Samm Coombs, Special to The Desert Sun Published 11:55 a.m. PT Sept. 20, 2019

Forget the world's problems, as the Coachella Valley has plenty of its own concerns to confront, writes Samm Coombs.(Photo: Illustration by Al Franco/The Desert Sun)

Lets for the moment forget about Californias problems, Americas problems and world problems.The Coachella Valley has enough of its own to keep us busy.

Heres a sampler of issues we face:

Our air quality:Seems the air that we breathe is among the worstin the U.S. One cause is fixable, the other is built-in to our geographyi.e., Los Angeles spews pollutants into our valley through the funnel provided by the San Gorgonio Pass. Prevailing winds add to our problem kicking up dust daily. A century of agricultural pesticides now being exposed by the dying Salton Sea already exacerbate the problem and promise to make it worse unless various governmental bodies bite the bullet to do something monumental, such as refill the sea with Gulf of California water.Dont hold your breath. (Actually, youll soon need to hold your breath to survive!) Every resident in the valley should raise a stink (pun intended) with county, state and federal authorities pointing out a multi-billion dollar fix today is infinitely cheaper than exponential economic losses as this crisis spirals.

Palm Springs future: The citys raison detreis (or was) its village-like atmosphere, a quality that's fast disappearing. Whatever quality you might assign to the current building boom, charming it is not! Theres no going back. What we have now is a commonplace urban environment in an uncommon setting. Sad.

Homelessness: This is a multi-faceted problem i.e., mental health, addiction, economic, etc. so there can be no sweeping cure-all. Current help seems to addresssymptoms more than causes. The good news: Sacramento has stepped up to the plate (in lieu of the county!) and provided $10 million in one-time homelessness funding to Palm Springs. We can thank Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, for this largesse that will pay for much needed shelter and services.

CV Link: Two missing links make the original intent unattainable, thank you, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells, for your not in my backyard attitude.

Police shootings: What with 11 police shootings in the valley by early August,one might see our constabulary as a bit trigger happy.While that might be unfair, the fact remains that Riverside County has among the highest per capita rates of police shootings in all of California. Some fatal shootings were no doubt justified, as when a suspect has a gun in hand. Others seem to be over-reactions i.e., were officers truly at immediate risk when a man with a kitchen knife is 15 feet from an officer took one step forward?There needs be more training to assure any shooting is the only recourse available. The recently enacted California Act to Save Lives is a giant stop in the right direction.

Residential vacation rentals: This is a city-by-city matter.I am not qualified to say how many is too many, although it would seem that point will soon be reached if it hasnt been already in Palm Springs.I believe neighbors should be the priority of residential neighborhoods, not short-term visitors.

Earthquake preparedness:The so-called big one is long overdue.As our valley sits astride the San Andreas Fault, we are apt to be the epicenter. With all exits inaccessible, survival depends on individual preparedness.Are you ready? Next week may be too late.

Samm Coombs(Photo: Courtesy)

Samm Coombs of Palm Desert is a retired adman, publisher and author. Email him at scoombs@dc.rr.com.

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Valley Voice: Coachella Valley neighbors, forget the world's woes. We have our own to fix - The Desert Sun