Bocced Stimulus

Steve Pougnet, Palm Springs’ incompetent mayor, claims “stimulus” saved the city from a “major, major depression.”

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It’s hard to argue with that when one termer Pougnet, can point to the $1.37 million dollar gateway park that features not one, but two Bocce ball courts, or fields or whatever it is you need to play Bocce ball. Now that Palm Springs can boast of being home to two Bocce Ball things, can an economic boom be far behind? Under current leadership, Palm Springs has deteriorated into a ghost town—barely recognizable as the glamorous resort it once was. The city’s prime tourist attraction, the legendary Palm Canyon Drive, is a collection of For Lease and Going Out of Business signs. Superintending an economic catastrophe is the Pougnet for Congress platform. Palm Springs city officials insist that the stimulus funds were earmarked for a park, as a “traffic enhancement project” and thus, could not have been used to balance the city budget. This gem will also cost the taxpayers $10,000 to $12,000 per year in Bocce maintenance expenses. Those figures may be a little low as the park was built in one of the worst parts of town—graffiti removal costs can really sneak up on you. What a huge blessing to Coachella Valley’s unemployed, which is 14% of the population. The Bocce stimulus generated a total of twenty jobs; at least for awhile, some of which paid as well as the Whitmans pay their household help. Tourists should really appreciate the many plush amenities:

The sidewalks are discreetly illuminated by lights recessed into large decorative painted concrete spheres that are presumably supposed to look like bocce balls. Similar spheres placed closer to the roadway serve as barriers to keep out-of-control cars from plowing into the park. There’s a drinking fountain, covered benches and, at the park’s widest part, the bocce courts, which are rectangular and nearly 90 feet long, roughly twice the length of a horseshoe pit.

If that doesn’t have the snowbirds flocking in, what will? Just in case anyone is keeping track:

Economic stimulus funding under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: $787 billion Total for infrastructure projects across the country: $81 billion Total for highway projects in Riverside County: $71 million Total for ‘traffic enhancement projects,’ such as the gateway park, in Riverside County: $2.2 million Cost of the Palm Springs gateway park and nearby median/sidewalk improvements: $1.37 million Jobs created: 20 Source: City of Palm Springs

And for those who are not erudite enough to appreciate the allure of Bocce Ball:

The modern form of bocce was developed in Italy and it is played around the world. Players take turns tossing or rolling heavy metal or plastic balls to get closest to the ‘jack,’ a smaller ball that is tossed to the end of the court at the start of a match.