Two newcomers enter race to represent fast-growing north Palm Desert on city council
With several months left until the general election, two first-time candidates — Stephen Nelson and Anyse Smith — have entered the city council race to represent Palm Desert’s new District 3, which covers much of the city’s fast-growing northern region.
Several months remain until the official nomination period opens for Palm Desert’s council elections, but Nelson, president of the Genesis homeowners’ association, and Smith, vice president of the Democratic Women of the Desert, have already filed their candidate intention statements with the city clerk.
He is a tech executive who moved to the city five years ago to care for his mother, and she is an attorney who was homeless for a time before going to law school and becoming a housing advocate.
The November election will be Palm Desert’s first with five voting districts, after the council approved a final map in January, following several months of redistricting hearings and workshops. The city had long elected council members at large, but that changed following a 2019 voting rights lawsuit that argued the system diluted the voting power of Latino residents.
In the last two election cycles, the council deployed a unique two-district setup that included District 1 in the city’s central region, with 20% of the city’s voters, while District 2 included 80% of residents and had four council seats. After the recent redistricting process, District 1 remains intact, while the rest was divvied into four districts. The council also agreed to get rid of ranked-choice voting as part of this year’s changes.
The newly formed District 3 runs along Interstate 10 as its northern border, extending east to the Woodhaven Country Club. It also includes the Spanish Walk community, the Desert Willow Golf Resort and the areas surrounding the satellite campuses affiliated with California State University-San Bernardino and the University of California-Riverside.
It’s unclear whether others might join in the District 3 race. Councilmember Gina Nestande, who lives in the district, told The Desert Sun this month she has not yet made a decision on whether to run again.
The official nomination period for candidates opens July 15 and closes Aug. 9. To figure out which district they live in, residents can visit the city clerk's page on PalmDesert.gov and click on the blue box labeled “Locate Your Voting District,” which links to an interactive map of the five districts.
More: Election 2024: Newcomer challenges Karina Quintanilla for Palm Desert council seat
Public safety, infrastructure among Nelson's priorities
Nelson, who moved to Palm Desert in 2019 after relocating his mother there for retirement, spent several years as a senior vice president of a national firm focused on telecommunications, technology and data policies for large cities and the federal government. Nelson left the position in early 2023, but said he’s planning to soon start a similar job.
Since his arrival to Palm Desert, Nelson has gotten involved at city hall, gaining an appointment to the resource preservation and enhancement committee in 2022, as well as the public safety committee last year. He's also engaged less formally, reaching out to the council after he heard concerns from area residents about unchecked blowing sand and dirty road medians.
“There were just these little things that started, and nobody really knew how to deal with the city,” Nelson said. “So I said, ‘Well, that's easy for me. If I deal with the federal government, I can deal with the city of Palm Desert.’”
The District 3 area is primed for considerable growth in the coming years, with more than 4,500 units either under construction or approved by the city north of Frank Sinatra Drive. District 3 includes just over two-thirds of these new developments in the works, per city estimates.
Nelson said he would push so that these additions “do right by the occupants,” pointing to the example of a new affordable development that, prior to more community feedback, lacked any outdoor pool or water features for its future residents.
“We need to put our residents and citizens foremost in the forefront and consider what would they want and what would they think, with all decisions, small and large decisions,” Nelson said.
Several new amenities are also planned for the area, including a pair of parks: a roughly 27-acre community park tucked between Interstate 10 and Gerald Ford Drive, along with a larger sports park planned just off Frank Sinatra Drive and Portola Road.
Roughly a block east of the planned community park, the city is also working to build a new fire station on a 2.5-acre site it owns, tentatively set to open in fall 2025.
Nelson said he’s glad these projects are being built and that the fire station is “sorely needed.” But he also said the city needs to grow its law enforcement ranks in proportion with its population growth. The city contracts its police and fire services with Riverside County's sheriff's and fire departments.
“They have all these projects that are coming up here, and they're approving them at lightning speed,” Nelson said. “But while they're doing that, there are quite a number of us who live here now that require services. With the absence or the lack of oversight of our precious resources in law enforcement and the fire department, we're seeing increasing response times.”
“I applaud the deputies and the people at the Palm Desert sheriff's office. They're doing everything they can to keep us safe,” he added. “But... We, as Palm Desert, should have given them the resources and budget in commensurate with the population growth so you don't have mandatory overtime.”
Regarding the city’s finances, Nelson said Palm Desert is well-run, but added: "You can't spend like a drunken sailor and expect that you would have an unrestricted piggy bank in perpetuity." He mentioned the Palm Desert Aquatic Center as an example of a program that should be re-examined, noting it’s been subsidized by the city’s general fund at a growing rate over the last decade.
