OPEN DURING CONSTRUCTION

by Kevin fitzgerald

The Backstreet Art District sits just a block and a half south of a heavily traveled stretch of Highway 111 near Palm Springs’ border with Cathedral City—but the area with 11 galleries, a combination antique store/gallery and a custom framing shop can be easy to miss, even when you know where you’re headed.

Today, however, reaching the local arts mecca is even more difficult, thanks to a construction crew that suddenly arrived toward the end of May’s first week to install a much-needed, longdelayed storm water-drainage system.

Backstreet tenants had been told that construction would begin on Oct. 31, 2022, and be completed by Dec. 30, 2022. That didn’t happen, and for months, they heard nothing from anyone about the project’s status. Then came the unannounced arrival of contractor Sukut Construction’s workers, trucks, earthmovers and the like—along with the huge sections of concrete pipeline, which suddenly surrounded the newly formed island of art galleries.

“It’s just really unfortunate that there’s not a lot of communication, so that we could all work together to keep things optimal for everyone,” said Kelly Truscott, owner and operator of the Artize galleries in both the Backstreet Art District and La Quinta. “They should get to do their job in the most efficient way, and we should still be able to have our businesses. Selling art is not one of the easiest businesses, but when it becomes more complicated for visitors to get here, it makes (our jobs) more difficult.”

The crew began by shutting down and then digging up the portion of Matthew Drive (a road which becomes Gene Autry Trail on the other side of Highway 111) that runs along the back of the L-shaped strip mall housing the galleries. As a result, the Art District lost the use of roughly a dozen parking spots. According to one business owner, building management was forced to urgently call both the city of Palm Springs and Sukut Construction company management when the digging, which was expected to occur only in public spaces, began encroaching on the mall property itself.

That digging, however, was never the main concern of the Backstreet Art District businesses. Rather, it was the negative impact on customer traffic caused by the road closures, the absence of any obvious detour signage, and the mud, dust and dirt generated by the trucks and construction.

Truscott shared with the Independent a page from her hand-written customer-traffic records. It revealed a drop in weekly customer visits of roughly 50-65% in the weeks since the road closures went into effect.

“The critical (access) issue is the intersection of Seminole Road and South Cherokee Way, which is where our main parking entrance is,” Truscott said. “Also, the (detour) signage isn’t as clear as it needs to be. And whose responsibility is that? I don’t know. Is that our responsibility as the business owners? … We see curbs being put in on the other side of the street, and we didn’t have curbs here before, so that’s a nice sign.”

At the opposite end of the Art District from Artize Gallery is Howard’s Custom Frame Shop. Justin (he would only give us his first name) said he had been the store manager for seven years before he purchased the business about 10 months ago. He said he’d been told that this entire storm water-installation project would be completed by January 2023. Previously, he said, there had been consistent walk-in business, and some art collectors who purchased a painting at a neighboring gallery would come directly to his business to have it custom framed—but that’s not happening now. He expressed frustration about the lack of communication from Riverside County and the city of Palm Springs to residents and business owners about the status of the project, and when road closures would take place.

Julianna Adams is in charge of emergency management and government affairs at the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (RCFCWCD), and Komy Ghods heads up the design and construction division there. After visiting the Backstreet Art District, the Independent spoke with them via phone—and they expressed concern when they heard about the challenging situation the project has created for these businesses.

Ghods described the project’s purpose: “Basically, it’s a storm drain and basin project that we’re building in that area to provide flood protection to both residents and business owners along Matthew and South Cherokee, extending all the way down to Highway 111. … So in a nutshell, (it’s about) collection and conveyance of storm water that comes off that mountain there.”

We asked Adams why the residents and business owners had been given such little information about what to expect.

“We do multiple things, usually in coordination with the city where the projects are being constructed,” Adams said. “So it’s in partnership with the city that we communicate with the different businesses and residents. Also, we have to coordinate with the contractors to develop a schedule. But in this case, it seems that there’s a misconnect, so what we’ll do is talk to the city and request that the city reach out to the different business owners and communicate the latest schedule that we have for the project. That way, the business owners will have the latest information and know when we expect to be out of that area, so that their businesses can (go back to normal operations).”

When can these struggling businesses expect the disturbance to come to an end?

“It’s kind of hard to (say),” Ghods said during our interview, which occurred at the end of May. “It’s up to the contractor, because it’s their means and methods. They’re doing the best they can. They’re doing good work out there, and we’re getting close. I figure we’re some three to four months away, but it’s hard to give a definite date. Everybody always wants to know when the final day will be, but that’s just hard to predict.

“We’ll definitely reach out to (the Arts District businesses) again now, and to the city of Palm Springs (to) coordinate with them some more. This project has been years in the making. It will greatly improve the safety of these areas when the next flood situation arises, and we want to complete it with as little disruption to residents and businesses as possible.”

While businesses owners in the Backstreet Art District are frustrated about the disruption and the lack of communication, they’re definitely happy the storm waterdrainage system is going in.

“It has to be done,” Truscott said. “Some of us were here when that storm four years ago came in, and we had the Seminole Road river out here. It came up within 10 feet of the building. We saw mailboxes still attached to concrete cinder-block moorings going by. … So I’m grateful that they’re now putting in storm drains.”