Talk:Indio, California/Archive 1

Vanessa Marcil is from Indio, Cal.
I want to put the wikipedia link to this message. TV star and movie actress Vanessa Marcil is a native of Indio, Cal. (others say her family lives in La Quinta) and some long-time residents remember her. It's great to see someone has put Indio on the map. I live in Indio Cal. but don't know her, but we're known for many celebrities came by for a visit or had a winter home here in the past. 207.200.116.136 02:35, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Disputed claims
I did a little renovation of the article, the population growth segment has plenty of disputes. I love to find demographic sources like the US census.gov web site, but the demographics segment has the official census factoids on Indio's population, but nothing of the sort on why the city is growing so much. Ok here's my idea to seek new facts: [http.www.indiochamber.org]-The Indio Chamber of Commerce, and [http.www.cvep.com]-the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership] web sites are helpful to clear issues and disputes. Stay tuned for future developments. + Mike D 26 10:43, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Useful entries/edits
I hope the readers find the additions useful and informative. "East Valley" as the locals call Indio and Coachella, have experienced unbelievable growth in population, the economy and improved lifestyle. I added the date festival camel races and superfiesta, but they have the "Arabian knights" pageant on the fairground amphitheater based on the famed Middle-Eastern epic.

I added William Devane has a permanent home in Indio, and Salma Hayek is said to appeared in recent times, but don't know she has a home here or not. Indian Palms Country Club is another golf venue I can mentioned and new homes are built around the course, their values are worth over $500,000 to a million dollars.

New retail stores came into Indio, like Food 4 Less and Cardenas are large grocery chains for California. Old Town Indio right by the rail station is no longer vacated, when new shops, furniture stores, jewelers, and artist studios that sell amateur artwork made old town look great.

Two historic hotels: Hotel Potter and Hotel Indio burned down, as well an entire block (Fargo Street) near the Jackson street bridge was a victim of diverted traffic and economic crises in the 1980's and 90s. It used to have a rollerskate rink, a movie theater and clothes stores (Yellow Mart is still there), but there are bail bond shops, thrift stores and Mexican restaurants.

The original "barrios" or Hispanic sections of Indio (Requa-Smurr/Towne, Indio Blvd.-Biskra/Palm, Calhoun-Date, Sonora-Lupine and Jackson & 44th Ave.) are bulldozed, but I've seen new shops come in, remodeled homes and apartments, and rows of churches made these areas work again. + Mike D 26 08:43, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Indio Fashion Mall
I liked the article's picture of the Indio Fashion Mall. But things aren't good for the mall after new shopping centers opened across the area (Palm Desert has el Paseo, and La Quinta with Wal-Mart, later moved to a supercenter site).

An attempt to expand in 1990-91 was disastrous when the Mall bought 100 acres south of the site in a mostly poor (then all-black) neighborhood "Nobles Ranch" and demolished almost every home after protests by residents failed. But the Desert Chapter of the NAACP made a lawsuit with the courts against the mall owners and blocked expansion plans ever since. The Mall lost its' anchor store, Sears in 2005 and fought to keep Harris/ Gottschalks from closing down.

Much of the mall's interior is outdated in design for the area's bigger population. After it opened in 1975, the mall became a local joke for empty attendance (that's not the case anymore), youth gang activity, bad quality of goods in tenants, and some bigoted shoppers stay away.

It's repugnant for the mall to be forgotten or viewed in disparaging terms, but I see more full shops than "for sale" signs in Indio Fashion Mall. + Mike D 26 08:43, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

new sports teams?
Indio or nearby Coachella may have a Minor League Football Association team in 2007, the "Thermal Truckers" seek a suitable stadium to play regular home games. Indio may get a minor league baseball team, but the city's only sports facility, Shalimar Stadium needs to be torn down and a whole new facility built to hold a baseball/football/soccer team. The US olympic facility isn't really a sports arena, nor the Fantasy Springs casino Arena made for boxing matches and events like music concerts. Indio residents would love to have a piece of the ever-growing industry of minor league sports that many US cities of their size have. Not everyone is into golf or tennis in the area, but it's nice for the city this time to pay for the costs to build a minor league stadium. + 207.200.116.136 06:02, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Temperature?
Minor point but in the section on temperature, it says that the temp exceeds 100F (30C), but 100 F is about 38C. I'm guessing it's 100F, 38C, but I didn't want to change it in case that's wrong. 71.106.41.68 06:14, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Sister cities?
Whoever added that edit is right...I'll accept. Both Lynwood, Cal., US and Mexicali, BCN, Mex. had been Indio's sister cities, but not sure this is a current program. During the city's three festivals: International Date (and county fair), International Tamale, and Southwest Arts, you'll see parade floats, school marching bands, vendor boothes and promotional events co-sponsored by the two sister cities. Also the article needs more trivia: Consider that Prince Charles of England came by Indio in the early 1990's in the celebrity-laden Empire Polo Club, and Huell Howser's state travel show California Gold stopped by "Old Town Indio" to check out the city's 80-100 year old dwellings had swamp coolers for permanent residents to stay cool in the summer. + Mike D 26 11:03, 2 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I deleted the sister cities section., According to Sister Cities International, there are ZERO siter cities for Indio. BlankVerse 05:20, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

