Along Morningside Drive
(Rancho Mirage, California, USA)
Situated between Frank Sinatra Drive (to the north) and Country Club Drive (to the south) is the roughly 1 mile long, arrow-straight stretch of
road known as Morningside Drive; its location forms a central north-south axis for the surrounding region’s roughly 43 or so golf courses and
country clubs. This area, located in the northern Coachella Valley, includes Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Cathedral City.
The full one mile length of Morningside Drive is situated directly and completely between 4 private country clubs belonging to the city of
Rancho Mirage: on the west side of the street, Morningside Country Club; on the east side, The Springs Country Club; at the south end,
Thunderbird Country Club; and to the north, Tamarisk Country Club. There are no public sidewalks along the entire stretch of Morningside Drive,
and all access to the adjacent & surrounding clubs is private, with gated and high security entranceways; the full section of the road, however,
does contain a public access bicycle lane.
Although both walkers or joggers are rarely seen, it is not uncommon to witness, traveling in the bicycle lane, a steady flow of security golf
carts patrolling the full stretch of Morningside Drive. This somewhat problematic (and larger than necessary) traffic of security vehicles is due
to the presence of four separate security companies independently working for each of the four separate clubs. During the summer of 2010, with
pressure mounting from the local civic council, the board members of the four separate country clubs began work on a collaborative plan to utilize
the services of only one security firm, which could patrol singularly the entirety of Morningside Drive and the four club entranceways.
At this point in time however, any results or updates—due to this strategic planning initiate—have yet to materialize.