Even the residents of Carmel Valley deserve democracy.

>>THELOCALSPIN

It’s hard to worry much about the plight of the people of Carmel Valley. After all, they seem to live in some kind of paradise, far from the ills that plague (or at least hassle) the rest of us. Elsewhere in Monterey County we deal with poverty and crime, ugly sprawl and big-box stores, underfunded schools and foggy summers. Carmel Valley? None of that stuff. Not even fog.

For those of us who live in less prosperous and less sunny enclaves, it can be a bit of a stretch to work up any compassion for these fortunate people, or to care deeply about their quest for a local government to call their own.

But we should. Even stuck in a sketchy apartment near the strip-mall or a tiny cottage in the fog belt, rather than a ranch house in the sun, we have to respect their desire for self-governance. And that’s what their fight, which has been going on for six years, is all about.

This is the fourth time in six months that a local political agency has derailed a citizens’ initiative.

There are a lot of people in Carmel Valley who want their own town. They have decided that in order to have a say over what happens in their community, they need their own mayor, their own town council, their own city hall. They want to incorporate. (Unfortunately, they are therefore stuck with this bureaucratic term: They are “incorporation proponents.”)

Because the place where they live is so nice, it is reasonable to wonder: Is their desire just snobbish? Why do they need their own government? Can’t they be content to bring their political concerns to the county seat in Salinas? What’s wrong with living under the jurisdiction of Monterey County government?

For the incorporation proponents, the answer is simple: Under the jurisdiction of Monterey County, they have no voice. Their representation is limited to the vote of one man, Supervisor Dave Potter, and they believe his efforts to assert their democratic will has been repeatedly thwarted by a bullying majority.

There was a time when the members of the Board of Supervisors might have felt compelled to occasionally concede to the Carmel Valley representative in matters that primarily concern his constituents. But this board feels no such obligation. Many Carmel Valley residents believe, for instance, that the ruling majority on the Board of Supervisors seems more willing to respond to the wishes of powerful developers than to their own wishes, and has forced development after development down their throats. And so they want to establish a political body that will heed them.

Blessed as they are with pretty scenery and good weather, the people of Carmel Valley still want democracy.