Re: THE HERALD'S VIEW A few modest resolutions for 2007

After reading the Monterey County Herald, Sunday, 31 December 2006, a Carmelite emailed the following to the Opinion Page Editor and Executive Editor of The Monterey County Herald.

RE: THE HERALD'S VIEW
A few modest resolutions for 2007

Carmel Mayor Sue McCloud: To remain grateful that your city doesn't have as many problems as most.

THE HERALD’S VIEW must be referring to:

· Over 34% of the city’s fire hydrants NOT IN SERVICE

· A Fire Department which failed to conduct standard, routine water flow tests of the city’s fire hydrants over an 11 year period (1995-2006)

· $3,000 per capita spending and reserves of nearly $10 million AND evicted users, closed community center and a dilapidated, ADA noncompliant Forest Theatre.


Maybe Mayor Sue McCloud can be “grateful,” but what about the residents:

· A city government with a record of violating the city’s Municipal Code and Local Coastal Program, not once, but 3 times in 2006; the City’s removal of 43 historic resources, as a group, from the Carmel Inventory of Historic Resources, posting of signs in Mission Trail Nature Preserve without a permit and approval of the California Coastal Commission, installing lights in the medians on Ocean Av. without public hearings regarding installation and an amendment to the Municipal Code.

· A city government which advocates the selling of a city owned National Register of Historic Places property, i.e., Flanders Mansion.

· A city government which has been sued because the city council allegedly failed to comply with the right of Carmel voters to vote on the sale of the city owned Flanders Mansion property.

· A city budget surplus and city council commitment of $35,000 to Harrison Memorial Library & Park Branch, but a city government which refuses to restore hours to these critical facilities for residents and visitors alike.

· Sub-standard avenues, streets and roads with potholes, patches, et cetera.

· A city government which since the fall of 2003 has removed 350 trees, with 95 other dead and dying trees awaiting removal, and only 92 trees planted by staff in the same time period, even though the City’s Local Coastal Program states that the city plants over 500 trees a year.

· A city government which fails to comply with the City’s Coastal Land Use Plan Coastal Resource Management Element with regard to the city’s largest park, Mission Trail Nature Preserve. For example, failure to remove dead/hazardous trees from trails (P5-155), failure to conduct trail maintenance and clearance (June – August (P5-156), et cetera.

Lastly, your resolutions for other officials were specific to the context of their respective jurisdictions, but not your Mayor Sue McCloud resolution. Moreover, your McCloud resolution conveys The Herald’s absence of objective information and knowledge about the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Suggestion: Don’t cover or offer opinions on topics, issues, cities, et cetera, which you fail to dedicate the professional resources to learn about, comprehend, et cetera.