History Cleanup
I've attempted to clean up the History section somewhat. I have done my best to preserve the facts while massaging the text into a more grammatically correct, encyclopedic style. I did also flag a couple potentially controversial claims with. Not 100%, I know, but hopefully this is a step forward. -- RThompson (talk) 08:33, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Parks and Recreation
I went ahead to create a new section on the city's parks and recreation amentities, included is the Coachella Valley Parks and Recreation Department based in Indio and serving nearby communities of Coachella, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Thousand Palms. But the recent decrease of accumulated annual funds delayed the groundbreaking of a sports themed park on the corners of Jackson Street/44th and 45th Avenues, where it is highly needed. The PepsiCola (Pepsi) PlayParks managed to create a Pepsi Playpark in Thermal/Mecca and another in the city of Coachella, originally for urban areas devoid of youth activities in the 1980s expanded farther into the exurban or rural communities of Riverside County in the 1990s/2000s. + Mike D 26 (talk) 17:39, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Pop culture
A new section to replace the Trivia section deemed inappropriate for an encyclopediac site. The information are in need to be verified, while others are original research and the rest is probably true for to be uncovered in movies or motion pictures relating to Indio. + Mike D 26 (talk) 20:55, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

West Indio rejects city annexation
There's an unincorporated part of Indio in the zip code announced a small drive by residents to reject being annexed by Indio a few years back. The neighborhood is known as the "Island" due to the name of streets are from islands or the "West Side", the residents disliked the high city tax rates for utilities and neglect from the city council, plus the once-upper middle class neighborhood suffered from real estate boom-and-bust cycles in the last 30 years, you find a few burned down vacated homes in the square mile zone...and if they secede, the "Island" (or the new community is West Indio) will join in one of Cal.'s smallest cities by size. + 71.102.7.77 (talk) 23:00, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

New Art Sculpture
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101107/NEWS01/11070348/Sculpture+in+Indio+intended+to+attract+tourism++will+cost++250+000 It looks like Indio, California has a taste in art: Recently, the city approved an sculpture that will be 22 foot tall and 80 feet wide (an estimate) shaped like a human eye looking to the sky. Its' name "Oculius Mundi" translated from Latin to "eye of the world" looking up and forward. Good work, Indio city council, you had the nation and the world paying attention to us for at least 15 minutes...and sorry for the local boosterism. + 71.102.12.55 (talk) 20:30, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Any sources on city demographics?
Whoever posted the demographic stats on the Indio and Palm Springs articles don't have enough resources. Please revert to the US Census.gov web page or contact the city governments for information on the "fastest growing city" statements. The claim on how many Latinos is a gray area, it might be offensive to some people if it were not for verifiable sources, and I don't want anyone to look bad on their findings. BTW, I happen to be a resident, born and raised, and I agree the rapid pace of development we've had in recent years is astounding. It would be interesting to include climate info. as the Coachella Valley is a desert where summertime average temperatures above 100F (30C) are common. I will seek the NOAA.gov web page on local climatic data and this is what residents like me are used to.+Mike D 26 10:22, 5 September 2006 (UTC)


 * My two edits about North Indio (zip code 92201) bordered by Interstate 10 and Historic US route 99 Indio Blvd. were removed. This is one of the Indio area's historic barrios where Latinos make up 95% or more of the census tract population. Old Town Indio was the first barrio established between 1930 and 1945, but this section bordered by Bliss or Requa Ave., Oasis St., Jackson St. and CA route 111 is now vacated. East Indio bordered by Indio Blvd., Jackson St., Ave. 48 and Van Buren St. and West Indio bordered by Indio Blvd., Monroe or Oasis St., Clinton St. and CA route 111 are very Hispanic sections. South of CA route 111 bordered by Monroe St., Dr Carreon Blvd or Ave 48 and Jackson St. is the same. Indio is one of the ten most Hispanic cities in California, along with nearby Coachella and farther down routes 86 and 111 towards the Salton Sea and Imperial County or valley are predominantly Hispanic. 2605:E000:FDCA:4200:D962:2182:F3EB:EEB3 (talk) 22:03, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

removed section
I came to notice the "Population Growth" section about the city's large growth rate was removed, still can be found in the page's revision history that has recorded all the page's changed and deleted entries. The removed entry is copied and pasted below for examination and discussion.

''Indio is called the only "year-round" community in the Coachella Valley, because three-fourths of residents in the year 2000 live full-time. Also to note in the 2000 census, over 75 percent of residents were born or raised in Indio, had parents or grandparents in the same town, or had lived in the city for over 10 years.  The majority of residents and newcomers are Latino, and a high proportion of immigrants from Mexico have arrived. The number of foreign born residents is high in ratio to the town's population. The proximity to the border is 80 mi away has given the town and nearby Coachella, where Hispanics are 90 percent of the local population, to have a "borderland" reputation.''

