Carmel in the News

I haven't been a big fan of Mayor Brainard and the projects he's brought to Carmel during his mayoral terms. I could even forgive the hokey Carmel promotional videos that seem to air 24 hours a day on the local access channel, if it wasn't for other proposals he's made and built in the city that perpetuate the snobby stereotype I have tried to escape for years. (a column I appreciated by a guy Josh knows)
There's an article about Jim Brainard here. My favorite bit the columnist describing his tour of Carmel with Brainard:

First and most obvious is that Brainard -- a likable, intense man packed with vision for his city -- is obsessed with "roundabouts," those much-criticized traffic-control circles popping up in Carmel.

"Roundabout" jumped out of Brainard's mouth just about every time we approached a busy intersection. As in: "There's one of our new roundabouts," or: "This should be a roundabout."

The 51-year-old Republican drove by roundabouts now under construction. He argued they reduce the severity of accidents. And he recalled how residents greeted the first ones. "I thought I was going to be lynched in the middle of one," he said.

My favorite use for the middle of a roundabout is not lynching: senior year, on senior skip day, a group of kids I know got together and had a cookout in the grassy center of a Hazel Dell roundabout. Might as well use the greenspace for something useful.