Sunday, August 23, 2015

Stop Blue Indy NOW!

Blue Indy charging station under construction at 13th & Alabama
An Old Northside Indianapolis neighborhood activist has taken to Facebook to express his displeasure of the harm being caused to neighborhoods throughout the city as workers continue the process of seizing hundreds of prime public parking spaces and right-of-ways to install charging stations and rental sites for Blue Indy's electric car sharing service. Chas Navarra set up Stop Blue Indy NOW just today and is urging Facebook followers to express their support for it as a show of neighborhood discontent with the manner in which Blue Indy's electric car sharing service has been forced upon area residents by Mayor Greg Ballard.

Mayor Ballard executed the illegal, 15-year contract with the French-owned company, Bollore, that awards a monopoly business to the company, along with a public investment totaling in the tens of millions of dollars with no likelihood of any return to Indianapolis taxpayers during the life of the contract. Incredibly, the City's agreement with Blue Indy exempts it from paying any taxes or fees that would ordinarily apply to any similar business operating in Indianapolis.

The Mayor's action came after an earlier plan he sent to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission requesting IPL be permitted to raise electric utility rates on its customers to pay to install the power charging stations was rejected. The IURC did, however, allow IPL to charge customers the cost of running power lines to the charging stations. Blue Indy's agreement with the City allows IPL to be repaid its share of the costs, while Indianapolis taxpayers are unlikely to recover the $6 million Mayor Ballard pulled from the parking meter fund to add to the $42 million Blue Indy claims it plans to spend, at least during the initial 15-year term since Blue Indy must first recover its net cumulative investment before it shares its first dollar with the City.

Navarra has spoken to residents of the Englewood Lofts apartments at 13th & Alabama who are extremely upset about Blue Indy taking up all of the on-street parking available along the north side of the apartments. Some residents in the income-qualified, affordable housing project plan not to renew their leases because of the loss of parking according to Navarra. Blue Indy has plans to take even more free public parking spaces in the Old Northside neighborhood for Blue Indy.

The Indianapolis City-County Council's attorney has told council members the Mayor broke multiple state and local laws by entering into the monopoly, electric car-sharing agreement with Blue Indy. Councilor Zach Adamson (D) promised action in the form of a resolution calling for the towing of the Blue Indy cars that have been illegally parked on Washington Street downtown in a no-stopping, no parking zone. Adamson postponed action on his resolution at last Monday's council meeting after he said Blue Indy officials spoke of a desire to discuss public concerns over the siting of Blue Indy stations and to consider entering into a franchise agreement with the City, which would essentially wash away the wrongs and legalize the illegal actions taken by Mayor Greg Ballard broke by entering into the agreement and appropriating public assets measuring into the tens of millions of dollars for the private company's monopoly business.

The Indianapolis news media, for its part, has essentially been on the sidelines cheering on the illegal Blue Indy project as more and more business owners and residents grow increasingly frustrated by the inattention to legal processes and the harm inflicted upon them after receiving absolutely no advance notice of the City's plans for taking valuable public parking spaces in their neighborhoods. Complaints to elected officials have generated little more than lip service and finger-pointing.

Councilor Adamson engaged in testy exchanges on Facebook today with concerned residents, including me. He claims the council is acting with the "very limited authority" it has to act, even though it could have elected to go to court to nullify the agreement as it did earlier this year with the Vision Fleet contract. "We hammer [the Mayor] plenty and anyone who thinks we don't is a nutbag," Adamson said in response to my criticism the council isn't doing enough. Really nice when your elected council member calls his constituents "nutbags" for complaining about the misuse of our public tax dollars. Adamson then deflected the blame. "You know we have a strong mayor system and the council only has so much support from the judicial branch that we can count on." So public assets are being stolen but there's nothing our elected officials can do to put a stop to it? So much for Democrat mayoral candidate Joe Hogsett's claim that he's going to stop the downtown insiders from stealing from us. It's too bad he never prosecuted any of the downtown insiders during all those years he served as our federal prosecutor when he was in a position to do something about it.

