidewalk markings for Elvis, Marilyn, Sinatra, and a bunch of people you have never heard of – has become a big, dumb joke to most residents and visitors of the Coachella Valley.
The city is reviewing how it grants stars and won’t be approving any new ones until they figure out some sort of criteria to prevent a bunch of nobodies from gracing downtown Palm Springs road ways, reports The Desert Sun.
“Honorees must have, by their presence in the area, contributed to the charm, worldwide prominence and name recognition of Greater Palm Springs,” reads the organization’s website. To date, 416 stars have been awarded. The most recent went to Bianca Rae, the morning anchor for KESQ News Channel 3. That star dedication ceremony is set for June 2. And Rabbi Sally Olins will receive the 417th star on June 4.
Several months ago the council put together a subcommittee made up of Councilman J.R. Roberts and Mayor Moon to review the program, which functions as a partnership between the city and the Walk of Stars organization since the star-markers are installed on city sidewalks.
“There’s some concern by a lot of people that it’s really become a ‘pay to play’ thing,” said Moon. “And if you can write a check for $10,000, you can get a star. And there really needs to be some stringent requirements for this.”
A new “selection committee” has been created and will most likely function like an Obamacare death panel, deciding whose dreams of having their name on top of some concrete that people walk on downtown will live and whose dreams of that will die.
