Governor Seems to Snub Indio City Council on Tour

Did Gov. Gavin Newsom Snub Indio City Council on Prop 1 Tour?

INDIO — When Gov. Gavin Newsom was here Friday to tour the nonprofit ABC Recovery Center and make a case for Proposition 1, members of the City Council were noticeably absent.

Was it intentional? An oversight? A scheduling issue?

Even a conscientious member of the public asked why the Indio City Council was not informed of the Governor’s visit.

Proposition 1, which is backed by Newsom, would use more than $6 billion in bond funding to create supportive housing, give $1 billion to support veterans and create 65,000 mental health jobs. Additionally, it would create over 26,000 outpatient treatment slots.

Mayor Lupe Ramos Amith said it kind of bothered her.

“It is not an everyday event that the Governor visits the City of Indio,” Ramos Amith told Uken Report, “Therefore, it is unfortunate that the mayor was not notified. I would have looked forward to having attended the Governors visit at the ABC Center as it is one of several agencies that address the mental health crisis in California.”

Mayor Pro Tem Glenn Alan Miller said that he, too, was disappointed in the Governor.

“I was disappointed that the Governor did not invite the entire Indio City Council and other local stakeholders to attend the tour,” Miller told Uken Report. “I have served on the ABC Recovery Board for several years and currently am the Vice-Chairman of the Board. I was invited to attend the event in my capacity as a Board member; however, I chose not to attend because I felt this was only a photo-op for Gov. Newsom based on what I was told detailing his agenda. I hope that in the future all stakeholders can be invited to attend future meetings to have meaningful dialog on this very important issue to the City of Indio and the Coachella Valley.”

Indio City Councilmember Waymond Fermon said that while it’s understandable that the Governor might be under time constraints, however, “It would have been valuable to discuss the significance of the new behavioral health clinic in Indio, highlighting its benefits for the community and the collaboration with the community to get it passed and up and running. Despite this missed opportunity, we hope for a future opportunity for the governor to engage with the Indio City Council on initiatives of mental wellness in Indio.”

City Manager Bryan Montgomery seemed to take it all in stride. “We did not know about the Governor’s visit until after he was here. (In my experience, sometimes these types of visits are pretty controlled and an “in and out” type of thing – maybe this was one of those).”

Anthony York of the Governor’s Prop 1 team said he had “Nothing to add … on the Indio event.”