Flanders Mansion
Mission Trails Nature Preserve
Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.
ABSTRACT: In a recent Monterey County Herald article, Mayor Sue McCloud stated that "the best idea to emerge during the past decade was to lease it (Flanders Mansion) to the Monterey Institute of International Studies.” Later, The Monterey County Herald published a Correction/Clarification substituting “sell” for “lease.” While Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) Executive Assistant to the President could not confirm or deny whether the MIIS was interested in leasing or purchasing the Flanders Mansion, Barbara Burke did state that “there is no official record of any formal negotiation between the City of Carmel and the Monterey Institute regarding the Mansion” due to the preliminary and short nature of any discussions. Thus, Mayor Sue McCloud’s characterization of the “best idea” for Flanders Mansion is problematic given that the Flanders Foundation, since 2000, has contacted the City on numerous occasions with a plan which complies with the General Plan and zoning requirements “to create a cultural and natural history museum to inform and educate residents and visitors about Carmel’s rich heritage and environmental setting.”
In the article, “CARMEL TO KEEP MANSION: City Council complies with court decision,” by Herald Staff Writer Laith Agha on Wednesday, October 17, 2007, the following was attributed to Mayor Sue McCloud:
McCloud said the best idea to emerge during the past decade was to lease it to the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which would use it as a home for its president. But because of changing financial circumstances, she said, that opportunity is "dead."
Later in the week, The Monterey County Herald published a Corrections/Clarifications, as follows:
Carmel Mayor Sue McCloud said the best idea to come along in the last decade for a use for Flanders Mansion was to sell it to the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which would use it as housing for its president. And article on page A1 on Wednesday incorrectly stated the proposal.
Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) President Clara Yu was contacted for a clarification about MIIS’s past involvement with the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea regarding the Flanders Mansion. In response, Barbara Burke, Executive Assistant to the President, stated that “there is no official record of any formal negotiation between the City of Carmel and the Monterey Institute regarding the Mansion.” Moreover, she stated that upon checking with Mayor Sue McCloud she learned there was “preliminary discussion between the City and then-MIIS President Robert Gard, which did not proceed very far.”
Interestingly, Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr. (USA, Ret.) served as president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies from 1987-1998; discussion with the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea within the last decade would have been with then Mayor Ken White’s administration.
For Mayor Sue McCloud to characterize “preliminary discussion between the City and then-MIIS President Robert Gard” regarding the lease or sale of the Flanders Mansion as “the best idea to emerge during the past decade” is problematic given that the Flanders Foundation, since 2000, has contacted the City on numerous occasions with a plan which complies with the General Plan and zoning requirements “to create a cultural and natural history museum to inform and educate residents and visitors about Carmel’s rich heritage and environmental setting.” Moreover, requests to work with the City to accomplish Flanders Foundation’s goals and professional business plan have been met with “total silence.”
In short, Flanders Foundation, a nonprofit organization, is the sole entity dedicated to the preservation, enhancement and maintenance of the Flanders Mansion property as an “historical, cultural, and educational resource for the benefit of residents and visitors to Carmel-by-the-Sea.” Ergo, a long term lease to the Flanders Foundation has been and is presently the BEST idea for the Flanders Mansion property, present-day Carmelites and future generations of residents and visitors alike.
Finally, as one individual wrote, “Once a city begins to sell off its heritage it loses its integrity and meaning. To deprive the City of Carmel residents of this treasure would be a great loss.”
NOTE: For information about the Flanders Foundaton, click on Post title above or copy, pate and click, http://www.flandersfoundation.org/.
5 comments:
If the quote from the mayor in the Herald, as corrected, is accurate,then the mayor is clearly not intending to let a mere court order get in the way of her plans for Flanders. She may be setting the city up for another losing law suit. No surprise there if that's what happens. Whatever else you can say about her, McCloud isn't a quitter.
Mayor McCloud is well known for her pettiness and striking back at others for imagined slights. It may well be that she refuses to deal with the Flanders Foundation because she resents its President's,Melanie Billig's, success in thwarting the illegal plans the Mayor has had for the Flanders Mansion. It wouldn't be out of character certainly. Even if, in a worse possible case, the plans of the Foundation are impractical, most government officials, especially elected ones, in such a situation would have the decency to talk with stakeholders about their thinking. At a minimum, most such officials would give the Foundation a chance to prove, if it could, the viability of its offer instead of trying to shut it completely out of the process. Of course most officials wouldn't take opposition as a personal affront either.
The preceding comments are very interesting and I think very perceptive. Now, we just need a whole lot of other people to know these things and resolve to end the nightmare.
The local papers will not get this info out to the public at large. That's why we need to spread the word about this blog - the other voice in the village.
I find it ironic and very interesting mayor sue created the SCC to operate our Sunset Center, a non-profit group which did not exist previously, and yet we have the Flanders Foundation which was created by private citizens and has been around for a while now, and mayor sue doesn't let it be known the Flanders Foundation has repeatedly proposed to do exactly as the SCC does currently. In fact, with all the support and contacts the Flanders Foundation has I wouldn't be surprised if they operated the Flanders Mansion better than the SCC operates Sunset Center and with more concern for the public and the citizens who live here.
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