Random Reportings, Random Thoughts

• As reported, “Gerard Rose has joined the board of the nonprofit that runs the city-owned Sunset Center. Rose, an attorney specializing in insurance coverage, employment disputes, antitrust claims and real estate agreements,...”
(Source: Ex-councilman Rose joins Sunset board, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, June 11, 2010, 2A)

Thought: Given attorney Gerard Rose’s legal specialty of “employment disputes,” it is especially egregious that he did not see that, at a minimum, the City Council professionally and promptly acknowledged and responded to attorney Michael Stamp’s letter (May 2008) to the Mayor and City Council and Human Resources Manager Jane Miller’s letter (October 2008) to the Mayor and City Council dealing with claims of sexual harassment, employment discrimination and retaliation by the City.

• As reported regarding fires on Carmel Beach, City Council Member Karen Sharp stated that the brochures covering the rules should be “bilingual.”
(Source: Beach fire answers: brochures, machines and patrols, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, June 11, 2010, 5A)

Thought: Given that the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is a tourist and visitor destination of international travelers, should not the brochures be multi-lingual, i.e., printed in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, et cetera?

• As reported: “Implying that MacDonald’s sculptures had been displayed in the city without permits, city attorney Don Freeman admonished CarrieAnn not to go beyond the display she was proposing. (She later denied ever having put MacDonald’s pieces in public without permission.) Freeman also said the sculpture would require 24-hour security in order to protect the city from liability.”
(Source: Feeling slighted, gallery rep kills plan to install MacDonald sculpture, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, June 11, 2010, 6A)

Thought: City Attorney Don Freeman expressed his desire “to protect the city from liability” regarding the proposed installation of “The Art of the U.S. Open,” a 14-foot-tall “white, hollow resin mold sculpture.” Unfortunately, the city attorney has not shown a similar desire to protect the city from liability with regard to on-leave Human Resources Manager Jane Miller and owner/developer John Mandurrago.

• As reported: "But after feeling disrespected by two council members, CarrieAnn decided Wednesday to ditch the entire idea because of the “unprofessional way I was treated,” she told The Pine Cone. She said she intended the sculpture not to promote MacDonald, but to serve as a welcome for U.S. Open golf fans visiting Carmel. “But when those at the head of the town treat you like that ....”
(Source: Feeling slighted, gallery rep kills plan to install MacDonald sculpture, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, June 11, 2010, 6A)

Thought: When Mayor Sue McCloud and City Council Member Ken Talmage make comments which lead CarrieAnn to feel “disrespected” and treated “unprofessionally” for having the audacity to propose “a way to welcome golf fans to town,” Carmel taxpayers should question the revised budget 2010/11 expenditure of $347,675 for Marketing and Economic Revitalization. In other words, why expend $347,675 when comments from the mayor and a city council member foster a reputation of disrespect towards business owners and inhospitable attitude towards tourists and visitors?

(Source: City of Carmel-by-the-Sea General Fund Budget Summary - Revenues and Expenditures FY 2008/09 Thru FY 2012/13)