Tensions are growing between the Palm Springs nonprofit organization Well in the Desert and residents of Sunmor, the neighborhood near Well's planned future home.

In a Nov. 5 letter sent to Sunmor Neighborhood Organization president Vincent Williams — and copied to local, state and federal elected officials — Well in the Desert president Arlene Rosenthal accused Sunmor residents of trying to “solicit drugs” at the organization's headquarters in the JC Frey building on Baristo Road near Sunrise Way.

“If they are doing this to try to entrap our people they are acting illegally and we would do everything within our power to press charges,” Rosenthal wrote. “This needs to stop.”

Williams denied Rosenthal's allegations in a Nov. 9 letter, copied to Palm Springs city officials and police personnel.

“You should be calling the Palm Springs Police Department regarding the solicitation of drugs at your facility, not writing us a letter,” Williams' response further stated.

Struggle for home

Well officials say they serve more than 200 hot meals a day to Palm Springs' working poor and homeless at the JC Frey building — and that more middle-class families are showing up amid the woeful economy.

The nonprofit organization has struggled, however, to find a new site for its hot meals program. Its city lease expires in January.

Well was turned down at more than 10 sites before being accepted at an industrially zoned building on Commercial Drive near Sunmor, according to former Well board member Vic Gainer.

Then, on Sept. 23, the Planning Commission voted 6-1 to deny Well's plan to operate out of the building. At least two dozen of Sunmor's estimated 120 homeowners attended that meeting to oppose.

“We feel the services are good ... and needed services. It's just the location is completely inappropriate,” Williams said Wednesday. “The loitering, the (foot) traffic. The city does not have an infrastructure in place.”

Rosenthal disagreed. Most of the Well's clients would arrive from a future bus stop at Alejo Road and Farrell Drive, and they could easily access the Commercial Drive building a couple of blocks away on public streets.

“When did walking down a public street become a crime?” she said Wednesday. “Only if you're poor.”

The nonprofit organization appealed to the City Council, which is expected to weigh in on the issue Dec. 2.

Mystery man

On Wednesday, Well in the Desert operations manager Paula Joyce said that several days before the Planning Commission meeting she was approached by a “well-dressed” man on a red bicycle who asked her for $20 worth of drugs.

Joyce said she was “sure” the man came from Sunmor — that Well staff had seen the same bicycle in that neighborhood — but Rosenthal acknowledged Well had no proof. “I put (the allegations) out there so they would tell people to stop doing this,” she said.

Well staff saw other men in cars also try to buy drugs near the JC Frey building around the same time, Rosenthal said.

Williams called the allegations false.

The discord between Sunmor residents and the Well started at their only formal meeting, on Sept. 5 , to discuss the move to Commercial Drive. Rosenthal and Williams each described the meeting as “hostile.”

Rosenthal's letter to Williams also criticized an “incendiary” and “factually incorrect” flier that she said was distributed to Sunmor residents and at the Palm Springs Mall.

Williams said a separate campaign by neighbors north of Sunmor also against the Well's proposed relocation organized that flier.

“We're only a small part of the homeowners that are in opposition,” Williams said. “No one within our boundaries is sending out fliers.”

Rosenthal said she's hopeful the City Council will reverse the Planning Commission's decision. Either way, “we'll be in Palm Springs,” she said. “We could be in several locations.”