Carmel, Ind., politics

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  • T.Lex

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    Figured I'd start a thread on this. Most of the state might not care, but Carmel is big part of the Hamilton County cornerstone of the Republican party.

    There have been some interesting articles in the last few weeks about issues in Carmel with taxes, infrastructure, and "vision." There is even a gun-related issue with how Mayor Brainard came out against the first location for the Point Blank gun range.

    I know several Carmel-resident INGOers and am interested in perspective from them and others about the upcoming Carmel elections. The primary in May will effectively elect the mayor and council.

    Full disclosure- I worked in the City of Carmel for about 7 years with the mayor and city attorney. I am friends with many in City government and on the Council. But, I'm also interested in people's honest opinions.
     

    88GT

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    Opinions about what, specifically?

    Brainard is a Daley in the making and would easily switch sides if he thought it would mean securing his power/position. Carmel's Republican status (in terms of fiscal responsibility and small government) is a sham since it's as chock-full of welfare as Chicago.
     

    T.Lex

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    haha

    Opinions like that. :)

    So, is the Mayor vulnerable (Brainard, not Daley)?

    I think a big problem for any challenger is that things - on the surface - seem to be going pretty well. I'm not sure how much of Carmel's citizenry is engaged enough to look under the proverbial rug.
     

    88GT

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    haha

    Opinions like that. :)

    So, is the Mayor vulnerable (Brainard, not Daley)?

    I think a big problem for any challenger is that things - on the surface - seem to be going pretty well. I'm not sure how much of Carmel's citizenry is engaged enough to look under the proverbial rug.

    I'm guessing if the citizenry is complacent and Brainard has managed to keep his nose fairly clean, he's safe. I don't know the specifics of the politics anymore as it's been over 10 years since I lived there. I just know Brainard loves to spend money and the people of Carmel continue to let him. Carmel's population is flush with cash (the personal income type, not the tax revenue). It'll be a cold day in hell before the citizenry gets taxed to a point where they no longer feel they are getting something worthwhile out of it. I mean, isn't that arts district just da bomb?
     

    MCgrease08

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    I'm with 88GT on this one. There are lots of corporate offices in Carmel, which means jobs, employee relocations, transient business travelers. Things are good today. The pain will come years from now.

    Hamilton County tourism is booming, people are working. There seem to be very few people interested in looking behind the curtain. I think Brainard is pretty safe.
     

    poptab

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    I work in Carmel so my opinion doesn't really count... But I pretty much agree with 88.

    I wouldn't want to live in Carmel.
    I like what they did with keystone though.
     

    hooky

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    I originally moved here for the school system. The taxes have remained low, relative to other comparable cities in the county, the lowest. The more i read about the dealings, maneuvering and outright obfuscation that goes on, the sooner I want to go get my 20 acres on a hill. The music will eventually stop and not everyone is going to have a chair.
     

    Mr Evilwrench

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    I've been voting against Braindamage at every opportunity for several cycles now, like it does any good. I totally hate his urbanization thing, and his support of Agenda 21. I call him Chainsaw Brainard, the way he has the woods cut down. I liked the place when I moved here back in 92. I used to gather lots of black raspberries, blackberries, etc. I used to see deer. It just pisses me off now.
     

    K_W

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    I've know "Jim" all my life. He's a great guy, he has had some big ideas, not all were good or worked, but I think he has done wonders for Carmel in the last 20 years. Carmel was a nightmare to drive in before the roundabouts and even the Keystone expansion.

    I live in an area Carmel is trying to annex... I oppose this because of the tax increase, ordinances, building restrictions, and their plans to level my "town"... not because of any malice towards Carmel, it's people, or it's mayor.
     

    Mr Evilwrench

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    Oh, I wouldn't have called it a "nightmare" before the roundabouts; I've driven here and lived here long enough to see the difference. Roundabouts are indeed an improvement, but not worth the rest of what he brings. He may be a nice guy and all, but I seriously disagree with most of his policies.
     

    hooky

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    A reflecting pool? You guys have a reflecting pool?

    Hell yeah. People come from all over the world for the regatta. :rolleyes:

    zppoe7c.jpg

    LAW4zXI.jpg

    Rj4BN9j.jpg


    I've know "Jim" all my life. He's a great guy, he has had some big ideas, not all were good or worked, but I think he has done wonders for Carmel in the last 20 years. Carmel was a nightmare to drive in before the roundabouts and even the Keystone expansion.

    I live in an area Carmel is trying to annex... I oppose this because of the tax increase, ordinances, building restrictions, and their plans to level my "town"... not because of any malice towards Carmel, it's people, or it's mayor.

    It's interesting and telling, I suppose, that you think he's done great things but don't want to be annexed due to an increase in taxes, ordinances, etc...
     

    zippy23

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    Be careful, the amount of doctors, scientists, "educated" people that vote democrat is amazing. Just because someone makes money does not mean they politically have a clue. in fact, a lot of those people realize that corruption is the easiest way to make money, so they take that route, and vote that way. our constitution requires morality to survive, we are seeing that it is failing. Put a corrupt evil judge in the right place and you have................yup.
     

    T.Lex

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    I think most voters in Carmel understand certain business principles - like debt to revenue. They don't mind taking on debt for capital projects, but also realize that it takes a different strategy once you take on significant debt. A growth model no longer works. Or, you run the risk of REQUIRING growth to just make debt service.

