Lipstick on a pig. The side of the Carmel House the public sees from Cherry Street shows new plywood sheeting where windows were broken out during the extensive vandalism on January 3, 2022. It looks like maybe the city is somewhat taking care of its largest, most costly housing project. To deter further vandalism, city crews also posted warnings that the building is under video surveillance. And, wonder of wonders, after years of swinging open to the wind (and me calling out this negligence), the front doors have finally been closed.
It’s all for show. Get a little closer and you’ll see shards of glass everywhere in the weeds. The refrigerator teenagers launched through a picture window is still where it landed.
Walk around back and you’ll see the city has done nothing to protect the building from the elements. All the broken windows are still broken and uncovered. My favorite is the one that looks like a cat in the window (featured at top).
The rest are just ugly, and admit snow and rain, dirt, insects, birds and bats. The place already was overrun with rats and home to raccoons. And, once again, it appears the grounds have a homeless camp.
Those surveillance cameras that are supposed to be watching and recording are nowhere to be seen. It’s the same cheap trick homeowners play when they think they can scare off burglars with fake “Protected by ADT” signs.
The city is jumping into a huge development project with its acquisition of the Evans Vista property at the first traffic circle coming into town. City leaders contemplate building hundreds of units and possible commercial spaces — an entirely new village at the entrance to the city. Yet, it can’t even take care of this single dilapidated, fantastically expensive derelict of a building.
Why be so confrontational by calling it “Faber’s Folly?” David Faber, our current mayor, like the two mayors before him — Deborah Stinson and Michelle Sandoval — has been a vocal supporter of the project, from his years on Council to his current position. He pushed the financing through over pleas of caution and requests for due diligence from former councilor Bob Gray. The financial documents in front of Faber at the time showed the project was doomed to default. Despite the abject failure of this boondoggle, Faber recently boasted “I wouldn’t change a single thing about what we did.”
Faber owns this, as does City Councilor Amy Howard, who also overrode Gray’s calls for caution and due diligence to protect taxpayers. During the discussion on going huge with the Evans Vista village, and with the failure of the Cherry Street Project hanging over council, Howard, now our Deputy Mayor, echoed Faber’s delusional braggadocio and declared she, too, had no regrets.
What this means is that our Mayor and Deputy Mayor have no regrets about saddling taxpayers with the tab for their gross negligence — a nearly $1.4 million debt, highly valuable land rendered unavailable to provide housing for people instead of vermin, and the cost of tearing this thing down and cleaning up the site, an inevitability the politicians think they can ignore. As I have written elsewhere, the costs sunk into this project already exceed $2.2 million and the last cost estimate predicted at least another million would be needed before the first of eight modest apartments would be ready. That was before construction costs began soaring.
While the city suffers under the affordable housing emergency that is depriving businesses of workers, and workers of a place other than a car to call home, the city-owned lot occupied by the rotting Carmel House is unavailable for any kind of sensible housing project, public or private.
The housing crisis is so bad a downtown business owner, who moved here from Asia and invested his savings to pursue a dream in a new country, is on the verge of moving out because he can’t find a home for his family when he loses his lease in less than a month.
Our city leaders have been dithering around since they joined the county’s declaration of a housing emergency… in 2017. We fought and won a World War in less time. It will be many more years before the “incredibly expensive” Evans Vista project (to quote former Mayor Michelle Sandoval) provides a single room of human habitation. I will be writing about this project in my next article.
The only Cherry Street Project related work in the 2022 city budget is simply paying the monthly principal and interest on the bond, with a decade-and-a-half of debt service still to go. Nailing up some plywood boards to partially mask vandalism damage and buying the false surveillance camera signs was presumably off-budget.
To “Faber’s Folly,” let’s add “Howard’s Hovel.” Faber and Howard earned the honors. They were on council when the city approved the Cherry Street boondoogle and when it thumbed its nose at a $1 million offer from Keith and Jean Marzan to take the project off their hands and actually get some affordable housing built. No one else who dumped this wasteful lemon on taxpayers is left in city government. Let’s hope the new council has functioning brains and enough backbone to cut the city’s losses, bulldoze the decaying hulk and put the land to better use.
