Things Carmel could have done other than borrowing $1.36B for E.D. and Developer incentives that should be unnecessary in the “#1 city in Indiana” (it is a real stretch to believe Carmel is or ever was the #1 city in the U.S.).
Instead, we chose not to engage with average citizens except via sources like Dan McFeeley who embellish* (his words) Carmel’s accomplishments not for citizens but for new business and of course “spreading good news about National Honors for the city of Carmel” and showing contempt from ‘common’ citizens.
He would never talk to a big contributor or a developer the way he does common citizens.
*Embellish Definition: make (a statement or story) more interesting or entertaining by adding extra details, especially ones that are not true.” she had real difficulty telling the truth because she liked to embellish things”
How does this help either E.D. or our community? It doesn’t, it is mental Prozac.
In a collaborative approach, you work incrementally and build projects that don’t require massive City financial commitments that require borrowed funds.’
Imagine we had taken this approach, the Mayor might have fewer National Honors but what is more important, our citizens and small business or embellishing Carmel’s and Mayor Brainard’s credentials?
So we followed the Status Quo in the Cities Ponzi scheme development game.
Carmel did not need nor should have engaged in paying off developers to ‘play for pay with us’.
So what is the trend in cities that have developed like Carmel?
They are not sustainable over the long term as maintenance for all projects will, over time, exceed the cost of the revenue they generate.
Using the above methods causes too much pressure toward necessarily having precipitous tax increases in order to cover ever-increasing debt and maintenance payments.
We used infrastructure dollars to subsidize Developers and had no cohesive strategy to make Carmel truly walkable. Live downtown in the ‘walkable’ area of Carmel and how and where do you walk for a grocery store? You don’t you must drive.
