Two gay Cathedral City residents are vying this fall to oust from office City Councilmember Rita Lamb. If one of them is elected to the District 1 council seat come November 5, they would double out representation on the governing body.
Michael Hayes and Mark Scharaga both told the Bay Area Reporter they feel City Hall and the councilmember have not been as responsive to the needs of themselves or their neighbors in the Coachella Valley city. A bit overshadowed by Palm Springs, Cathedral City also has a large LGBTQ community of residents and gay-owned businesses that attract tourists and locals alike.
Gay District 5 City Councilmember Raymond Gregory was first elected in 2018 to the newly-formed District 5 seat on the five-person council. He was reelected to a four-year term in 2022.
Lamb, who did not respond to the B.A.R.'s request for comment on Friday, won a special election in August 2019 to fill out the remainder of the late gay councilmember Gregory S. Pettis' term. Serving at the time as the city's ceremonial mayor, Pettis had died that January from complications related to a 2018 gastric bypass surgery.
She then won election to the newly drawn District 1 seat in 2020. It includes the neighborhoods of Cathedral City Cove, portions of Cathedral Canyon Country Club, the business districts west of Cathedral Canyon, and the western section of the Whitewater neighborhood. Also in it are parts of the city's downtown, where several gay bar establishments have been located for years.
"From local businesses to community organizations, I value the unique perspectives and contributions of every resident, fostering a sense of unity and respect among our diverse population," notes Lamb on her campaign website. "Embracing diversity is not just a mantra in Cathedral City — it is a way of life that enriches the entire community."
The recent shuttering of the Barracks amid a state investigation into patrons of the gay leather and bear bar having sex while city officials at the same time were pushing the owner to make fire code and other upgrades, was cited as one example by both Hayes and Scharaga where it would have been helpful to have an out council person in place to address the community's concerns.
"They are not holding any meetings. They don't care," said Hayes, who turns 62 Tuesday.
He said the community was "devastated" to learn last month that the Barracks would be closed and "are still devastated." He had been a patron and lamented that now its clientele would have to drive to Palm Springs to find a bar that caters to a similar crowd.
"Where is a good bear to go? They have to go to Palm Springs. But if you drink and you drive, the cops are going to get you," said Hayes, a Marine Corps veteran who used to own a travel company, Left Coast Travel, on Polk Street in San Francisco.
Shocked by the lack of response from city officials added to his decision to seek the council seat, said Hayes, which he began to seriously consider two years ago.
"We need to preserve our community. We literally need representation in our community because things like this happen and nobody paid attention," said Hayes.
Scharaga told the B.A.R. there was a lot of misinformation being spread in the community regarding the situation. Having a city leader separating fact from rumor would have been helpful, he said.
"As a fan of the Barracks and who frequented it, it was disappointing to see it close. But there is a lot more to the story than people realize," said Scharaga, 56, a caterer who also owns Sora Partners that provides IT services for restaurants. "People were asking are they attacking our community and taking away one of our safe spaces? I was concerned, and it generated my interest in running for City Council."
Another reason for why Hayes is seeking to serve on the council stems from feeling abandoned by city officials after neighbors who moved several years ago into the property the abuts his backyard and pool began harassing and attacking him and his dogs, while also yelling homophobic slurs. Hayes shared videos of several incidents he recorded with the B.A.R. as well as copies of the restraining order he was able to have a judge issue last year to keep his neighbors at least 100 feet away.
Throughout the ordeal, Hayes said his pleas for help from the city and for the police to arrest the man and woman went unheeded.
"It was how I started to think I need to run for office," said Hayes, who told the B.A.R. he has had serious health issues due to the harassment. "This should not be happening. I shouldn't be getting sick over this."
Both Hayes and Scharaga told the B.A.R. another factor behind their decision to mount their first campaigns for public office was their disappointment in Lamb's handling of the property damage caused last August by Hurricane Hilary. The storm swept through the region after hitting the Baja California Peninsula.
"She was mayor during the storm that brought mudslides. People were furious with her for doing nothing to help," said Hayes, who bought his home in 2003 and moved into it the next year.
