Tuesday, August 04, 2015

City Halts Blue Indy Theft Of Public Parking Spaces Over Disabled Homeowner's Concerns

Mayor Greg Ballard has authorized the theft of hundreds of the City's most valuable public sparking spaces throughout the City for a private company's monopoly electric car sharing service while the City-County Council and law enforcement sit by idly and do nothing to stop what amounts to a loss of tens of millions of dollars in public assets, if not more. Finally, the City halted one of the thefts on the City's south side only because it resulted in denying a disabled resident the only access he has to his home if the theft proceeded.

The latest theft involved five parking spaces near the corner of Shelby and Croft Streets adjacent to a tire service business and nearby houses owned by Randy Peterman and his family. Peterman tells Fox 59 News he was stunned when workers showed up and placed orange barrels blocking the public parking spaces next to the property he's owned for decades without prior notice.
“They never told us they were going to do this,” said Peterman. “They’re going to put their electric cars out here, and I said, ‘What about the people who live here?’ They said, ‘We’ll try to figure something out.’ I said, ‘Where are they supposed to go? Where are we supposed to park?'” Peterman isn’t only worried about his customers, he’s worried about his renters, too. One is in a wheelchair, the other had a heart attack, and both need access to the curb for parking or to be picked up for physical therapy.
“Cottage Corners will come and pick up people if they need help to go to Cottage Corners,” said Don Magill, who worries he will have to move if the parking spaces are occupied 24/7 by BlueIndy. “They have to have this access area to take us to the doctor’s office or if I need to park in the wintertime, I have to park here.”
The permit drawn in Peterman’s name and issued for the Blue Indy project allows Miller Eads to begin construction as soon as today, those plans have been put on hold.
So apparently the loss of a disabled person's access to their home is the only thing that will halt this high theft of public assets. Blue Indy released to Fox 59 News this statement on its decision to halt work at the site:
“When BlueIndy found out there were disabled residents (wheelchair) using the unmarked street parking directly in front to load/unload, we quickly consulted with the City and paused the pre-construction process for that station in order to meet with the residents, store and building owners directly related. Solutions being discussed this week to hopefully create a good option for all parties for this rare situation. Relevant parties seem to agree an affordable and efficient new transit option like BlueIndy has high value as long as the location of the local station is optimal.”
Like with all of these theft of public parking spaces, the City's Department of Code of Enforcement waived the $7,852 fee that would have applied to the conversion of these public parking spaces for Blue Indy's monopoly use if the Mayor actually possessed authority to unilaterally give these public parking spaces to Blue Indy for its exclusive use.  Every aspect about the manner in which the French company, Bollore, has been authorized to establish its exclusive electric car sharing service in the City of Indianapolis has been illegal. We know this deal was brokered behind closed doors during one of Mayor Ballard's junkets to Europe when he visited the company's operations in Paris, France where it has to compete against several other companies to offer electric car sharing services. Because the Mayor chose to break every conceivable law to make it possible for Blue Indy to set up a monopoly business in Indianapolis on stolen public property, we can only speculate the worst has happened. Did bribery, kickbacks or payoffs accompany this deal? Why else would our mayor ignore so many laws at such a great detrimental loss to our city during his final months in office to enable a private company to conduct its electric car sharing service? The people of our City don't know who all owns a beneficial interest in Blue Indy, and the company isn't giving up that information to the public.

Because people read this blog from all over the world, please let the word go out how that this company preys on extremely corrupt public officials like our city's mayor, Greg Ballard, who believes he's above the law. Don't assume that because criminal charges have not been brought against Mayor Ballard and others responsible for this huge theft of our public assets that it's no big deal. Understand that we live in one of the only cities in America where the people who run our City are immune from prosecution for engaging in the theft of public assets and other organized crime-related activities to benefit an elite group of political insiders who have bribed those entrusted with running our local municipal government. Our prosecutors are as warped and corrupt as our elected officials. They will ignore these major public crimes at the same time they target innocent persons with bogus criminal charges in an effort to silence their critics, exact punishment on persons who have become a problem for the organized crime figures who run our city or to give the appearance they take the law seriously. The rule of law and equal justice under the law are just becoming figments of our imaginations in Indianapolis.

