Unfortunately Jeff Worrell’s recent article misses the mark, as too often happens. You would have to live in a remote corner of the world to not have realized he was writing about me and my efforts, in his portrayal, to harass the wonderful volunteers we are so fortunate to have in Carmel. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. We earned the title of the best city to live in in the United States because of, in large part, the wonderful people who volunteer for Carmelfest, the International Arts Festival, Rock The District, the Farmers Market, Artomobilia… Shall I go on?
My critique, as Mr. Worrell well knows, was reserved for the “volunteers” that racked up more than $300 million in debt. The “volunteers” that declared, with Mr. Worrell’s compliance, they always intended to refinance this debt through the City Council. Perhaps an advance discussion with members of the Council might have been warranted. What was the assumption – ‘We will build it, they will pay?’ Mr. Worrell is one of those “volunteers” and he was quoted in another publication as saying that knowing what he knows now he would do it all over again. Pretty sobering! If we break that down to what he appears to be really saying we can interpret the statement as meaning this… Knowing what I know now I would, once again, conspire to circumvent the statutory authority of the fiscal body of the City to amass hundreds of millions of dollars in unsustainable debt that I would then expect to place on the backs of Carmel taxpayers. Regardless of how pretty the buildings may be we are a country built on a system of laws. This system provides for checks and balances and Mr. Worrell “volunteered” to circumvent them.
Jeff, I appreciate all you do for Carmel in so many other roles, but not this one and I think it is past time for you to move on to other challenges! Jeff said politics can be a dirty business but I do not agree. Those, however, who work to circumvent the structure of government and politics, can find they get a little dirty!