Mayor Sue McCloud: An Economic Isolationist

City Council Agenda
Regular Meeting
June 5, 2007

XI. Orders of Council

D. Receive report from the Carmel Chamber of Commerce regarding a proposal to operate the Monterey Salinas Transit (MST) trolleys in Carmel-by-the-Sea and provide policy direction.

Monta Potter, CEO of the Carmel Chamber of Commerce, presented a Brief History of Trolleys:

• In 2004, Monta Potter, Christie Miller and representatives of the Crossroads and the Barnyard met with MST. Then, the cost: $65,000. It died for a “lack of funding.”

• In 2006, Monta Potter, City Administrator Rich Guillen, former City Councilman Erik Bethel and Carmel Chamber member Michael Adamson met with Pebble Beach officials about trolley service between Pebble Beach and Carmel. Guillen and Bethel wrote a proposal; it was presented at the May 2006 City Council meeting. The cost: $22,800. There was “not much support for a Pebble Beach –Carmel route.”

• Impetus for trolleys is the belief that trolleys would be “good for the local economy.”

• In 2007, Hunter Harvath, Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) Director of Administration, proposed one trolley on the bus route for a trial period of July and August 2007 for $2,500 a month. Carmel Chamber of Commerce agreed to pay $2,500, the Crossroads agreed to pay $2,500 and the Carmel Innkeepers Associations agreed to pay $500.

• Trolley characteristics include, as follows: an enclosed trolley, ADA accessible, 29 feet long, carries 28 riders sitting and 19 riders standing, operates between 7:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. daily, route includes stops every two blocks.

• Why should we try the trolleys?
“A great opportunity to do an experiment”
“Cost is minimal”
Evidence from other cities with trolleys proves that people ride trolleys when they wouldn’t ride a bus.

• Reasons given by businesses who completed a survey for the trolley experiment include “easing traffic,” "relieving parking problems,” "adding to the visitors experience with charming trolleys,” and “helping the environment,” et cetera.
Note: Trolleys operate on bio-diesel.

After Monta Potter’s presentation, Mayor Sue McCloud uttered these statements, as follows:

“...how do we find that we’re bringing rider ship into Carmel, but would not be coming to Carmel ordinarily?”

“...what we don’t want to do is export our customers to the Crossroads or Rancho, so how do we find out that we’re not doing that?"

“And the reaction to the photographs in the Pine Cone was that the trolleys aren’t Carmel. It’s sort of the same reaction they had to those rolling cars that had advertisement that rolled around on them. So, is there some reason that if that were an issue, you couldn’t use a MST bus and it would go free?”

During the public hearing, all of the 9 public speakers, including Horizon Inn Manager John Haveles, The Crossroads Shopping Village General Manager Cynthia Buhl, The Barnyard Shopping Village General Manager Randi Haller, Hofsas House owner and resident Carrie Theis and residents Nancy Jones, Barbara Livingston, Monte Miller, Carl Iverson and Melanie Billig, voiced enthusiastic support for the trolley experiment for the summer months of July and August 2007.

One of the public speakers, Horizon Inn Manager John Haveles, made these comments, as follows:

“I’m a member of the Board of Directors of the Carmel Chamber and the Board of Directors of the Carmel Innkeepers Associations. I feel that we have in front of us a marketing opportunity, a unique and fun thing to rum for two months at a reasonable cost. You have asked about how can we judge if it is a value to the city. Well, currently, if I have my figures correctly, hotel occupancy is on the rise, both in average daily rate and in number of guests, yet the retail sales tax is still down. Obviously, we’re not getting enough people into our local retail businesses."

"This is a test; this is a test that we can run that will exchange business between two areas. Historically, trade tariffs and trade barriers have not worked. We’re in a global economy now. NAFTA has been signed. Carmel-by-the-Sea can live with the Barnyard, the Crossroads and survive and have a healthy interchange of business. Our test will be to see does sales tax rise? We can run a survey after, do people feel that they had more business? If we do hurt our businesses we’ll stop this. It’s a two month test; we’re not signing a long-term contract."

