Ballard Plans Launch Of Blue Indy Complete With Police Escorts In Downtown Indy

Councilor Christine Scales (R) has taken to Facebook to protest a plan by Mayor Greg Ballard to force IMPD officers to provide a police escort service through the busy streets of downtown to launch the Blue Indy electric car sharing service on September 2. Councilor Scales is the most vocal critic of Mayor Greg Ballard's highly illegal contract with Bollore's Blue Indy under which the French-owned company was granted a monopoly to operate an electric car-sharing business utilizing hundreds of public parking spaces and right-of-ways Mayor Ballard stole from the City and gave to the company for its exclusive use. Scales writes on Facebook about the Mayor's plans for September 2:

The Mayor plans a full blown police escort to accompany BlueIndy cars in parade like fashion down a major downtown artery to mark the official opening on Sept. 2nd of the illegal and expensive BlueIndy car share program. The past violent 5 days of homicides demand the manpower of a limited IMPD officer workforce be used for more important purposes. Call the Mayor and City Councillors. Tell them to demand an immediate halt to the Blue Indy car share program. Contact Sheriff Layton and Chief Hite and demand that their officers enforce the law they were sworn to uphold by citing the illegally parked BI cars on E.Washington Street. Layton and Hite should have the courage to fight political pressure, not just criminals.

Council members have been throwing up their hands at what they say is their inability to stop Mayor Ballard from carrying out what amounts to a theft of tens of millions of dollars in public assets. A council resolution sponsored by Councilors Zach Adamson (D) and Scales was postponed while they said negotiations with Blue Indy took place to address concerns council members had with the contract, in particular, the lack of a formal franchise agreement the council's attorney maintains is a legal requirement for such an arrangement.

Incredibly, the local news media has been doing nothing but cheerleading the Mayor's Blue Indy initiative and ignoring the unequivocal evidence his administration broke numerous state and local laws to aware the monopoly business to Blue Indy. Ballard committed $6 million to the privately-owned company out of the parking meter fund to help pay for the new power charging stations that are being illegally installed in the City's most highly-trafficked areas without any prior notice to the affected business owners and residential neighborhoods that are being adversely impacted by the loss of public parking. Council members say their pleas to Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry to open a criminal investigation of the Mayor's actions have fallen on deaf ears. Local law enforcement will not enforce existing no stopping, no parking zones designated by city ordinance where Blue Indy cars have been illegally parked for the past 18 months.

Those involved in the deal refuse to answer questions about local persons who may have a beneficial interest in Blue Indy. Mayor Ballard's two terms in office have been marked by shady deals that are clearly conceived as nothing more than schemes to line the pockets of his campaign contributors at the public's expense. Pay to play is the Ballard way.