Adamson initially endorsed the Blue Indy project and appeared at a press event announcing the Mayor's launch of the electric car-sharing service almost two years ago. Adamson, who chairs the Public Works Committee which has oversight over the project, says he never supported the eventual plan rolled out this year; rather, he only supported the concept and believed it was going to be a small pilot program initially. He says he opposed the plan once he learned Mayor Ballard planned to make the public subsidize its cost.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw Adamson's comments on Facebook. Nothing new from him. If he wasn't a gay Democrat, the media would have come down hard on him for all the name calling and insult throwing he posts on Facebook every day. He'll never get my vote. The guy is incapable of engaging in any civil discourse without viewing it through a highly partisan, leftist prism.

Anonymous said...

thank you for posting,Gary. Sounds like Adamson et al are waiting for their "cut" of the action before doing anything more that talk against the illegal plan to stock our city streets with Ballard cars. I wish our councillors had spines, but for that to matter they would require a moral compass first.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping this issue alive, Gary. I don't understand why the media in this town is pushing this illegal Blue Indy deal so hard. They ignore all of illegal stuff Ballard is doing. I wish someone would blow the whistle on that trip Ballard took to Paris where he cut the deal with Bollore. The folks that accompanied him on that trip are unfortunately the people who are stealing from the city. I can't say I'm disappointed in our city council. I gave up on them a long time ago. Most of them will sell out for something as small as free tickets to Colts and Pacers games.

Anonymous said...

Council runs several legal risks of citing then failing law on the screw indy project.

Anonymous said...

I hardly doubt it is Gary Welsh who is a "nutbag". Any time any one resorts to name calling, bullying, and the low road you know they lost the argument, they know they lost the argument, and they lost it a long ago.

Citizens are tired of the political double speak, the dismissive attitude citizens receive from politicians paid by citizens' tax dollars, and the refusal of the political class to follow the law.

The City-County Council must stand firm legs and demand that Greg Ballard follow the laws he expects the rest of us to follow. The City-County Council must completely void the illegal Blue Indy contract and force the removal of all the charging stations already illegally installed.

Anonymous said...

Indianapolis has become a Soviet-style government. This Blue move is to satisfy the money thirst of the Climate Change Industry. Both the Democrats and Perry Township Republicans support these Climate Change issues. My only surprise is that Councilor Scales recent voting record. Perhaps that explains her acceptance back into the Perry Township Caucus.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 7:25... I too was very surprised by Christine Scales' apparent agreement with Democrat Zach Adamson's tact to make illegality legitimate with his total subterfuge of "franchise fees"... but that is quite typical of liberal Democrats: change the subject, change the definitions.

When City-County Councilors smell money, they are worse than marauding sharks.

Anonymous said...

Forgive my ignorance about how the law/courts work, but can a formal complaint/lawsuit be filed by someone other than those beholden to the administration?

Gary R. Welsh said...

The affected neighbors and business owners could file a lawsuit if they wanted to hire and pay an attorney to do it for them. The problem is that people want someone to go file a lawsuit for them, but they don't want to pay for the services. If they prevail, it's possible to get the court to award attorney's fees.

Anonymous said...

Gary, how much could something like this cost to pursue? Know any good lawyers up for the job!?

Christine Scales said...

I have been spending many hours of my days unearthing the illegalities of the Blue Indy contract. Most of what has been discovered regarding the contract's flaws is due to my efforts. Much time has also been spent exploring every avenue available which could lead to voiding the contract.
I respectfully ask that people not make assumptions about actions taken. There were legitimate reasons behind the request for a postponement of Proposal 227.
Christine Scales

Gary R. Welsh said...

