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Dear Editor:
Three Carmel scandals in recent months earned the same response each time.
The first, as reported in this paper last March, involved “guarantees” a developer made to build 10 structures including two hotels in the City Center redevelopment zone by 2019. Five were built. The president of the city council answered not with actions taken to enforce the guarantees but with an admission the buildings weren’t built but that some taxes were being paid. Inadequate. No corrective action.
The second came in November when WISH-TV reported one-third of Carmel police traffic citations went to black drivers who constitute less than 2 percent of the population – blatant discrimination. The city’s response? The mayor said more black drivers enter Carmel in daylight hours. The police chief said some variables weren’t included in the numbers (not noting the same variable applied to the other cities when, instead of 33 percent of tickets a mere 10 percent or less were issued to black drivers). Inadequate. No corrective action.
Now, this newspaper reports a 46 percent cost overrun (and counting) at the Hotel Carmichael public-private partnership. This absurdity is met with a 575-word statement by the mayor exonerating himself and the Carmel Redevelopment Commission. Inadequate. No corrective action.
The City Council now is mulling a proposal to audit both the hotel project and the redevelopment commission project management system.
That sounds adequate and corrective as starters.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel