By HiLite Staff

From time to time, the city of Carmel evokes negative feelings from both its own citizens and those of surrounding towns. People who live here complain about roundabouts, property taxes, road closings and the affected feel of the Arts and Design District. One needs look no farther than a CHS sporting event to feel the immense disdain from opponents, largely stemming from Carmel’s affluent reputation. The word “Carmel” is taboo in some areas of this state. However, although some may criticize this city, solid evidence suggests that it is actually one of the best places to live in the nation, and citizens here should be reminded that, despite concerns, they do enjoy a quality of life that is better than most other places in the United States.

When Carmel citizens say they dislike their city, it may be a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Viewing the city from a distance yields surprisingly different results. Experts from around the nation sing praises of both Carmel and Hamilton County, especially recently.

Using several different forms of criteria, Carmel and surrounding cities in Hamilton County consistently rank highly in national surveys and studies. In 2004 the American City Business Journal conducted a study of the best places to live in America. The ranking was determined by statistics such as ease of travel, educational opportunities, housing price, housing size and median household income. Hamilton County ranked eighth out of the 20 highest-ranked counties in the survey.

As far back as 2003, Money Magazine named Carmel one of the best places to live in America with a population under 100,000.

In more recent studies, Carmel has attracted prominent national media attention. Forbes magazine ranked Hamilton County as the single best place in America to raise a family. The Forbes article, titled “America’s Best Places to Raise a Family,” also listed that these top communities “have the resources to promote physical, social and cognitive development.”

After ranking communities based on school systems, Forbes considered cost of living, graduation rate, standardized test scores, home price, commute time, crime rate, air quality, per-capita income and other measures. After this thorough investigation, Hamilton County proved better than any other county nationwide in these rankings.

Time magazine praised a unique aspect of Carmel culture in its Sept. 4 article “You Want a Revolution.” Time reported that since 2001, the city has constructed 50 roundabouts. These construction projects may have been inconvenient to citizens here, but Time lists several reasons why they should be grateful. In the past seven years, there has been a 78 percent reduction in car accidents involving injuries. Cars also have saved an estimated 24,000 gallons of gas per year per roundabout because they cut down on car idling. The U.S. Conference of Mayors honored Brainard himself with a climate-protection award this year.

Expert city planners and executives know more about designing a community than the average citizen. In 2003, Brainard shared his hope that constructing the Arts and Design District along with Central Park and other attractions “will only improve our rankings in databases such as the one in the American City Business Journal.” History has shown that Brainard was correct.

While citizens complain about aspects of Carmel, they should actually consider themselves lucky to live in such a nationally acclaimed city and county. Carmel has proven itself to be a superior community by many different standards. Instead of putting their city down, Carmel’s citizens should be proud of what their home represents and enjoy the safe environment it provides.