Christine, The only scenario under which it made sense for the council to hold up action was if Blue Indy ceased installing any new charging stations until this matter was resolved. The workers have been working at a lightning speed to get more charging stations installed all over town so they can increase their claim of damages if the contract is eventually nullified. You're not doing the public any favors by waiting to act when nothing short of an emergency court order seeking a preliminary injunction was the proper course of action.

Greg Wright said...

Christine, I am certain that your supporters will understand. Please explain your reasons and put your detractors to rest.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Scales. What were those legitimate reasons? While you are at it, why did you rejoin the corrupt Republican caucus?

Anonymous said...

Just unilaterally disarm, let them rob the bank and worry about it later.

Anonymous said...

Blue Indy is what happens when a city with an inferiority complex is run by gangsters. It's like when that reporter for the Star wrote that bikeshare here was more popular than in Denver. I laughed for a week at that one. There's no public outcry because, gosh, electric cars (even illegal electric cars) are so cutting edge cool. Chicago doesn't have them. Hell, even Paris doesn't have them. The little conformist Hoosier masses in their blue jersies might question why, but instead they just pop open another Bud Light.

Christine Scales said...

At this time, it is best to simply report that the postponement was to allow for a meeting to take place between Councillor Adamson, myself and BlueIndy to discuss the contract. City officials will not participate in the meeting. It is hoped that this opportunity will provide an improved means of discussing the contract than emails and public discourse allow.
I have not stopped working towards the goal of deep sixing this contract. Today, I sent emails to neighborhood leaders, the contents of which enumerate the many ways in which the BlueIndy contract is illegal and a detriment to our city. I urge them to ask residents to send objections to the contract to the Mayor. I have also asked that Prosecutor Curry be contacted and asked to undertake an investigation as to the many illegalities involved in the contract. He has thus far refused Council requests to do so. I ask too, that residents contact Sheriff Layton and Chief Hite and ask them to have their officers enforce the laws they were sworn to uphold by citing the illegally parked cars. The two have thus far bowed to political pressure and have indicated they will refuse to enforce laws.
I will forward a copy of the letter to anyone desiring it. I can be contacted at scales_2000@yahoo.com

Christine Scales said...

Gary: I have asked the Council attorney to seek an injunction to halt the further erecting of charging stations. At this time, I have not yet received a response. I'm trying to do all I can, recognizing the power of one can sometimes achieve much-but not always.

Christine Scales said...

Correction on my email address. It is cscales_2000@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Now Scales reveals the council, prosecutor, neighborhood 'leaders' sheriff and police chief have legal risks by their failure to enforce the law.

Chris Meadows said...

I live half a block from the 13th and Alabama BlueIndy station, and I couldn't be more excited to see it go in. I don't have a car, just a bicycle and an electric bicycle. It's possible to haul some amount of groceries home on the e-bike, but not too easily and not if it's raining. I've tried renting a Zipcar to go shopping, but it was expensive having to keep it checked out for multiple hours and I had to go a mile and back to pick it up from IUPUI...or several miles if the only one available was at Butler University. Now I can take the bus one way and shop, then snag a car at the grocery store to bring it all home, right to my door. That's fantastic!

I can't wait for the program to launch next week, and I intend to use the hell out of it. I have little doubt that once it actually gets going, and businesses see how many people it brings to them from people using those little blue cars, they'll be a bit less upset by losing the parking places.

Look at how well the program's worked in France! Indianapolis is going to be a model city for cities putting in their own electric car programs all over the US. This is going to be helpful not just for locals, but for every tourist or convention or conference attendee who comes to town. It's a real alternative to paying through the nose for a taxi, or slightly less through the nose for a Lyft or Uber driver who you don't even know.

No matter where they put the stations in, someone was going to complain about it. But if they didn't put them somewhere, then they wouldn't be available for people to use them. I fully expect that the Council, the Mayor, and Bollore will come to some kind of compromise that will see the city paid back the money it has spent on the project.

I fully expect the program to be worth all the commotion once it finally gets underway. And I'm looking forward to it.