City of Palm Springs

Measure C - Majority Approval Required

Measure C: A Citizens’ Initiative

Palm Springs is a city out of balance. Short-term rentals (STRs) dominate many neighborhoods while our quality-of-life suffers. Many of us live on blocks overrun by these STRs, with fewer and fewer neighbors. Conversions of private homes into unsupervised hotels conflicts with our residential zoning code.

City records indicate that over 80% of vacation rental owners neither live nor vote here. For them, our neighborhoods are strictly cash registers. Our affordable neighborhoods have become gold-mines for out of town investors.

Everyone deserves a safe and secure place to call home. That’s what neighborhoods are intended for. Using our single-family homes as commercial lodging deprives us of this right.

According to the City, 467,000 tourists stayed in STRs last year, in neighborhoods built to house about 28,000 residents. This alarming number affects all of us and it’s on the rise.

Residential neighborhoods should never be used to generate business tax revenue. Our city continues to build new hotels — lost tax revenue should come from these hotels and not from our neighborhoods.

Dozens of cities limit STRs and are doing just fine. They have experienced no decline in home values.

Your YES vote means that some homes once used as STRs will be rented longer-term and some will be sold. All will be filled with residents that make up a neighborhood, a community.

Measure C:

● Phases out short-term vacation rentals less than 28 days a stay, in single-family neighborhoods, zoned R-1, over two years.

● Allows long-term and seasonal rentals of 28+ days. Up to 12 times a year.

● Allows home-sharing when the owner is present.

● Allows short-term rentals of condos, if the HOA permits them.

Save our Neighborhoods. Vote Yes on C

By:      Stephen Rose, Treasurer, Palm Springs Neighbors for Neighborhoods

Jim R Rutledge, Hotel Owner and Resident

Roxann Ploss, Retired Educator / Resident

Lanny Seese M.D, Physician and Fulltime Resident

Glenn E. Flood, President, P.S. Chapter National Active & Retired Federal Employees Assoc. 

Vote NO on Measure C!

Vacation rentals have been a part of the Palm Springs lifestyle for generations.

Vacation rental tourists contribute over $150 million to our economy and provide over 1,000 local jobs, bringing in nearly $10 million in tax revenue. Vacation rentals provide full-time residents the right and opportunity to supplement their income and can be a means for part-time residents to own a second home in Palm Springs.

Vacation rentals improve property values! Palm Springs is the only Coachella Valley city to experience a full post-recession recovery in home prices.

This poorly-drafted and confusing ballot measure, brought by a special interest group, will result in the loss of millions of dollars in taxes paid by tourists, necessitating substantial cuts to vital City services and programs.

A prohibition limiting your right to vacation rentals would eliminate close to 85% of all vacation rentals and will result in a substantial decrease in property values.

Enforcement works! The City’s current vacation rental enforcement program has resulted in a 39% decrease in calls to the hotline, a 90% decrease in police calls and the shutdown of 65 problem homes.

Bans don’t work! When cities ban vacation rentals, they continue illegally with no resources for enforcement.

This extreme ballot measure will have negative consequences. It will reduce property values, hurt small businesses and significantly reduce City revenues.

Palm Springs is experiencing a renaissance including new stores, restaurants and attractions.

We’ve paved 75 miles of streets and added 12 new public safety personnel.

Why would we undermine our new-found prosperity with a special interest ballot measure?

Please join:

The Palm Springs City Council

Palm Springs Police Officers’ Association

Palm Springs Professional Firefighters

Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce

Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

Palm Springs Hospitality Association

PS Resorts

By:     Geoff Kors, Councilmember, Palm Springs City Council

Lisa Middleton, Councilmember, Palm Springs City Council

J. R. Roberts, Mayor Pro Tem, Palm Springs City Council

Robert Moon, Mayor, Palm Springs City Council

Vote NO on Measure C

Palm Springs is thriving again!

Since the 1930’s, vacation rentals (VR’s) have always been a part of the mix of accommodations we offer our tourists.

Sadly, a handful of people want to ban 46% of our City’s sleeping accommodations. Our beautiful, diverse hotels cannot now, or in the foreseeable future, make up for this tremendous loss of tourists. We need a mix of small hotels, larger hotels and vacation rentals to attract the tourists our town needs.

A regulation went into effect in April 2017 that must be strictly adhered to. With over 150 provisions and strict enforcement, the number of vacation rental permits have dropped from 2,135 to 1,994.

Talk about “out-of-town investors” and “cash registers” only contributes negativity and scare tactics within our community.

People of good will including VR homeowners and their neighbors, must work together to ensure our city and its neighborhoods continue to make Palm Springs a world class tourist destination.

Everything in a community should be about balance and collaboration.

A ban is extreme, divisive and will do great harm to our city. The ban proponents provide little data to back their claims, nor any answers for replacing the substantial loss of tourist revenue, jobs and lower property values.

Please visit WeLovePalmSprings.org to learn more.

By:     Aftab Dada, President-PSHA, Palm Springs Hospitality Association

Nona Watson, CEO, P.S. Chamber of Commerce

Joe Cook, President Palm Springs POA

Aftab Dada, President, P.S. Resorts

Jeff Kelsheimer, President, Palm Springs Professional Firefighters

Stop the commercialization of our neighborhoods!

The recession is over: Stop giving hotels millions in tax rebates - it’s time to give neighborhoods back to residents. Put short-term tourists back in hotels and resorts and encourage developers to build “STR villages” in appropriately zoned areas.

After Measure C passes homeowners can still supplement their income by Home sharing or renting their home (or part of it) 28+ days per stay, up to 12 times a year.

Only investors will find it unprofitable. Over 80% of them don’t live here. Sale of their homes will free up housing that is affordable for new homebuyers and long-term renters.

The Vacation Rental industry and the City have been using scare tactics to persuade us that the “sky will fall” if we limit STRs. It won’t.

The truth is, many resort cities in California have already limited STRs, and they’re doing just fine. They’ve put the needs of their residents first.

Their property values have NOT decreased. Instead, they’ve increased. Realtors are not telling the truth when they say the opposite.

“Enforcement” does NOT work for residents living near an STR. They are the REAL first responders — awakened in the middle of the night by rowdy tourists.

Sure, there will always be illegal operators, but the City can contract out for them to be fined and shut down.

We residents are proud of our city, but a balance between its “renaissance” and our quality of life must be maintained for Palm Springs to thrive.

VoteYesOnC.org

By:     Stephen Rose, Resident / Proponent, Palm Springs Neighbors For Niegborhoods