The Twentynine Palms City Council authorized City Manager Frank Luckino to purchase two properties at a price not to exceed $325,000 during its meeting Tuesday night. The adjacent properties, one of which has Bank of America ATMs, are on Highway 62 near the center of downtown and were described as a “blight” that needed to be cleaned up. But when residents asked what plans the city had for the properties, Mayor Pro Tem Dan Mintz wouldn’t say… (sound bite)
“That’s what we discussed in closed session and some of that can not be discussed… If someone was to come to us and wanted to develop it, we would sell it.”
In other business, the council discussed whether it should approve a resolution supporting Congressman Paul Cook’s bill to establish the Mojave Trails Special Management Area, which has fewer land use restrictions than Senator Dianne Feinstein’s proposed bill establishing the Mojave Trails National Monument. Managing editor Tami Roleff said both bills had their supporters and detractors…
“I believe that Dianne Feinstein’s desert preservation bill is a gigantic, unmitigated land grab; she planning to deprive the American public, the citizens of California and the citizens of this area, of acres and acres and acres and acres of land that they should have access to. And she wants to take our land away from us so that we can have it in future preservation, but what are we going to save it for?”
Resident John King urged the Twentynine Palms City Council to approve a resolution supporting Congressman Paul Cook’s California Minerals, Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act, which allows residents to continue to mine, camp, and ride their off-road vehicles on 965,000 acres of land in the Mojave Desert.
Former city council member Jim Bagley also supported Cook’s bill. “We can camp, file mining claims. We need multiple use management.”
Some residents, including Almut Fleck, asked the council to hold off on approving a resolution in support of Cook’s bill establishing the Mojave Trails Special Management Area, since the bill hasn’t even been introduced yet. “On one side, you want to set aside land for future generations, and on the other hand, you want to increase rather destructive recreation. It’s not fair, it’s not balanced. So I urge you please do not make a decision today to support the bill.”
Mayor Pro Tem Dan Mintz agreed the council should wait to support the bill. “I’m not comfortable with the actual bill not being done.”
While the four council members in attendance agreed they supported Cook’s draft bill, they held off authorizing a resolution in support of it until the bill had actually been introduced.
