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CRA News May 2007
Keynote speech at CRA
20th anniversary dinner
 Former Mayor Charlotte Townsend, former Chief of Police Don Fuselier and keynote speaker, former City Administrator Doug Schmitz at the CRA 20th anniversary gala |
Keynote speech at CRA
20th anniversary dinner
by Doug Schmitz,
Carmel city administrator
from 1983 to 1992
PREPARED COMMENTS FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE
CARMEL RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION AT THE LA PLAYA HOTELSunday, 29 April 2007
"In the movies, there is a technique called the flashback. A character in a film will get a faraway look, remembering some bygone day, and as he or she slowly remembers, we see those memories parade by, life like and yet dream like." (1)
There is always that first question in telling any story -- where to begin? It would be easiest to flashback one score, to 1987 and to the startup of the CRA, but the historical context draws one to 1938, to a different era yet in a familiar setting, propelled to link that year and time with the personalities and the issues of 1987. Linkages.
We have linkages to Carmel's past right here, tonight, in this room. Some are blood pedigrees; some are social or professional associations. We have Sam Farr, son of Fred Farr, one of California's greatest state senators and an early advocate in the 1950's and '60's for environmental protections and scenic highways. We have Wies Norberg, wife of Gunnar, a gargantuan figure in Carmel politics and its arts beginning in the 1950's. We have Skip Lloyd, son of former councilor and beachmaster Frank and Pine Cone editor Marjory. And we have Charlotte Townsend, former mayor, who had an association with one of the icons of early Carmel, a gigantic figure for whom this organization has named one of its awards, Perry Newberry. According to the 19 March 1963 Pine Cone, Char began working at that newspaper and found herself assigned to the desk of Perry Newberry, unearthing old documents that had lodged in Perry's furniture. Linkages.
And, if we listen, if we listen very carefully and quietly, we may hear in these walls the voices, the clinking of glasses, the laughter and the speeches from an event in this hotel 51 years ago last week. Listen to the voices of these early Carmelites!
On that night in April 1956, townspeople of about the same number as are in this room this evening, gathered to thank and to bid adieu to long time City Clerk Peter Mawdsley. Prior to the establishment of the City Administrator position in 1977, the elected clerk served as the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer of the municipality. Mawdsley was Carmel's fourth city clerk and succeeded the infamous Sadie van Brower upon her passing in 1943.
Former mayor Bert Heron spoke on that April evening, and early Carmelite writer and photographer Tal Josselyn recognized Peter as "one who realized the beauty of the place and who knew that only by eternal vigilance could that beauty be retained."
In 1938, the City Council, concerned about the financial bookkeeping of Clerk Saidee following an audit that showed missing funds, created the position of Deputy City Clerk and Assessor, and soon thereafter tapped Mawdsley for the post.
Mawdsley was the exact opposite of Saidee. Whereas her record keeping was erratic, Peter was meticulous; whereas she led a bohemian lifestyle, he was described in one Pine Cone article as "an English gentleman of the old school." Saidee kept the city records in shoe boxes, while it is said that for each of the 18 years he was with the city, Mawdsley ordered a new four drawer file cabinet. Into the top two trays went the artifacts of City Council meetings -- notes, letters to the Council, its minutes; into the lower two drawers went the financial records of Carmel by the Sea.
I focus on Mawdsley's and 1938 because of the linkages to the titanic legends of early Carmel; he knew those mandarins. Bert Heron was mayor. Perry Newberry was still alive. Mawdsley worked for and succeeded Saidee. And, throughout his career with the city, he lived and worked here during the times of Devendorf and Lincoln Steffens, of Argyll Campbell and Jeffers, of Kuster and Weston. What is exceptional about the 1930's and '40's is that there were no memorable or noticeable "Save this or that" campaigns. The city was young, just 22 years old, and these historic, iconic characters were building community, a place with a special verve, a distinctive style, as well as unique traditions.
