The County Line
By this time it seems that most folks have heard about the controversy over the Carmel Library cafe. You may have read that the library is planning an expansion and wants to change and improve its food service to please customers.
Currently the cafe is essentially a concession stand. It has been operated the past few years by a disabled veteran, Kevin Russell, who says he has invested a lot money in his equipment. His contract with the library has run out, and the library director decided to replace the operation with something more akin to the popular Soho Cafe on the Monon.
The controversy should be considered a tempest in a teapot. But, every now and then a community controversy develops in which the situation seems on the surface to be simple enough for everyone to understand, and many feel it is necessary to take sides.
The library no doubt had best intentions in mind and, as has been reported elsewhere, nothing was illegal. But, perception is everything, and a bad perception can cause a public relations disaster.
The library director, Bob Swanay, decided to offer the new cafe operation to Vivian Lawhead, owner of the Soho Cafe. Apparently no one else was invited to make an offer. Mrs. Lawhead was a member of the Carmel Library Foundation, a fundraising auxiliary of the library. She has since resigned.
It was a real bad PR move and Swanay knows it. The library has offered to let Russell stay another three months and offered to buy his equipment. But, Russell simply closed down the operation last week. Now there’s no concession and everyone involved is upset. The adverse publicity is not good for the library – a library that has been cited as one of the best in the nation for a city the size of Carmel.
So, this is how a tempest in a teapot can grow to a full thunderstorm, but even thunderstorms soon pass.