Shaffer speculates on “exodus of True Believers” from Carmel government

Letters to the Editor do not reflect the opinions of The Reporter, its publisher or its staff. You can submit your own Letter to the Editor by email to News@ReadTheReporter.com. Please include your phone number and city of residence. The Reporter will publish one letter per person per week.

Dear Editor:

In recent days, the exodus of True Believers from the Carmel central planning/borrowing/debt-building clan continues to grow.

First the mayor decided not to extend his 24-year reign of spending other people’s money.

His clerk said she wasn’t seeking reelection, either.

So did five members of the nine-person city council. Three are running for the mayor’s job and two just have had enough.

Carmel has been without a city attorney since that chap resigned in the wake of a sexual misconduct charge that had been swept under the rug for more than a year.

And, of course, the police chief is an acting chief as well as being the former chief when his replacement ran afoul of sexual harassment allegations within his department.

Speculation over the out-migration centers on:

1. An average 15 percent increase in property taxes citywide this year after years of no-tax-increase rhetoric;
2. The $1.5 billion debt with no plan to pay it down – indeed, $100-million-plus in new borrowing is on the table;
3. Inflation and impending bond market interest rate increases;
4. Four sexual misconduct cases since 2017;
5. Zany apartment houses mushrooming all over town;
6. Invasion by the redevelopers into quiet neighborhoods; and,
7. Cost over-runs and hidden charges and unaccounted for millions of dollars in redevelopment borrowing.

Like it or not, Carmel’s municipal government is in for a big shake-up as the quiet, hard-working citizens who came to Carmel not for its adolescent entertainments but for peace and quiet have reared up and said:

Reminds one of the old question: Why do you call the animals that leave a sinking ship?

Survivors.

Bill Shaffer
Carmel