Where are the leaders?

“Where are the leaders?” Carmel Pine Cone – March 10, 2023

Having lived in Carmel for several years and loving it, I am shocked by the idea that we should build and/or somehow provide for 349 more housing units! It begs the question — where? Carmel is a village. It is not and never should become Main Street, USA. It is a very special, unique, quiet, and restful escape from the madness of the everyday lives many of us live. It is a masterpiece set on the edge of a beautiful piece of our vast ocean with a pristine beach.

Would you deliberately destroy a masterpiece in a museum, crush an elegantly designed automobile, or stomp on a rare piece of jewelry? I would hope not. But that’s what overcrowding, forcing more housing to squeeze into no space will create, an overbuilt mass of future slums, massive traffic jams, impossible parking consequences, not just for the visitors, but also for the residents who will find all their (normally quiet) streets filled with bumper-to-bumper parked cars all day, every day.

Crime will go up and there is no infrastructure to handle such a huge increase in population.

Where are the leaders that we count on to protect this unique gem and protest when necessary?

We may not live in Carmel anymore, but we do get The Pine Cone weekly, have family that lives in town, and care about this treasure. Please stop the insanity and act before it is too late.

Bonnie Lind, Santa Rosa