Supervisor Perez Remarks at All Valley Business and Community Event

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez attended the Eighth Annual All Valley Mayors and Tribal Chairpersons luncheon today at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage.

Organized by the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, this event annually brings together all or nearly all the mayors of the Coachella Valley, Supervisor Perez and the leadership of Tribal nations within the Coachella Valley to provide their outlook, updates on projects and economic developments, and dialogue on how to best collaborate on efforts for the region. The following were Supervisor Perez’s opening remarks at today’s event:

“It’s a pleasure to be here with all of you. It feels good to be back. I just want to say thank you to the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, the sponsors, and all the folks, the staff, who put this event together. I think it is the eighth annual now and it’s only growing, and it gives us an opportunity to get to know each other and discuss what’s going on.

“I’ll tell you, someone mentioned ‘whirlwind’ earlier, it definitely feels that way, the past few years, with challenge after challenge, struggle after struggle, to the point where we have had some tragedies. I just want to highlight a tragedy and the loss of a couple firefighters, Assistant Chief John Bischof, Fire Captain Tim Rodriguez and Pilot Tony Sousa who perished fighting the fire in Cabazon. If I may ask you for a moment of silence.

“… I mentioned the tragedy and the challenges. It seems that COVID was just yesterday and then we just had some natural disasters that had a major impact throughout the entire Coachella Valley, the worst throughout Riverside County and eastern Coachella Valley, but as well, Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City were equally impacted.

“And so, in spite of the fact that these challenges exist before us, it was mentioned earlier that the Coachella Valley is love. And we all love the Coachella Valley. In spite of the challenges, we also understand the fact that we are resilient, we’re tough. We’re a little island and when we come together, we win.

“When we come together, great things happen! From the paving of roads and mobile home parks, to the building of bridges and streets, to ensuring that everyone has access to health care, to figuring out ways as to how we can get all our students educated throughout the entire Coachella Valley, to better understand the advocacy efforts in Sacramento and at the federal level so that we can fight for what’s rightfully ours when it comes to policy and ensure that we receive the resources here that we need.

“When we come together and we’re united, we win!

“Look at the Acrisure Arena and what that has brought to us all. Not only the Firebirds team that led us to a championship, but to concerts like Marco Antonio Solis, Pepe Aguilar, Harry Styles, that’s awesome! Who would have known that would have been built in our own backyard? It took us all to come together to make that happen.

“Know that we’re not finished, we’re not done. We have a lot of work to do and we still have many challenges before us, especially the issue of infrastructure and especially the issue of economic development and climate change and climate resiliency and environmental justice. We still have folks who don’t have access to clean drinking water and as of today we still have folks whose mobile homes unfortunately are flooded. It’s up to us to do what we can to improve their quality of life as elected officials and as a business community.

“… Thank you to all of you for all the great work that you’ve done and, as was mentioned, we love the Coachella Valley, I love the Coachella Valley, born and raised here in the Coachella Valley. I’m not going anywhere, I assume none of you are going anywhere either. Thank you.”

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Supervisor V. Manuel Perez represents the Fourth Supervisorial District on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The largest district in the county by geography, the 4th District covers eastern Riverside County, from Whitewater, stretching across the entire Coachella Valley south to the Salton Sea, up Highway 74 to Idyllwild and the mountain communities, and heading east of the Coachella Valley to Blythe and the Colorado River.

Supervisor Perez’s office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.