Editor,
What’s it worth to you to live in Carmel? Has your home maintained or gained in value? Is it important to have a performing arts center that rivals Carnegie Hall within a short driving distance? How about a bustling downtown area that is coveted by every city around and is safe any time of day or night? Ever notice how the police treat you with respect but yet take no guff and everybody knows it? The schools are tops nationwide. The streets and roundabouts are known to be safer, faster and innovative.
“Build it and they will come.” And that’s exactly what has happened under Mayor Brainard. His uninterrupted vision, not without occasional controversy, has built an amazing city that keeps on going. And what has this cost us? Well, his new salary increase amounts to about five cents per household per year for the last 20 years. Do the math. That’s a nickel a year, friends, and look what it has wrought. We are growing, we are prospering and headed in the right direction, and it was not by accident. It has taken planning, hard work and a constant realization by one man that Carmel is the place to live for now and in the future. I am happy that it has cost me only five cents to live in a world class city.
Bernard Lally, Carmel