16 comments:

Pete Boggs said...

Can the city or just anyone, make filings in the name of citizens without their participation, notice or consent?!?

BTW: These are coal powered cars; novelty items in a state where the EPA's scheduled to close 6 of 22 coal plants this year- sustainable...? What's the government doing in the rental car business anyway? Are Avis, Hertz, even U-Haul; allowed to stage their product on city property for kiosk rental- what's up with that?

J S said...

I don't know why they wanted these spots anyway. The tire store? And across the street is the Compassion center homeless soup kitchen. Not exactly tourist destinations. Garfield Park is a unique, wonderful destination, but they ought to transit visitors in shared electric cars up a couple of blocks so they are directly across from the park entrance instead of way south of the park. Up a little further on the north end is the public library and the entrance to the park and the extremely popular greenhouses. I don't know that I believe its a good idea to appropriate spaces. And if they do I don't know why don't they appropriate spaces within the library or greenhouse parking lots already owned by the city? But Shelby and Cruft wasn't a good street location anyway. Try Shelby and Finley maybe. Much better than Shelby and Cruft.

Anonymous said...

Were all the permits made in the name of citizens who did not participate in the process? I know someone who asked to see the permit and was refused. Could this be why? Is pulling permits in fake names a "counterfeit" just as the back dating of the Vision Fleet contract?

Gary R. Welsh said...

The entire premise upon which the "legal" agreement is based is illegal; therefore, any acts in furtherance of the agreement are necessarily illegal as well. The number of felonies that have been committed are too voluminous to count.

Anonymous said...

Ballard's illegal BlueIndy actions are harming small businesses on top of costing taxpayers for those spots.

Anonymous said...

Gary, as an Indianapolis resident, taxpayer, and active Marion County GOP my fury grows about this and all the other corrupt, graft-ridden, outright illegal or quasi-legal/quasi ethical scams perpetrated upon Marion County by our unscrupulous and dishonorable Mayor Greg Ballard and by extension, the Marion County GOP and most all its candidates for City office. It's like we live in a little Communist Russia here in the Indiana State Capitol City; our County politics is run and operated by apparatchik often-corrupt attorneys and cronies who do the bidding of the GOP mafia and the monied and powerful.

I note how silent and inactive (again) is the majority of our inept City County Council run by the thoroughly incompetent Democrat Maggie Smith. They sure do know how to pick up and cash their paychecks but most of them seem to have no clue how to protect us and the City from ongoing corruption.

I will never again vote for a Democrat and I vow that I will NOT vote for Kyle Walker's lackey Chuck "Caboose" Brewer. I don't give a darn that Kyle's emails now refer to The Caboose as "Lt. Col."- the last thing this City needs is a "third Greg Ballard term" which is exactly what "Lt. Col." Caboose Brewer publicly promised he will be.

And as for "J.S.'s" liberal tactic of switching the subject to a straw man argument, the issue is not any particular parking space or locations of parking spaces. The issue is the improper used of municipal governance and in Greg Ballard's case with this issue it is the illegal use and heavy handed force in utter disregard of law. I again ask why I or any other citizen here should follow the law when our own Mayor and his equally corrupt attorney rulers seem to be able to flout and disobey the law at will?

Anonymous said...

I went to school at Butler in the late 1970s to early 1980s. At the time, Indy was a somewhat provincial smaller city, but it was a good place. Downtown was boring in a sports bar sense, but there were 4 department stores and the streets were safe. The Hoosier Dome was still a dream.

I came back a few years ago and am completely and utterly disappointed at what Indy has become. We have a small cadre of corporate statists who lord over this city who have decided to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else. They find a tool like Greg Ballard to blindly advance their agenda. I have no doubt that both Hogsett and Brewer are the same kind of tool. They both remind me of my cat when I put a bowl of milk down in front of her. It would be absurd to think that either of those two clowns have a spine. They wouldn't be where they are today if they did.

