Letter: Thoughts on Carmel’s metal marvels

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Editor,

As the official non-mayor of Carmel, I was thrilled and amazed when instructed by a city brochure that “Carmel must add elements that will continue to attract residents and visitors to its central core if it is to remain on a successful path.” Assuming the path to be more than just the Monon, I sought roundabout art and betook myself to 96th and Westfield to behold Beacon Bloom (BB). Safely parking a short distance away, I reverently approached BB.

Up close, I gasped. A metal marvel. A silver sculpture that lights up at night like my uncle Lloyd in winter. What, I mused, a precious use of $352,900 of your hard-earned money.

Drawing closer, I found a badly wounded caterpillar. His little jaw was broken and tiny teeth marks still dented a metallic BB stem. Beavers required emergency surgery at a nearby orthodontic clinic.  A half-dozen, nectar-seeking bumblebees lay dead on the ground. Electrocuted.

I next fled 5.2 miles north to 136th Street and Range Line Road to see what $80,000 in tax funds confiscated from the innocent would buy. Another gasp. Another miracle of the welding art I dubbed “A Collision of Unicycles.” Pure rapture, with enough Rust-Oleum, of course.

Or, as the squirrels of 96th Street would say: “Art produces no nuts. And, vice versa.”

Bill Shaffer, Carmel


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