CRA News March 2003

Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association

CRA Meeting -- Assembly Member John Laird -- An Update from Sacramento

COUNCIL WATCH

Good News, Bad News: City Budget on Track, But Hardly Robust

The Good News: Despite the drag on the economy caused by the September 11 attacks, the California energy crisis, the $25-$35 billion state deficit and the threat of impending war, City Administrator Rich Guillen reported at the Feb. 24 mid-year budget review that the city, because it had budgeted very conservatively, would meet its year end projections.

This in no way means that the outlook for city finances is rosy. Even with a projected 0% increase, Sales and Use Tax at mid year are 6% under budget, and hotel tax is around 2% under. Property Tax revenues are 2% above budget. Guillen thinks that hotel income is improving because, with the world situation, people are traveling closer to home. On the expenditure side, all city departments are holding the line, running a few percentage points below 50% of their budgets. The council agreed to fund storm damage repairs for Carmel Beach ($150 - $200,000) and the Forest Theater ($20 - $25,000).

The Bad News: Almost all of the city's capital improvement projects are on hold, several staff positions are unfilled and new sources of revenue seem as tenuous as ever. Also, the cost of ambulance service will undoubtedly move upward in the future.

Among the projects unfunded or on hold:

• Permanent beach rest rooms at Santa Lucia. The Coastal Commission has given the city until June 30 to get started, so an extension will probably be requested; current estimates, $150 to $160,000.
  
  
• 4th Avenue beach storm drain outfall repair, $35 to $40,000.
  
  
• Portion of Mission Street paving project, $163,000.
  
  
• Storing and imaging of city documents.
  
  
• Civic Center roof replacement, $1 million, although a less expensive alternative could be considered.
  
  
• Replenishment of Workers' Comp reserve fund, $483,549.
  
  
• Seismic retrofit of Fire House, $400,000.
  
  
• Master plan implementation for Scout House, $310,112, and Forest Theater, $1,423,000.

Although the city administrator said there was no reason the council could not look at other new revenue sources during the spring budget hearings, Mayor McCloud, said no, that they would only talk about Pay and Display Parking, the Business Improvement District and a Stormwater Utility District. She admitted that the latter two would not be new revenue streams. [See President's Message below.]

President's Message
What's the Next Step?

by Larry Rodocker

In spite of a "down economy" for the past two years, the Carmel city administration has made no more than a feeble effort to seek new revenue streams and has not been proactive in renewing that search. I say "revenue streams" because it is important that revenue generation be continuous and not a "onetime shot." City government has not done that in their fiscal planning. They have only considered a Business Improvement District (BID), a Stormwater Utility District and Pay and Display Parking as new revenue sources. Only the parking could be defined as a general revenue stream, and this was received negatively by the business district and the public-at-large. Judging from preliminary statements by city administration, it doesn't appear any effort will be made to seek new revenue streams for fiscal year 2003-2004.

Why is it important that a proactive approach be taken toward finding and implementing new revenue streams for Carmel? After six months, the Carmel city budget is barely keeping its head above water. [See related article.] The majority of capital improvement projects are on hold, with nothing in the foreseeable future to change that status. For cost containment, the questionable decision of outsourcing city services is being considered. [See Editorial above.] There is also consideration of drawing down city reserve funds to make up for the revenue/expenditure deficit. These measures are only band-aid approaches to our revenue problem and the impact will soon be seen in lower levels of city services and the serious eroding of our infrastructure.

But there are more sound fiscal approaches to take should city administration choose to do so.

Corporations improve their revenue streams by introducing new products through research and development (R&D) or through acquisition. Carmel's new product development must come through its strengths, the tourist industry and the expensive real estate base. In place of the three revenue sources set forth by the city administration, I would like to propose three alternatives, using tourism and real estate sales, which could possibly generate annual revenue in excess of $2,000,000. These revenue streams would be easy to administer and would be continuous --

• The first source of revenue would be an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from 10% to 12% (same as Seaside; San Francisco is 14%), which would generate annual revenue of approximately $750,000.
  
  
• The second source would be an Epicurean Tax of 25 cents per meal, which would generate annual revenue of approximately $500,000.
  
  
• The third source would be a City Documentary Transfer Tax on real property sales at a rate of $2.25 per $500. Using the average annual real estate sales in Carmel over the past four years, the tax would have generated annual revenue of approximately $1,160,000. As of 1991, there were 28 California cities with a City Documentary Transfer Tax in effect.

Unlike the paid parking, I see no negative implications from the aforementioned revenue streams, as tourists using our resources would be the primary source of the modest TOT and Epicurean taxes and individuals or speculators selling real estate would be responsible for the Documentary Transfer Tax (which would be less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the total sale).

