A Tale of Two People, One City

I used to live in Palm Springs, California, long enough to call it my ex-hometown. It has current controversies involving two celebrities, one widely and the other more locally known.

First, there is Mary Hart, globally recognized as the longtime co-host of Entertainment Tonight, and more recently as emcee of the annual Gala at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. But her latest emcee gig, President Trump’s July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, has some demanding that she be relieved of her Film Festival duties. So now it’s a free speech thing.

Mary Hart is a South Dakota native, a friend of the state’s governor, and was free to accept her role. But Trump opponents are also free to react. If we’re talking about a movie-industry awards show, the idea of changing hosts is hardly shocking. I’m sure Mary was aware of the possible consequences of doing the Trump event, For the moment, there are no plans to fire her from the Film Festival.

The other controversy is a little more complicated. Frank Bogert, the oft-called “cowboy mayor” of Palm Springs, served two stretches in office, one in the 1980s and the other in the 1960s. A statue of him on a horse has been in front of City Hall for some 30 years. The late mayor, who spent the better part of his 99-year life in Palm Springs, gets much of the credit for turning the city into a Hollywood getaway and international resort, He was the town’s premier historian as well. But in 1966, he supported the abrupt clearing of Section 14, a blighted square mile of land near downtown, almost overnight displacing hundreds of low-income residents, many of color. The action brought a sharp rebuke from the California attorney general. Now, in keeping with our times, petitioners are calling for the removal of the Bogert statue.

I know how I’m supposed to feel about this in the current climate, but I’m not sure I do. In Frank Bogert, what we saw was what we got, and most of us approved. I cannot deny the unfortunate events of 1966 (before my time in Palm Springs). All I can say about Mayor Frank is, I never knew him to be a racist. That’s not to say he didn’t have a tin ear at times, but he was never mean, and he had a genuine love for his city. From some accounts, he was interested in helping Indian landowners, including those of Section 14, gainfully develop their property, not in oppressing poor people.

Ideally, I would favor a ballot measure on this statue issue, so that voters who have lived in town longer have as much of a voice as more recent arrivals. Survivors of the abuses of the 1960s and their descendants could also have a vote.

Yeah, a nice idea, but it would just prolong this dispute. I can only hope then that members of the City Council stay off bandwagons and recognize their obligation to hear all voices and go beyond who turns in the longest petition.