Carmel Convo
Carmel has undergone so many changes in the past 30 years. Most of them have been for the best, as evidenced by the city being regularly named one of the best places to live in the United States.
We see a lot of changes have taken place in the Old Town part of Carmel, which has undergone a transformation in the last 10 to 15 years. The Carmel Arts & Design District came first, then came the trio of The Palladium, the Carmel City Center and Sophia Square, which all opened within months of each other in early 2011. A few years later, an industrial strip along the Monon Trail was turned into the Midtown area.
Some residents love the changes. They remember when Carmel was a sleepy suburb with nothing to do on nights and weekends. Everyone had to travel south of 96th Street in order to go out to eat or enjoy a night at the theater.
Others worry that the quiet city they once loved has become too crowded and too busy.
So how do we decide if change is a good thing?
Well, I like to use an analogy from my business. My family and I own a small Italian restaurant. If 20 years went by and we never changed a single thing ever, we never updated the menu and never did anything different, what would happen? We’d find that our customers would start going someplace else. Not because the quality had slipped but because we had become stale.
The same is true for cities. If you never change anything and you never try anything new, then you’ll become stagnant. Other cities will surpass you.
Politicians all too often look at just the next four years and never consider the next 40. What kind of future are we building for our children and their children?
That isn’t to say that we disregard our history, tear everything down or change so dramatically that we’re unrecognizable. That would be like if I took all the most popular items off my menu and replaced them with new options. My regular customers would be upset that we lost our identity.
Just like a business, a city needs to recognize what made it great in the first place and never stray from those principles. For Carmel, I believe that’s low taxes, great schools and safe streets. We don’t need to tear down historic buildings or displace longtime small businesses. We need these reminders of the past as we plan new chapters of our history.
Carmel needs to continue to change and adapt. It requires innovative leadership that considers new ideas while also planning responsibly. We can embark on a bright future while remaining true to what made us great in the first place.
Adam Aasen is a co-owner of Donatello’s Italian Restaurant and a former journalist who lives in Carmel. His column “Carmel Convo” will appear twice each month in The Reporter.