    Some of Carmel's revenue actually decreased in recent years. Meanwhile, we spent the debt on projects that increased our maintenance costs. So, we need to spend more of what we take in just to keep the stuff we built. A greater share of the revenue needs to go to the debt, while another bigger share needs to go to maintenance that has been neglected.

    We're need to take a serious look at who the right people are to manage the new realities. Then, the voters need to be educated about what the issues are.
     

    pjcalla

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    I think most voters in Carmel understand certain business principles - like debt to revenue. They don't mind taking on debt for capital projects, but also realize that it takes a different strategy once you take on significant debt. A growth model no longer works. Or, you run the risk of REQUIRING growth to just make debt service.

    Some of Carmel's revenue actually decreased in recent years. Meanwhile, we spent the debt on projects that increased our maintenance costs. So, we need to spend more of what we take in just to keep the stuff we built. A greater share of the revenue needs to go to the debt, while another bigger share needs to go to maintenance that has been neglected.

    We're need to take a serious look at who the right people are to manage the new realities. Then, the voters need to be educated about what the issues are.

    Sounds like somebody is going to challenge Brainless?
     

    pjcalla

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    I grew up in Carmel. I remember the sleepy town it used to be. Personally, I like the roundabouts, but the whole "urbanization" or whatever (Palladium, Arts & Design District, Yuppie, Yuppie, etc.) stuff is too much. Some of his dealings have been shady at best, from what I've heard. He has a huge (or at least used to) war chest to defeat anyone who tries to unseat him.

    I will never forget, when the whole Keystone funding debacle was going on, I was in the Cayman Islands for my cousin's wedding. We flipped on the tv and it was Brainless talking about his "shovel ready" project and he wanted funding from Obama's stimulus.

    I now live in Westfield, and Mayor Crook isn't any better. Have you seen our new Grand Park? :rolleyes: Don't get me started on what Westfield is becoming.

    Oh yea, we just gave someone ~$1M each (Westfield, Carmel, Fishers?, Indy, Greenwood) to do a study on an electric high speed bus service from Westfield down to Greenwood. Haven't they studied that enough to know that we the citizens do not want that?

    Maybe the time is now for a serious challenger?
     

    T.Lex

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    He has a huge (or at least used to) war chest to defeat anyone who tries to unseat him.
    ...
    I now live in Westfield, and Mayor Crook isn't any better. Have you seen our new Grand Park? :rolleyes: Don't get me started on what Westfield is becoming.

    Oh yea, we just gave someone ~$1M each (Westfield, Carmel, Fishers?, Indy, Greenwood) to do a study on an electric high speed bus service from Westfield down to Greenwood. Haven't they studied that enough to know that we the citizens do not want that?

    Maybe the time is now for a serious challenger?
    I can't remember exactly, but I believe the mayor had a couple hundred thousand dollars to throw into the last election - against 2 challengers that were unlikely to win individually, let alone splitting the vote.

    I hope someone does step up to challenge him. It will be tough. The mayor built some very nice things. But, I think building nice things and managing nice things are 2 different skill sets. I'm not sure we can afford to build nice new things until we learn to manage what we already have.

    I'll give credit to Westfield for at least building a big nice new thing that has a built-in market. WAY more people are involved with traveling youth athletics than stage productions.
     

    pjcalla

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    I can't remember exactly, but I believe the mayor had a couple hundred thousand dollars to throw into the last election - against 2 challengers that were unlikely to win individually, let alone splitting the vote.

    I hope someone does step up to challenge him. It will be tough. The mayor built some very nice things. But, I think building nice things and managing nice things are 2 different skill sets. I'm not sure we can afford to build nice new things until we learn to manage what we already have.

    I'll give credit to Westfield for at least building a big nice new thing that has a built-in market. WAY more people are involved with traveling youth athletics than stage productions.

    Until the next "Grand Park" comes along and the tournaments go there instead...then we'll have a big thing that no one uses that will need maintenance. Well, I guess the cops can write more speeding tickets to help fund it...wait, is writing more tickets even possible?
     

    Mr Evilwrench

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    Definitely drive cautiously in Westfield.

    As I said, I've voted against braindamage at every opportunity for a long time. Most of these people will vote for him because he has an R after his name, as meaningless as that might be. Yes, there's a surprising number of well paid people that will vote for 'rats for whatever corrupt reason, but there's a very good reason we say the election here is done at the primary and the general is just a formality. Most R candidates are unopposed in the general. Works ok for me, mostly.
     

    hooky

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    I think most voters in Carmel understand certain business principles - like debt to revenue. They don't mind taking on debt for capital projects, but also realize that it takes a different strategy once you take on significant debt. A growth model no longer works. Or, you run the risk of REQUIRING growth to just make debt service.

    Some of Carmel's revenue actually decreased in recent years. Meanwhile, we spent the debt on projects that increased our maintenance costs. So, we need to spend more of what we take in just to keep the stuff we built. A greater share of the revenue needs to go to the debt, while another bigger share needs to go to maintenance that has been neglected.

    We're need to take a serious look at who the right people are to manage the new realities. Then, the voters need to be educated about what the issues are.

    They started shuffling money around to cover operating expenses and didn't do it out in the open. This is what made me start questioning things. There's really nothing left to annex so revenue growth can only happen in a couple of ways. We're either going to see a huge influx of businesses coming in, or short of that an increase in taxes that will slow our growth.
     
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