Battle Against Junk Cars Is On in Palm Springs

PALM SPRINGS — This affluent desert resort community has ritzy restaurants, sylvan golf courses and luxury hotels, but city officials are worried that a growing blight is spoiling the panorama.

As many as 375 abandoned vehicles are rusting in public on city streets, and unsightly shattered windshields and flat tires are becoming all too common, Police Chief Tom Kendra says.

And in a report to City Manager Norm King, Kendra says the problem is getting worse.

“At best, we have been able to remove only about 10 vehicles a week from the city, and we are continually getting further behind,” the report says.

Councilman Dick Smith said he found Kendra’s report “very depressing” and added that he sees no immediate solution to the problem.

One big reason for the increase in abandoned clunkers is the “depressed market for scrap metal,” according to Kendra’s report.

“If the scrap metal market remains as it has been, I do not see the situation getting any better,” Kendra wrote.

Another reason, the report says, are “new environmental regulations which require that vehicle dismantlers strip vehicles of all plastic and soft materials such as seats, upholstery and rubber material.”

The rules require that such items be shredded and treated as toxic waste, including disposal at a landfill licensed to handle hazardous materials, the report said.