"I believe we have been presented with an excellent opportunity to provide a unique and fun thing which I hope that both our businesses and our residents will enjoy. It is a green thing. We’re not going to be driving our cars. We’re all worried about gas at $3.50 a gallon. We’re all worried about the ozone. It’s a potential help to ease the parking problem in Carmel and we would be remiss to say we don’t have a parking problem. So I think we have a total win-win situation at a reasonable cost, not putting anybody under a constraint that can’t be changed quickly."

"Thank you."

After the public hearing was closed, Mayor McCloud uttered these statements, as follows:

“One of the notes I had written down, but Paula has already stolen my thunder, is that it is interesting no one has spoken representing the merchants in Carmel. I mean other than Monta, but I mean as far as someone who has a business, Thompson would take exception to that but he didn’t say anything, he is sitting there. I think that that’s significant, that the pleas have come from the Crossroads and the Barnyard and the history here is that we have had at least two other people propose shuttle services from Carmel and we went down…to the Crossroads to talk about where we could park, could we run a shuttle from Carmel to the Crossroads. And that was when, the first time, Jere Kersnar was the city manager, or the city administrator, and they were getting tight at that time and parking down there is even tighter now than at that time so those shuttles were not able to work at that time even though we had some reservations at the time."

"I think what I heard people say tonight is that there is a real parking problem in Carmel and therefore they’re going to park at the Crossroads and take the shuttle into Carmel and then back again. Well, if that’s the case, have you really done a market study of how many cars you can accommodate in the Crossroads and/or the Barnyard that will be able to accommodate these people if they’re not parking in Carmel?”

“...trolleys that are free and take you at no charge. So that’s a big enticement. Let’s go to the Barnyard and see, let’s go to the Crossroads and see it. I just think we’re here as a city to promote our businesses in town…I tend to agree with Paula. Our sales tax are way off...”

Council Member TALMAGE moved approval of a 60 day test period using the trolleys, seconded by Council Member ROSE and failed by the following roll call:

AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: ROSE & TALMAGE
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: CUNNINGHAM, HAZDOVAC & McCLOUD

COMMENTS:
• Horizon Inn Manager John Haveles’ remarks serve as a rebuttal to Mayor Sue McCloud’s “what we don’t want to do is export our customers to the Crossroads or Rancho” mentality.

• Mayor McCloud’s remarks revealed an anti-globalization view and economic and trade illiteracy. Apparently, a political science college degree did not educate her or prepare her for the realities of the global marketplace, nor did her years as a federal C.I.A. employee.

• Similarly, Mayor McCloud’s remarks demonstrated a dearth of scientific education and training, particularly with regard to the scientific method; she fails to understand and appreciate the formulation and testing of hypotheses, collection of data through observation and experimentation, conclusions based on observable, empirical and measurable evidence, reasoning, correcting and integrating previous knowledge bases, et cetera. Put simply, she is a scientific illiterate; that is, she makes conclusions, and then searches for assumptions and prejudices which guarantee her predetermined conclusions.

• Mayor McCloud fails to understand the concept, “a rising tide lifts all boats;” that is, improvements in the general economy will benefit all participants in that economy, and therefore government economic policy should focus on macroeconomics.

• Mayor McCloud’s red herrings:
1. Her statement questioning Monta Potter as to a reason a MST bus could not be substituted for the trolley was proven disingenuous by her refusal to second the first motion made by City Councilman Michael Cunningham which called for the use of a smaller MST shuttle bus.
2. And her endless concerns about parking at the Crossroads, et cetera, were merely used as a guise to deny the trolley experiment and similarly proven disingenuous by Monta Potter’s repeated claims that the Crossroads and the Barnyard general managers and merchants would not support the trolley experiment if they thought parking would be a problem.

• In 1942, during a Fireside Chat, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) made the following remarks reflecting his anti-isolationist stance:

“The Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the tactics of the ostrich. Now, many of those same people, afraid that we may be sticking our necks out, want our national bird to be turned into a turtle. But we prefer to retain the eagle as it is — flying high.”

• In the 21st century, not even Carmel-by-the-Sea, with a $13 million annual budget and nearly $10 million in reserve funds, can afford a mayor with an economic isolationist mentality.