YES on B

  • Keep Residents SAFE

  • DEFEND our Neighborhoods

  • PROTECT Housing Stock for Families

STVRs Threaten Our Safety

Just in the last year we’ve had a stabbing at one Short Term Vacation Rental (STVR) in the city (Stabbing at STVR – January 2020). Every week, new people turn up and move in next door to you. No-one is doing background checks on most of them. You’ll never know who they are, or why they are here. 

These days, parents with young children must always be vigilant against ‘stranger danger’. So far we’ve been lucky in our city – but while Megan’s law allows you to check for sex offenders living in your community, it doesn’t tell you anything about strangers in short-term vacation rentals

 

Defending Our Neighborhoods

Residents want a safe, peaceful place to relax and unwind. Many people here start work early and don’t want to be kept awake until 2AM by a noisy party next door at an STVR. Yes, they can report it, but by then the damage is done. They have to send their children to school tired, and they have to go to work without a good night’s rest.

Alcohol-fueled parties often end with arguments and trouble. They cause excessive noise, but more importantly they make residents feel less safe.

Weekend parties cause neighborhood problems with both trash and over-parking, inconveniencing residents.

Affect on Housing for Families

Cathedral City has traditionally been a place for hard working families to live and raise their children. But STVRs reduce the availability of house to buy or rent long term. Those families are forced to move out of area, creating long commutes for many.

What Residents want

Our city is home to thousands of hard working families and retirees. They all want a safe, secure and healthy place to live. They want a community; a place to call home. They want to be able to raise children without having to explain the bad language and drunken brawls at the house next door. They want to know their neighbors. They want a real neighborhood where friends and family coexist, helping and supporting one another.

Residents understand that not every visitor is a criminal, a sex offender, or even someone that will host drunken parties until the small hours. But the fact that they might be is enough to steal the peace of mind of many.

STVRs are fine in communities like Desert Princess, which is designed to deal with vacation rentals. Developers could develop new neighborhoods especially for this purpose. But STVRs do not belong in our traditional family neighborhoods.

Without Ordinance 842, there will be no restrictions on party houses anywhere in our city. You may not live next door to one now – but all that could change if we don’t vote YES.

Voting YES on B will ensure our neighborhoods stay safe, secure, and a great place to raise children.