In this day and age, city government must be continually proactive and resourceful to find new revenue streams to ensure that budgetary shortfalls do not happen, resulting in jobs being eliminated, city services being reduced, infrastructure being compromised, city property being sold and city reserve funds being reduced.

We residents and city government must not be satisfied with nor expect anything less than a city and way of life which is second to none.

Cal-Am Donates Water for CRA Beach Cleanup

CRA President Larry Rodocker received a most welcome letter from Steve Leonard, General Manager of the Coastal Division of California-American Water Company, saying, "It has been brought to our attention by Barbara Livingston that the Carmel Residents Association sponsors a monthly cleanup of Carmel's beach. We would like to donate bottled water for your hard-working volunteers."

So, thanks to the recommendation by Councilwoman Livingston and the generosity of Cal Am, starting with the February cleanup volunteers enjoyed bottled water, as well as delicious pastries from Carmel Bakery and coffee from Caffe Cardinale.

Ambulance and Fire Crews Working Together
by Carmel Fire Department Captain Mitch Kastros

One of the questions we hear most frequently is why the fire engine responds with the ambulance to medical emergencies, and why the ambulance responds to fires.

All fire departments, whether in Carmel, Monterey or New York City, respond to medical emergencies. This type of alarm makes up roughly 50% to 60% of the total call volume for all fire departments, while structure fires only account for about 1%. A department with less than 1% working fires is an organization with a motivated and effective prevention and public education program.

In Carmel, we are fortunate to have an ambulance and crew, employees of Carmel Regional Fire Ambulance, housed at our fire station. This is why, in many cases, you will see the fire engine and ambulance respond together. By comparison, the Monterey Fire Department does not usually respond simultaneously with the ambulance to medical alarms because the ambulance is not housed in one of its three fire stations.

As far as medical emergencies go, it takes a minimum of four personnel to effectively treat a patient in a normal or "routine" situation. The paramedic and EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) from the ambulance crew will actively treat the patient. The two fire personnel will concentrate on getting the patient to the ambulance, gathering pertinent patient information for the paramedic and hospital, and assisting in any way necessary. In life threatening situations, a fifth person (off duty or volunteer firefighter) will be needed to assist, and to possibly drive the ambulance to the hospital. These numbers are national minimum standards but still might not be enough, given the challenges of treating and moving patients in some of Carmel's uniquely-designed homes.

On fire related alarms, the ambulance crew (also trained firefighters) works with the fire crew to mitigate whatever problems need to be addressed, either routine or serious. By national standard policy, known as "two in/two out," firefighters (at least two) may not enter a hazardous environment without the same number (at least two) of firefighters standing by outside. The firefighters outside are prepared to enter the hazard to facilitate rescue efforts should the "two in" crew run into trouble. The availability of the ambulance crew allows for immediate action in any situation that requires "two in/two out," without which the fire crew would have to wait for off duty and volunteer firefighters and/or other fire agencies (mutual aid) to arrive on scene.

Having the ambulance with the fire engine on all alarms gives us a response of four total firefighters, two on the engine and two on the ambulance. The national minimum standard is three.

Carmel Schools Need Help

Because of state budgetary problems, the Carmel Unified School District is in danger of losing 42% of it estimated budget for next year, a catastrophic financial impact. No other state program is being asked to bear this level of burden.

The CRA Board has written to Assemblyman John Laird and Senator Bruce McPherson urging them to oppose Governor Davis's proposal to reduce funding to Basic Aid districts, in essence diverting our local property taxes from schools.

If you are willing to also write to these two representatives, please call Linda Anderson at 624-3208 for addresses and further information.

Coastal Commission Certifies Carmel Land Use Plan

With considerable help from an L.A. lobbyist hired by the Monterey County Board of Realtors, two models of houses and Supervisor Dave Potter, the City of Carmel received certification on March 6 of its Land Use Plan on a 7-4 vote by the Coastal Commission. On two major issues of dissention, the city prevailed on house size, but lost their preference for more restrictive parking hours on Scenic Road.

Nearly 30 Carmelites traveled by car, bus and train to San Luis Obispo on March 6 to support the coastal staff's recommendations on preserving Carmel character. A handful of supporters for the city also attended.

The coastal staff pointed out that "You can't walk two or three blocks without seeing construction or demolition." They said that home size has increased 53 - 55% from the original cottages leaving no room for trees or visual separation of homes. Of new construction, 85% is for vacation homes.

During the ex parte disclosure, almost all Coastal Commissioners said they had spoken or met with lobbyist Susan McCabe, who was hired by the Monterey County Board of Realtors. She told them that reducing house size would keep out families, because it is impossible to have three bedrooms, and would make all larger homes nonconforming. These arguments were seen by some as scare tactics. Two speakers pointed out that the majority of 1600 sq. ft. houses in Carmel have three bedrooms and coastal staff said that nonconformity was a non-issue. In addition, many Carmel lots are larger than 4,000 sq. ft. and can therefore have larger houses. In her testimony, Councilwoman Barbara Livingston, speaking for herself, said, "Make no mistake about it. The housing market is not family driven. Don't fall for that mom and apple pie stuff. Families cannot afford to live in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Investors are buying up and building second homes because real estate is more profitable than the stock market. That is the economic reality."