Scharaga, who bought his home in 2022 and relocated to it fulltime in April after splitting his time in Los Angeles, had upward of three inches of rain atop his swimming pool and in his backyard. His garage also was flooded with stormwater.
"I think it was horrible," Scharaga said of Lamb's response to her constituents who needed support to repair their damaged properties.
Nor has he felt the council as a whole has done much to prepare for future severe rainstorms and other natural disasters that will only become worse due to climate change.
"To me, there is a severe lack of any planning for potential storms. I mean, we have a monsoon season," said Scharaga. "With climate change, to me these things are going to be more frequent. Are we prepared for them? This City Council seems a lot more reactive than proactive."
If elected, Scharaga said he would seek out more resources to help the city and its residents adapt.
"We need to get more involved and maybe need more resources," he said. "Whoever is representing us is not giving that message out and can be doing better."
He is hoping to attract the support of his Latino neighbors and would like to assist business owners who struggle during the hot summer months when tourists are less likely to visit and many residents leave town.
"My goal is to make this the best place to live and work. Both of those things can go hand in hand," said Scharaga.
Hayes' roots
Hayes and Scharaga both lived peripatetic lives before settling in Cathedral City. Hayes is originally from Ayer, Massachusetts, and is the seventh of 10 siblings in his Irish Catholic family; both his parents are now deceased. His father was from an Irish Boston family, while his mother grew up in Acapulco, Mexico. Although his grandmother ran a bar there welcoming to LGBTQ people, Hayes said his mom's favorite uncle was shot dead by his father in the 1950s for wearing drag.
At age 17, Hayes enlisted in the armed services, which took him to Japan where he met his first male lover. At the time, he came out to his mom, who had owned the Mill Stream Lounge nightclub in Ayer.
Hayes was deployed to Lebanon, which resulted in his being awarded a Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal. He was restationed near San Diego, and after being honorably discharged as a battalion legal chief in the Marine Corps, Hayes moved to San Francisco in 1984.
He did so to get tested for HIV, which he learned he had contracted, and receive health care services that saved his life. He also opened the travel business to cater to gay and lesbian people, and spent 14 years with his partner, a top executive at Apple who became one of its first employees to receive domestic partner benefits.
In addition, Hayes also flipped houses he would buy and repair in the Bay Area. He sold his own home in the Oakland hills in 2000 in order to move to Tampa, Florida to care for his ailing mother.
Eventually, burned out by being a caregiver, Hayes decided to move back to California. But priced out of the Bay Area, he opted to move to the Coachella Valley.
Single and retired, Hayes said he has the time to serve on the City Council and wants to fight for his community. He isn't concerned about taxing his health further, added Hayes.
"I am a fighter and I never turn down a fight," he said.
Conservative upbringing
Scharaga grew up in a conservative family in New Jersey — it is why he didn't come out as gay until he was 50 — and left to earn an English degree at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. After graduating in 1993 he worked for various tech companies focused on public safety software.
In 2008, he attended the now-defunct California Sushi Academy in Los Angeles and returned east to open a sushi restaurant in Wilmington. When it closed less than two years later, Scharaga attempted to serve make-your-own sushi rolls from a food truck, but it didn't catch on.
A tech job lured him to Charleston, South Carolina then Las Vegas drew him to the Southwest in 2015 to work in catering. He then moved to Los Angeles, near West Hollywood, and would take trips to Palm Springs. Looking to buy a home, and wanting one with a pool so he could do aquatic therapy after breaking his leg while riding a scooter in Los Angeles, he found his Cathedral City house.
"I really love Palm Springs even more than Los Angeles. It is fun and everyone is happy," said Scharaga.
Hayes doesn't have a campaign website, while Scharaga is working on one. He is also hoping for a better outcome from when he lost his bid for a school student body seat in the seventh grade. His campaign slogan was "Don't be an eggy, vote for Scharaggy."
"I think is was off the mark," he jokingly recalled. "I am certainly not reviving it for this race."
Due to the Labor Day holiday, the Political Notes column will return Monday, September 9.
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