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Dear Editor:
Carmel’s municipal elections Tuesday produced one result no one expected.
Yes, the Republicans kept their 8-1 city council control and re-elected a Republican mayor.
No surprises there.
But, instead of the lackluster 19.6 percent voter turnout in the primary or the 21.1 percent turnout four years ago, 31,867 voters showed up.
That’s 41 percent of the 77,249 registered voters in the latest count.
Double the turnout suggest twice the interest in reversing the city’s $1.5 billion debt, unaccounted-for millions of dollars in subsidies and grants, an unelected redevelopment commission putting thousands of new apartments on the market and as general disregard for inflation, recession, rising interest rates, and the crumbling commercial real estate market.
Carmel ain’t perfect but it’s moving in the right direction.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel