ABSTRACT: All candidates for City Council have described Carmel-by-the-Sea as a “unique,” “special” place worthy of protection and preservation. Beyond platitudes and campaign slogans though, what does protecting and preserving this "unique," "special" place mean in pragmatic, practical and concrete terms? QUESTIONS COVERING SIX AREAS, including the areas of "Open Government," City's Budget, Fire Department, Historical & Cultural Assets, "Urbanized" Forest and Storm Water Discharges into Carmel Bay, is presented.
QUESTIONS COVERING SIX AREAS:
• On “Open Government:”
As a Carmelite, have you read the 2005 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Government? If you have read it, what is your understanding of “open government?”
What would you do to promote “open government” in Carmel-by-the-Sea?
• On the City’s Budget and Overall Fiscal Condition:
What are your budget priorities?
What are your plans to address the growing deferred maintenance needs of our village?
Given the magnitude of deferred maintenance, what is the optimal range for the City’s reserve fund levels? Do you think $9 million in reserve funds is justified because the “the city’s $9 million in reserves is offset by the debt it carries from the Sunset Center renovation,” as expressed by City Council Member Ken Talmage?
Do you think “prudent fiscal management” and “budgeting conservatively” means the current paractice of more and more deferred maintenance and larger and larger reserve fund levels with each successive year?
• On Future of Carmel Fire Department:
Have you read the Citygate Associates “Fire Department Consolidation Feasibility Analysis for the Cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel” report? If you have read it, what is your position on the finding that the City is under funding our Fire Department by $400,000/year?
What is your position regarding consolidation?
• Historical & Cultural Assets:
The Scout House: Would you budget for maintenance, improvements and ADA compliance measures for the Scout House so that it can reopen as a Community Center?
Forest Theatre: Have you read the Forest Theater Facility Master Plan (2001) by Brian Congleton of CONGLETON ARCHITECT AIA? If you have read it, why shouldn’t the City annually budget for the multi-phase implementation of the Congleton Plan now?
Flanders Mansion Property: Would you have an open mind about the proposed sale of the National Register of Historic Places Flanders Mansion property? As a City Council Member, would you base your vote on the long-term interests of the city, not short-term financial gain or the desires of the mayor?
Sunset Center: Is a management subsidy of $750,000 for FY 2007/08 to Sunset Cultural Center, Inc. justified relative to the budgets of other City departments; that is, compared to FY 2007/08 budgets of $721,001 for Community Planning & Building, $457,661 for Forest, Parks and Beach and $508,200 for the Capital Improvement Program.
• On our “Urbanized” Forest:
Have you read Consulting Arborist Barrie D. Coate’s studies entitled “A View of the Future Forest of the City of Carmel,” “Results of a Review of Trees in a Two Block Transect of Carmel” and “Suggested Replacement Trees for Use in the Carmel Forest?” What amount in taxpayer dollars should be annually budgeted to implement the studies’ recommendations, including the completion of a comprehensive Inventory of Public & Private Trees in Carmel-by-the-Sea?
Given a $13 million annual budget and nearly $10 million in reserve funds, is a Forest, Parks and Beach Department FY 2007/08 budget of $457,661 sufficient for maintenance and reforestation? If $457,661 is not sufficient, what should the FY 2007/08 budget be for the Forest, Parks and Beach Department?
Do you believe all “parks,” including Forest Theatre and Mission Trail Nature Preserve, should be well maintained?
• On Storm Water Discharges into Carmel Bay, an Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS):
Do you agree with the Mayor’s and City Administrator’s tactics of expending $250,000 in legal fees in an attempt to obtain a “waiver,” which was later denied, and filing for an “exception” with the State Water Resources Control Board for ASBS state mandated discharges? If you do not agree with these tactics, what is your plan to meet the state mandated requirements?
4 comments:
Did you see it or did you miss it? Candid Camera's Peter Funt made fun of Sue and her outdated web site, her "webbish," as he called it. Isn't it curious this blog noted her outdated web site days earlier. Anyway, the op-ed called Sue and Carmel on the boards and commissions and the old info about expired terms. Maybe now with Mr. Funt putting Sue on notice the city's web site will become up-to-date. It is also curious Sue's web site came down just after this blog's post and just days before Peter's op-ed in The Monterey County Herald. Curiouser adn curiouser.
I want visitors to this blog to know that I emailed a candidate for council and despite the lip service of email me with your thoughts or questions. I would like to hear from you, he didn’t even have the professional courtesy of acknowledging my email, let alone addressing the concerns raised in the email. The candidate? The Mayor Pro-Tem, Ken Talmage.
You have been proven so right about a campaign of feel good, tell the people what they want to hear slogans from promote, protect and preserve to preserve, protect and maintain Carmel. Preserve and protect what exactly? The closed Scout House, the sad and sorry Forest Theater, our declining forest, our unkempt urban forest, our deteriorating streets? Feel good slogans may be all it takes to win a seat on the Carmel council from an apathetic, undemanding public, but don’t confuse this so-called campaign with a real campaign of issues and substance.
The public cannot trust Carmel council members to hold each other accountable. Instead, they all seem to think they are on the council to support Sue and enforce her agenda, even if it means putting the lives of Carmelites in harms way as with their dismissive attitude and silence on the fire dept. consolidation.
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