Update: I decided to restore the last two paragraphs in relation to employment and job growth in the city, although included are the "citations needed" caption to address the issue they lack reliable sources. Local newspapers, chamber of commerce pamphlets and corporate businesses themselves should be the places to locate them through official internet web sites. + 71.102.2.206 (talk) 05:29, 16 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Population growth reports are notably not the most accurate, Indio was boosted to approached 10,000 residents in the late 1930's and again the 1940's. The rising and dwindling of local year-round population was related to 3 factors: Agricultural output to brought in laborers from the Eastern half of the US, the demand for war-time jobs when the US armed forces was based in Camp Young, and immigration trends from Mexicans arrived in large numbers to the Coachella valley between the Depression and end of World War II. The city of Indio could been home to 10 or 15,000 persons in the 1950 census, but the "Mexican" or "Hispanic white" populations if they are without US citizenship or temporary residence was improperly counted at the time. +71.102.3.86 (talk) 08:07, 15 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The city does have a large percentage of foreign-born nationals or second-generation Hispanics. About 5% of Indio residents are born in Guatemala, while you have another 5% from El Salvador, 3% from Honduras and Nicaragua each and 2% from Colombia or Ecuador. The city has many people of Spanish descent out of Spain in Europe. Last year's Salsa dance festival had a few Spanish delegates from Cadiz came by to promote their twin-town/Sister-city program with Indio. + 71.102.27.81 (talk) 07:06, 12 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Here's something I found: The zip code 92201 portion of Indio has a 85% Latino population, while the other side of Interstate 10 the zip code 92203 portion is about 50% Latino. Sun City Shadow Hills is an all-senior citizen community in the 92203 side and many RV parks in the 92201 side get full in the winter season. We're going by April 1st population figures when the decennial census is taken (2010), but Jan and July population figures would vary: Latinos more likely year-round, Anglos are mostly seasonal. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 20:09, 15 July 2016 (UTC)


 * The Hispanic enclave is removed again and I believe it won't be put back up. Here's the removed section as stated. It is not unusual for Latinos to have a presence in California, but would be unusual to have a high (75+%) Latino percentage population, since most cities in CA aren't this way. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 17:05, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

''Hispanic enclave

''As of 2015, Indio's population is 68% of Hispanic origin, although there were estimates as high as 75%. 1930 Census records stated Indio had 60% of Spanish and Mexican descent, but declined by half to 30% by 1970 then rose again to 58% in 1990.'' ''The Mexican American presence in Indio dates back for over a century since the arrival of Traqueros or railroad laborers employed by Southern Pacific settled in Indio by 1910. The need for farm labor, construction, golf resorts and domestic jobs in the Palm Springs area is responsible for turning Indio to a magnet for Mexican immigrants.'' ''In the mid 20th century, the Old Town section was the main area of Indio's Hispanic/Latino population. Since 1980, North and East, and now South and older West sections have majority Mexican-American and Central American populations. Residential segregation used to be common in Indio, but Hispanics now live in all parts of the town. ''

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Indio's improved image
Being the oldest and largest city in the Coachella Valley, Indio tries to gain as much attention to the world competing with its rivals Palm Springs (the area's key city and world-famous desert resort) and Palm Desert (golf capital of the world). Old Town has seen more and more hipsters who might discovered Indio while driving to or from the annual Coachella Music and Arts festival. Like Palm Springs in the late 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 90s when spring break was held every March or April whenever Easter week falls, more young adult people will frequent Indio and the desert resorts. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 00:37, 10 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Indio has issues I will bring up:

1. The "high" crime rate the city has is actually based on local (Riverside county) data in the Larson Justice Center courthouse, which means not all the crime takes place in Indio.

2. The "high" unemployment rate is measured either in Jan or Apr, when tens of thousands of temporary seasonal "snowbirds" arrived in Indio, either in vacation houses and in large RV parks here.

and 3. Much of the newcomers aren't really from Mexico, more like from Los Angeles county, because of lower and affordable housing prices Indio and Coachella has.

The average commute from Indio to work is 70 miles (the longest in the US, surpassing 70 minutes from Hudson Valley, NY to New York City, specifically Manhattan). It is a suburb of the Riverside-San Bernardino area, with business parks now in Moreno Valley, Corona, Temecula, near the Ontario airport, Fontana and Redlands.

And the poverty rate has more to do with low-wage, part-time, temping and service industry jobs being the main stay of the local economy (similarly to Antelope and Victorville valleys in the Mojave desert), Indio-Coachella is the farthest point of the Greater Los Angeles megalopolis (120 miles from civic center downtown LA), farther away than Barstow/Fort Irwin (90 miles NE) and Ventura/Oxnard (60 miles west). 67.49.89.214 (talk) 21:17, 24 September 2016 (UTC)