Often cities stagnate after big growth periods, unable to attract new investment into the area.
There are many issues that cause this.
Sometimes the city is not considered to be of high-status and thus, some retailers and businesses will not move in and high-end developers are afraid to invest, worried that they may not be able to sell the homes and units they build.
Then there are issues with demographics, as corporate outlets, franchisers and restaurants do not see the city on their radar screens.
They know the demographics they are looking for and income levels, when those do not exist they are not interested, it's a straight business decision.
The last big issue is the economy, when times are tough there is less investment money available for projects and those cities with good reputations get the juice and the others go dry.
In the Coachella Valley, which extends from the City of Coachella to the famous Palm Springs there are many very fine cities like Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Rancho Mirage, but for some reason the City of Indio is considered somehow lesser.
It's not, it just needs some re-branding to catch up with the Desert Resort theme of the Coachella Valley.
After surveying the situation, I believe that the City of Indio is overdue.
It needs a new brand; for instance; Indio:

Hosting such up-scale communities as Bermuda Dunes, Shadow Hills, and Sun City.
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It just seems that Indio is way overdue for a public relations makeover and it would certainly help upgrade the area.
I was talking to someone at the Chamber who said they were having trouble bringing in the higher-end restaurants.
Now, I realize demographics and ESRI software and data services have a lot to do with it, but it's a matter of getting a few of them to bite and the rest will follow.
It would be nice, Indio can support it.
Real estate values would be enhanced too.
But first a Re-Branding is needed and this is the position of the Online Think Tank.