Mandate unconstitutional

“Mandate unconstitutional,” Carmel Pine Cone—June 16, 2023

I haven’t written a letter to the editor before, but I feel compelled to respond to R.M. Christopher’s letter last week.

After virtue-signaling that he owns rent-controlled units, it is obvious that if he lives in Carmel, he lives nowhere near those units. And how many people in Carmel overlook the “18th Green” from our “mansion?” Most of us live in tiny cottages of less than 1,500 square feet and look out onto trees and our neighbor’s walls. And I dare say, most houses have one or two bathrooms, not three. But logically, whether you have three bathrooms or two, the occupants of the house will still use the same amount of water to flush, shower, etc.

The next illogical statement is that we should feel shame for not wanting people who live under tarps to become our neighbors. The hardworking, low-income people should not be compared to the people who live under tarps — most of whom have drug/mental problems and beg on the street for money. There is low-income housing available relatively nearby. Low-income housing in Carmel will bring water shortages, parking shortages, noise, and crime. The public officials in town should understand that we elected them to watch over our interests and to protect the quaint nature of the city we love. We did not elect them to change our city to yield to the dictates of the socialists in Sacramento who have generated this housing crisis by their policies of declaring California a sanctuary state. The mandate is unconstitutional and the city should be fighting it.

Linda Nolan, Carmel