Over the weekend, the Cathedral City Fire Department placed a new fire engine in service. The new piece of apparatus will be responding out of Station 411 on Date Palm and Buddy Rogers Ave. This has been a long awaited process, and we are glad to introduce E411 to the citizens of Cathedral City. E411 is a 2008 Pierce Quantum, Type I apparatus. The new fire engine is state of the art and meets all of the current national standards.

 

Cathedral City has been awarded an estimated $840,138 from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) through the agency's COPS Hiring Recovery Program. The grant, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will enable the City to hire three police officer positions for a three year period. The grant awards were announced by Vice President Joseph Biden and US Attorney General Eric Holder

Competition for the grants was intense. 7,272 agencies applied for the grant nationwide. An award was given to 109 of the 357 California agencies who applied, or about 30%. Nationally, only 12% of all applications received funding.

Including this grant, Cathedral City has been successful in obtaining $2 million in federal stimulus funds. The City has made application for an additional $47 million, however these applications are still pending.

Cathedral City’s new business-focused website (www.CCisValue.com) is up and running. The website was launched in mid-June and features all the great place to Shop, Dine, Play, Live, Work and Stay in Cathedral City.

About 50 Cathedral City businesses have already signed up and are offering discount/special offer coupons on the website. Any Cathedral City business, with a current Cathedral City business license, willing to offer a discount to the community, can have their discount posted on the website free of charge. To keep things simple, coupons on the web site will have a generic easy to print appearance.

The City is advertising the website TV (KMIR6) and radio advertisements on Eagle 106.9; K-News 970, 1140, 1250; MIX 105.5 and KDES 104.7. Direct mail pieces to all Cathedral City homes are also planned.

One of the most exciting programs ever undertaken by Cathedral City is about to get underway.

The "Cathedral City Economic Stimulus Program" was approved by the City Council, operating as the Redevelopment Agency Board, in April. The RDA is entirely separate from the City's General Fund operations such as Police, Fire and other essential services. Monies were redirected from a moribund Street Facade Improvement program towards this immediate and urgently needed stimulus package. For our City's new car dealerships, this means a greatly expanded ability to attract customers via promotions funded both by the City and the dealerships themselves. Much of the City's General Fund (which supports Police, Fire, etc.) is derived from auto sales taxes.

The City of Cathedral City continues to look to fill 2 positions on the Board of Appeals and 1 position on the Marketing Committee.

The Board of Appeals is a five member body qualified by experience and training to consider appeals on matters pertaining to building construction and who are not employees of Cathedral City.

A background in architecture, construction, design, engineering or planning is strongly preferred.

The Board meets on an as needed basis.

The Marketing Committee works to brand Cathedral City in a positive manner. In addition, the Committee seeks ways to increase communications with the community. The Committee also looks for ways to promote Cathedral City as a destination and a place to shop, dine, play, live, work and stay.

Preparing for a Complete Census Count in April 2010

In preparation for the 2010 Census next April, the Census Bureau will be canvassing addresses here in Cathedral City and throughout the United States. This important work is now underway. The Census Bureau conducts Address Canvassing to update its address and map database to make sure that it is accurate and current. The Census Bureau will use the updated Address Canvassing information to deliver questionnaires to every address in areas where Address Canvassing is conducted.

For the first time in Decennial Census history, census workers will confirm, add, and delete addresses using a GPS-equipped hand-held computer. Each computer is so secure that it will work only when activated by the fingerprint of its assigned operator.