By the way, Howard’s Hovel/Faber’s Folly turns 5 years old in a few weeks. Somebody, bake a cake.
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
Thank you Jim. I always enjoy reading you articles.
Where is personal responsibility and saving face? The face is hidden in some minds by the mask of political position. Those that look can see. What qualified Faber to be appointed Mayor and Howard Deputy Mayor by the City Council including 3 new elected Council?
Here are the qualifications and responsibilities Faber and Howard voted for or ignore.
Cherry Street- Ignore it. Year after year after year.
No parking plan, education or enforcement – which is in my face daily. Benefits some in the loop selling real estate with no parking consideration. Now Maritime Center and Marine Science Center are adding to the crunch along with new units coming on line. An increased parking crisis managed into existence.
Road maintenance ignored for years leading to the need for replacement there is no money for – In a recent sewer bill newsletter Faber acts like he just found out by stepping in a chuck hole. He gave no numbers for a fix. Past numbers showed there isn’t enough to fix over the coming years.
Visitor Center “park/plaza. About $600,000 up front cost and about $600,000 financed. Massive amounts of concrete and no wildlife or human space in sight. We’re Green! is the sound bite. Community parking and gathering place was obliterated. Really look at what 1.2 million got you compared to what Cherry Street is still getting you.
17 million dollar city debt. Debt service cripples forward movement on many fronts.
Seems no one is responsible in the “weak mayor-city manager” system in Sandovalia, formerly Port Townsend.
In the real world, Faber is a disaster. A business partner from hell. He can’t be fired but was promoted. Howard too, although she took a class and has a certificate saying she is qualified in resource management. In political central casting you need an Amy tool. And others like her. To appoint Faber. Round and round and round it goes.
Its broken. Root cause? Voters. And some massive egos.
Just more Government sponsored waste and inefficiency in action.
Your tax dollars hard at work lol, not to mention have you ever looked into all the settlements the county has made in the last 20 years….very eye opening too
Great story and great comments! Loved the cat photo.
5 Years? What a waste.
I think the local powers have a master plan to not allow cars in town. You have to walk or ride a bike before 5:30pm to what limited motel options. that are available now. The problem will be that any visitors who will do this will be getting lower and lower and the small tourist industry they now have will dry up.
Les, square one is that there are laws and codes that should prevent what has occurred over the last 8 year regarding parking. They have been ignored by Appointed Mayors, a No Term Limit Council that appoints that person, 2 City Managers with dubious integrity, the City Attorney, Police Chiefs, the Leader, and the public that doesn’t demand better.
If this were a community Les, Faber, Howard, Rice, Sandoval, Stinson, and all the club house gang would be at Cherry Street cleaning things up and putting in some sweat equity to make right what was stolen from their neighbors. Neighbors might see the effort and chip in. With funds and time.
Police and fire might help and connect with everyone on a human level.
Same could have been done at Fort Worden.
But these names have the job of moving things backwards. Parking is easily seen daily. Other things need a longer attention span to see.
Faber, an attorney is now the mascot. The next election is coming. Plan ahead.
Harvey, I don’t disagree with you. I worked at a Chamber who would bring in thousands of people on a weekend. PT doesn’t have an idea of how to do that. They can’t even have hundreds of people for an event and be able to house them. While I’m at it the parking places taken up for outside eateries is not helping solve the parking problem, just adding to it. I won’t even go into the cattle trails they call streets. Have a good day hasn’t got a clue in Port Townsend.
It just occurred to me, aren’t there some state and/or federal regulations on the transport and abandonment of hazardous waste? It doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to say that this building was moved with complete disregard to the health and well-being of the community, and then left to deteriorate with pretty much no effort made to mitigate any risk of contamination of the surrounding area. If this was a boat in dry dock at the port, it probably would have been declared a hazardous derelict that needed to be removed immediately a long time ago.
I’ve seen worse be brought back from the dead. What the building needs is a continued presence and some tlc. What PT could do would be engage an organization, such as habitat for humanity, and enter into an agreement that the organization find eight qualified families that would be interested in a condo type housing, once the project is complete, PT should then sign over the property to the organization. Then at least eight families would be housed, the building being useful, and it transfers property responsibility. That’s what I would do.