With the possibility of a citywide sales tax increase going on the ballot, Nelson has some concern about its potential effects on El Paseo, the city’s popular shopping district, where he said many shoppers come from out of town, including from nearby cities such as Palm Springs that have higher sales tax rates.
“We respect our businesses, and I think we need to think of the impact that decision may have," Nelson said. "Now, if we have to do it, we have to do it. But we’ve got to learn from this mistake, so we don't repeat it in the future.”
Despite some issues he hopes to work on as a councilmember, Nelson said Palm Desert is a great place to live.
“I think this is the best place for us to have a very good and happy, solid environment to grow up in, so I want to maintain the positives about the city, and then further enhance them for the next generation,” Nelson said. “I'm very proud of the city ... But we can always do better.”
Smith would use life experience, legal skills to tackle challenges
Smith, who has lived in Palm Desert for a decade, came to the valley in 2013 as she was dealing with drug and alcohol addictions. She spent her initial time in the area unhoused, staying at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission in Indio and later graduating from CVRM's Gateway Program that offers specialized vocational training.
Smith later worked as CVRM’s housing manager, overseeing federal grants and managing several transitional living homes. She also collaborated on housing programs for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments while gaining a law degree at California Desert Trial Academy in Indio.
Now as a licensed attorney, Smith teaches legal writing at her alma mater, and she also works for a nonprofit called Starting Over Inc., which is focused on helping those dealing with homelessness, substance abuse and recidivism across Riverside County.
“I know how it feels to be on the other side of the table,” Smith said in an interview. “I get to represent people now as an officer of the court, and I don't take that for granted. ... I think that having the compassion and the empathy that I do for this community directly comes from my experience.”
Regarding her campaign priorities, Smith said she wants to preserve and enhance the “exceptional” quality of life in Palm Desert, particularly with the considerable growth occurring in the area she would represent.
“I think there are a lot of exciting projects happening right now in north Palm Desert, and for me, as a community advocate, I think it's important to make sure that north Palm Desert residents have a voice in the development that they're seeing in their own neighborhoods,” Smith said.
With the area slated for such growth, Smith pointed to some specific affordable developments, such as Vitalia and Palm Villas, that gained council approval in recent years that she said will help people get out of the homelessness she's encountered.
“At the end of the day, when it comes to really having an impact on homelessness, I think that the prevailing thought now, and the data backs it up, is the root cause of homelessness is a lack of affordable housing,” Smith said. “There's no community in the desert that is immune to that, or will continue to be immune to it if we don't tackle that particular issue.”
“We thought for a long time that homelessness was caused by addiction, alcoholism, mental health issues, and you have people who are unhoused who are experiencing those things” Smith said. “That can be a precipitating cause of homelessness ... but the root cause of it is a lack of affordable housing. And so I appreciate the efforts of the council to be proactive in addressing this issue.”
Smith also described herself as an advocate for sustainability and environmentally friendly policies. She said she wants the city to continue its work with Sunline to expand its route offerings for the north end’s residents, saying it can be “tricky” to get around the area on the bus.
“It is a transportation equity question at the end of the day, and anybody in north Palm Desert or any part of the city should be able to get to where they're trying to get easily with Sunline or some other form of public transportation,” Smith said. “Whether it be to work or to school or to doctor's appointments, it shouldn't take hours and hours to not get a very far distance.”
She added she sees “a lot of opportunities for growth and improvement" for the city's parks, particularly with the pair of new ones in the pipeline. She also commended Civic Center Park, saying she would come to Palm Desert from Temecula for Fourth of July celebrations growing up.
“When we talk about parks, we're talking about green spaces, but we should also be talking about more pedestrian walkways and more bike paths and things that really let us get outside and get moving, because that's important to the overall health and well-being of a community,” Smith said.
Regarding the potential sales tax increase, Smith noted many cities in the valley have already successfully put such proposals to their voters. She said the hike may be necessary for Palm Desert to keep providing the quality of services it does, given sales taxes are one of the city's largest revenue sources.
Smith said while her path to running for public office has been “very nontraditional and challenging,” her life and community experiences have prepared her to run for the District 3 seat.
“I think my record demonstrates, as a longtime community advocate, and now attorney working on behalf of Coachella Valley residents, that I know how to tackle challenging issues, and step up for the community,” Smith said.
The city council races will conclude Nov. 5, the day of the state's general election.
Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election 2024: Palm Desert City Council race draws two newcomers