The house models, made by architect John Thodos, showed a larger-looking house with 1600 sq. ft. and a smaller-appearing house with 1800 sq. ft., which he said is due to the new system of "volumetrics." A local architect who did not attend the hearing said later, off the record, "You can tell any story you want with models."

On the parking issue, Carmel, citing continuing problems with noise, drugs and illegal fires, wanted to ban parking at the beach from 10:30 p.m. until 5 a.m., while coastal staff wanted parking allowed until midnight. Coastal Commissioners felt that the importance of public access trumped the city's wishes and voted to keep the no-parking limit from midnight until 5 a.m., consistent with rules in Pacific Grove and Monterey. Commissioner David Allgood said that cities almost always cite safety as a reason to restrict beach access, but that the issue "almost never is safety. It is to keep away people residents don't want on the beach."

Other issues brought up by residents who testified concerned the proposed Historic Preservation Board and how historic preservation will be handled under the new plan, commercial design guidelines, the new demolition ordinance and how environmentally-sensitive habitats will be handled. Coastal Commission staff acknowledged the importance of these issues, saying that they will be dealt with in the Implementation Plan, which will come before the commission in Monterey in May. This document, which also must be approved by the Commission, will contain the new ordinances, which flow from the policies in the Land Use Plan. Residents should pay attention to this process -- as is said, the devil is in the details.

Where does the Housing Element plug in?

Why is the city spending money for a consultant to rewrite the Housing Element of the General Plan and why does it matter?

We don't know if it could have been done "in house," but it turns out that we have no choice on the rewrite. The state requires each city to update its Housing Element every five years in order to promote successful housing programs and discard ineffective ones. Then, each city is assigned a housing "goal" by its regional council -- Associated Monterey Bay Area Governments for us. This means, according to Planner Brian Roseth, that "Carmel's Housing Element must show that its policies and zoning will not prevent attainment of these assigned housing goals," and that there are "adequate sites to accommodate the assigned units." Otherwise, the city would have to make zoning changes, increase density or consider an annexation. Because Carmel is nearly built out, its portion for the next five years of the regional housing needs is tiny -- 54 units out of 13,415 for the entire county. This breaks down to 12 very low, 11 low, 14 moderate and 17 above moderate income units.

Clearly, it is difficult for Carmel to provide this housing because of little vacant land, environmental constraints, extremely high prices and no water. Opportunities identified by Roseth include "infill development, conversion of commercial uses to residential and new residential units above existing commercial space." However, because Carmel lost 158 residents in the last census and has increased housing by 10 units since 1990, the need for construction of new units is minimal. Affordability of Carmel housing is a thorny issue. Hardly any lower-income units exist and moderate-income units ($179,000 to $276,000) are few and far between. Carmel has 50 affordable units in 6 different developments, including units required in recent new developments and senior housing run by the Carmel Foundation.

A new subordinate unit ordinance allows second units to be built on 8,000 sq. ft. lots, but again, there is no water. The recent policy allowing existing subordinate unit owners to rent both units rather than live in one has been controversial because of concerns about neighborhood stability. For downtown apartments, parking is already a problem, but the city is considering easing existing parking requirements.

At a public hearing in January, several ideas were floated to improve the affordable housing stock. A group of developers is interested in a joint effort between the city, the Catholic Diocese, Park District and Mission Ranch to build "work-force housing" in Rio Park. Anne Bell suggested a land-trust concept, which allows low-cost housing to be purchased and sold for a 1 or 2% increase. Other suggestions were the use of manufactured housing and more emphasis on an existing shared-housing program, whereby a person who needs housing is willing to share with a senior homeowner.

OLD CARMEL
by Connie Wright

Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous: Carmel Impresarios

Dene Denny, left, and Hazel Watrous study a piece of music for one of their performances. Photo courtesy of the Harrison Library Local History Room.

Impresarios are invariably male and occur as single phenomenon; one thinks, for example, of Sol Hurok or Tibor Rudas. In Carmel, however, where things are frequently done backwards or askew, we have two impresarios who were women -- Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous. It is to them that Carmel owes much of its early development in music, theater and architecture.

Dene Denny was born in Callahan, California, the daughter of a wealthy banker, merchant and founder of one of California's first chain stores, and owner of a 1,000-acre ranch. Dene loved music from the very first. She was sent to San Francisco and later to New York to study the piano. She later earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Berkeley in English and taught it at a San Francisco high school. She then turned back to music and opened a studio in San Francisco where she taught piano. Her studio was the site of many intimate musical recitals. Denny specialized in avant garde music and gave the first concert in California of entirely modern works.

