In recent weeks, I have seen first-hand how two local institutions made bold decisions about their futures. Both offer lessons worth carrying into Carmel’s next chapter. Opportunity Favors the Bold In 2023, the Carmel Foundation purchased the former Red Cross building, transforming a quiet administrative office into a vibrant wellness center. Today it hosts exercise equipment, yoga classes, and welcoming spaces for coffee and conversation. Foundation leadership saw opportunit

A Parable About Making Tough Decisions Let me tell you about three coastal villages that faced the same problem, and made very different choices. All were beautiful. All were proud of their history, charming downtowns, and loyal residents. All depended on visitors who filled their sidewalks on sunny weekends. And all had aging roads, outdated public buildings, rising costs, growing deferred maintenance and an economic model that was no longer working. For years, leaders in ea

The List of Things We Don’t Talk About The last two weeks, I’ve put the “rhinoceros skin” you grow in public office to good use while seeing many examples of what we’ve quietly decided is “impossible.” We have a long list. Parking structures are “not allowed.” Undergrounding utilities is “too hard.” We can’t build new hotels without ruining the town. Housing can’t exist without destroying our character. We can’t have an honest talk about our untenable parking situation. And i