The people we elect, people like Ballard, spout nonsense in justification of their behavior and the public just loves it. Angies List? It's a tech company! The Colts? A restaurant tax is a small price to pay for a SUper Bowl! The Eleven? We need a stadium. it's the world's sport! IMS? They deserve our support! They put us on the map!

I have lived in some pretty world class cities and when I tell my friends there about what goes on here they ask me why the people take it. They ask me why I came back.

That is the question that haunts me. Why did I come back? Because I'm at that age where I wanted to go home. Because I believed the line of complete and utter BS spouted by the Chamber, Visit Indy and His Royal Highness Greg Ballard. Part of me wants to stay and fix it and that's exactly what I would do if I could find 100 people who believe what I believe, but outside of this blog's comment section I haven't found two. Even our young people are neutered conformists. They think they aren't but as someone who has been to Berkeley and Boulder, well, i makes me want to cry.

The good news is that Uhaul is more than happy to rent me a truck one way to just about anywhere and just about anywhere that has people who have the conviction to believe in something bigger than next weekend's alcohol budget is a major league improvement over Mr. Ballard's neighborhood. Corruption has a way of killing itself eventually. I sincerely hope it does for the sake of all of you who care...all 23 of you. I wish you well. I'm outta here.

Anonymous said...

Ballard may look like Boss Hogg but Ballard is much more insidious. Boss Hogg is fictitious. Ballard is a REAL crook. The fiscal damage he is causing will be felt for decades.

Anonymous said...

You fools need to get off your soap box and run for office.

Assuming you could build a sufficiently-large coalition of the disaffected, it would be fabulous to see you thrust from the coccoon of the critic in to the relentless and crushing palm of the public square.

Put up or shut up.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:38, nice try Mr Ballard or Ms Lewis or whomever these truths hurt.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:00- BINGO! Our corrupt Republican mayor Greg Ballard is indeed a very real cook and he is so in ways even Merriam Webster would struggle to convey. Greg Ballard is also a deep stain on the few honest Marion County Republican office holders and the very few honest Marion County Republican office candidates. (I wish I could include "Lt. Col." Chuck The Caboose Brewer in the latter. I wish I could. But I can't.)

I will again say that if Greg's Cathedral High School cohorts were quizzed about "who he was", what he was like, and what he "did and said" back in the day, we'd see evidence of the seeds of his psychopathy now on full display.

And then there's that Maggie Lewis. Wow, has this dame ever had a job where her paycheck was not sourced from a local or federal grant? You know, a grant... where you get other peoples' hard earned money as your own.

The fact is that the majority of our worthless City County Council has aided and abetted Head Crook Greg Ballard almost every step of the way... they hoot and holler and do little... and their silence or inactivity is testimony of their complicity in the economic damage long term done to our City.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Lewis now works for the Indiana Grand Casino in Shelbyville, anon. 10:28.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Gary. I was in error and appreciate the correction regarding the woman's income sourcing. Other than that inadvertency, I stand by my commentary. (Anon 10:28)

Anonymous said...


Mr. Welsh,

I respect your integrity for approving the comment to post. Though we almost always disagree, a tip of the cap on this blog for your tireless research and dedication.

I really do wish more people would run though as a). it's tougher than it appears from the outside and b). the corruptive influences come from the outside--politicians just get shell-shocked by so much of it that, periodically, new eyes are needed to maintain the vigilance.

I look forward to you or your readers getting a place at the table.

Until then,

-Anon 5:38

Gary R. Welsh said...

There's the matter of living in gerrymandered districts that makes it a waste of time and energy for some of us to even consider running for a city council seat, a state legislative or congressional seat. Many people who encourage outsider candidates don't back up their support with financial contributions. I can attest to that from the lack of financial support bloggers like myself receive for our efforts. Finally, there's the real concern of very horrible things happening to the lives of people who try to buck the political establishment of either party in this state by seeking an elected office without their approval. Look what happened to Paul Ogden after he decided to run for judge against the slate. I don't think some people appreciate just how corrupt and evil the people are who run this state and city and the things they are capable of doing.

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