Are you angry, sad, and confused about the state of Palm Springs – what with all the charges and arrests and scandal and such? Well, you can chat with city officials about it on Monday.
The “study session” will be held at 6 pm at the Convention Center, reports the Desert Sun:
The announcement follows the recent bribery, perjury and conflicts of interests charges filed against former Mayor Steve Pougnet and developers John Wessman and Richard Meaney. Wessman’s company has been the lead developer for the 20-acre complex of new buildings, streets, plazas, parking and other uses. The project is a public-private partnership that relies on some $43 million in tax-payer money, and has been years in the making.
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The charges, filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s office last Thursday, allege Pougnet accepted $375,000 in payments from Wessman and Meaney from 2012 to 2015. During that same period, the former mayor cast 11 votes on seven development projects or land sales belonging to Meaney or Wessman, while he was accepting payments from them, according to the charging documents. Five of those votes were related to the downtown redevelopment, which could be a violation of the state’s conflict of interest laws and possibly invalidate those votes.
The City Council and handsomely paid City Manager have not said much since the PouGhazi charges were announced. Choosing only to release a statement in which they said nothing and an interview on KESQ that just made us sad.
Image: via Flickr