Hazel Watrous was born in Visalia, the daughter of a famous landscape photographer. Studying the composition of a picture was part of the family routine. She was educated at San Jose State, the Art Institute of San Francisco, the California School of Arts and Crafts, Berkeley and Columbia University. She also was a student of the painter Gottardo Piazzoni. She worked in and about the theater in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This was followed by a stint as Supervisor of Art for the Alameda City Schools. Watrous was a painter, stage and costume designer, architect and interior decorator.

Denny and Watrous met at a party in the studio of a mutual friend in 1922. To further their education, they decided to go to New York by way of Carmel. Here they found a city almost entirely dedicated to the arts. They returned in 1925, bought a lot from Devendorf and lived over a garage while Hazel designed "Harmony House," [Now owned by CRA members Carol and Don Hilburn] on East Dolores, 4 N. of 2nd. One of the problems that faced people moving to Carmel was finding a way of making money. Hazel solved this by designing houses, some 36 of them. They were innovative in design -- she drew on the Arts and Crafts movement with exposed beams and redwood on the interior and board and batten exteriors. Large picture windows, painted shingles and pastel colors for the exterior walls were also featured. They were extremely popular, and introduced a new style for Carmel architecture. Their house with its two-story picture window, flanked by two grand pianos and warmed by a fireplace, became the gathering place for informal recitals, lectures and other gatherings. Here Henry Cowell demonstrated his entirely radical tone clusters and Richard Neutra lectured on modern building design. In 1926 they founded the Carmel Music Society as a result of these recitals. In 1928 the official partnership, Denny-Watrous Management, was launched. In the same year they leased the Theater of the Golden Bough from Edward Kuster and in twelve months produced a dozen concerts and eighteen plays, including Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones and Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, all recently presented for the first time in English in New York. They then opened the Denny-Watrous Gallery, Carmel's first art gallery, using the space to present plays and concerts, as well as art. Here was the first known American performance of Bach's Art of the Fugue.

In 1932 they brought the Neah-Kah-Nie String Quartet to Carmel. This group became the Michael Penha Piano Quartet. Penha was a dynamic leader and fine musician and under his direction a program of concertos by members of the Quartet was accompanied by a string orchestra, comprising Monterey Peninsula musicians. Thus, the Monterey County Symphony was formed, under the sponsorship of the Carmel Music Society.

In 1934 Ernst Bacon was appointed conductor of the Symphony. It was from that group that the crowning achievement of the Denny-Watrous collaboration evolved -- the Carmel Bach Festival. Possibly planned during a meeting of the Carmel Music Society, the Carmel Bach Festival opened its first season in 1935 with Bacon conducting at the Sunset Auditorium. The season lasted for three days. The season of 1936 lasted one week. Hazel died in 1954. In 1959, at the 22nd Bach Festival, Dene Denny, appearing very ill, received a resounding ovation from the audience and musicians and praise for her accomplishments, inspiration and leadership in music. She died later that year. Over the years the Festival has expanded to three weeks and three days, the vocal soloists are drawn from the professional ranks of stars on the concert and festival circuits, and the repertoire has grown to include Bach's forerunners, his sons, his contemporaries and his admiring followers, to name a few. It is now a festival with a stellar international reputation. When the Bach Festival opens in July, 2003, for its 65th season in the newly-renovated Sunset Auditorium, it will be with Bach's Magnificat and its joyful description of change.

Considering the extremely innovative ways that Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous had of dealing with problems, one believes that they would be pleased with the renovation.

100 Years in Paradise

The year 2003 marks the 100th anniversary of the "founding" of Carmel-by-the-Sea by Frank Powers and Frank Devendorf. A Centennial Steering Committee has been appointed by the Mayor and has been hard at work the past six months. The Committee envisions a yearlong experience to commemorate the past 100 years and to share our illustrious history with residents and visitors with annual events and new ones that will showcase various aspects of our community and promote local business.

A poster, "100 Years in Paradise," created by local artist Bill Stone, is available for $10 at Carmel City Hall and the Carmel Business Association, with proceeds applied to celebration costs. A brochure with a brief overview of the history of Carmel has also been produced and is available at City Hall, the CBA, First Murphy House and the Harrison Library-Park Branch.

One of the highlights will be an on-going exhibit in the Marjorie Evans Gallery at Sunset Center featuring old photographs and memorabilia of Carmel. For a complete listing of events, please check the Event Calendar at www.carmelcalifornia.com. For more information, or if you wish to be involved, please contact Christie Miller at 620-2020. CRA member Lou Ungaretti is a member of this committee and can also answer questions.

Remember that your City Council is on T.V.

City Council meetings are taped and re-broadcast
Sundays, 8 a.m. - 12 noon on
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