In 1939, during Heron's tenure as mayor, the City received WPA resources to undertake the first major improvements to the Forest Theatre. In 1946, the Council indicated its interest in obtaining from the All Saints Church a structure on Monte Verde for a city hall. Mawdsley was a congregate of All Saints, and upon the Council's expression of interest, he immediately relocated himself and his family to a parish in Monterey so that he could negotiate on behalf of the Council without any scent of impropriety.
In 1955, less than a year before Peter's retirement, Carmel commissioned the Lawrence Livingston master plan which included the closing of Ocean Avenue and the creation of a promenade. While some today may yearn that that concept didn't evolve to implementation, Livingston also advocated for the Hatton Canyon Freeway. Linkages to future debates…and dissention.
Hatton Canyon; the Flanders House; the rewriting of the 1983/84 General Plan; water moratoriums; tour bus parking and tour bus routes; a parking garage at Sunset Center; the beach walkway; the purchase of the Crocker Bank for its conversion to the "Pee Wee" Harrison Library.
These were amongst the issues that ignited anxiety, apprehensions and angst amongst some of the citizenry and led to the nativity of the CRA in 1987. The rich history of the town has been embedded by both individuals and by citizen groups.
The CRA's DNA comes from these pioneering citizen groups of other eras, the passing down through the decades of the "TORCHES OF RESISTENCE." In the '20's, it was the Committee of 40 that secured the dunes and sands blocking a proposed development. In the '50's, it was the "Save Ocean Avenue" campaign to NOT implement the Livingston Plan. In the 1970's, it was "Save the Village Corner" and "Save the Forest Theatre" efforts.
I call 1987 the "Year of the Trifecta" for it had three separate and distinct focuses. First were the community issues -- the Hatton Canyon Freeway; the Flanders House; the General Plan rewrite, etc. The freeway appeared on the Council's regular meeting agendas three times, and on several study sessions as the Council, and the community, dealt with the EIR and the freeway's design. In December, the Council received a letter from the CRA on the freeway. I assume, since I don't recall the specifics of the letter, that it was in opposition to the project!
Water, and water moratoriums, appeared on the Council's agendas both early and late in the year. The Flanders House was discussed in January, February, March, May and November.
The acquisition, the financing and then the redesign of the Crocker Bank was a focal point of discussions off/on during 1987. The possibility of expanding tour bus parking at The Plaza and then possible alternative bus routes was on the agendas early and late in the year. The new owners of the Pine Inn came forth with an idea for a public/private parking garage on public and private lands located on Monte Verde and Sixth and Lincoln, an idea that had been proposed in the early 1960's and declined by the City. The beachwalk was the subject of several study sessions and of a regular agenda request in April seeking Council's authorization to apply for Coastal Conservancy grant monies to help fund the project.
That summer, Virginia Stanton addressed the Council on undertaking a major renovation of the Sunset Center Theatre. The Council held study sessions with the General Plan Review Committee of 1986 to receive updates on the rewriting of the 1983/84 General Plan.
Two decades later, some of these issues have been finalized but, since this IS Carmel, some remain within the public domain.
The second segment of the trifecta of 1987 was an international celebrity as mayor. Many of you probably remember the throngs of national and international press and paparazzi that attended the Council's meetings at the Women's Club. Frequently, a day would bring a Hollywood star or a national political figure to City Hall, dropping by, hoping to catch the Mayor to say hello or, more probably, for a photo opp.
The final part of the trifecta was the extensive security planning that was underway involving Carmel and other public agencies in Monterey County and Washington, DC, for the autumn visits of Pope John Paul, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and the NATO commanders. And although the commanders held their meetings in Monterey, they found time to venture over the hill to the village.
We were a city of activity.
Nineteen eighty-seven marks nearly the mid-point on a timeline compendium that weaves from 1938 to 2038. I ask you tonight, CRA, to look to the future years on that compendium. If tonight is a retrospective, it is also a new beginning, not only a remembrance, but a commencement. What will the CRA advocate FOR between now and 2038? Tonight you celebrate two decades of community work; 2038 is a mere three decades away. We know from local history that there will be plenty of causes to oppose, but what will you advocate for? Dream, CRA, dream… and act.
In 1947, this city's Planning Commission promulgated a policy statement that was to guide its deliberations. It began by affirming its commitment to Argyll Campbell's preamble to the zoning code and then continued that the Commission "…believes that the philosophy expressed in the foregoing preamble expresses what has come to be known as the Carmel tradition, a tradition from which there should be NO departure. The members of this Commission further believe that a policy of reforestation, of development of community owned areas for parks, and the strict observance and enforcement of the zoning laws should be carefully followed."
The effort of the CRA from tonight until 2038 should be a call to action, to set in motion the continuance of the Planning Commission's 1947 "Carmel Tradition"; to link the points between the visions and dreams and actions of the Newberrys and the Devendorfs and the Mawdsleys of 1938 to the Carmel of 2038 that you want for yourself, and for your children and grandchildren, for your guests and visitors. Dream, CRA, dream…. and act. Prepare Carmel for 2038.
This call to action need not be loud, but it must be constant; it need not be overly expansive, but it could address:
--The village forest, so prominently mentioned in the 1947 Planning Commission's manifesto, is under siege by both pest and people. Dream, CRA, dream.…and act.
--The Flanders House should be a venue for building community, not conflict; an opportunity for compromise in lieu of conflagration; the possibility for dialogue instead of disagreement. The condition of the structure and its use have for far too long divided this community. City Council and interested residents, find a simple and acceptable use. Be the City Council and citizenry that finally brings this matter to a partnered peace after more than 30 years of distressful divisiveness. And if a poor Franciscan friar, Father Casanova, can find the strength and the humbleness and the perseverance to solicit monies to rebuild a destitute and old and tattered Carmel Mission in 1879, then this community, in 2007, one of the most affluent in the country, should be able to match Angelo Casanova's zeal. Dream, CRA, dream.
--A community, any community but especially Carmel by the Sea, cannot fully appreciate its future unless it respects and protects the historic structures from its past. Dream, CRA, dream…. and act. Be creative!
--In 1990, it was proposed to extend the beach walkway north to the Pebble Beach gate. Dream, CRA, dream….. and act. Be advocates!
--The land for Rio Park has been in public ownership nearly as long as there has been a CRA. The concept plan was vetted and accepted by the community. Heed the call of the 1947 Planning Commission, CRA, to "develop community owned areas for parks." Make this park your centennial commemorative project for 2016! Act now!
Throughout history, truly great cities, truly GREAT cities, have had leaders and community organizations that not only kept the books and tidied the records, but were also advocates for projects and assets that enhanced the livability for their residents. We saw these dual roles earlier with Bert Heron and Mawsdley; the audits were clean and the minutes organized yet they still improved the Forest Theatre and Mawdsley purchased the City Hall on behalf of the City Council; Devendorf worked with the citizens "Committee of 40" for saving the dunes and sands so that they would be eternally public lands.
Tonight, go forth and engage the community and the municipal organization in those causes dearest to you, those causes that reflect the "Carmel Tradition": to preserve the values, the principles, and the standards that will, in the words of Tal Josselyn in 1956, continue this as "a place that only by eternal vigilance could that beauty be retained."
For this city's Golden Anniversary in 1966, Marjorie Lloyd wrote "it is every citizen, no matter what his or her stature, who has dared to be "different", has striven through five decades to blend progress into the unique mold created by the early residents. To the credit of these citizens, it remains a timeless treasure." Dream, CRA, dream.…and protect this timeless treasure.
Go home tonight with peace in your hearts and fire in your bellies, and spread the word…but answer the call to action and act now.
Douglas J. Schmitz, former City Administrator (1983-92)
(1) Ralph Story, commentator, 1964
